Although
the course’s topics are highly relevant and the provided info is okay-ish, several
things reduce the course’s quality.
As a
previous reviewer already mentioned, the NSX part of the course focuses on NSX-V, which is the
precursor to NSX-T. If you are primarily interested in learning about NSX-T
and are already familiar with NSX-V, then this course will not be very useful. Although
there is some overlap between the two, NSX-T uses different concepts, a different
architecture and different components.
The course
offers (optional) hands-on labs to internalize the theory. Unfortunately all five
hands-on labs for this course, i.e. HOL-1903-01, HOL-1903-02, HOL-1921-01, HOL-1925-01
and HOL-1925-02, have been discontinued, severely diminishing the course’s
practical value. See https://docs.hol.vmware.com/catalog/ for details. The discontinued
hands-on labs are the main reason why the course forums are abandoned. Almost
all of the past forum threads were requests to review someone’s lab results.
If you want
hands-on experience with NSX-T or associated topics such as vRealize Automation
(vRA), you need to search for active hands-on labs yourself and work your way
through those labs. Doing so can be done independently of this course, since
the hands-on labs are self-contained and explain things well.
As is the
case in other Coursera courses with multiple presenters, the quality of the presenters
deviate highly. Some really “take their time”, explaining the material in an
engaging fashion. Other presenters appear to be in an extreme hurry, focusing
more on covering as much material as possible and rushing over slides, instead
of conveying information in an understandable manner.
Now some
generic remarks, not necessarily good or bad. The learning curve can at times
be steep, especially if you have never dealt with NSX or VMware before. Some
videos superficially cover topics, neglecting necessary details to fully understand
the material. This can cause confusion, and might require quite some extra
study time. A basic knowledge of routing, networking and virtualization is also
a requirement. If you lack basic networking knowledge, you might want to take a
look at existing hands-on labs before starting this course. See e.g.
“Virtualization 101” on https://www.vmware.com/try-vmware/try-hands-on-labs.html.
IMHO, to
improve the course, the course creators need to do the following:
(a) update all
the course content to cover NSX-T.
(b) update
all links to external resources (e.g. the dead link in chapter 8 to the NSX Day
1 Guides).
(c) update
all hands-on labs, so that the practical assignments can once again be
completed.
(d) consider
including more practical material, such as a hands-on lab for SD-WAN
(HOL-2140-01-NET) and vRealize Automation (HOL-2121-03-CMP).