Hi vAdmins and Application owners,
The VMware Certified Advanced Professional – vSphere Kubernetes Service (3V0-24.25) exam has been available for about a year, but I only recently sat for the test to sharpen and validate my technical knowledge on this technology and take another solid step forward on my VCDX journey. It is also worth noting that achieving this VCAP certification is a mandatory prerequisite for the upcoming VMware Certified Distinguished Expert recognition, which is currently in development as we speak.
Having taken the exam, my main takeaway is clear, this test is challenging, and real hands-on experience is essential! You cannot rely on passive reading the VKS courses or simply memorizing course slides. Passing this test requires practical operational skills in managing and operating VKS environments.
Exam Details
- Exam Name: VMware Certified Advanced Professional – vSphere Kubernetes Service
- Exam Code: 3V0-24.25
- Underlying Platform: VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0
- Question Count: 60 items
- Time Limit: 135 minutes
- Passing Score: 300 (scaled scoring)
- Delivery: Proctored via Pearson VUE
- Prerequisites: 6 to 12 months of hands-on VKS and Kubernetes administration experience
Exam Format & General Impressions
As outlined in the official exam guide, the test uses a variety of item formats to evaluate your technical knowledge like below:
Multiple-Choice & Multiple-Selection: Standard single-select and multi-select items evaluating architectural concepts and operational standards.
Interactive Item Types: Drag-and-drop, matching, build-list, point-and-click, and hot-area items designed to test practical configuration and topology understanding.
While staying within NDA guidelines, I can share that the exam tests hands-on operational skills rather than just memorized terminology. Managing your time wisely across all 60 questions within the 135-minute limit is essential.
How to Prepare & Why Lab Practice is Essential
The official blueprint heavily emphasizes day 1 and day 2 operations. To prepare effectively, focus on building your skills with kubectl and VCF CLI tools across these core operational areas:
Deployment & Topologies: Configuring Supervisor clusters across vDS, NSX Segments, or NSX VPCs, and provisioning VKS workload clusters.
Declarative State & Configuration: Working directly with YAML manifests and understanding how Kubernetes controllers manage and reconcile state.
Cluster Lifecycle & Scaling: Setting up autoscaling policies and managing workload cluster capacity shifts.
Data Protection: Implementing backup and recovery workflows using Velero with object storage.
If you don’t have access to a dedicated VCF 9.x lab environment at work or home, I highly recommend leveraging VMware Hands-on Labs (HOL).
A great place to practice these administrative concepts is: Deep Dive With the vSphere Kubernetes Service 9.1 (HOL-2704-07-VCF-L). See the table below with al related topics.
What is Tested?
The exam material directly aligns with the official five-section from the study guide:
Section 1 – IT Architectures, Technologies, and Standards: Compute models (VMs vs. containers), core Kubernetes constructs, Helm, service mesh, and VKS reference designs (vDS, NSX, Availability Zones).
Section 2 – VMware Products and Solutions: Supervisor topologies, networking options, storage policies, external identity integration (OIDC), and image registries like Harbor.
Section 3 – Plan and Design: Load balancer sizing considerations, namespace network topologies, ingress/egress designs, and Supervisor enablement planning.
Section 4 – Install, Configure, and Administrate: Creating Supervisor and VKS clusters, managing vSphere Namespaces, deploying Supervisor Pods or VM Service workloads, handling updates, and configuring Velero backups.
Section 5 – Troubleshoot and Optimize: Diagnosing provisioning errors, VM class issues, registry certificate errors, recovering failed cluster upgrades, and performance tuning.
Final Thoughts
The VCAP – VKS Administrator (3V0-24.25) is a tough exam that directly rewards time spent in the lab. If you focus your preparation on hands-on practice, working through YAML specs, and completing the HOL modules, you will be well prepared for this tough test.
Good luck with your preparation!
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Disclaimer: Please note that the views expressed in this blog are solely my own and should be treated as personal opinions. This content does not hold any legal or authoritative standing.