Exam Profile: VMware Certified Professional - Cloud, VCPC510

Date: May 8, 2013

This article profiles the VMware Certified Professional – Cloud Exam. Pearson IT Certification provides a variety of exam preparation tools to help our customers in their quest for certification. As part of our service to you, we have developed this Exam Profile series. Each profile is developed based on the testing experience of one of our trainers or authors. You won’t get exact questions or answers, but you will get a real feel for the exam. Each profile describes question forms, trouble spots, hints for exam preparation, and recommendations for additional study resources. Find out what you can expect to see on the exam and how you can better prepare for it.

The VMware Certified Professional —Cloud Exam VCPC510 is a new exam from VMware that focuses on the vCloud infrastructure as well as their vSphere infrastructure. The exam tests general knowledge of the concepts and installation of vSphere, vCenter, vCloud Director, vCenter Chargeback, and vCloud Network Security products. It requires the candidate to complete VMware Cloud: Deploy and Manage the VMware Cloud course, from a VMware certified training center.

Candidates that already hold the VCP5 certification, are eligible to take the VMware Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Exam, instead of the VCPC510 exam.

Exam Details

Number of Questions: 240
Type(s) of questions: Multiple choice; some questions will have more than one correct answer. Questions with more than one answer will clearly indicate the number of answers required.
Passing Score: 300, on a scale of 100 to 500
Time Limit: 225 minutes, with an additional 15 minutes to complete survey questions prior to the test beginning.
How to register: http://www.pearsonvue.com/vmware

Trouble Spots

It is recommended that candidates have at least 6 months experience of administrating a VMware vCloud deployment. While the experience is invaluable, several portions may still pose a challenge to candidates.

Networking is a very important of a vCloud environment and the exam stresses this importance. Virtualization administrators are traditionally not exposed to networking configuration and settings. Expect to be questioned extensively on network configuration and concepts. This includes vCloud’s networking concepts of external, internal and direct or routed networks while understand their impact to vApp networks and their configuration.

The configuration of vSphere and vCenter is another topic that the candidate should be expected to understand. This includes clusters, storage profiles, as well as networking configurations. The concept of clusters and resource pools, how they relate to vCloud constructs and how a vCloud tenant consumes the resources is also tested.

Preparation Hints

With all exams the candidate will take, preparation is key. If you are unable to administer a vCloud installation, or change settings and verify their effects, the candidate should take advantage of desktop virtualization products, such as VMware Workstation© and VMware Fusion©.

Take advantage of the free online labs available via the VMware Hands-On Labs (HOL) online. Many of these labs are the same as those that were available during VMworld 2012, while others are new. In addition, several videos are available on the official VMware YouTube channel. Supplementing hands-on experience with these labs and videos will help round out knowledge in preparation for the VCP-IaaS exam. VMware has made a mock exam available—attempt this once you feel prepared for the exam.

Recommended Study Resources

Aside from the official courses and other material mentioned above, the following study resources are recommended to ensure success on the exam:

The Official VCP-Cloud Certification Guide <link to our book’s marketing page>.
The VCP-Cloud Blueprint on the VMware Certified Professional—Cloud Exam site
The official product documentation referenced in the IaaS blueprint.
The free videos offered by VMware Education Services

Exam Objectives

Prior to taking this exam, candidates should understand each of the following objectives, as listed on the IaaS blueprint. Each objective is listed below; along with related tools the candidate should have experience with, and related documentation that contains information relevant to the objective. All objectives may also be referenced in other product documentation not specifically highlighted below. The candidate should be familiar with all relevant product documentation or have an equivalent skillset.

Section 1—Plan, Install, Configure and Upgrade vCenter Server and VMware ESXi

Objective 1.1—Install and Configure vCenter Server

Identify vCenter Server requirements
Identify vCenter Server database requirements
Identify VMware vSphere Client requirements
Deploy the vCenter Appliance
Install vCenter Server
Install/Remove vSphere Client plug-ins
Enable/Disable vSphere Client plug-ins
Determine use case for vSphere Client and Flex Client Tools

Objective 1.2—Install and Configure VMware ESXi

Identify ESXi host requirements
Perform an interactive installation of ESXi using media or PXE
Configure NTP on an ESXi Host

Objective 1.3—Plan and Perform Upgrades of vCenter Server and VMware ESXi

Identify available vSphere editions and features
Determine appropriate vSphere edition based on customer requirements Tools

Section 2—Plan and Configure vSphere Networking

Objective 2.1—Configure vNetwork Standard Switches

Identify vNetwork Standard Switch capabilities
Create/Delete a vNetwork Standard Switch
Add/Configure/Remove vmnics on a vNetwork Standard Switch
Configure vmkernel ports for network services
Add/Edit/Remove port groups on a vNetwork Standard Switch
Determine use case for a vNetwork Standard Switch

