VCP-DCV Configure and Manage vSphere Storage Practice Question
An administrator is designing a vSAN cluster with 6 hosts. The cluster will run production workloads that require high availability. The administrator wants to minimize storage overhead while ensuring data can survive a single host failure. Which storage policy setting should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that RAID-1 is always the default for high availability, but RAID-5 can provide similar fault tolerance with less overhead in clusters of sufficient size.
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
✓
RAID-5 with Number of Failures to Tolerate = 1
For a 6-host vSAN cluster requiring tolerance of one host failure with minimized overhead, RAID-5 erasure coding is the best choice. It provides the necessary fault tolerance while using less capacity than RAID-1 mirroring. RAID-6 would offer additional protection but at higher overhead, and RAID-0 offers no redundancy.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
RAID-5 with Number of Failures to Tolerate = 1
Why this is correct
RAID-5 erasure coding in vSAN provides fault tolerance for one host failure with less storage overhead than RAID-1. It requires a minimum of 4 hosts and uses parity to reconstruct data. For a 6-host cluster, RAID-5 offers a good balance of availability and capacity efficiency, making it ideal for production workloads.
- ✗
RAID-6 with Number of Failures to Tolerate = 2
Why it's wrong here
RAID-6 tolerates two host failures but has higher storage overhead than RAID-5 due to dual parity. While it provides greater resiliency, the requirement is only to survive a single host failure. RAID-6 would unnecessarily consume more capacity and is typically used for larger clusters or higher fault tolerance needs.
- ✗
RAID-0 with Number of Failures to Tolerate = 0
Why it's wrong here
RAID-0 stripes data without redundancy, offering no fault tolerance. A single host failure would result in data loss. This does not meet the high availability requirement. RAID-0 is used for non-critical workloads where performance is prioritized over resiliency, which is not the case here.
- ✗
RAID-1 with Number of Failures to Tolerate = 1
Why it's wrong here
RAID-1 mirrors data across hosts, providing high availability but with 50% storage overhead. While it meets the requirement of tolerating one host failure, it does not minimize storage overhead compared to erasure coding. For a 6-host cluster, RAID-5 can provide similar fault tolerance with less overhead.
Quick reference
RAID Level Comparison
| RAID Level | Min Disks | Fault Tolerance | Read | Write | Usable Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAID 0 | 2 | None | Excellent | Excellent | 100% |
| RAID 1 | 2 | 1 disk | Good | Moderate | 50% |
| RAID 5 | 3 | 1 disk | Good | Moderate | 67–94% |
| RAID 6 | 4 | 2 disks | Good | Lower | 50–88% |
| RAID 10 | 4 | 1 disk per mirror | Excellent | Good | 50% |
RAID is not a backup strategy — it protects against disk failure but not against accidental deletion, ransomware, or site-level events.
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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.