Category: Certification

Veeam Certified Architect 2022 – Achieved & Unlocked

 

It took two tries, but I completed the Veeam Certified Architect (VMCA) certification exam.  While taking it twice was not my ideal way to pass the exam, I found the newest version of the exam much easier to handle, including the setup and much better than the initial exam release for v1.  Below are my thoughts on the exam itself and things you can prepare before you book it.

Training Requirements

If you are new to Veeam exams, there is a requirement for taking the courses before you site the exams for both VMCE and VMCA.  While I had the VMCAv1 already, and I didn’t need to sit in the class, I did nonetheless.  I am thrilled I sat the course as it was a complete overhaul of the v1 course and a much better way to learn is primarily hands-on.   You can read my course review here –

Veeam Certified Architect 2022 – Course Review

Further, each is now a “versioned” exam for each year – in this case, VMCA 2022, with versioning done on an annual basis.  Each exam will need to be independently renewed.  As long as you pass each year, you will not be required to retake the class to upgrade, but if you miss a year, you will need to retake the course.  This process can be challenging for many, and paying for each class and exam can hit the wallet if your company does not.

That said, if you are like me, you may have employer requirements to maintain the credential, so this is for you.  Where I work, we are a Pro Partner and VASP Platinum.  You can find us on the VCSP Reseller Ready website – VCSP Reseller Ready Companies

My VMCA Journey

I have worked with Veeam for close to 10 years now, and as I got deeper into the program, I started looking at certification.  My first attempt at a Veeam certification was on the VCMEv9 one, which took me two tries to pass as well.  Once I got past that, I started to look at the VMCA side of things on how it could help me do the Architecture components and design a new solution for my company.  Here comes the v1 course, which I took back in the Summer/Fall of 2019 and was able to write the exam and pass on the first try.  The exam for VMCA went better than the VMCE exam that I wrote on the same version.

The exam was very heavy on memorizing formulas for things like Proxy and Repository configurations and how you arrive at the CPU/RAM values.  This was much harder than the current VMCA 2022 course and exam, which was not the case.

Starting in 2021, Veeam retooled the course to be more approachable and more hands-on, working with classmates to develop all the input and designs needed.  The course was not heavy on lecture but rather hands-on working on an actual case study scenario to help you collect all the data.  I work at ThinkOn Inc., where I am now the Lead Infrastructure Architect doing all our Datacenter designs and documentation.  This course fitted right into my role and was something I am glad that I took before writing the exam.

The Exam Methodology

While the VMCE exam is multiple-choice based and requires your knowledge of the Veeam products, the VMCA exam gets based on a single scenario similar to the class.  There are more than one of these, so if you have to retake, it won’t be the same, so don’t bother with trying to memorize any of the questions or answers; however, in my case, I did happen to get the same case study which I found odd.  Also, the practice exam found in the Veeam LoChoice site will not be part of the exam either, so use that as just practice.  The exam itself is split-screen, and the scenario is broken up into several tabs (5) and will always be present on the left side of your screen as you take the exam to refer back to it as needed for questions.  I recommend for those questions that you have a more challenging time with refer back to the case study and use the Find feature (CTRL+F) for quick searches.

Even though the case study is available as you progress through the exam, be sure to take the first 10-20 minutes to read through the entire thing.  Hence, you understand what they are looking for, especially the Business and Technical Requirement tabs.

Once you get through the scenario, there will be 40 multiple choice questions that all relate to the case study, but one thing to note directly from the exam guide notes –

This makes taking the exam slightly easier where each question you get asked is irrelevant to the previous one, so you don’t have to worry if you got the last wrong question making the current question harder – that is not the case as noted!

Preparation

As noted above, you can read my course review on my blog, but I highly recommend taking the course before the exam as it helps to cement the foundation of what being a VMCA means and how to think through the process.

For my preparation, I completed the following –

  • Reviewed the Exam Guide as it outlines things like the number of questions and the part about each not being related to the other
  • Reviewed my course notes, and you get a completed Word document at the end with all the answers to each part of the lab with the scenario, which is invaluable
  • Completed the practice test on the Veeam LoChoice website several times
  • Reviewed the questions with Rasmus Haslund (@haslund) on his YouTube channel, which he shared from the practice test – he walks through each question, and it is not the answer to the question that is the most valuable; it is how he looks at the question, relates it to the scenario and then goes through the answers to help select the correct ones –> This was probably my most valuable asset after failing the first time by only a couple questions was to review his YouTube channel – A MUST!!!

Rasmus YouTube channel for VMCA 2022 review – Rasmus Haslund – VMCA 2022 Question Review

Rasmus also does excellent review exams for the VMCE 2021 exam as well which you can find on his website – VMCE 2021 Practice Exams – Rasmus Haslund

Another highly recommended resource you consider is the Veeam Best Practices guide – Veeam Best Practices.  This content is created and managed by the Veeam Solutions Architecture group.  It is exceptional for understanding how you need to consider things both for the scope of this exam but also for right-sizing and designing your environment.

Conclusion

While the VMCA (or even VMCE, for that matter) is not for those who want to get another credential to add to your list, you need to have the skills and hands-on with Veeam to pass these challenging exams.  But if you are looking to work with Veeam daily, I highly recommend at least the VMCE 2021, and if you are an Architect doing designs or customer implementations with Veeam, then taking the VMCA 2022 will help you on your journey.  I also cannot say enough about taking the course, which should be a MUST for anyone looking to go the route of VMCA.  And last but not least – take the practice test and review Rasmus’s YouTube channel for the VMCA 2022 questions as it will prove to be invaluable as it was for me.

