Oracle Certified Professional―How to Get Certified for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

Was very happy to be certified as Oracle Cloud Infrastructure 2018 Certified Architect Associate.  Below I want to share my own experience on:

• How to prepare for the certification exam (i.e. 1Z0-932)
• Exam Details
• How to register
• Oracle has partnered with an external testing provider PearsonVue
• What to expect afterwards

How to Prepare 

After working on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) for the past four years, I have lots of hands-on experience with it.  But, based on my previous certification experience with Oracle Database and Java, I know passing the certification exam is non-trivial.

After reviewing Exam Topics (see below), I have picked up my old practice of documenting what I read like before.  Here are the list of them on this blogger:

• Identity and Access Management (IAM)
• OCI―Knowing Identity and Access Management Basics
• Database
• OCI―Knowing Database Service Basics
• OCI―Knowing Autonomous Database Basics
• Storage
• OCI―Knowing Object Storage Basics
• OCI―Knowing File Storage Service Basics
• OCI―Knowing Block Volume Service Basics
• Compute
• OCI―Knowing Compute Service Basics
• Network
• OCI―Knowing Virtual Cloud Network Basics
• OCI―Knowing Gateway Basics

Below topics may not be that important for the certification (but, they are in the good-to-know category):

• Oracle Cloud Infrastructure―Container Engine for Kubernetes Basics
• Oracle Cloud Infrastructure―OCI Key Management Basics
• Oracle Cloud Infrastructure―OCI DNS Service Basics
• Oracle Cloud Infrastructure―OCI Load Balancing Service Basics

Finally, all your final understanding of OCI should be based on the official

• Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Documentation

Important Whitepapers

• Best Practices for Deploying High Availability Architecture on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
• Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Security
• Virtual Cloud Network Overview and Deployment Guide

Exam Details

• Duration:  105 mins
• I had almost run out of time.  So, don't spend too much time on any specific question which you don't have confidence with.
• You can mark questions for later review.
• Number of Questions: 66
• Some of them will NOT be counted into your score.
• Half of the exam asks questions on how to provide solutions or troubleshoot issues given very detailed scenarios
• You need to put on thinking hat on the level of understanding similar to the above whitepapers, not just basic concepts.
• Passing Score: 65 %

How to Register

If you're ready to take your exam, schedule it now and pay directly with a credit card, or redeem a voucher you’ve purchased from Oracle. Either way, you'll schedule it through Oracle's external testing provider, PearsonVue.

If you're an Oracle Employee, you may also get a 30% discount voucher (internal link).

What to Expect After the Exam

Within 30 mins, you should be able to find out if you pass or fail the exam from CertView.  If you pass the certification exam, you will also receive an email from Acclaim (note that you need to create a new account with it) like below:

You've earned a badge from Oracle

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure 2018 Certified Architect Associate Issuer: Oracle

Accept your badge

or accept your badge by clicking:
https://www.youracclaim.com/go/M6sEXm688474N984KVaYOw

Exam Topics

Identity and Access Management (IAM)

Apply core Identity and Access Management (IAM) component

Describe resource location

Design federation with various identity providers

Apply IAM, governance, and security best practices

Database

Describe OCI Database options

Explain OCI Database Operations

Architect HA and DR solutions

Managing Autonomous Database

Storage

Understand OCI Storage options

Designing storage solutions for applications and database

Compute

Understand compute and sizing

Troubleshoot options using console connections and boot volume

Architect High Availability and Disaster Recovery solutions

Describe image options

Network

Apply design concepts related to VCN components

Describe Public and Private IP addresses and virtual NICs

Apply VCN connectivity options

Understand remote network connectivity

Apply OCI Load Balancer concepts

Understand OCI Edge services

Apply OCI networking best practices

More Reading Materials

New Book:

• Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Architect Associate All-in-One Exam Guide (Exam 1Z0-1072)

White Papers:

• OCI Disaster Recovery Best Practices
• Creating Active Directory Domain Services in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure 

Blog Posts:

• Multi-Factor Authentication for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Users
• Introducing Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Load Balancing Metrics
• Making It Easier to Move Oracle-Based SAP Applications to the Cloud
• Oracle AMD Instances Outperform and Outprice Comparable AWS Instances
• Oracle Cloud Simplifies Identity Management with Enhanced Okta Support