VCP-DCV vSphere Performance and Scaling Practice Question
An administrator wants to maximize performance for a latency-sensitive application running on a VM. The host has two NUMA nodes. Which vSphere feature should be configured to ensure the VM's memory is allocated from the same NUMA node as its vCPUs?
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
✓
NUMA affinity
(NUMA affinity) is the correct choice. NUMA affinity allows an administrator to specify a preferred NUMA node for a VM's vCPUs and memory, ensuring that memory allocations are local to the node where the vCPUs are running. This reduces memory access latency, which is critical for latency-sensitive applications. Option A (Memory reservation) only guarantees that the host will provide a minimum amount of memory; it does not affect memory locality. Option C (CPU affinity) pins vCPUs to specific physical cores but does not control memory placement. Option D (Memory latency sensitivity) is a vSphere 6.7+ feature that provides guidance to the CPU scheduler but does not enforce strict NUMA locality.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Memory reservation
Why it's wrong here
Memory reservation guarantees physical memory but does not determine which NUMA node it comes from.
- ✓
NUMA affinity
Why this is correct
NUMA affinity forces the VM's vCPUs and memory to be allocated from a single NUMA node, ensuring local memory access.
- ✗
CPU affinity
Why it's wrong here
CPU affinity restricts vCPU scheduling to specific cores but does not control memory allocation location.
- ✗
Memory latency sensitivity
Why it's wrong here
Memory latency sensitivity is a hint to the scheduler to prefer local memory, but it does not provide strict pinning.
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