VCP-DCV vSphere Performance and Scaling Practice Question
A vSphere administrator observes that a VM's memory usage is high, and the host memory is overcommitted. The VM has a memory balloon driver installed and running. Which metric in esxtop would the administrator check to confirm that ballooning is reclaiming memory?
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
✓
MCTLSZ
The MCTLSZ field in esxtop's memory section shows the current amount of memory reclaimed by the balloon driver. ACTV shows active memory, SWCUR shows swapped memory, and VMMEMCTL shows memory control overhead. MCTLSZ directly indicates balloon activity.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
SWCUR
Why it's wrong here
SWCUR indicates swapped memory, not ballooning.
- ✓
MCTLSZ
Why this is correct
MCTLSZ is the memory balloon size, showing how much memory the balloon driver has reclaimed.
- ✗
ACTV
Why it's wrong here
ACTV shows active memory but does not indicate ballooning.
- ✗
VMMEMCTL
Why it's wrong here
VMMEMCTL is not a standard esxtop field for memory ballooning.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 498 original VCP-DCV practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.