Is the VCAP-CMA Design Worth It?

The VCAP-CMA Design certification (VMware Certified Advanced Professional Cloud Management and Automation Design) validates your skills in designing and integrating vRealize Automation 7.2 solutions. It is aimed at IT professionals who work in large enterprise environments with VMware infrastructure.

We want to delve into the details and examine how the VCAP-CMA Design could be used in your IT journey to certification. Check out VMware's website for a full rundown of the exam objectives. 

What is VCAP-CMA Design?

The VCAP-CMA Design is a certification that validates your knowledge and skills in VMware cloud management and automation design. It covers conceptual design principles that you can formulate based on customer requirements.

Earning it means you can transform your knowledge into practical advice directly applicable to the VMware range of services. You will become familiar with logical design and developing an architectural solution into a physical design.

To pass the exam, you must have the required knowledge to design and create solutions for items such as:

• vRealize Orchestrator

• vRealize Operations

• vRealize Business for Cloud

• vRealize Log Insight

• NSX

You must also understand public and private cloud infrastructure and design models such as multi-tenancy, governance, and compliance. You should have at least five years of IT-related experience and preferably at least two years of experience designing an enterprise cloud with VMware vRealize Automation, as per VMware's best practice policies.

To successfully complete this exam, you must have earned a VMware Certified Professional certification, as per the VCAP7-CMA Design exam blueprint.

What Does the VCAP-CMA Design Test?

The following sections are required to learn for the exam. Successful candidates must understand each of the eight sections outlined below.

• Section 1 – Create a vRealize Automation Conceptual Design

• Section 2 – Create a vRealize Automation Logical Design

• Section 3 – Design a vRealize Automation Management Infrastructure

• Section 4 – Design vRealize Automation Tenants

• Section 5 – Create a vRealize Automation Resource Design

• Section 6 – Create a vRealize Automation Blueprint Design

• Section 7 – Complete an Extensibility Design

• Section 8 – Complete a Catalog Design

Section 1: Create a vRealize Automation Conceptual Design

Section 1 covers information gathering and the analysis of business requirements. You must understand how to cater to a client's needs using the VMware products you have learned about. You will also learn how to gather use case information to compare your model with it. You must understand differentiating requirements, risks, constraints, and assumptions.

Section 2: Create a vRealize Automation Logical Design

Section 2 deals with business requirement mapping, as well as the Logical design of vSphere products. You are also required to know how to map service dependencies and the availability requirements for the Logical design. You must know how to build availability requirements into the Logical design, manageability requirements, and Performance requirements. You must also understand the recoverability and security requirements of the Logical design.

Section 3: Design a vRealize Automation Management Infrastructure

Section 3 covers all aspects of designing a vRealize automation management infrastructure system. These include vRealize automation deployment characteristics and designing the automation backup system for a vRealize system. You will also need to understand how to incorporate additional products and tools into a vRealize automation design.

Section 4: Design vRealize Automation Tenants

Section 4 covers vRealize design for automation tenants. You will need to determine use cases for multi-tenancy and identify sources to allow for a secure tenancy design. You must use an authentication method that fits the client's requirements and assign system-wide and tenant-specific roles based on administrative functions. You must know how to represent an organization structure with business groups and be able to identify a notification design based on requirements.

Section 5: Create a vRealize Automation Resource Design

Section 5 covers items related to creating a vRealize automation resource design. You must provide an Endpoint design, a compute resource design, a fabric group design, a provider network profile design, and finally, a reservation design.

Section 6: Create a vRealize Automation Blueprint Design

Section 6 requires that you understand how to create a vRealize automation blueprint design. This includes providing a custom property and IaaS blueprint design and evaluating XaaS capability for use with a given design.

Section 7: Complete an Extensibility Design

Section 7 deals with how to complete an extensibility design. You must address functional requirements that can’t be delivered through a default functionality. This means that you must understand how to complete your extensibility design. Finally, you will need to design an event broker integration.

Section 8: Complete a Catalog Design

Section 8 covers items relating to catalog design. The items included are purposely omitted entitlements needed for a given design and the approval policy requirements for equipment design.        

How Much Does the VCAP-CMA Exam Cost?

The VCAP-CMA exam will cost about $450 to take. It has 70 items and a passing score of 300 using a scale method. You will be given approximately 135 minutes, which includes time to complete the exam for non-English speakers.

What Experience Do You Need for the VCAP-CMA Design?

You should have VCP-CMA certification to take this exam, but it's not required. You should also have at least five years of IT experience, with at least two years of experience related to the cloud and VMware disciplines. VMware has also outlined what a minimally qualified candidate should look like within the exam objective document, which we have linked above.

Who Should Take the VCAP-CMA Design Exam?

IT professionals who already work within a VMware environment and have experience maintaining and managing cloud infrastructure should consider taking this exam. As stated above, candidates should have at least five years of IT-related experience, with two of those years focused on cloud environments.

You should also have completed the VCP-CMA certification, the prerequisite for writing the VCAP-CMA. The exam will set you apart from your peers because it is an advanced certification.

It deals with many design elements and automation functionality that advanced cloud engineer roles often require. If you are looking to get started in this line of work, you may find that there are better-suited entry-level certifications to help you build towards this level of expertise.

VCAP-CMA Design for Cloud Solutions Engineers

If you already work with VMware Cloud (VMC) infrastructure as a cloud engineer, then this could just be your certification. The main focus of this exam is the design and implementation of a cloud platform and the system's daily maintenance and upkeep. This means that if you want to earn yourself a more senior role with more decision-making responsibilities, then taking this exam is a good choice.

The exam also covers many elements you would expect to encounter when consulting with clients, management, and decision-makers within an organization. That is not to say that the certification lacks technical aspects.

This certification has many practical applications, such as Automation, High Availability and Security, Disaster Recovery, and Redundancy. Due to the exam prerequisites, you should already have your VCP-CMA before attempting this certification. Salaries for this role range from $61,000 to $135,000, according to payscale.com

VCAP-CMA Design for Cloud Solutions Architects

If you are already providing solutions for clients and management, this could be an excellent certification path for you, especially if you want to expand into the VMware universe of cloud-based products. You will need to complete the prerequisites to write this exam. The exam will not only teach you new skills if you are lacking in any specific areas, but it also works as an effective way to verify and validate your current skills.

Whether you are already in this role or aspiring to become a cloud solutions architect, you will be interested in the earnings of such a role. Qualified Cloud Solutions Architects can expect to earn more than non-qualified ones, which is another reason to seriously consider getting certified. Salaries for this role range from $82,000 up to $143,000, according to glassdoor.com

Is the VCAP-CMA Design Worth it?

The VCAP-CMA Design is worth pursuing, especially if you want to either validate your skills or learn new ones. The exam focuses on many of the key items that you will need to further your career.

Using the VCAP-CMA Design to Learn Skills

This advanced exam is aimed at already knowledgeable candidates but can still teach new skills and key concepts. You will learn how to turn client requirements into fully-fledged systems that can deliver secure, scalable solutions that a modern business can run from within the cloud.

Using the VCAP-CMA Design to Validate Skills

For those already in the design space, this exam offers great value as a validation certification. It shows that you not only understand how to design and build solutions that work but also that you understand how to adhere to VMware's best practices and standards. This advanced certification from VMware will give you the recognition needed to differentiate yourself from an increasingly competitive cloud-skill-based job market.