Practice Free 2V0-15.25 Exam Online Questions
Question #1
An administrator Is responsible for managing a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) fleet. The administrator discovers intermittent performance issues with the supplemental storage (ISCSI) connected to VCF workload domain. The administrator discovers that the (iSCSI) target is reachable from most VMware ESX hosts, but some hosts consistently experience periods of slow I/O and connection drops.
Which two actions should the administrator take to diagnose and resolve this issue? (Choose two.)
- A . Review the iSCSI target’s configuration to ensure it’s configured for maximum performance, including enabling CHAP authentication.
- B . Examine the iSCSI VMkernel port on all affected ESX hosts for TCP retransmissions and checksum offload errors.
- C . Update the network plugin on the ESX host to the latest version.
- D . Ensure all ESX hosts have the VMkernel port MTU set to 1500.
- E . Ensure all ESX hosts have the VMkernel port MTU set to 9000.
Correct Answer: B, E
B, E
Explanation:
To diagnose and resolve the intermittent performance and connection drop issues with the supplemental iSCSI storage, the administrator should focus on network layer consistency and health, particularly regarding packet size (MTU) and delivery (TCP).
Examine the iSCSI VMkernel port for TCP retransmissions (Action B – Diagnose): "Intermittent" connection drops and slow I/O are classic symptoms of packet loss or fragmentation issues. By examining the ESXi network stats (e.g., using esxtop key n or viewing vSphere performance charts) for TCP retransmissions, the administrator can confirm if packets are being dropped or lost in transit. Checksum offload errors can also indicate issues where the NIC hardware is incorrectly validating packets, causing the OS to drop them. This step identifies the root cause (packet loss/corruption).
Ensure all ESX hosts have the VMkernel port MTU set to 9000 (Action E – Resolve): For high-performance storage traffic like iSCSI in a VMware Cloud Foundation environment, it is best practice to use Jumbo Frames (MTU 9000) end-to-end (Host -> Switch -> Storage Array).
The symptom that some hosts are affected suggests configuration drift where those specific hosts might be set to a different MTU (e.g., 1500) or are mismatched with the physical network/target (which is likely set to 9000 for performance).
An MTU mismatch (e.g., Target sending 9000-byte frames to a Host/Switch expecting 1500) typically results in the "Do Not Fragment" (DF) bit causing packet drops, leading to the reported connection drops and retransmission delays. Ensuring a consistent MTU of 9000 across the fleet resolves this and aligns with VCF performance standards.
Note: Option A (CHAP) is for authentication security, not performance.
Option C (Update network plugin) is a lifecycle task but less likely to be the immediate fix for "some hosts" having intermittent drops compared to the common issue of MTU mismatch.
Option D (MTU 1500) would resolve drops if the physical network doesn’t support Jumbo Frames, but would degrade performance, making E the preferred resolution for a "performance" storage tier.
B, E
Explanation:
To diagnose and resolve the intermittent performance and connection drop issues with the supplemental iSCSI storage, the administrator should focus on network layer consistency and health, particularly regarding packet size (MTU) and delivery (TCP).
Examine the iSCSI VMkernel port for TCP retransmissions (Action B – Diagnose): "Intermittent" connection drops and slow I/O are classic symptoms of packet loss or fragmentation issues. By examining the ESXi network stats (e.g., using esxtop key n or viewing vSphere performance charts) for TCP retransmissions, the administrator can confirm if packets are being dropped or lost in transit. Checksum offload errors can also indicate issues where the NIC hardware is incorrectly validating packets, causing the OS to drop them. This step identifies the root cause (packet loss/corruption).
Ensure all ESX hosts have the VMkernel port MTU set to 9000 (Action E – Resolve): For high-performance storage traffic like iSCSI in a VMware Cloud Foundation environment, it is best practice to use Jumbo Frames (MTU 9000) end-to-end (Host -> Switch -> Storage Array).
The symptom that some hosts are affected suggests configuration drift where those specific hosts might be set to a different MTU (e.g., 1500) or are mismatched with the physical network/target (which is likely set to 9000 for performance).