Objective 2.2—Configure vNetwork Standard and Distributed Switches

Identify vNetwork Distributed Switch capabilities
Create/Delete a vNetwork Distributed Switch
Add/Remove ESXi hosts from a vNetwork Distributed Switch
Edit general vNetwork Distributed Switch settings
Add/Configure/Remove dvPort groups
Configure dvPort settings
Add/Remove uplink adapters to dvUplink groups
Create/Configure/Remove virtual adapters
Migrate virtual adapters to/from a vNetwork Standard Switch
Migrate virtual machines to/from a vNetwork Distributed Switch
Determine use case for a vNetwork Distributed Switch

Objective 2.3—Configure vSS and vDS Policies

Identify common vSS and vDS policies
Configure load balancing and failover policies
Configure VLAN settings
Enable Jumbo Frames (1600+ MTU) support on appropriate components
Determine appropriate VLAN configuration for a vSphere implementation

Section 3—Plan and Configure vSphere Storage

Objective 3.1—Configure Shared Storage for vSphere

Scan/Rescan storage
Connect to a NAS and/or SAN device Tools

Objective 3.2—Create and Configure VMFS and NFS Datastores

Identify VMFS and NFS Datastore properties
Identify VMFS5 capabilities
Extend/Expand VMFS Datastores
Place a VMFS Datastore in Maintenance Mode
Determine use case for multiple VMFS/NFS Datastores

Section 4—Deploy and Administer Virtual Machines and vApps

Objective 4.1—Create and Deploy Virtual Machines

Identify capabilities of virtual machine hardware versions
Identify methods to access and use a virtual machine console
Configure and deploy a Guest OS into a new virtual machine
Configure/Modify disk controller for virtual disks
Create/Convert thin/thick provisioned virtual disks
Install/Upgrade/Update VMware Tools
Configure virtual machine time synchronization
Configure/Modify virtual CPU and Memory resources according to OS and application requirements
Determine appropriate datastore locations for virtual machines based on application workloads

Objective 4.2—Create and Deploy vSphere vApps

Describe a vSphere vApp Tools

Objective 4.3—Manage Virtual Machine Clones and Templates

Import and/or Export an OVF template

Objective 4.4—Administer Virtual Machines and vApps

Identify locations for virtual machine configuration files and virtual disks
Hot Extend a virtual disk
Assign a Storage Policy to a virtual machine
Verify Storage Policy compliance for virtual machines

Section 5—Establish and Maintain Service Levels

Objective 5.1—Create and Configure VMware Clusters

Describe DRS and Storage DRS
Describe Enhanced vMotion Compatibility
Create/Delete a DRS/HA Cluster
Add/Remove ESXi Hosts from a DRS/HA Cluster
Monitor a DRS/HA Cluster
Enable/Disable Host Monitoring
Enable/Configure/Disable virtual machine and application monitoring
Configure admission control for HA and virtual machines
Determine appropriate failover methodology and required resources for an HA implementation

Objective 5.2—Migrate Virtual Machines Knowledge

Identify ESXi host and virtual machine requirements for vMotion and Storage vMotion Identify Enhanced vMotion Compatibility CPU requirements
Migrate virtual machines using vMotion/Storage vMotion

Section 6—Perform Basic Troubleshooting and Alarm Management

Objective 6.1—Perform Basic Troubleshooting for ESXi Hosts

Identify general ESXi host troubleshooting guidelines
Troubleshoot common installation issues
Monitor ESXi system health
Export diagnostic information

Objective 6.2—Perform Basic vSphere Network Troubleshooting Knowledge

Verify network configuration
Verify a given virtual machine is configured with the correct network resources

Section 7—Monitor a vSphere Implementation and Manage vCenter Server Alarms

Objective 7.1—Monitor ESXi, vCenter Server and Virtual Machines

Describe how Tasks and Events are viewed in vCenter Server
Identify critical performance metrics
Explain common memory metrics
Explain common CPU metrics
Explain common network metrics
Explain common storage metrics
Compare and contrast Overview and Advanced Charts
Configure SNMP for vCenter Server
Configure Active Directory and SMTP settings for vCenter Server
Configure vCenter Server logging options
Create a log bundle
Create/Edit/Delete a Scheduled Task
Configure/View/Print/Export resource maps
Start/Stop/Verify vCenter Server service status
Start/Stop/Verify ESXi host agent status
Configure vCenter Server timeout settings
Monitor/Administer vCenter Server connections
Create an Advanced Chart
Determine host performance using resxtop and guest Perfmon
Given performance data, identify the affected vSphere resource

Objective 7.2—Create and Administer vCenter Server Alarms

List vCenter default utilization alarms
List vCenter default connectivity alarms
List possible actions for utilization and connectivity alarms
Create a vCenter utilization alarm
Create a vCenter connectivity alarm
Configure alarm triggers
Configure alarm actions
For a given alarm, identify the affected resource in a vSphere implementation

