VCP-DW 2021 Study Guide

A Study Guide for the VCP-DW 2021 (2V0-61.20)

Backstory

In complete transparency it’s been a long journey for me down the Digital Workspace road to VCP-DW. I have a deep background in EUC, but was heavily focused on all things Horizon. About 2 years ago I saw the shift taking place that was putting a greater focus on providing users secure access to their corporate applications and data regardless of location and device. Yes, the Any/Any/Any story we hear so often from VMware. What interested me was how do we actually provide secure access for “Any” device. This meant stepping out of my datacenter comfort zone and learning more about device management. Plus I loved the idea of not being dependent on Active Directory and the classic management tools. Modern Management for the win!

I quickly learned I needed to gain a better understanding of user Identity. Being rather focused on VMware products it made sense to start digging into Workspace ONE Access first. Plus it works with Horizon so easier for me to tie concepts together. It was fun, but a lot of new concepts. Workspace ONE covers a broad technology base even though it’s mostly two main VMware products. It’s not for the faint of heart. You need some understanding of Windows and even Mac/iOS/Android if those are platforms you plan to work with in WS1. For the exam you don’t need to be an expert. There’s also a lot of security wrapped into the WS1 solution, from managing user access and authentication, to device posture, and even corporate resources via the UAG. My goal quickly became to obtain my VCP-DW, and establish a baseline for my knowledge. This took longer than expected.

Assumptions

I’m going to assume that you are here because you already know the basics and have the same goal of obtaining your VCP-DW as I did. Since I finally passed the VCP-DW 2020 a few week ago I’m hoping my experience may help someone else pursuing theirs.

I will also assume you are familiar with how the VCP and overall VMware certification process works. If not please check out their website for details.

Where to Start

Always start with the VMware Education Website for the latest requirements and certification details. I took and passed the VCP-DW 2020 on Dec 30th and now the test is referred to as the VCP-DW 2021. As far as I can tell the test itself did not change. The exam code is the same and the blueprint was not changed, except for the date. This aligns with VMware’s new approach to VCPs being tied to a year. Please keep an eye on the blueprint or if they release a new version of the exam. They do a good job of listing both if and when there are two exams. I experienced this earlier in 2020 with the VCP when they made a major re-write to it.

Depending on whether you already hold a VCP or not will determine whether you need to take a corresponding training course. The courses can be helpful, especially if you don’t have experience with Workspace ONE (WS1). I had the opportunity to take the Deploy and Manage course as an introductory to WS1. The VCP-DW Overview Page will have the latest courses that qualify, if required or just of interest for you.

Next familiarize yourself with the Exam Guide (blueprint). These are invaluable for any VMware exam because they outline all the topics. The part to pay attention to is the section labelled “Sections Included in this Exam” so that when it comes time to study you focus on the most important material. Of course if your day job depends on you being a true DW expert you may want to become competent in all of the sections outlined.

Once you have an idea of the topics it’s time to study!

VCP Study Time

There are many ways to study for an exam so what worked for me may not work for you. I’d love to hear other strategies as I’m always learning better ways to absorb and apply knowledge. If you have zero experience with WS1 skip this section and dive into the Practice section below or I’d recommend taking a course mentioned above.

Getting Organized

I like to have a list of topics or features that I need to focus on. Sometimes I mark up the blueprint noting which topics I already know vs the areas I need to review. Sometimes I use my whiteboard to make a list of the topics taken from the blueprint, and then mark them off as I gain confidence in each area. With the VCP-DW I found it helpful to mark which areas I wanted to try in a lab environment vs areas I just needed to research(Review). An example of this was creating device policies in UEM was easier to grasp by creating a policy and seeing the effects of various settings, vs with SAML I needed to watch a few videos where people explained it.

It’s nothing revolutionary or fancy, but here’s one page of how I got started.

Hands On Practice

I find applying the skills within the products is how I determine my comfort level. Sometimes it’s the only way I learn. This means getting hands on with the products and installing them, configuring, breaking them, troubleshooting, and hopefully resolving those issues! It’s common to have question on the exam around specific configurations that are much easier to answer if you’ve familiarized yourself with the GUI. You don’t have to go crazy memorizing where every option is, but perform common tasks to get a feel for life as an admin in the tools.

How to Get Hands On

Dedicated Lab

Maybe you have a home lab or a lab environment at work where you can safely deploy and start configuring the various Workspace ONE components. This may be the most flexible option.

