Quick Answer
The answer is the explicit failover order (Active/Standby) policy. This NIC teaming configuration provides pure fault tolerance by designating one or more physical NICs as active and the remainder as standby, ensuring that VM traffic uses only the active uplinks under normal conditions. When an active NIC fails, traffic automatically fails over to a standby NIC, delivering redundancy without any load balancing across multiple uplinks. On the VMware Certified Professional Data Center Virtualization VCP-DCV exam, this question tests your ability to distinguish between teaming policies that balance load versus those that solely provide failover; a common trap is selecting "Route based on IP hash" or "Route based on source MAC," which both distribute traffic and are not intended for pure fault tolerance. Remember the memory tip: "Active/Standby means one works, one waits—no sharing, just sparing."
This VCP-DCV practice question tests your understanding of configure and manage vsphere networking. 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.
An administrator needs to provide redundancy for VM traffic across multiple physical NICs on a vSphere Standard Switch. Which NIC teaming policy should be used to ensure fault tolerance without load balancing?
Route based on IP hash
Why wrong: This is a load-balancing policy that also provides fault tolerance.
Route based on originating virtual port
Why wrong: This is a load-balancing policy.
Use explicit failover order (Active/Standby)
This provides fault tolerance without load balancing.
Route based on source MAC hash
Why wrong: This is a load-balancing policy.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Use explicit failover order (Active/Standby)
Option C is correct because the 'Use explicit failover order (Active/Standby)' policy designates one or more NICs as active and the rest as standby, providing pure fault tolerance without any load balancing. When the active NIC fails, traffic automatically fails over to the standby NIC, ensuring redundancy without distributing traffic across multiple uplinks.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Route based on IP hash
Why it's wrong here
This is a load-balancing policy that also provides fault tolerance.
Route based on originating virtual port
Why it's wrong here
This is a load-balancing policy.
Use explicit failover order (Active/Standby)
Why this is correct
This provides fault tolerance without load balancing.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Route based on source MAC hash
Why it's wrong here
This is a load-balancing policy.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse 'fault tolerance without load balancing' with load-balancing policies like IP hash or source MAC hash, mistakenly thinking any teaming policy provides redundancy, but only the explicit failover order ensures a single active path with no traffic distribution.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, the explicit failover order policy uses a simple active/standby model where only one NIC is active at a time for a given team; failover is triggered by link state detection or beacon probing (if enabled). In a real-world scenario, this policy is ideal for environments where NIC teaming must comply with specific network requirements (e.g., using LACP on the physical switch side is not possible) or where the upstream switch expects traffic from a single MAC address to avoid spanning-tree issues.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A small business has 20 workstations on the 192.168.1.0/24 network and one public IP from its ISP. The router uses PAT (NAT overload) so all 20 devices share one public address using different source ports. NAT questions test whether you understand the four address terms and which direction each translation applies.
What to study next
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FAQ
Configure and Manage vSphere Networking — This question tests Configure and Manage vSphere Networking — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Use explicit failover order (Active/Standby) — Option C is correct because the 'Use explicit failover order (Active/Standby)' policy designates one or more NICs as active and the rest as standby, providing pure fault tolerance without any load balancing. When the active NIC fails, traffic automatically fails over to the standby NIC, ensuring redundancy without distributing traffic across multiple uplinks.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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