VCP-DCV vSphere Lifecycle Management Practice Question
A company manages a vSphere cluster of 200 ESXi hosts using vSphere Lifecycle Manager baselines (baseline-based remediation). They decide to migrate to vLCM image-based management. The administrator selects one host as a reference host, generates a cluster image from it, and attempts to apply the image to the entire cluster. Most hosts remediate successfully, but 20 hosts fail with the error: "Image deployment failed: Error retrieving VIBs from repository." The failed hosts are all from a different hardware vendor than the reference host but are on the vSphere HCL. The administrator confirms that the repository URL is reachable from the failed hosts and that there are no network connectivity issues. What should the administrator do first to resolve the issue?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume network or repository issues are the cause, but the error specifically points to VIB retrieval failure due to incompatible hardware-specific components in the image, not connectivity problems.
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
✓
Check the vLCM cluster image for any components specific to the reference host's hardware that are not present in the failed hosts.
The error 'Error retrieving VIBs from repository' when applying a cluster image generated from a reference host indicates that the image contains hardware-specific VIBs (e.g., drivers, CIM providers) that are present on the reference host but not compatible with the failed hosts from a different hardware vendor. vLCM cluster images are derived from the reference host's software specification, including any vendor-specific components, and when applied to hosts lacking that hardware, the VIB retrieval fails because the repository does not contain matching VIBs for those hosts. The first step is to check the cluster image for such components and remove or replace them with hardware-independent versions to ensure compatibility across the heterogeneous cluster.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Check the vLCM cluster image for any components specific to the reference host's hardware that are not present in the failed hosts.
Why this is correct
The image likely includes hardware-specific VIBs from the reference host that are incompatible or missing for the other hardware models; removing unnecessary components resolves the issue.
- ✗
Reboot the failed hosts and retry the remediation.
Why it's wrong here
Rebooting does not address the missing or unsupported VIBs in the image.
- ✗
Verify that the failed hosts have sufficient disk space in the /scratch partition.
Why it's wrong here
Disk space is unlikely the issue; the error indicates a retrieval failure, not space.
- ✗
Manually upload the required VIBs to the local depot on each failed host.
Why it's wrong here
This workaround is not supported and would bypass vLCM management.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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