- The One-Page Snapshot
- Domain Weights at a Glance
- Domain 3: Do-It-Yourself Architecture (25%)
- Domain 4: CI / HCI Solutions (18%)
- Domain 6: Hybrid Cloud and Multi Cloud (15%)
- The Four Smaller Domains (10-12% Each)
- The Design Flow Behind Every Question
- Exam-Day Logistics Cheat Block
- Scheduling Review by Weight
- Frequently Asked Questions
- D-CI-DS-23 is Dell Cloud Infrastructure Design 2023: a 90-minute exam offered in English and French.
- Architecting a Do-It-Yourself Solution is the heaviest domain at 25%, so it deserves the most review time.
- CI / HCI (18%) and Hybrid Cloud and Multi Cloud (15%) together add another third of the blueprint.
- Retake waits are 7 days after a first failure and 14 days after later failures.
The One-Page Snapshot
This page condenses what you need to keep in your head for the Dell Cloud Infrastructure Design 2023 exam. It is a design exam: the questions test whether you can take customer requirements, gather and analyze data, and choose an architecture, rather than whether you can recite product menus. If you are still orienting yourself, start with What Is D-CI-DS-23? and come back here for the compressed review.
| Item | What to Remember |
|---|---|
| Exam | D-CI-DS-23, Dell Cloud Infrastructure Design 2023 |
| Governing body | Dell Technologies (Dell Technologies Proven Professional) |
| Duration | 90 minutes |
| Languages | English, French |
| Delivery | Pearson VUE, test center or OnVUE online proctoring |
| Requirement | Sufficient knowledge and skills through hands-on experience and/or recommended training, then pass this exact exam |
| Recommended training | Cloud Infrastructure Planning and Design v2 On Demand course (ES732OCMCIPD2) |
| Voucher | General Dell certification voucher listed at USD 230 in the Pearson U.S. store, expiring 12 months after purchase |
| Not published | Question count, passing score, pass rate |
Domain Weights at a Glance
Dell publishes approximate question-distribution weights for the seven exam objectives. Use them to decide where a cheat sheet minute is best spent. For a deeper walk through each area, see the complete guide to all 7 content areas.
| Domain | Weight | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Architecting a Do-It-Yourself Solution | 25% | Highest |
| Architecting a CI / HCI Solution | 18% | High |
| Hybrid Cloud and Multi Cloud | 15% | High |
| Data Collection and Analysis | 12% | Medium |
| Introduction to Cloud Design and Design Parameters | 10% | Medium |
| Cloud Management Platform | 10% | Medium |
| Application Development and Deployment Platform | 10% | Medium |
The three largest domains account for 58% of the blueprint. That does not mean the other four can be skipped, since a design exam expects you to connect them, but it does tell you where a weak spot costs the most.
Domain 3: Do-It-Yourself Architecture (25%)
This is the biggest slice of the exam. A do-it-yourself (DIY) solution means the architect assembles compute, storage, and network building blocks individually rather than buying an engineered, pre-validated system. That freedom is the point, and also the risk, so questions in this area tend to probe your reasoning about trade-offs.
Architecting a Do-It-Yourself Solution
Be ready to justify component-level choices against stated requirements.
- Sizing compute, memory, and storage capacity from collected workload data rather than guesses
- Choosing storage types and protocols to match performance and availability needs
- Designing the network layer, including separation of traffic types and redundancy
- Planning for availability, scalability, and failure domains across the build
- Recognizing the operational burden DIY places on the customer's team (integration, lifecycle, support ownership)
A reliable cheat-sheet reflex: whenever a scenario describes a customer with strong in-house engineering skills, unusual workload mixes, or a need for fine-grained control, DIY becomes a candidate. When the scenario stresses speed, simplicity, and single-vendor lifecycle management, expect the answer to lean toward the engineered options in the next domain.
Domain 4: CI / HCI Solutions (18%)
Converged infrastructure (CI) and hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) are the engineered counterpart to DIY. The exam expects you to know how each model differs architecturally and when each fits.
Architecting a CI / HCI Solution
Know the structural difference and the selection criteria.
- CI generally keeps compute, storage, and networking as distinct, pre-integrated components; HCI collapses compute and storage into software-defined nodes that scale together
- Scaling model: scale-out by adding nodes versus scaling individual layers independently
- Lifecycle benefits of validated, jointly tested configurations
- Workload fit: where HCI's simplicity helps and where independent scaling of storage or compute matters more
- Failure tolerance and capacity planning in a clustered design
Domain 6: Hybrid Cloud and Multi Cloud (15%)
This domain moves beyond a single data center. You are expected to distinguish hybrid cloud (private infrastructure combined with public cloud services under some degree of integration) from multi cloud (use of multiple public cloud providers), and to reason about why an organization would choose either.
Hybrid Cloud and Multi Cloud
Think in terms of placement, connectivity, and governance.
- Workload placement criteria: data sensitivity, latency, cost behavior, and regulatory constraints
- Connectivity and data movement between environments
- Consistency of operations, identity, and policy across clouds
- Risks such as lock-in, sprawl, and fragmented management
- Where a cloud management platform becomes the unifying layer
That last bullet is your bridge to the next group of domains.
