I've been wondering what VMware was going to do with the VCP track now that VI3 has been released.  I've been asking and trying to find information, but haven't really come across much that was useful.  That is until Damian Murdoch from OZ VMS dot com posted his latest article.

He says:

At VMWare TSX in Sydney this year, there was a presentation on the VCP certification and where it was headed. This information included how to upgrade the certification, how to get a new certification and how VMWare plans to keep the value of the VMWare Certified Professional program. Seeing as there was not much information on the internet about this, I thought I would summarise the knowledge from this session for people who need or want to know.

VMWare Certified Professionals are people who have completed a training course on VMWare and passed an examination. The value of this certification is currently very high and VMWare hopes to keep it that way. The worst fear is that a certification program becomes a paper certification, and the steps that VMWare are taking to stop this is excellent. The first thing is that in order to do the exam you need to have paid for a professionally run VMWare course. Many people will tell you different things about the exam as well, some people say it is hard and others say it is easy. It is all about skill and knowledge and is definately targeted at the right difficulty level.

To get the current VCP certification on ESX 2.x you need to attend the ESX Server 2 and VirtualCenter 1 Course. You then need to pass the *current* VCP exam, which will no longer be available after December 31st 2006. If you want to gain certification in Virtual Infrastructure 3 and you are currently certified you need to pass the VCP on VI3 exam. There is an upgrade or "what's new" course for current VCP's but this course is not a requirement. What if you have done the ESX 2 course but not got the certification ? Then you need to sit the upgrade or "whats new" course and pass the exam, this is the only situation where the "whats new" course is a requirement.  If you are not currently certified and you want to be certified on VI3 then you will need to sit the VI3 course and pass the VI3 exam.

The VCP certification on VI3 is also tested on different categories than it was on the old VCP certification. They have dropped sections like "Understand VMWare products" and "Differentiate between VMWare products". An unconfirmed list of objectives tested is listed below. The new exam should be available soon, the initial estimate was 12 weeks after the VI3 release.

Check out the entire article, here.