VCP-DCV vSphere Architecture, Products and Solutions Practice Question
Which THREE components are required to implement vSphere with Tanzu (Workload Management)? (Choose three.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers assume NSX-T is mandatory for vSphere with Tanzu, but the exam tests that a vDS is the minimum networking requirement, with NSX-T being an optional but recommended component for advanced networking features.
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
✓
A vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS)
Option B is correct because implementing vSphere with Tanzu requires a vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS) to provide the networking foundation for the Supervisor Cluster and its namespaces, including the distributed port groups used by Tanzu workloads. Option D is correct because the vSphere cluster hosting the Supervisor must have vSphere DRS enabled, since DRS is a prerequisite for Workload Management and is used to place and manage Supervisor control plane and worker nodes. Option E is correct because shared storage (such as vSAN, NFS, iSCSI, or Fibre Channel) accessible by all ESXi hosts in the cluster is required so that Kubernetes control plane VMs and persistent volumes can be placed and migrated across hosts. Option A is not required because vSphere with Tanzu uses the existing vCenter Server rather than a separate dedicated Tanzu vCenter. Option C is not required because NSX-T Data Center is only needed for certain networking configurations (such as NSX-based Supervisor networking); vSphere with Tanzu can also be deployed using a vDS with a HAProxy load balancer, so NSX-T is not a mandatory component.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
A separate vCenter Server for Tanzu management
Why it's wrong here
Workload Management runs on the existing vCenter Server, so a second one adds no required capability. Separate vCenter instances are deployed for isolation between environments, such as production and development, not for enabling Tanzu itself.
- ✓
A vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS)
Why this is correct
A vSphere Distributed Switch provides the port groups and uplinks that Supervisor control plane and Tanzu Kubernetes Grid clusters attach to, satisfying the networking prerequisite for Workload Management. Without a vDS, the Supervisor cannot present its Kubernetes API endpoint or route pod traffic, so deployment fails.
- ✗
NSX-T Data Center for networking
Why it's wrong here
NSX-T is only mandatory with the NSX networking stack; the vDS stack uses distributed switches and requires no NSX-T. NSX-T is the correct choice when advanced networking, such as NSX-backed load balancing or routable pod networks, is needed.
- ✓
A vSphere cluster with vSphere DRS enabled
Why this is correct
Workload Management requires a vSphere cluster with vSphere DRS enabled, because the Supervisor Control Plane VMs and Tanzu Kubernetes Grid clusters rely on DRS for initial placement and ongoing load balancing across the cluster's ESXi hosts.
- ✓
Shared storage accessible by all ESXi hosts in the cluster
Why this is correct
Shared storage accessible by every ESXi host in the cluster is mandatory, since Supervisor Control Plane VMs and Tanzu Kubernetes Grid nodes must remain reachable and be able to migrate between hosts via vSphere DRS and vMotion.
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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.