This week I was able to attend to a Veeam VMCA training (Veeam Backup & Replication V11: Architecture and Design) held by
VMCA Introduction
Some words on the VMCA: The VMCA is the Veeam Certificied Architect, the second and highest Veeam certification after the VMCE. While the VMCE is more focused on technical topics, the VMCA is all about designing the backup solution and learning the "Veeam Architecture Methodology".
We already have great posts about the VMCA, both the course and the exam, here in the community, so I'll won't go too deep and link to the corresponding posts:
- VMCA2022 anouncment from
@MicoolPaul :
- VMCA2022 review from
@Chris.Childerhose :
- VMCA2022 EXAM review from
@Michael Melter :
VMCA Course
Directly from the beginning of the course, we could notice how different this training is going to be compared to others.
Preben explained to us, that there's no lab part and that we won't work with a Veeam console. Instead there were team exercises, where we work together on a scenario, discussed our findings and presented them to the other participants. I liked this concept, as the whole course was very dynamically because of those exercies. Also there often wasn't a single solution for a certain problem or requirement, so we've sometimes had interesting discussions and got different views. And if we were unsure or needed more information, we could ask Preben who took the customer role.
Through the course the overall topic has been the "Veeam Architecture Methodology".
It stands for the process or phases, a Veeam Solution Architect follows while designing a Veeam backup environment:
Discovery → Conceptual design → Logical design → Physical/tangible design → Implementation and Governance → Validation and Iteration
Through these steps you learn (in short) how to:
• capture the existing environment, requirements, risks, etc and evaluate them
• ask the right questions ;)
• create a high level concept, elaborate it and convert it to the final physical design
• let the final solution get implemented and validated
While the training is focused on Veeam, a big part of it was about general backup/design questions. Of course at some part you start mapping the right Veeam features and sizing the components, but until than you could apply the learned to almost any other solution.
I wasn't sure if I would get overwelmed by all the theory, but through the whole course it never got boring. Not only because of the material itself, but also because of Preben, who is a great trainer. The last two days really have been fun 
I only have to admit that the calculation part with its formulas will need some further revision from my side 
Target Audience
As the name says, the target audience are Architects. So anyone who is regularly designing backup solutions or reworking existing ones, can and will benefit from this course. But if you "just" want to gain more technical knowledge about Veeam Backup and master your own environment, then I'm not sure it will be any help to you (this should not sound negatively 
).
Summary
I can fully recommend this training, if you're in the target audience mentioned above. Even if you can only apply 75% of this course, it will be valuable and useful to you. There were many times during the last two days, where I've noticed what I could improve in my current process or where I’ve received new ideas.
The VMCA was one of my long-term goals and with the completion of the course, I'm almost there. Besides the calculations I will go over everything again, read the exam reviews here and will do some further study, but I plan to write the exam soon.
Interested in the VMCA course/certification? I have attached the course details to this post. For further information visit the training page on veeam.com: https://www.veeam.com/vmce-training.html?ad=menu-resources
