The answer is to enable vSphere HA and configure admission control to reserve resources for one host failure. This is correct because admission control with the “reserve for one host failure” policy ensures that the cluster retains enough spare capacity to restart all VMs from a single failed host on the remaining three hosts, preventing resource overcommitment and guaranteeing maximum availability for mission-critical applications. On the VCP-DCV exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how admission control policies balance fault tolerance against resource waste; a common trap is choosing “reserve for all host failures” or “disable admission control,” which either wastes capacity or risks VM failure during a host outage. Remember the memory tip: “One is enough for four” — in a four-host cluster, reserving for one failure provides the highest availability with minimal waste, as VMware HA can restart VMs on the surviving hosts without overcommitting CPU or memory.
VCP-DCV vSphere Architecture, Products and Solutions Practice Question
This VCP-DCV practice question tests your understanding of vsphere architecture, products and solutions. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A vSphere administrator is designing a new cluster for a mission-critical application that requires maximum availability. The cluster will consist of four ESXi hosts. Which vSphere feature should be enabled to protect against host failures while minimizing resource waste?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Enable vSphere HA and configure admission control to reserve resources for one host failure.
Option B is correct because vSphere HA with admission control configured to reserve resources for one host failure ensures that if a host fails, the VMs can be restarted on the remaining hosts without overcommitting resources. This provides maximum availability for mission-critical applications while minimizing resource waste by only reserving enough capacity for a single host failure, not for multiple or all hosts.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Enable vSphere DRS and set the migration threshold to the most aggressive setting.
Enable vSphere HA and configure admission control to reserve resources for one host failure.
Why this is correct
This provides the required availability while optimizing resource usage.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Enable vSphere Fault Tolerance on all VMs in the cluster.
Why it's wrong here
FT is per-VM and has limitations (e.g., vCPU count), not a cluster-level availability feature.
✗
Configure vSphere Replication for all VMs to replicate to a secondary site.
Why it's wrong here
This is a disaster recovery solution, not for host failure within the cluster.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse vSphere HA (which provides host-level failover) with vSphere DRS (which only optimizes resource usage) or assume that Fault Tolerance is the only way to achieve maximum availability, ignoring its massive resource overhead and practical limitations.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
vSphere HA admission control uses a policy (e.g., 'Reserve resources for one host failure') to calculate the slot size based on the largest VM's CPU and memory reservation, then ensures that the cluster has enough spare capacity to accommodate that slot. Under the hood, the vCenter Server uses the Cluster Resource Monitoring (CRM) service to enforce this policy, preventing VMs from being powered on if they would violate the failover capacity. In a real-world scenario, if a host fails, HA triggers a host isolation response and restarts VMs on surviving hosts using the reserved resources, avoiding resource contention.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A practitioner preparing for the VCP-DCV exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
vSphere Architecture, Products and Solutions — This question tests vSphere Architecture, Products and Solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Enable vSphere HA and configure admission control to reserve resources for one host failure. — Option B is correct because vSphere HA with admission control configured to reserve resources for one host failure ensures that if a host fails, the VMs can be restarted on the remaining hosts without overcommitting resources. This provides maximum availability for mission-critical applications while minimizing resource waste by only reserving enough capacity for a single host failure, not for multiple or all hosts.
What should I do if I get this VCP-DCV question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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