VCP-DCV vSphere Architecture, Products and Solutions Practice Question
An administrator is configuring a new iSCSI storage array for a vSphere cluster. The array supports multiple iSCSI targets. What is the recommended best practice for multipathing to ensure high availability and load balancing?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse logical separation (VLANs or multiple IPs on one NIC) with true physical path redundancy, leading them to select options that appear to provide multipathing but actually create a single point of failure.
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
✓
Create multiple VMkernel ports for iSCSI, each bound to a separate physical NIC, and configure multiple iSCSI targets.
VMware best practices for iSCSI multipathing require multiple VMkernel ports, each bound to a separate physical NIC, and multiple iSCSI targets to provide both path redundancy and load balancing. This configuration leverages the Pluggable Storage Architecture (PSA) and native multipathing plugins (NMP) to distribute I/O across active paths while maintaining high availability through automatic path failover. Using separate VMkernel ports and NICs ensures that no single point of failure exists in the storage network.
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 the management VMkernel port for iSCSI traffic to simplify configuration.
Why it's wrong here
Sharing the management VMkernel port with iSCSI traffic contends with management and vMotion traffic and provides no separate path for failover. Dedicated VMkernel ports on distinct physical NICs, bound to the software iSCSI adapter, are required for multipathing redundancy and load balancing.
- ✓
Create multiple VMkernel ports for iSCSI, each bound to a separate physical NIC, and configure multiple iSCSI targets.
Why this is correct
Multipathing requires multiple VMkernel ports, each bound to a distinct physical NIC, so vSphere can present separate paths to the array. Configuring multiple iSCSI targets across those paths enables both failover and load balancing, satisfying the high-availability constraint.
- ✗
Configure a single physical NIC with multiple VLANs for iSCSI traffic.
Why it's wrong here
A single physical NIC with multiple VLANs shares one uplink, so a NIC or path failure removes all iSCSI paths, defeating multipathing. Multiple VMkernel ports on separate physical NICs, bound to the software iSCSI adapter, deliver genuine path redundancy and load balancing.
- ✗
Use a single VMkernel port for iSCSI and assign multiple IP addresses to it.
Why it's wrong here
A single VMkernel port with multiple IP addresses cannot provide true multipathing, because vSphere binds each iSCSI session to one port and one physical uplink, so no failover path exists if that uplink fails. Multiple VMkernel ports, each on its own uplink, are required. The single-port approach is tempting when physical NICs are scarce.
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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.