VMware Certified Professional

Well, I sat and passed the VMware Certified Professional Exam (VCP VI3) last week. It was tougher than I expected - which is fine as it increases the value of the VCP in my own mind. The exam also asks questions on VMware Server, so be sure you know the differences between VMware Server and VI at a minimum before you take the exam. And be sure to know your ESX partitions as well.

If anyone is thinking of taking the exam, you definitely need to get hands on experience with VMware Virtual Infrastructure (VI). There's a few ways to do this e.g. a) in your place of employment b) on your own physical kit or c) using ESX / VI on VMware Workstation.

a) In your place of employment
Poke around, have a detailed look at the different elements presented to you on screen. See what you can configure and where. Most importantly, if you're poking around a production environment, don't break anything ('Cancel' is useful).

b) On your own physical kit
Contrary to what some may think, ESX can and does run on desktop hardware. For starters, try Ultimate ESX Whitebox. That's where I started.
NB Be aware of potential gotchas e.g. I could boot ESX from the install CD on my kit, but couldn't install it. The IDE CD/DVD-ROM drive turned out to be the root cause of my problem. I swapped it for a SATA drive and all was well.

c) On VMware Workstation
Yes, you can run ESX on VMware Workstation. But it ain't the easiest route to go. For starters, look at 'VI in a box'

I opted for b) and c). It allowed me to do whatever I wanted without putting a production environment at risk. It worked well for me: I passed the exam. Mission accomplished.

B

PS Google is your friend, as is the VMware Community.