hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
CV0-004 Practice Question: A cloud administrator is troubleshooting a…
A cloud administrator is troubleshooting a performance issue where an application running on a VM in a private cloud is experiencing high latency. The VM is connected to a virtual switch that uses SR-IOV. The administrator suspects network bottlenecks. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the latency?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume SR-IOV eliminates all bottlenecks, but the physical NIC remains a shared resource that can become saturated, causing latency for all VMs using its VFs.
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
✓
The physical network interface card (NIC) is saturated.
SR-IOV allows a physical NIC to present multiple virtual functions (VFs) directly to VMs, bypassing the virtual switch for data plane traffic. When the physical NIC reaches its bandwidth capacity, all VFs sharing that NIC experience increased latency and packet drops, making NIC saturation the most likely cause of the high latency.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The physical network interface card (NIC) is saturated.
Why this is correct
Saturation of the physical NIC is a common cause of latency with SR-IOV.
- ✗
The virtual switch is dropping packets due to buffer exhaustion.
Why it's wrong here
SR-IOV bypasses the virtual switch, so vSwitch buffers are not the issue.
- ✗
The VM's virtual NIC is not using the correct driver.
Why it's wrong here
Driver issues could cause connectivity problems, but not typically high latency in an SR-IOV setup.
- ✗
The hypervisor's CPU is overloaded due to SR-IOV emulation.
Why it's wrong here
SR-IOV reduces CPU overhead by bypassing the hypervisor.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CV0-004 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CV0-004 exam.