VMware and Amazon Web Services are making a significant investment in providing a vSphere experience in a hyperscaler environment and we continue to see adoption for Cloud Service Providers utilizing VMware Cloud on AWS as an offering for managed services.
In this post, I will review my approach, what to expect on the exam, and my raw study notes.
I decided to prepare for the VMware Cloud on AWS Management Exam 2019 (Exam 5v0-31.19) and sit for it. While there’s a lot of great material that I will review below, I wanted to provide my approach for others.
Exam
It’s 30 questions and is done via the Pearson Vue site online. I thought it was very fair as a skill/badge exam and goes over many of the fundamental requirements. As expected, it’s true to the blueprint.
My Raw Notes
For me, I always prepare a final checklist of things I review before I take any examination. Below is my list of raw notes I used before I took the exam. As they are my raw notes, expect some abbreviations.
Anyway, enjoy the exam and I look forward to the expansion of VMware Cloud on AWS!
VMC on AWS Study Notes:
Use Cases:
Extension of onprem DC to the public cloud to expand resource capacity, increase disaster avoidance and recovery options, or localize application instances.
Consolidation
Peering the private and public cloud that allows for application mobility
Global compliance – ISO, SOC1-3, GDPR, and HIPAA
Many different AWS regions available plus GovCloud
SDDC
Minimum of 3 hosts and maximum of 32 hosts
Up to 10 clusters can be added to a SDDC
Stretched Cluster – between two AZ’s (min of 6 hosts and max of 28)
Host Configuration
2 18 core sockets – Broadwell
512 gibibytes of memory (550GB)
14.3TB of NVMe SSD’s – 3.6TB for flash, 10.7TB for capacity
1 AWS ENA – 25Gbps
Secret To Pass VMware Certification Exams In First Attempt
I’m happy to announce the new VCP 2019 certifications are now live! You can start earning them by passing any of the applicable exams, including the new DCV exam based on vSphere 6.7, right away.
Success Secrets: How you can Pass VMware Certification Exams in first attempt
As we look ahead towards 2019 we’re celebrating the successes of the past year, and what a year it was! With so many new releases, features, updates and enhancements, we’re thrilled to continue to innovate and provide solutions that address our customers’ needs. As we wrap-up and highlight some of our most innovative steps towards the future, we know that our community has embarked on the journey to the digital workspace right along with us. Here’s to you, our customers and community, as we celebrate our top ten count-down for 2018!
10 – Support for Android enterprise on purpose-built devices
In February, we were thrilled to announce support for Android Enterprise, giving IT unparalleled security features and the ability to lock down devices, silently install apps and push updates. With this update, Android enterprise became the default deployment model for Android devices. Take a look at the Android Series to learn more.
9 – Take advantage of HOLs and Tech Zone Content
Hands-on Labs (HOL) are the fastest and easiest way to test-drive the full technical capabilities of VMware products. Best of all, these evaluations are FREE, up and running on your browser in minutes, and require no installation. This year we had hundreds of customers at VMworld and at home take advantage of the HOLs. Start off with the VMware Workspace ONE – Getting Started Hands-on Lab. Not enough for you? Head to the Tech Zone for the 23 videos, 24 guides, and 10 blogs we have published.
8 – Our community grows
This year we focused even more on our end-users and costumers. We asked you what you wanted to see and needed and took your feedback to heart. The result? A year of new updates and features that are the best in market. Our success this year and in the future is all thanks to our customers, partners, and community. Join the conversation with us on Twitter (Horizon and Workspace ONE), Facebook (Horizon and Workspace ONE) and LinkedIn (Horizon and Airwatch).
7 – Security takes center stage with new partnerships
One of the focal points in empowering a digital workspace is security, which is why it’s imperative to have a solid digital workspace security strategy in place. Because of the way employees work today, the security perimeter has dissolved, and threats have grown, evolved and adapted accordingly. At VMworld we announced an expansion of our ecosystem of partners supporting Workspace ONE Trust Network, which now includes four new partners: CheckPoint, Palo Alto Networks, TrendMicro and Zscaler. We’re also proud of our deep integrations between VMware Workspace ONE and the Okta Identity Cloud, as customers benefit from an enhanced user experience and greater security together in the digital workspace.