The Four Smaller Domains (10-12% Each)
Together these four make up 42% of the blueprint, which is far too much to treat as filler. They also supply the vocabulary and method that make the big three answerable.
Introduction to Cloud Design and Design Parameters (10%)
This is the foundation: cloud characteristics, service and deployment models, and the design parameters that shape an architecture. Expect to recognize requirements, constraints, assumptions, and risks, and to understand how they steer later decisions.
Data Collection and Analysis (12%)
Design decisions are only as good as the inputs. This domain covers gathering information about the existing environment and workloads, then analyzing it to size and shape a solution. Know the difference between what a customer says they need and what measured data shows they use.
Cloud Management Platform (10%)
Think automation, self-service, orchestration, monitoring, and cost visibility. The exam looks at what a cloud management platform provides and how it fits into a design, particularly in hybrid and multi cloud settings.
Application Development and Deployment Platform (10%)
Here the focus is the platform layer that developers consume: how applications are built, packaged, and deployed on top of the infrastructure you designed. Be comfortable connecting application needs back to infrastructure requirements.
Key Takeaway
The smaller domains are where design discipline lives. If you can state requirements clearly, support them with collected data, and describe how management and application platforms sit on top, the heavier architecture questions become much easier to reason through.
The Design Flow Behind Every Question
Because this is a design exam, a useful mental model is to run every scenario through the same sequence, loosely following the order of the blueprint:
- Frame the problem: identify business drivers, requirements, constraints, assumptions, and risks (Domain 1).
- Ground it in data: decide what to collect and how to interpret it (Domain 2).
- Select the architecture: DIY, CI, or HCI, matched to requirements (Domains 3 and 4).
- Extend beyond one site: consider hybrid or multi cloud placement (Domain 6).
- Operate it: management platform, automation, and visibility (Domain 5).
- Serve the application: make sure the platform supports how workloads are built and deployed (Domain 7).
When two answers both look plausible, ask which one better satisfies the requirements and constraints stated in the scenario. The exam rewards fit to the customer's situation, not the most feature-rich option. For a sense of how demanding this reasoning style feels, see how hard the D-CI-DS-23 exam really is.
Exam-Day Logistics Cheat Block
Registration and Delivery
Everything below comes from Dell and Pearson VUE program pages.
- Exams are delivered through Pearson VUE, either at a test center or through OnVUE online proctoring.
- OnVUE requires a passed system test, a matching government photo ID, and a private room without books or notes.
- Computer-scored results are provisional pending Dell review.
- The general Dell certification voucher is listed at USD 230 in the Pearson U.S. store and expires 12 months after purchase. Voucher expiry is separate from credential validity.
- Retake waits: 7 days after a first failure, 14 days after later failures.
- Credential status is managed in CertTracker, and recognition follows current Dell requirements, including revised exams when required.
For the full money picture, including what is and is not included in the voucher price, read the certification cost breakdown. For scheduling mechanics, the exam dates and scheduling guide covers booking windows. Eligibility details live in the requirements article.
Scheduling Review by Weight
If you want a short review plan tied to this specific blueprint rather than a generic template, order your passes by weight and by dependency. The framing domains come first because everything else builds on them. The full method is laid out in the first-attempt study guide; this is the compressed version.
Foundations and Data
- Domain 1: requirements, constraints, assumptions, risks
- Domain 2: data collection and analysis methods
Heaviest Architecture Domain
- Domain 3: DIY component design and trade-offs
- Build your own DIY versus CI versus HCI comparison table
Engineered and Distributed Models
- Domain 4: CI / HCI architecture and scaling
- Domain 6: hybrid and multi cloud placement and governance
Operations, Applications, Practice
- Domain 5: cloud management platform
- Domain 7: application development and deployment platform
- Timed scenario practice across all seven domains on the practice test site
Spend your last few sessions on scenario questions that force you to choose between architectures, since that skill spans the three heaviest domains. Timed practice also helps you judge pacing against the 90-minute limit; try a full-length set at our D-CI-DS-23 practice exams.
Frequently Asked Questions
On this site it refers to the Dell Technologies Proven Professional exam Dell Cloud Infrastructure Design 2023. For a plain-language explanation, see what D-CI-DS-23 stands for.
Architecting a Do-It-Yourself Solution carries the largest approximate weight at 25%, followed by CI / HCI at 18% and Hybrid Cloud and Multi Cloud at 15%. Start there, but do not neglect the four 10-12% domains.
The retrieved Dell sources for this exact exam code do not publish a question count or passing score. The published duration is 90 minutes. Check Dell's current exam page near your test date for any updates.
The retake policy sets a wait of 7 days after a first failure and 14 days after later failures. Your voucher or purchase expiry is a separate matter, so plan retakes with the 12-month voucher window in mind.
That depends on whether your work involves designing or advising on infrastructure. Our ROI analysis and jobs overview discuss the roles where this knowledge applies without quoting unverified figures.