Section 8—Install and Configure vCloud Director

Objective 8.1—Install vCloud components

Identify required vCloud components and pre-requisites for installation
Describe installation order of vCloud components
Explain the purpose and use case of each vCloud component
Create a SysPrep package
Install vCloud Director
Install vShield Manager
Install vCenter Chargeback
Install vCloud Connector
Configure vCloud Director network connections
Configure vCloud Director database settings
Troubleshoot basic installation issues

Objective 8.2—Configure and Administer vCloud Connector

Identify components of vCloud Connector
Describe cross-cloud vApp flow
Identify VM state (shutdown/power down)
Differentiate between functionality of components of vCloud Connector
Explain the relationship between the components of vCloud Connector
Determine and implement required network and security settings
Determine storage requirements and add storage for use by a vCC node
Register vCloud Connector with vCenter Server
Troubleshoot common vCloud Connector installation and operation issues

Objective 8.3—Configure vCloud Director and vShield Manager System Settings

Identify vCloud Director pre-requisites
Cite the steps to deploy a vShield Manager appliance
Identify relationship between vCenter Server and vShield Manager
Generate self-signed certificates
Import self-signed or CA issued certificates
Add additional vCenter Servers to a vCloud Director implementation
Configure licensing for vCloud Director and vShield Manager

Section 9—Administer Users, Roles and Privileges in a vCloud

Objective 9.1—Create Roles and Apply Privileges to Roles in a vCloud

Identify vCloud Director predefined roles and their specific privilege levels
List the steps to create a custom role in vCD
Identify operations that can be performed on predefined roles
Identify the types of users that can be granted access to a vCloud
Explain the purpose of a custom role in vCD
Determine when to create a custom role.
Given an end-user's job description, determine which role would be granted
Validate the functionality allowed by a newly created role
Select specific access rights in a security role.
Troubleshoot common customized role access issues.

Objective 9.2—Configure AD/LDAP Integration in a vCloud

Identify AD/LDAP infrastructure components
Configure Open LDAP with vCD
Configure Active Directory with vCD
Test connectivity to external LDAP
Import users and groups from external LDAP
Troubleshoot common LDAP external connectivity issues

Objective 9.3—Configure and Administer vShield Edge

Identify where to set firewall rules within vCloud Director
Explain vShield firewall concepts as they relate to a vCloud environment
Determine which firewall rules need to be applied or modified
Identify ordering for firewall rules
Enable/Disable firewall
Add/Modify/Delete firewall rules
Determine which vShield devices impact a given service
Verify firewall rule operation
Troubleshoot common firewall service issues

Section 10—Configure and Administer vCenter Chargeback

Objective 10.1—Configure and Administer vCenter Chargeback Roles and Privileges

Identify vCenter Chargeback permissions
Identify Resource types
Identify Resources that cannot be manually assigned permissions
Identify default vCenter Chargeback roles
Create/Modify/Delete a role
Determine when a new role should be created
Associate a role to a user
Troubleshoot common permission issues

Objective 10.2—Configure and Generate vCenter Chargeback Reports

Identify vCenter Chargeback report types
Identify components of the reporting dashboard
Given a reporting requirement, determine what report type should be run
Schedule reports
Manage archived reports
Generate custom reports

Objective 10.3—Configure and Manage vCenter Chargeback Cost Elements

Identify vCenter Chargeback cost elements
List cost element attributes
Describe default billing policies and cost models
Create/Edit billing policies
Manage cost models
Edit cost configuration of an entity
Manage physical infrastructure costing
Manage pricing matrix for virtual machine

Objective 10.4—Troubleshoot Common vCenter Chargeback Issues

Collect logs
Run troubleshooting utility
Explain impact of vSphere statistics levels on report generation
Explain impact of local firewall settings on vCenter Chargeback services
Given a service failure, determine root cause

Section 11—Configure and Administer vCloud Networking

Objective 11.1—Create and Administer vCloud External and Organization Networks

Identify and differentiate the types of vCloud Organization networks
Create/Modify/Delete an external network
Create/Modify/Delete an external direct organization network
Create/Modify/Delete an external NAT-routed organization network
Create/Modify/Delete an internal organization network
Explain the relationship between external networks and vSphere port groups
Explain the purpose and use cases for external networks
Explain the relationship between organization networks and vShield Edge
Explain best practices related to organization networks
Given organization requirements, determine the appropriate organization network type.