6 – EUC is recognized as an industry leader
Go team! Forrester recognized VMware’s intelligence-driven digital workspace platform, awarding us the highest possible score in the market presence category, product vision, commitment to innovation, and partner ecosystem criteria. Gartner scored VMware highest in the “Secure UEM” use case, highest in 4 out of 6 use cases in the 2018 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Unified Endpoint Management, and as leader in Gartner’s inaugural July 2018 Magic Quadrant for Unified Endpoint Management (UEM).
5 – Productivity from anywhere on any device with Workspace ONE Intelligent Hub
Successful business outcomes come from employees who are empowered with technology that simplifies the experience, boosts productivity, and promotes engagement. At VMworld we announced the newest addition to the Workspace ONE platform, Workspace ONE Intelligent Hub! Workspace ONE Intelligent Hub is a single destination where employees can securely access, discover, and connect with teams and workflows wherever they are and from any device.
4 – Workspace ONE Intelligence give us the insights that matter
Workspace ONE Intelligence was launched earlier this year to provide insights, app analytics, and automation that help our customers improve security, optimize resources, and enhance user experience in their digital workspace. Want to learn more? Test drive Workspace ONE Intelligence today!
3 – EUC does VMworld!
In August and again in November the EUC team traveled to VMworld US and VMworld Europe, and what a conference! From our Digital Workspace Showcase Keynote to vGPU updates announced by Pat Gelsinger, storm troopers in the hallways, and Brian Maddens first ever EUC Community Tech Talk, the week was one to put on the books. Missed the activities? Watch on-demand. We can’t wait to see everyone next year!
2 – Burst to the cloud! Horizon kicks off the year with AWS and Azure
In 2018 Enterprises embraced the hybrid cloud in a big way – and Horizon didn’t disappoint. Horizon on VMware Cloud on AWS is the only hybrid cloud solution that allows you to modernize, protect and scale vSphere-based applications leveraging AWS, the world’s leading public cloud, and VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure celebrated its first birthday this year.
Wrapping up the year, in mid-December, we released VMware Horizon 7 Version 7.7 and VMware Horizon Client 4.10, and NSX Cloud support for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure with new features and enhancements. Continued innovation of new features and functionality to deploy and manage virtual desktops in the cloud made this the year of Horizon!
1 – Workspace ONE Raises the Bar for UEM
In March, VMware unveiled the industry’s first intelligence-driven digital workspace with Workspace ONE Intelligence and in September we announced the next step in Modern Management, Desktop Virtualization, and End User Services. The announcement that Workspace ONE AirLift is now generally available highlighted our continued innovation and integration – the AirLift connector for SCCM enables migration of SCCM Collections and PCLM workloads, including Win32 app packages, to Workspace ONE automatically, and accelerates the transition to Windows 10 modern management. Our mission to deliver and manage any app on any device with an integrated digital workspace platform was at the forefront this year.
To configure the VMware vSphere management pack, a connection to a vCenter server must be made.
What are the minimum privileges for the collection user? (Choose the best answer.)
A: Read only with elevated privileges to datastores
B: Administrative
C: Read only
D: Virtual machine power user
Correct Answer: C
Question 2
View the Exhibit.
Based on the exhibit, which of the below is true about the visibility of this dashboard? (Choose the best answer.)
A: This dashboard will be visible to vRealize Operations administrators
B: This dashboard will be visible to the user groups to which it has been shared
C: This dashboard will NOT be visible to any user
D: This dashboard will be visible to any user allowed to see NSX objects
Correct Answer: C
Question 3
A user is attempting to troubleshoot a cluster the predefined dashboards.
Which dashboard provides information about the virtual machines that generated the highest IOPS and network throughput during the last week for a given cluster?
(Choose the best answer.)
A: VM Usage dashboard
B: VM Configuration dashboard
C: Heavy Hitter VMs dashboard
D: Troubleshoot a VM dashboard
Correct Answer: C
Question 4
Once a super metric is created, what is required in order for it to be calculated and available for use? (Choose the best answer.)
