VCP-DCV Configure and Manage vSphere Storage Practice Question
An administrator manages a vSAN cluster with 5 ESXi hosts in a single failure domain. The cluster uses vSAN version 8 and is configured with a single disk group per host. A storage policy is applied to a group of VMs with 'Number of failures to tolerate = 1' and 'Primary level of failures = Host'. One host experiences a catastrophic hardware failure and is now marked as 'Absent' in the vSAN cluster. The administrator checks the vSAN health and finds that the affected host's disk group is completely lost. One of the VMs from that group previously had two replicas on different hosts and a witness component on a third host. The VM is still powered on, and the administrator sees that one replica was on the failed host. The other replica and witness are on surviving hosts. What is the current state of this VM regarding data accessibility?
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
✓
The VM is fully accessible because it still has one replica and the witness.
With FTT=1 and primary level of failures = Host, the VM's object has 2 replicas and 1 witness. The surviving replica and witness are sufficient to maintain full read/write access. vSAN can rebuild the lost replica on another host, but even before rebuild, the VM remains fully accessible because there is still a complete replica. Option D correctly states this. Option A is incorrect because performance does not degrade; the VM uses the surviving replica. Option B is incorrect because the VM is accessible and can be rebuilt. Option C is incorrect because the witness is metadata; the VM has a full replica for reads.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The VM is accessible but performance is degraded because the disk group on the failed host is gone.
Why it's wrong here
Performance may be slightly impacted but the VM remains accessible; however, 'accessible but degraded' is not the most accurate statement regarding accessibility.
- ✗
The VM is inaccessible because the lost replica cannot be rebuilt without a replacement host.
Why it's wrong here
The VM is still accessible; the lost replica can be rebuilt once a replacement host is added or the failed host is repaired.
- ✗
The VM is inaccessible because the witness component is now the only copy and cannot be used for reads.
Why it's wrong here
The witness is not a data copy; it is used for metadata and quorum. The surviving replica provides the data.
- ✓
The VM is fully accessible because it still has one replica and the witness.
Why this is correct
The surviving replica and witness provide sufficient redundancy to maintain full data accessibility.
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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.