Veritas Exams

Veritas in the Enterprise Data Center

Veritas Technologies has maintained a tight grip on enterprise data protection since its founding in 1983. Initially focused on fault-tolerant computer systems, the company shifted to storage management and backup software, eventually capturing a massive footprint in corporate data centers. Today, more than 80,000 customers, including a vast majority of the Fortune 500, run Veritas software to back up, archive, and recover petabytes of data.

These are not small environments. The Veritas certification program mirrors this operational reality. It focuses entirely on validating hands-on administrative capability with specific software platforms. You will not find broad, conceptual tracks here. Instead, credentials target distinct products and version numbers, ensuring that certificate holders can step into a data center and immediately manage the infrastructure.

Program Structure and Exam Mechanics

Veritas structures its credentials around the Veritas Certified Specialist (VCS) designation. Earning a VCS requires passing a single exam tied to a specific product, such as NetBackup, Backup Exec, or Enterprise Vault. There are no prerequisite certifications.

Most VCS exams run for 105 minutes and contain between 75 and 90 multiple-choice questions. The passing score hovers around 65 to 70 percent, depending on the specific test. Candidates need a firm grasp of installation procedures, device configuration, performance tuning, and troubleshooting status codes. Veritas expects candidates to have three to nine months of direct experience managing the software in a production or lab environment before attempting the exam.

Core Data Protection Certifications

NetBackup serves as the company's flagship enterprise data protection suite, built to handle massive, multi-platform environments.

The VCS-285: Veritas NetBackup 10.x and NetBackup Appliance 5.x Administrator exam tests your ability to deploy and maintain this architecture. Candidates must understand how to configure storage units, manage data deduplication, execute disaster recovery plans, and integrate physical NetBackup Appliances. Because NetBackup often protects mission-critical databases and virtual machines across hybrid clouds, employers look for this credential when hiring backup administrators for large-scale operations.

For small to mid-sized environments, Backup Exec provides a more centralized, Windows-heavy approach to data protection. The VCS-323: Administration of Veritas Backup Exec 16 exam focuses on the mechanics of this specific platform. It covers the core media server architecture, storage device management, and data restoration techniques. The exam also tests your ability to protect virtual environments and run routine maintenance jobs.

Beyond backup, Veritas plays a major role in storage management. The VCS-257: Administration of Veritas InfoScale Storage 7.1 for UNIXLinux exam shifts the focus to software-defined storage. InfoScale provides high availability and disaster recovery for critical applications. This exam validates your ability to install the software, configure volume managers, and manage file systems across UNIX and Linux environments. It proves you can keep tier-one applications running even when underlying hardware fails.

Archiving and eDiscovery

Organizations operating in heavily regulated industries like finance and healthcare must retain data for years to meet compliance mandates. Veritas addresses this requirement with Enterprise Vault and its companion eDiscovery platform.

The VCS-322: Administration of Veritas Enterprise Vault 12.x credential targets administrators responsible for long-term data retention. This exam evaluates your knowledge of archiving Exchange emails, SharePoint documents, and file system data. It tests index management, storage provisioning, and the configuration of strict retention policies.

When legal disputes arise, companies use the eDiscovery platform to locate and preserve relevant communications. The VCS-413: Administration of Veritas eDiscovery Platform 8.2 for Administrators exam validates the skills needed to manage this process. It covers configuring the platform, managing user access, and executing complex search and collection tasks to support legal holds.

Career Positioning

Veritas certifications carry distinct, targeted value in the job market. They do not function as entry-level resume builders for IT generalists. Instead, they act as technical proof for specialists managing high-stakes storage and recovery operations.

If an organization relies on NetBackup or InfoScale, the hiring manager needs assurance that you understand the exact mechanics of their infrastructure. A misconfigured backup policy or a failed catalog recovery can result in permanent data loss during an outage. There is no room for guesswork. Holding a VCS credential proves you know how to navigate the specific administrative interfaces, interpret proprietary error codes, and execute a successful restore under pressure.

In early 2024, Cohesity announced plans to merge with the Veritas enterprise data protection business. This pending combination is projected to create an entity serving over 13,000 enterprise customers with a combined revenue of roughly $2 billion. As these two data protection portfolios merge, administrators holding current NetBackup credentials will be the ones tasked with migrating, integrating, or maintaining the resulting hybrid storage environments.