In August 2018 I’ve passed the VCAP6-DCV Deployment exam. After a busy first half of 2019 it’s time to start preparing the VMware Certified Advanced Professional — Data Center Virtualization Design 2019 exam. But I lost focus and in 2020 I had a lot to do – but not VMW related and so I also missed my goal to take the VCAP-DCV Design exam.
I have to push myself, so I decided to re-cap my half finished blog series to get myself back on track.
There are many great study guides out there, but in most cases I need “my own study guide” to feel well prepared. I hope this blog series will keep me on track, and I stay focused. This is my third try to prepare for this exam… :/

In opposite to the Deploy exam, the Design exam is a MC exam. 130 Minutes for 60 questions. Sounds easy, but it’s told that it’s one of the hardest exams available by VMware.
The exam consists of three sections:
- Section 1 – Create a vSphere 6.5 Conceptual Design
- Section 2 – Create a vSphere 6.x Logical Design from an Existing Conceptual Design
- Section 3 – Create a vSphere 6.x Physical Design from an Existing Logical Design
Each section contains several objects.
- Objective 1.1 – Gather and analyze business requirements
- Objective 1.2 – Gather and analyze application requirements
- Objective 1.3 – Determine risks, requirements, constraints, and assumptions
- Objective 2.1 – Map business requirements to a vSphere 6.x logical design
- Objective 2.2 – Map service dependencies
- Objective 2.3 – Build availability requirements into a vSphere 6.x logical design
- Objective 2.4 – Build manageability requirements into a vSphere 6.x logical design
- Objective 2.5 – Build performance requirements into a vSphere 6.x logical design
- Objective 2.6 – Build recoverability requirements into a vSphere 6.x logical design
- Objective 2.7 – Build security requirements into a vSphere 6.x logical design
- Objective 3.1 – Transition from a logical design to a vSphere 6.x physical design
- Objective 3.2 – Create a vSphere 6.x physical network design from an existing logical design
- Objective 3.3 – Create a vSphere 6.x physical storage design from an existing logical design
- Objective 3.4 – Determine appropriate computer resources for a vSphere 6.x physical design
- Objective 3.5 – Determine virtual machine configuration for a vSphere 6.x physical design
- Objective 3.6 – Determine data center management options for a vSphere 6.x physical design
I will try to cover each objective in a blog post and add a link here. Feel free to add comments, corrections and questions. :) The already added links link to already written blog posts, but I will revise the alreay posted blog posts.
Leave a comment if you have questsions. :)
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Looking forward to follow your progress Patrick!
I started my journey to study for the VCAP-DCV Design yesterday, while I’m waiting for the results of a corrupt Deploy exam :)
Thanks for your comment. My Deploy Exam was pretty flawless, so I hope you will get your PASS pretty soon. :)
Hello,
I am starting to prepare for the Design Exam but i am confused where to start !! regarding the plenty of books available … Can you suggest where do i start ?
thank you
Check the exam prep guide for the desired exam. Beide this, I would prefer blog posts and the official VMW docs.
Hi Patrick, I am in the process of studying for the VCAP-DCV Design certification, I am reading your blog and I find it interesting. I see that from point 2.5 there is no link, could you share it?
Unfortunately I stopped studying for this exam due to less time and focus shift on O365/ Azure. :(