VCAP5-DCD Official Cert Guide: Introduction to Technical Design

Technical design requires completely different skills from the troubleshooting and maintenance tasks commonly carried out by experienced IT professionals. The role of a technical designer or architect involves communication skills, technical knowledge, and a certain amount of artistic flare. This chapter will take you through the terminology and process of technical design. The concepts discussed here can be applied to any project, not just a VMware-related solution. By understanding and working with a design process, an engineer can integrate with other business and technical professionals and provide valued input to a business project.

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz

The “Do I Know This Already?” quiz allows you to assess whether you should read this entire chapter or simply jump to the “Exam Preparation Tasks” section for review. If you are in doubt, read the entire chapter. Table 1-1 outlines the major headings in this chapter and the corresponding “Do I Know This Already?” quiz questions. You can find the answers in Appendix A, “Answers to the ‘Do I Know Already?’ Quizzes and ‘Q&A’ Chapter Review Questions.”

Table 1-1. “Do I Know This Already?” Foundation Topics Section-to-Question Mapping

1. Which of the following is a design methodology?

   1. A set of best practices for the technology
   2. An iterative process used to produce a technical solution
   3. A project proposal that shows the advantages of new technology or the latest upgrade

2. Which of the following is a project risk?

   1. The technology is over three years old.
   2. The technology is cutting edge.
   3. Both a and b.

3. Who sets the vision?

   1. The board and business professionals
   2. IT staff
   3. A proposed vendor

4. Who generally sets the scope?

   1. Business staff
   2. IT staff and business staff working together
   3. The proposed vendor

5. Which of the following is true of a project requirement?

   1. It must be satisfied.
   2. It is for advice and observation only.
   3. Both a and b

6. You are working on a project team tasked to migrate a platform between two datacenters. Which of the following describes a design methodology?

   1. A set of best practices for the technology
   2. An iterative process used to produce a technical solution
   3. A project proposal that shows the advantages of new technology or latest upgrade

7. Which of the following describes a best practice?

   1. Dictated by the vendor as the way to do something
   2. Continuously evolving
   3. Static

8. If changed, which of the following may affect the logical design?

   1. The server vendor
   2. The type of replication from synchronous to asynchronous
   3. The IP addresses of the servers

9. A project vision may be a long-term goal, and it may be achieved after several iterations of a project life cycle.

   1. True
   2. False

10. Which of the following is a constraint on design?

    1. The VDI platform is dependent on a stable network, which is not managed by the internal network team.
    2. The VDI project has a small budget.
    3. During a migration project, the destination datacenter has not been completely finished. It is currently three months behind schedule.

11. The number of disks used in a storage array is detailed in the physical design.

    1. True
    2. False

12. You are the technical lead in a vSphere 4 to vSphere 5 project. The platform is currently using a supported NFS storage device. There are no plans to upgrade or change this device within two years. Which of the following is correct?

    1. This is a risk to the project.
    2. This is a design constraint.
    3. This is a design assumption.

13. Best practices can be used as guidance in a design, assuming that the requirements are satisfied.

    1. True
    2. False