[Update 6/16 with desktop screenshot]

The successor to the popular DCA550 exam went into public beta last week with with a staggered roll out starting in the US.

More info at the VMware pages

Key changes from the current VCAP5-DCA:

Hands-on-Labs interface with HTML5 console access instead of RDP-via-ActiveX

Available at many more sites

Network Performance test available if poor performance is reported

paste-into-kit available to scrape from the manual

can see manual (scenarios) and console at the same time

Can resize/relocate manual to fix candidate preference

Access to the consoles of all VMs – however function keys are disabled so you can’t log into most of them at this time.

Key points:

$100

27 questions

4 hours no time extensions

Kit components:

Win2k12 for jumpbox/DC/NFS/etc

Win 2k12 for VUM

seven ESXi hosts (6.0.0)

two VCSA (6.0.0)

one iSCSI appliance

vVol appliance

Four networks

172.20.10.x management/primary

172.20.11.x “production a”

172.20.12.x vMotion

172.20.111.x “production b”

Tips and tricks:

Read the interface guide

Run through HandsOnLabs especially HOL-CHG-1695 and set your screen to 1024×768 to practice optimizing the environment.

Note that right-click, Control, Alt and Function keys are blocked in the exam so get used to menu options and other workarounds.

Use the Windows On-Screen Keyboard to get around these limitations:



Don’t skip around in the exam until you’ve attempted all of the questions. Note that skipping around is *far* easier with the new interface.

That said, skip the items you need the PDFs or html doc links until you’ve done the ones you know.

Good luck!!