VCP-DCV Configure and Manage vSphere Storage Practice Question
A company runs a critical SQL Server VM on vSphere 7.0. The VM has a single 300 GB virtual disk on a VMFS6 datastore backed by a SAN with 8 Gbps Fibre Channel. The VM is configured with 16 vCPUs and 64 GB RAM. Recently, users have reported slow query performance. The administrator checks the datastore performance and sees average latency of 15 ms with peaks of 50 ms during business hours. The storage array has multiple paths to the ESXi host, and the current path policy is Fixed with a single active path. The administrator wants to improve storage performance with minimal cost. Which action should the administrator take first?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates assume hardware upgrades (like faster Fibre Channel) are the only solution to high latency, overlooking the fact that a misconfigured path policy can cause a single path to become a bottleneck even when multiple paths exist.
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
✓
Change the path selection policy to Round Robin on the ESXi host.
The current Fixed path policy with a single active path underutilizes the available storage bandwidth, causing high latency during peak I/O. Changing to Round Robin (RR) distributes I/O across all available paths, reducing queue depth on any single path and lowering latency without any hardware cost. This is the most immediate and cost-effective fix for the observed performance issue.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Change the path selection policy to Round Robin on the ESXi host.
Why this is correct
Utilizes multiple paths, reducing latency.
- ✗
Add a vSphere Flash Read Cache to the VM.
Why it's wrong here
Adds cost and may require additional licensing.
- ✗
Upgrade the Fibre Channel infrastructure to 16 Gbps.
Why it's wrong here
Costly and may not be necessary if paths are underutilized.
- ✗
Convert the virtual disk to thin provisioning to reduce I/O.
Why it's wrong here
Thin provisioning does not improve performance.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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