Review: Trainsignal VMware vSphere 5 Training

I've been a big fan of Trainsignal's courses for some time now. You never forget your first one and for me that was “VMware vSphere Pro Series Training Vol1”.

Time has flown by though. Trainsignal have since released a number of new courses, several of them VMware focused. I have some of them in my library and there are also some that I couldn't justify purchasing at the time.

With all of the changes in vSphere 5 I thought it a good idea to get hold of Trainsignal's latest and greatest as part of my VCP5 preparations. I've done a fair bit of work with vSphere 5 but there were always going to be bits that I was less familiar with. What the training offers is the opportunity to bone up on those weaker areas and brush up on the bits that you're more familiar with already courtesy of two knowledgable and well-informed virtualisation experts: David Davis and Elias Khnaser.

The training comes on 3 DVDs containing a series of screencast videos covering all of the content but there's also the ability to watch the videos online if you want. At its simplest you can just pop one of the DVDs into your laptop and get started or there are iPod optimised copies also available for importing into iTunes. Pulling your iPhone out of your pocket on the tube in London and learning about VMware Data Recovery is almost priceless as the time would be otherwise wasted.

As a VCP5 resource it's not everything that you need. Don't forget that:

• You need to have attended a VMware course to qualify for the VCP5 (or hold a VCP4 already)
• There's no substitute for practical experience

That said, it's an excellent place to start building or refresh your knowledge and I'd totally recommend the course to almost anyone with an interest in vSphere 5. It's not without its flaws, I spotted one or two typos and sometimes a iPhone isn't the best device on which to see large and detailed captures of the vSphere Client! Also, there were some very minor inconsistencies between different videos but these were when opinions were being offered and were not related to factual content. Not something that concerned me, I just picked it up.

Overall an excellent resource. Hats off to Elias, David and the Trainsignal team.