VCP-DCV Configure and Manage vSphere Storage Practice Question
A company has a vSphere cluster consisting of 8 ESXi hosts connected to a single Fibre Channel SAN array. They use VMFS6 datastores to store virtual machine files. The storage administrator has scheduled a firmware upgrade for the SAN array that requires a controller reboot. This will cause a temporary loss of connectivity to one LUN (datastore) for approximately 5 minutes. The datastore hosts 15 production VMs, including critical database servers. The cluster has sufficient spare capacity on other datastores, but the VMs are large (each about 200 GB). The vSphere administrator must ensure that these VMs remain available during the upgrade. The cluster has vSphere HA enabled with default settings. What should the administrator do to meet the requirement?
⚠ Common exam trap
VCP-DCV often tests the confusion between host-level availability (HA, maintenance mode) and storage-level availability (Storage vMotion, datastore evacuation) — candidates pick HA admission control thinking it protects against storage loss.
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
✓
Use Storage vMotion to migrate all VMs on the affected datastores to a healthy datastore before the upgrade.
Storage vMotion migrates the VMs' files to a different datastore while they remain powered on, so when the affected LUN goes offline for the controller reboot the VMs are no longer dependent on it and stay available. This directly addresses the requirement of continuous availability during a planned 5-minute storage outage. The other options either don't move the VMs off the impacted datastore or address unrelated concerns (HA admission control, host maintenance, I/O prioritization).
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Use Storage vMotion to migrate all VMs on the affected datastores to a healthy datastore before the upgrade.
Why this is correct
Storage vMotion relocates the running VMs' files to a healthy datastore, so the five-minute LUN loss never affects them. vSphere HA default settings would only restart VMs after an APD timeout, causing downtime, so proactive migration satisfies the availability requirement.
- ✗
Configure a vSphere HA admission control policy to reserve resources in case of host failure.
Why it's wrong here
Admission control reserves cluster capacity for host failures; it does not relocate VMs off a datastore losing connectivity, so the VMs would still crash. It is tempting because HA settings govern availability, but it would be correct only for protecting against ESXi host failure, not a storage controller reboot.
- ✗
Place all ESXi hosts into maintenance mode.
Why it's wrong here
Maintenance mode evacuates VMs via vMotion to other hosts, but those hosts still mount the same affected LUN, so the VMs lose storage and restart. It is tempting as a safe-state procedure, and would be correct only when patching a host, not when the shared SAN array itself is being rebooted.
- ✗
Enable Storage I/O Control on the affected datastore to manage I/O during the upgrade.
Why it's wrong here
Storage I/O Control throttles and prioritises datastore latency; it cannot keep VMs running when the LUN becomes unreachable. It is tempting because it addresses storage performance, and would be correct only for resolving noisy-neighbour congestion on a datastore that remains continuously accessible.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official VMware exam blueprint
This VCP-DCV practice question is part of Courseiva's free VMware 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 VCP-DCV exam.