VMware Hands On Labs (HOL)

The next best thing to an open lab environment is to use VMware Hands on Labs. They are 100% free. Here you can find the Workspace ONE related labs. Below are two labs I used.

HOL-2151-01-DWS – This lab has a lot of Horizon Modules, but I would focus on Module 5 and 6. They give you a brief walkthrough of Workspace ONE Access and this can be helpful for anyone with a Horizon background starting down the WS1 Access path. 

HOL-2151-09-DWS – This is a great lab covering Workspace ONE UEM and covers an overview of the major device types, as well as an intro to Intelligent Hub and Hub Services, Intelligence and the UAG.

Sometimes just the HOL Lab Guides can be helpful to review or reference for your own lab. You can find them here.

The best part about HOLs is that you are not restricted from doing things outside the lab guide. Sometimes I’ll fire one up and just start creating my own UEM device policies to become familiar with the options. You’re free to do what you’d like in your small HOL environment during the allocated timeframe. The only downside is you can’t keep it forever so plan some time and knock out a few items on your list. Then request the lab again another day and you’ll have a clean environment to start practicing in again.

Another option for VMware Employees or VMware Partners is to utilize VMware TestDrive. When I was first learning Workspace ONE I spent most of my time in TestDrive. Plus with the sandbox environment you can persist your changes and even tie the SaaS environment to your own lab. 😉

I ended up using a combination of all of these. I have a home lab, but to save time and resources I leveraged some components within VMware TestDrive and the HOLs.

Final Review

After I’ve become familiar with the products and done basic configuration, probably an install or two, I review my Study Outline created from the Exam Guide. Hopefully I can check a few items off the list as feeling confident about, but typically there are topics I need to dig deeper on. With the VCP-DW I found I needed to dig into authentication methods and really understand the services provided by the various components. I also wanted to dig into the UAG, EMM, and Tunnel Services a bit more. So this was when I turned to documentation and videos. I typically review documentation in the week leading up to a test to refresh my knowledge on concepts and details that I struggled with. This helps it be fresh for me. I’ll share some of the ones I used below.

VMware TechZone

TechZone is one of my favorite places to get VMware info because there is so much and it’s constantly being updated. They have docs, white papers, and videos with a large focus on Workspace ONE. I highly recommend spending time on TechZone when studying or just in general. Almost all the information you need to pass the exam can be found here if you spend the time.

I specifically reviewed the Architecture Documents on TechZone.

Videos

Between TechZone and the VMware EUC YouTube channel there is a lot of great video content. From concepts to installs. Here are a few I watched leading up to the exam.

VMware Workspace ONE Access: Identity Providers – Feature Walkthrough

Architecting Workspace ONE: The Official Reference Architecture

VMware Workspace ONE UEM: Windows 10 Modern Management

VMware Workspace ONE Access: SAML Web Applications

Official Documentation

Can’t forget the official docs. I typically search through these for specific details or min/max type values.

VMware Workspace ONE Documentation

VCP-DW Test Time

Not much to say here. If you’ve prepared and feel confident in all the topics outlined on the exam blueprint you should be good to go.

I’ll leave you with a few notes from my exam experience. Please keep in mind exam questions are pulled form a pool of questions. That means my experience may not be an accurate representation of what questions you will receive. Be sure to focus on the latest exam guide and spend some time in the products.

• Think of some Administrative scenarios and run through them in a lab environment if you can. If not find some videos that walk through them.
• Understanding the basics of SAML and authentication within Workspace ONE Access is key. 3rd party IDP configuration.
• Understanding the difference between the AirWatch Cloud Connector and the Access Connectors. There’s more here than it initially seems so I would make sure you understand how to install them, dependencies, various HA options, and how to troubleshoot communication.
• Similar to the connectors it’s good to have an understanding of the SEG, UAG, Tunnel Services, content gateway, and Proxy options.
• One piece I overlooked was reporting and what can be done within Workspace ONE UEM as well as Intelligence. It is on the exam guide.
• Run through some troubleshooting scenarios to gain familiarity with the logs and the locations for each of the components. Think basic troubleshooting, such as users/groups not syncing or a device/user cannot connect or launch an app, etc.
• User Permissions within the products. I often overlook this in a lab environment, but it can be on the test.

I’d love to hear about other tips and tricks or how your exam experience goes so feel free to leave comments or reach out on twitter.

Good Luck and thank you for reading!