A: Ensure the Enable check box in the super metric creation pop-up window is selected
B: Assign it to one or more object types, then enable it in one or more policies
C: Assign it to one or more user groups so that members can use it
D: Add it to one or more custom groups and/or application definitions
Correct Answer: B
Question 5
Which is the name of the file that can be created to contain property values for agents to use during deployment? (Choose the best answer.)
When a management pack is added to vRealize Operations, does the inventory tree reflect the addition of the management pack? (Choose the best answer.)
A: Yes, if the inventory tree is updated manually
B: Yes; the inventory tree is updated automatically
C: No; the inventory tree is a static, hard-coded entity
D: The inventory tree can only be updated through professional services
Correct Answer: B
Question 8
By default, which size configurations are offered by VMware during the installation of vRealize Operations? (Choose the best answer.)
A: Extra Small, Small, Medium, and Large
B: Small, Medium, Large, and Extra Large
C: Extra Small, Small, Medium, Large, and Extra Large
D: Small, Medium, and Large
Correct Answer: C
Question 9
In vRealize Operations (vROps), what are three reasons for using custom data centers (CDC)? (Choose three.)
A: Forecast and analyze capacity needs for the objects it contains
B: Group objects across different vROps instances
C: Provide capacity analytics and capacity badge computations for the objects it contains
D: Group data centers, clusters, hosts, virtual machines and datastore objects that span multiple vCenter server instances
Correct Answer: ACD
Question 10
Which report should be used to help mitigate risk and efficiency issues? (Choose the best answer.)
A: Cluster Capacity Report
B: VMware Tools Status Summary Report
C: Oversized Virtual Machines Report
D: VM Configuration Summary List View Report
Correct Answer: A
Success Secrets: How you can Pass VMware Certification Exams in first attempt
VMware App Volumes 2.15 is now available! This release’s highlights include enhancements to user writable volumes features, and App Volumes is also now supported for Horizon 7 on VMware Cloud on AWS.
App Volumes is a container-style technology that attaches applications to a VM when the user logs in, or, in the case of RDS-provided desktops and apps, when the RDSH server boots up. In circumstances where users need to install their own applications, or to satisfy the requirement some applications have for a local cache, administrators can provide users with a user writable volume.
Profile-Only Writable Volumes
Until now, when creating a writable volume, administrators had to choose between one of the following templates:
User-installed applications only
User-installed applications and profile data
That is, the purpose of the writable volume could be either to let users install their own applications or to let them install their own applications and store profile data, such as Outlook OST files that need to be cached so that the file is not re-created each time the users logs in.
With App Volumes 2.15, a new “Profile Only” template has been added, so that administrators can restrict the use of writable volumes to storing only profile data.
Cloud-Sharing Support on User Writable Volumes
OneDrive for Business and Box Drive are now supported when using App Volumes, and persistence can be achieved using a writable volume. Box Drive 2.1.105 or later is required.
In earlier versions of App Volumes, administrators used writable volumes for certain use cases that required a local cache, such as to store the user’s Outlook OST file and Search index. Having this cached data meant that the data remained instantly available and could follow the user as they connected to nonpersistent desktops. With the App Volumes 2.15 release, the same strategy can now be used for OneDrive and Box, enhancing IT’s ability to provide nonpersistent VDI while end users get a persistent-desktop experience.
App Volumes Support for Horizon 7 on VMware Cloud on AWS
VMware Cloud on AWS allows you to create vSphere data centers on Amazon Web Services. These vSphere data centers include vCenter Server for managing your data center, vSAN for storage, and VMware NSX for networking. With Horizon 7 on VMware Cloud on AWS, you can scale Horizon 7 desktops and applications on an elastic cloud platform.
App Volumes 2.15 can be used with this release of Horizon 7 (version 7.7), which is compatible with VMware Cloud on AWS (SDDC Version 1.5). Aside from a few minor user-interface changes, using App Volumes in this cloud is very similar to using it with on-premises Horizon 7.
