This VMware certification exam was officially named the VMware Cloud Foundation Specialist and highlights what the candidates should know regarding the planning and execution of the VCF bring-up process as well as the right use and configuration of the VMware Cloud Foundation product. Therefore, by acing this evaluation, test-takers showcase their ability to work with cloud solutions which in turn qualifies them for the VMware Certified Specialist - Cloud Foundation 2021 certificate.

Certification Information and Basic Requirements

This is a specialist certificate that’s all about designing and sizing infrastructure to easily manage critical components as well as workload domains. Therefore, it focuses on the individual’s expertise in deploying, designing, and planning physical networks, using and configuring the VMware Cloud Foundation solution, as well as planning and executing the VCF bring-up process. Thus, as part of the accreditation requirements, candidates are highly encouraged to complete at least one of the following courses before enrolling in this designation:

• VMware Cloud Foundation: Plan and Deploy
• VMware Cloud Foundation: Management and Operations

In addition, you must have received one of the VCP-DCV 2019, VCP-DCV 2020, or VCP-DCV 2021 certifications and have 6-12 months of practical experience with the VMware Cloud Foundation solution.

Revealing the Basic Exam Details

If you have an objective of passing the VMware 5V0-31.20 exam, be prepared to face a 72-item test with a seat time of 130 minutes. However, you will only qualify for the highly coveted VMware Certified Specialist-Cloud Foundation 2021 qualification if you attain the minimum passing score of 300 points.

Regarding the exam enrollment process, candidates can only register for this exam after paying the full exam fee, worth $250 for learners in the USA. Concerning applicants from across the globe, they may consider purchasing an exam voucher at a price that depends on their location.

The VMware 5V0-31.20 Exam objectives

The VMware 5V0-31.20 exam questions will focus on the skills extracted from 7 topics. However, the 5th domain or Performance tuning, Optimization, and Upgrades doesn’t contain any testable skills. Still, VMware recommends that students should aim at mastering everything before they attempt this final test. That’s why you can find out a detailed insight into the remaining domains in the next paragraphs:

Domain 1: Technologies and Architectures (non-VMware Specific)

This exam section features questions that involve solid knowledge of the general steps of the VCF bring-up process, the basic requirements for the VCF deployment, the automation of the deployment of specific components using the VMware Cloud Foundation, and a difference between consolidated architecture and VMware cloud foundation standard.

Domain 2: Products and Solutions

This knowledge area will only test if the exam-takers are well conversant with the key characteristics of vSphere with Tanzu.

Domain 3: Planning and Designing

The domain has the largest number of objectives, meaning it will also contribute to the highest number of questions in the VMware 5V0-31.20 exam. To begin with, this topic will evaluate your ability to identify the most suitable management domain sizing as well as the common sizing tools, the basic requirements associated with component sizing, the possible implications when making crucial design decisions, and the implications related to lifecycle management. What’s more, this knowledge area is focused on the identification of scalability implications, security implications as well as traffic isolation, and those for BGP peer relationships. At the same time, on the final test, you should understand how to detect constraints when you have a case scenario for deploying VMware Cloud Foundation, and how to apply the relevant deployment models associated with VMware Cloud Foundation.

In addition, as a skilled VCF specialist, you should be aware of basic storage options, workload management requirements, deployment process of automated vRealize Suite, network pool configuration, NSX-T use case, and AVNs among others.

Domain 4: Installation, Configuration, and Setup

This domain is exclusively centered on installing, configuring, and setting up the VMware vSphere solutions. Accordingly, it will begin by confirming if a candidate is well conversant with the relevant vSphere distributed switch profile from a deployment scenario, the physical requirements associated with deploying VMware Cloud Foundation, as well as the third-party dependencies for deploying the same product. Furthermore, this knowledge area will verify that test-takers realize the VLAN requirements associated with deploying VMware Cloud Foundation, the identification of host imaging method for a specific case scenario, and the key steps involved in host imaging with VIA service. To sum up, this section will attempt to establish if the aspiring exam candidate has mastered the options for integrating VCF into VMware vCenter Single Sign-On, the software components used to deploy workload domains, the basic steps, and requirements for configuring Namespaces, alongside the core features of permission configuration that available in the vSphere with Tanzu namespaces.

Domain 6: Troubleshooting and Repairing

This question portion will only try to establish if a candidate understands the identification of use cases for general SOS commands for performing health checks or logging bundle operations.

Domain 7: Administrative and Operational tasks

To wrap up, you should master all the operational tasks associated with the steps for user account configuration in VCF, password management for specific VCF components, and the features of pre-defined roles. Also, this section outlines the concepts of managing license keys, creating, scaling, and deleting workload domains, and managing IP inclusions within network pools. Moreover, you should be prepared for questions regarding SDDC Manager backup/restore processes, steps of the right NSX backup configuration, SDDC certificate rotation management, as well as vSphere cluster images.

Your Job Prospects

From the pleasant things, as you follow this accreditation path, the skills you obtain during the VMware 5V0-31.20 exam preparation will readily help you get the roles listed below. In addition, note the figures of average annual salaries obtained from the two most reliable websites such as PayScale and ZipRecruiter.

• Technical Support Engineer ($65,691)
• Service Delivery Engineer ($92,667)
• VMware Engineer ($113,402)
• Cloud Engineer ($128,837)

Certification Path

Since this accreditation exam relates to the Data Center Virtualization accreditation track, you can continue your journey in that direction to develop your VMware vSphere administration skills and choose the following designations:

• VMware Certified Advanced Professional - Data Center Virtualization Design 2021
• VMware Certified Advanced Professional - Data Center Virtualization Deploy 2021