VCP-DCV vSphere Performance and Scaling Practice Question
Which TWO actions are effective in reducing CPU ready time on a vSphere host that is heavily overcommitted on CPU? (Choose two.)
⚠ Common exam trap
VCP-DCV often tests the misconception that enabling hyperthreading or increasing vCPUs helps CPU ready time, when they can actually worsen it.
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
✓
Add more hosts to the cluster.
Option A is correct because CPU ready time reflects the percentage of time a vCPU is ready to run but is waiting for a physical CPU (pCPU) to become available; adding more hosts to the cluster increases the total pCPU capacity and reduces the vCPU-to-pCPU overcommitment ratio, directly lowering ready time. Option D is correct because reducing the number of vCPUs on over-provisioned VMs lowers the total number of vCPUs contending for the same pCPUs, which decreases scheduling contention and thus ready time. Option B is not correct because enabling hyperthreading exposes logical processors but does not add real execution resources, and it can even increase contention for physical cores. Option C is not correct because adding vCPUs to VMs already experiencing high ready time increases the overcommitment and typically worsens ready time. Option E is not correct because CPU affinity pins vCPUs to specific pCPUs, which restricts the scheduler's flexibility and can increase ready time rather than reduce it.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Add more hosts to the cluster.
Why this is correct
Adding hosts expands the cluster's aggregate physical CPU capacity, so the same workload spreads across more cores. This lowers the vCPU-to-pCPU ratio, cutting the time VMs spend waiting in the run queue, which is precisely the overcommitment constraint the stem describes.
- ✗
Enable hyperthreading on the host CPUs.
Why it's wrong here
Hyperthreading exposes logical processors that share each core's execution units, so under heavy CPU overcommitment it adds contention and can worsen ready time. It is tempting because it raises reported logical CPU count, which helps lightly loaded hosts needing extra schedulable threads.
- ✗
Increase the number of vCPUs on VMs with high ready times.
Why it's wrong here
Adding vCPUs increases the number of runnable threads competing for the same physical cores, which raises CPU ready time rather than lowering it. It is tempting because extra vCPUs help genuinely CPU-bound workloads that are not overcommitted, where more parallelism is the goal.
- ✓
Reduce the number of vCPUs on over-provisioned VMs.
Why this is correct
Reducing vCPUs shrinks each VM's ready queue demand, so the host's CPU scheduler grants more frequent turns to remaining worlds. This directly relieves the overcommitment constraint in the stem, since fewer runnable vCPUs per VM lowers co-scheduling pressure and cuts the percentage of time spent waiting for a physical core.
- ✗
Configure CPU affinity to pin vCPUs to specific pCPUs.
Why it's wrong here
Pinning vCPUs to specific pCPUs restricts the scheduler's placement freedom, which can increase CPU ready time rather than reduce it, especially on an overcommitted host. Affinity is tempting for latency-sensitive workloads needing dedicated cores, but the effective fixes here are reducing vCPU counts or adding host capacity.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official VMware exam blueprint
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.