Veeam Certified Architect 2022 – Course Review

 

I was able to sit the VMCA2022 course on Thursday, October 7th and Friday, October 8th.  The course was taken through HPE Learning and is a two-day course.  The course is the entire day for the duration and is jam-packed with great content and labs.  My instructor was George Vish II and he was extremely great with the course teaching.

Overview:

The course takes you through the new “Design Methodology” of Veeam and covers the following topics –

  • Discovery
  • Conceptual Design
  • Logical Design
  • Physical/Tangible Design
  • Implementation & Governance
  • Validation and Iteration

The course is a mix of both lecture and lab work using the Veeam Activity Guide document which lays out the methodology, Architecture principles, the Scenario you work on and all the required details including questions with answers and charts that you fill in.

You are taught in the Discovery phase how to get things like –

  • Requirements
  • Security Requirements
  • Constraints
  • Assumptions
  • Risks
  • Other Information pertinent to the project

Labs – Group Work

During the labs (well technically not hands-on with Veeam itself) you work in groups to fill out the charts in the document for each phase of your Scenario given.  You populate all the information regarding discovery, sizing, etc.  You also use some calculators that are recommended by Veeam –

These two sites come in handy for calculations. The other great thing with the document you use is that they have links that take you to the Wolfram Alpha site with example calculations so you just need to change the values to what is relevant to your scenario – pretty slick!

As you work through the document, each person took the lead for a section so that you can get input from everyone in the group and fill in the charts, data, etc.   I was lucky as the class I was in was just three students so we all worked in one group and the instructor joined for questions and acted as the customer in the scenario if we had more questions or needed a nudge/hint for things. :smiley:

Overall

If any of you are thinking about doing the VMCA2022 exam I could not recommend enough taking this course before you do.  It is truly amazing the work that has gone into this one compared to the older VMCA and I know @haslund has done tremendous work too with the course content.

I can truly say that this has helped me better understand how Veeam can and should be architected which I will bring to my role at work.  Along with the great document that you get a copy of with all the answers including the links to the calculation sites, recommendations, etc. makes this invaluable.

All I can say is take the course as you won’t be disappointed at all!!

:sunglasses:

VMCE-ADO – My Exam Review & Tips

To round out 2019, I was able to sit the VMCE-A1 exam on December 20, 2019, and managed to pass it on my first try with 83%.

The VMCE-A1: Design & Optimization V1 (VMCE-A1) exam is the second requirement to acquire the Veeam Certified Architect (VMCA) designation after you have taken the VMCE-A: Design & Optimization V1 training. Compared to the VMCE exam, it is more costly (USD 300) as it’s also a higher level of exam.

The exam must be taken at a Pearson VUE local testing facility with a time of 70 minutes and an additional 30 minutes if your native language is not English.

This exam includes 40 randomized questions from each of the course modules:

1. Design and sizing
2. Infrastructure assessment
3. Security
4. Optimization
5. Automation
6. Audit and compliance
7. Troubleshooting

ALL the Veeam Availability Suite™ is covered, so expect many questions on Veeam ONE.

The exam itself is not similar to the VMware VCAP design type exams. With this exam, the questions are all multiple choice with some items requiring more than one answer (which noted on each question – number of responses needed). Each question is less than 2 minutes to answer based on the time, but this is not something to be concerned about if prepared well.

The VMCE-A1 exam pass gets awarded to those who score 70% or higher. With many questions being multiple choice it used to be that you got one answer wrong, you failed the entire question. Well, that is not the case now as you can be awarded partial marks for questions even if you have to pick 2-3 answers and get 1-2 wrong. This partial marking now makes things somewhat easier to help you in passing the exam.

How to Prepare?

Everything comes from the course material! Including the textbook and handouts, which are the most crucial things to read over (more than once).

For the troubleshooting section – there are examples of log files (pay attention to these) and also throughout the textbook are references to KB articles on the Veeam website. Also, be sure to check out and read over the Best Practices website as well – [link]

For the Design & Sizing section – be sure to note down the formulas from the textbook/handouts as they will come in handy for the exam. If you can memorize them, my first suggestion when sitting down for the exam is to write them down on the dry erase board given by the testing center (take the Tutorial on the exam at the beginning – hint).

Infrastructure Assessment, as well as Audit & Compliance sections – these sections are the ones that take in to account Veeam ONE. Complete a review of the reports as well as what they are for, what they contain, etc.  These things will help with this section of the exam.

Be aware that most people are very familiar with VMware, but for this exam, Hyper-V is very much a part of it. If you know one or the other very well, be sure to brush up and read over the sections that relate to the Hypervisor you are not as familiar. In my case, I reviewed the Hyper-V sections and information more thoroughly than VMware.

The course taken was based on v9.5 of the products and was online through Global Knowledge. The instructor was – Chris Huss, who was excellent. Also, Global Knowledge records the classes for you to watch them later, which I highly recommend as well since most instructors will point out things that “might” be on the exam.

My last tip is this, which helped me allot on the exam – if there is a question you are unsure of, then mark it for review, even if you think you know the answer. Then when done, the exam review only the marked ones, and if you have time, do a full review of all questions. This process is how I completed my exam as I was done all the questions in about 30 minutes or so, then went back to review the “Marked” ones only and finally did a full review of all questions to be sure. I finished with about 2 minutes to go and let the time expire.

So to be fully prepared –

1. Take the course at a recommended training facility or online
2. Read the textbook several times – CRITICAL
3. Read the handouts several times and make notes as there is room for this if printed
4. Review the noted KB articles in both the textbook and handouts
5. Go through the Best Practice website – [URL]
6. Ensure you know the formulas for anything and everything
7. Relax and have fun with the exam as it is not as stressful as you would think

Drop me a line if you have any other questions or to let me know how your exam went. Best of luck to all that challenge and take the exam. #Veeam #VMCE-ADO #VeeamVanguard