The layout and content are well-presented, with just the right amount of screenshots.  The text itself is full of practice questions, but the book also includes a 75-question practice exam on CD-ROM that lets you really test your readiness.

To be clear, it will take a lot more than simply reading this book to earn your VCP4.  For starters, a week of instructor-led training is required.  In addition to that, serious hands-on time installing, configuring, and using vSphere is mandatory if you expect to pass the exam.

Whenever someone asks me how to get started preparing for VMware certification, I typically direct them to Simon Long’s excellent compilation of resources.  The new VCP4 Exam Cram book is another great supplement and highly recommended!

You may also be interested in the recent review by Jason Boche.

Ten Copies to Give Away!

VCP4 Exam Cram is published by Pearson, and they are kind enough to give away 10 copies of this valuable resource to VCritical readers.  This will be a simple contest, with two ways to win.

1. Leave a comment on this post Five winners will be randomly selected and notified via email.
2. Follow me (@eric_gray) on Twitter Five new followers will be randomly selected and notified via Twitter direct message.

Fine print:  Contest ends February 23 at 11:59 p.m. PST.  Winners must respond by February 25 at 11:59 PST or prize will be forfeited.  US residents only.

Related posts:

1. vComeback Contest: Microsoft Cloud Power Billboard
2. vComeback Contest Winners! [Microsoft Cloud Power]
3. Book Review: Maximum vSphere
4. Book Review: VMware VI and vSphere SDK

For those in a hurry, here is the executive summary: buy the book, it is an excellent practical guide and reference.

The cover promises Tips, How-Tos, and Best Practices for Working with VMware vSphere 4 — and the Maximum vSphere delivers on all counts.

vSphere accommodates a wide range of business requirements and therefore often provides various ways to meet those different needs.  Siebert uses a consistent approach throughout to clearly organize and present options faced when making decisions; storage technologies, networking hardware, monitoring tools, and many other areas are examined — clearly articulating advantages and disadvantages of one choice over another so readers can better understand broader implications.

One of the first things that I noticed, and liked, was the robust table of contents in addition to a useful index.  When using a reference like this, it is always better to be able to quickly locate applicable sections.

The overall flow of the book is great — but I suspect that most readers will skip around and focus on specific areas of interest.  Interestingly, Siebert did not start out with a long, drawn-out tutorial on installation in chapter one.  Instead, he chose to describe what is new in vSphere 4 — very useful for VI3 administrators looking to get up to speed quickly.  Don’t fret, installation and upgrade do receive ample coverage later in the book.

It was interesting to see a large section at the end devoted to building your own vSphere lab — very useful for experimenting and learning the features.  Siebert even discusses one of the very popular topics here at VCritical, running ESX on ESX.

Siebert covers the whole range of VMware vSphere, from ESX and ESXi to vCenter Server to vShield Zones and beyond.  My impression is that even the most virtualized vSphere administrator would learn a few things from Maximum vSphere.

Unfortunately, there is a serious error on page 31:  it’s Elastic Sky, not Electric Sky.  How that passed technical review, we may never know.

At well under 400 pages, Maximum vSphere is not huge by technology-book standards — but it is chock full of content, especially considering the conservative use of product screen shots.  Check it out.

Disclaimer: The publisher provided a review copy of the book, but did not influence the content of this article.

Related posts:

1. Book Review: VMware VI and vSphere SDK
2. Book Review: VCP4 Exam Cram [Giveaway!]
3. VMware vSphere 4.1 – the best virtualization platform yet
4. Responsible Thin Provisioning in VMware vSphere

VMware VI and vSphere SDK: Managing the VMware Infrastructure and vSphere by Steve Jin is a new book that offers something for a variety of VMware techies.

Steve Jin is the creator of the VI Java API, an open-source alternative to the official VMware SDK that overcomes some of the challenges of the native Web Services interface.  The primary advantage of the VI Java API is improved productivity due to a serious reduction in code — up to 70 percent.  Plus, it gives developers object-oriented programming and compile-time type checking not offered in Web Services.  But don’t mistake this API for an performance-degrading wrapper — it actually performs better than the two official VMware Java SDKs!

Even for non-developer types, it is quite easy to kick the tires — just download the Eclipse IDE for Java, the VI Java API, some sample code like PrintInventory.java, and fire it up.  This tutorial is helpful to get the project set up correctly.

As for the VI SDK, system administrators do not need to even read a line of code to benefit from this book.  Taking time to understand the ways in which various components interact and function will improve the overall understanding of a VMware vSphere environment — not to mention troubleshooting methodologies.

On the other hand, those managing VMware vSphere with the PowerCLI may encounter limitations from time to time that necessitate interacting with the SDK instead of the excellent PowerShell cmdlets.  Doing so is not for the faint of heart — LucD recently elucidated this process.  Therefore, even if you never intend to write a single line of VI Java API code, gaining a better appreciation of the VI SDK may just help you with your PowerCLI scripts.

If you have made VMware part of your career, it makes sense to consider this one for your bookshelf.  Also check out Duncan Epping’s review.

Disclaimer: The publisher provided a review copy of the book, but did not influence the content of this article.

Related posts:

1. Book Review: Maximum vSphere
2. Book Review: VCP4 Exam Cram [Giveaway!]
3. Register a LUN full of VMs with PowerCLI
4. What’s New (and What’s Vapor) in SCVMM 2008