Exploring more on VMware cloud on AWS has been on my radar since quite some time now. When I came to know about this VMware cloud on AWS management exam, I thought to use this opportunity to take my skill around VMC to the next level. Usually I like exams not to just get the badge or to be certified but I use them as motivation in my preparation/learning journey. As per me, what counts more is what we do during the moment we decide to write the exam and the moment we start attempting the exam. Preparation journey should be the focus. Exam and its objective/syllabus help us streamline or direct our learning properly.
How to Prepare?
Though there is no strict course/training requirement for this exam but VMware recommends a course i.e. VMware cloud on AWS: Deploy and Manage . I was lucky to undergo this course. It is fine if you could not complete this course from exam perspective. However, from learning perspective, any time formal course is really insightful.
I highly recommend to complete this Hands On Lab. Please do not underestimate this lab. Very helpful for exam as well as learning. I was able to access one of internal VMware cloud on AWS labs as well. It is fine if you do not have your own lab.
I was really impressed on FAQs compiled on official site. Once you have some hands on experience, these FAQs are really worth to go through. It not only covers general FAQs but it also focuses on each VMC component/feature.
Make sure you go through Exam preparation guide
From exam perspective, it is good to just have basic idea on what AWS compute & storage options available. It is not required to undergo any course or training. If you want to learn more on AWS, I found this blog post interesting i.e. AWS in plain English . There are couple of pluralsight courses are useful as well (not required for exam itself).
Yes, it is assumed that you have fundamental knowledge on vSphere, vSAN and NSX.
Exam format, level and scheduling?
If you take a look at Exam preparation guide , it is about VMware cloud on AWS fundamentals. Accordingly exam also was inline with sections listed in the guide. There are 30 questions to be solved within 45 min. All are multiple choice questions. Once we pass this exam, we get “VMware Cloud on AWS – Software Defined Data Center 2019” badge. Passing score is 300. My score was 411. This exam is un-proctored i.e. you can attempt from your own laptop browser and once scheduled, you must begin the exam in 2 days time (i.e. you can attempt any time during those 2 days). Voucher I had received was valid for 2 attempts.
Success Secrets: How you can Pass VMware Certification Exams in first attempt
VMware IT has increased its application footprint to deliver solutions for a variety of business needs, resulting in a distributed system that meets both domain needs and business goals. A distributed system approach, however, brings its own challenges because the data generated in the system resides in many different places.
The Business Operations team receives 120+ inquiries each workday–or more than 10,000 inquiries per quarter–about the status of the orders, opportunities, quotes, PO, invoices, renewals, etc. These inquiries arrive from various sources, including partners and distributors. Operations analysts must gather data from various Systems of Record, including sales order bookings, sales finance, geo sales, revenue, and work with other teams to respond to these inquiries. It can be time-consuming for the analysts to retrieve and validate the information for data quality and accuracy because they must access multiple systems to retrieve it. Each inquiry is manually tracked as a separate case. Depending on the number of systems involved, business groups may even reach out to IT to get additional information.
Our challenge was to create a self-service model that could automatically retrieve information and answer simple requests while maintaining a high level of responsiveness, quality, and customer satisfaction. A streamlined process would ensure faster responses and enable analysts to focus on more complex issues.
Automating a Bot Solution
IT developed next-generation vAssist.ai, a Natural Language Processing (NLP) platform to increase the responsiveness of some tasks. It enables Bot developers to train machine learning (ML) models for intent classification and entity extraction. vAssist is available as a SaaS model and exposes easy-to-use REST APIs to train and parse natural language inputs. It also provides a dashboard where developers can annotate and visualize data expressions and ML models in the cloud. We also integrated vAssist.ai with one of VMware’s chat platforms. Users can make service requests using the chat platform.
The Results
The biggest advantage of OM Assist is its self-service model, which delivers automated information 24×7 on the status of the orders, opportunities, quotes, POs, invoices, and renewals. The streamlined business process provides an integrated experience for users without any human intervention. By using emerging technologies, IT has created a scalable process that enables Business Operations to handle more inquiries and focus analyst efforts on resolving more complex requests without sacrificing responsiveness, quality, and customer satisfaction.
