Cloud Computing: A brief history and introduction
As the internet grew and spread far and wide, the demand for data and data storage increased by magnitudes of degrees.
All the petabytes and exabytes of data generated over the internet each second could not possibly be stored on normal physical hard disks in Data Centre Servers. This is where cloud computing took over and brought a solution to all the storage problems.
What exactly is Cloud computing?
Cloud computing can be defined as the immediate availability of computing resources (especially storage and related resources) without direct user intervention. For example, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, etc.
One of the significant components of Cloud computing and the on-demand availability of resources are Servers. For seamless functioning of any cloud-based infrastructure, the servers on which data is hosted have to be available all the time. This is where a service like VMware comes in.
What is VMware?
VMware is a cloud service provider based in Palo Alto, America. VMware was the first company to virtualize the Intel x86 platform successfully. The company was founded in 1998, and ever since, VMware has been arguably considered the pioneer of cloud computing.
Initially, professionals working on VMware tools were scarce and hard to come across.
But, as cloud computing as a platform grew exponentially, careers and professions exclusively focused on VMware technologies also gained traction. That is when VMware certifications were introduced to validate and certify a professional’s skills in their technologies.
VMWare Certifications
There are four major categories of VMware certifications:
1) Data Center Virtualization
2) Network Virtualization
3) Automation and Cloud Management, and
4) Desktop and Mobility
VMWare Certification Levels
In addition to the above categories, VMware has various levels of certification. They are:
- VMware Certified Associate (VCA)
- VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
- VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP)
- VMware Certified Implementation Expert (VCIE), and
- VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDE)
The above certifications cut across the four major categories of VMware Certifications, elaborated above.
There is also a VMware NSX Certification for professionals working in virtual or software-defined network technologies.
Advantages of getting VMware Certified
As cloud computing becomes more and more pervasive across all domains, the importance of giving the VMware foundation exam and getting certified has never been more as it is now.
There are many advantages of getting VMware certified, and they are:
❖ Industry-wide recognition of your knowledge and skills in VMware technologies and products.
❖ More significant opportunities for advancing your career.
❖ VMware Digital Badge that can be used in your resumé and other such documents.
❖ You can also use the VMware Certification Logo in any of your technical documents.
❖ Full access to exclusive VMware portal and merchandise store.
❖ Discounts from VMware Press, and
❖ Admission to all VMware events at highly discounted rates.
Benefits of VMware
Here are the excellent benefits of VMware:
1) Cost benefits: Server virtualization results in lower costs for buying physical server infrastructure, data storage, and related peripheral expenses. This also reduces the energy bills of the organization.
2) Zero Downtime: Virtually hosted servers perform continuously, without physical breakdowns, thus reducing maintenance costs. The software updates automatically, and the updates are pushed across all hosted infrastructure.
3) Backup and Recovery: It is always easier to backup a virtual server than a physical server, as backups are done of current snapshots. Because of easy backups, recovery also becomes easier, as only the last updated snapshot needs to be recovered.
4) Availability of Virtual Labs: Virtual Labs are where all the R&D related to VMware happens.
Here, you can configure, test, and update your systems without touching live hosted servers at any time. Thus, production up-time is always maintained while you test and configure additional features to be deployed later on in an adequately scheduled downtime.
5) Network Security: All of your VMware servers can be configured with virtual networks so that the critical production servers containing sensitive business data can be segregated and isolated for exclusive access by authorized personnel only.
Conclusion
In today’s fluid IT Industry, almost all IT employers are allocating and spending huge amounts of money on their employees getting VMware training and certified, no matter what technology they work in.
As per Pearson-VUE, a computer-based testing company, VMware Certifications stand third on the list of top-10 IT certification programs. Such is the importance of getting VMware Certified.
The actual benefit of getting VMware certified is the leap your career can take, in terms of an increase in salary, higher positions in the hierarchy, and ultimately enhanced social standing.