Objective 11.2—Configure and Administer vCloud Network Pools

Describe the concept of a Network Pool
Create/Delete a Network Pool
Expand a Network Pool
Determine appropriate backing for a given Network Pool
Configure Network Pool properties

Objective 11.3—Configure and Administer vApp Networks

Identify vApp Network types
Explain the purpose and use cases for vApp networks
Explain the relationship between vApp networks and vShield Edge devices
Create/Modify/Delete a direct vApp network
Create/Modify/Delete a NAT-routed vApp network
Create/Modify/Delete an internal vApp network
Troubleshoot vApp networks using the visual mapping tool

Section 12—Configure and Administer vCloud Organizations

Objective 12.1—Create vCloud Organizations

Identify the URL name of a newly created Organization
Create/Modify/Delete vCloud Organizations
Configure VM lease times
Configure Storage lease times
Configure SMTP server information
Configure notification settings
Apply policies to a vCloud Organization

Objective 12.2—Administer vCloud Organizations

List operations that can be performed on an Organization
List the vCloud constructs that make up an Organization
Given a tier of server determine the appropriate Organization vDC
Edit leases/quotas/limits applied to an Organization
Revise Catalog(s) attached to an Organization
Add/Remove users and groups
Configure/Edit Organization settings
Allocate resources to an Organization
Explain the purpose and use case for storage options
Configure storage provision options

Section 13—Allocate and Manage vCloud Resources

Objective 13.1—Create and Administer Provider VDCs

Identify where in the hierarchy a provider VDC resides
Identify where an Provider VDC gets its resources
Differentiate Provider and Organization VDCs
Explain the concept of a Provider VDC
Explain when and how to Enable/Disable a Provider VDC
Create/Delete a Provider VDC
Select Resource Pools and Datastores for a Provider VDC
Explain when and how to Enable/Disable a Provider VDC Host
Prepare/Unprepare a Provider VDC Host
Upgrade/Repair a Provider VDC Host agent
Explain when and how to Enable/Disable a Provider Datastore
Configure Low Disk Space Warnings

Objective 13.2—Create and Administer Organization VDCs

List Allocation Models
Explain the concept of an Organization VDC
Create/Modify/Delete an Organization VDC
Enable/Disable an Organization VDC
Select Organization VDC components
Select/Edit Organization VDC resources
Configure Allocation Model settings
Determine the appropriate network pool for a given Organization vDC network

Section 14—Create and Administer vCloud Catalogs

Objective 14.1—Create vApp Templates, Media and Catalogs

Describe the function of vApp templates, media, and catalogs
Identify the location of vApp templates, media and catalogs
Identify the format in which vApp templates, media, and catalogs can be stored
Differentiate between vApp templates, media and catalogs
Create/Update a vApp template
Create/Delete a Catalog
Publish a catalog to different Organizations

Objective 14.2—Administer vCloud Catalogs

Identify frequently used Catalog properties
Explain how guest customization works in a vCloud implementation
Deploy a vApp from a Catalog
Configure a Catalog to be shared by users in an Organization
Copy vApp templates and media to/from a Catalog
Configure Catalog properties
Given requirements, apply the appropriate properties to a Catalog

Section 15—Monitor a vCloud Implementation

Objective 15.1—Troubleshoot and Audit Resources and Events in a vCloud

Identify vCloud Director interface components used for monitoring
Identify the location of logs in vCloud Director
Monitor CPU, Disk and Memory usage for a Provider vDC
Monitor CPU, Disk and Memory usage for an Organization
Monitor External Network, Organization Networks, and Network Pools
Monitor IP allocation utilization
Review and interpret tasks and events in a vCloud
Troubleshoot common resource/event issues in a vCloud

Objective 15.2—Map vCloud Resources to vSphere Resources

Differentiate components of vCloud Director and vSphere client interfaces
Describe the relationship between vCloud storage resources and VMFS/NFS datastores
Describe the relationship between vCloud network resources and vSphere virtual switches
Describe the relationship between vCloud compute resources and DRS/HA Clusters/Resource Pools
Determine total/current resources available to a Provider/Organization vDC relative to assigned vSphere resources
Determine the explicit vSphere resource consumed by a Provider/Organization vDC
Determine which vSwitch resource is being use by a given vCloud network
Determine on which datastore a vCloud hosted virtual machine resides
Determine on which ESXi host a vCloud hosted virtual machine resides

Where to Go from Here

The VCP-Certification will begin to differentiate you in the marketplace not only for new career opportunities, but also apart from your peers. This is a brand new certification path with VMware, the number of VCP-Cloud’s are small. Once you have passed this certification, the VMware Certified Advanced Professional certifications should be your next certification to achieve. The Cloud Infrastructure Design exam is geared towards Cloud Architects, if that is not your passion or profession. The Cloud Infrastructure Administrator exam is geared towards those that administer a vCloud Infrastructure for over 12 months. Either way the candidate is assured to be among the first in the field to have these certifications.

No matter where you decide to go or do good luck with your exam! Message me on Twitter @TomRalph if you have questions or concerns about the VCP-Cloud exam.