Deploy, Secure, and Analyze class

[NWI-IT]

We're looking at sending someone out for the Deploy, Secure, and Analyze VMWare class. Has anyone been through this training before? Basically, we've got our VMWare infrastructure up and running and want to get someone trained on further developing our VMWare strategy. We've got credits enough to send someone out for one class, but haven't had anyone go out for any training yet. We didn't really want to send someone to the Install and Configure class, simply because we think we've moved past that point and are more in the area of trying to enhance our VMWare environment. Our concern is that the Deploy, Secure, and Analyze class requires you to take an online test as a prerequisite. Has anyone gone through this little test before and can tell us just some basic information on it? Just really looking at how in depth the test is. Are they basically testing whether we can competently move around a Linux command line and have the basic concepts of ESX and VMWare Infrastructure, or is the test much more than that?

[weinstein5 · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the Forums - As an ex-instructor you might find value in the Install and Configure class even though you have gone beyond that in your environment - the I&C class is a well laid out class and develops a good solid foundation for VI-3 - many times I have students who had been working with VMware for some time at the end class comment to me that they thought they would be bored and were just doing it to become a VCP but did get a lot of valuable information - with that being said the DSA pre-test actually was developed to insure students had an appropriate level of knowledge so that they would benefit form the DSA class - so it covers concepts bout ESX, virtual center and virtualization - to get the best bf both worlds have you taken a look at the Fast Track class - it actually covers the material of both classes in 5 days - do not know if you have enough credits for that -

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[DCTony]

Having gone through both, I would probably recommend the install & configure or the fast track. The DSA class is not for everyone. It may have changed in the last 18 months, but when I took it, it was very command line driven. The students that didn't know at least a smattering of Linux did not fare well. There was a lot of things like locking down the server via firewall and sudo, things like that. I wouldn't say it is a good design class.

[gary1012]

I took the course in Nov 08 and it still has a good number of instructions that are performed at the shell prompt. I found it beneficial for a few things such as understanding esxtop/performance counters, centralized logging and scripted installs. Some of the content such as iSCSI and Update Manager were not relevant as we don't use those features but I guess that's to be expected. If you've administered VI3 for any length of time, the other topics such as DRS, HA and backup/restore will reinforce your OJT. Overall, it was a good class but it falls short of being a great class.