220-1101 Virtualization and Cloud Computing Practice Question
A company runs several virtual machines on an on-premises host. Management wants to reduce the risk of losing all workloads if one physical host fails, and they want to move running virtual machines between hosts without noticeable downtime during hardware maintenance. Which capability should the administrator implement?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is equating snapshots with high availability, when snapshots are rollback points on the same host and do not relocate running workloads.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Live migration of virtual machines between clustered hosts
Host failure tolerance and maintenance without downtime require a cluster of hosts that share storage and can transfer running virtual machines. Live migration provides exactly that by relocating active guests between hosts with minimal interruption. Snapshots protect data at a point in time but stay on the same platform, thick provisioning affects disk allocation only, and workstation hypervisors are for local testing.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Thick-provisioned virtual disks on local storage
Why it's wrong here
Thick provisioning preallocates disk space to reduce fragmentation and performance variability, but it has no relationship to host failure tolerance or workload mobility. Disks on local storage actually make live migration harder because the virtual machine's files are tied to one host. This choice addresses storage allocation, not availability.
- ✗
A second Type 2 hypervisor installed on each administrator's workstation
Why it's wrong here
Type 2 hypervisors on workstations are for local testing and development, not for hosting production workloads with high availability. They cannot participate in a host cluster or accept live migrations from production hosts. This option misunderstands the role of desktop hypervisors and does nothing to protect the production environment.
- ✗
Virtual machine snapshots taken every hour
Why it's wrong here
Snapshots capture the state of a virtual machine at a point in time and are useful for rollback, but they reside on the same storage and host environment. They do not move running workloads off a failing host and do not provide continuous availability across physical servers. Relying on hourly snapshots would still leave a gap of lost work and downtime during a host failure.
- ✓
Live migration of virtual machines between clustered hosts
Why this is correct
Live migration moves a running virtual machine from one host to another with little or no interruption, using shared storage and a cluster-aware hypervisor. It enables proactive evacuation of a host before maintenance and supports failover when a host fails, directly addressing both stated goals. This is the standard high-availability mechanism for on-premises virtualization.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
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