An MTU mismatch (e.g., Target sending 9000-byte frames to a Host/Switch expecting 1500) typically results in the "Do Not Fragment" (DF) bit causing packet drops, leading to the reported connection drops and retransmission delays. Ensuring a consistent MTU of 9000 across the fleet resolves this and aligns with VCF performance standards.
Note: Option A (CHAP) is for authentication security, not performance.
Option C (Update network plugin) is a lifecycle task but less likely to be the immediate fix for "some hosts" having intermittent drops compared to the common issue of MTU mismatch.
Option D (MTU 1500) would resolve drops if the physical network doesn’t support Jumbo Frames, but would degrade performance, making E the preferred resolution for a "performance" storage tier.
Question #2
An administrator is troubleshooting network connectivity issues on a VMware ESX host configured with a dedicated VMware vSAN vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS) port group. The VMware vSAN vDS port group has two physical adapters and two uplinks assigned. After a failure of the active physical adapter, the vSAN vDS connection over the vSAN network was lost.
What is the cause of the issue?
- A . The vSAN storage policies are misconfigured.
- B . VLAN tagging is not correctly configured on the vDS.
- C . A physical adapter is set to "Not Used" in the vDS configuration.
- D . The vDS failover policy does not allow fallback.
Correct Answer: C
C
Explanation:
In vSAN ESA or OSA networking configured through a dedicated vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS), each vSAN vmkernel port must have at least one Active physical uplink available at all times. The scenario describes a vDS with two physical adapters and two uplinks, but after failure of the active uplink, vSAN traffic was lost. This only occurs when the second physical NIC is not actually assigned to the vSAN port group―typically because its uplink is set to “Unused”.
In such a misconfiguration:
vSAN traffic only uses the single active uplink.
When that uplink fails, vSAN has no failover path, causing immediate connectivity loss.
Option A (storage policies) does not affect network uplink behavior.
Option B (VLAN tagging) could cause connectivity failure but would not suddenly break only after an uplink failure.
Option D (failover policy not allowing fallback) affects recovery order, not immediate redundancy.
C
Explanation:
In vSAN ESA or OSA networking configured through a dedicated vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS), each vSAN vmkernel port must have at least one Active physical uplink available at all times. The scenario describes a vDS with two physical adapters and two uplinks, but after failure of the active uplink, vSAN traffic was lost. This only occurs when the second physical NIC is not actually assigned to the vSAN port group―typically because its uplink is set to “Unused”.
In such a misconfiguration:
vSAN traffic only uses the single active uplink.
When that uplink fails, vSAN has no failover path, causing immediate connectivity loss.
Option A (storage policies) does not affect network uplink behavior.
Option B (VLAN tagging) could cause connectivity failure but would not suddenly break only after an uplink failure.
Option D (failover policy not allowing fallback) affects recovery order, not immediate redundancy.
Question #3
An administrator is attempting to import a certificate chain In VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Operations by uploading a certificate file. The validation fails with an error stating, "The provided certificate content is invalid.’
What is a possible cause for this error?
- A . The certificate is not PEM-encoded.
- B . The certificate chain order is invalid.
- C . The certificate chain is missing the root CA.
- D . The certificate chain does not include the private key.
Correct Answer: A
A
Explanation:
VCF Operations enforces strict certificate format validation when importing certificate chains. According to VMware Cloud Foundation 9.x certificate management requirements, all uploaded certificates must be PEM-encoded. A PEM certificate must contain:
ASCII-encoded content
Proper headers such as:
—–BEGIN CERTIFICATE—–
—–END CERTIFICATE—–
If the certificate is encoded in DER, PFX, PKCS#12, or any non-PEM format, VCF Operations will reject the upload with the error:
“The provided certificate content is invalid.”
This matches the behavior described in the question.
Option B (chain order invalid) and Option C (missing root CA) can cause validation issues only after the certificate file is successfully parsed. The error described indicates the file itself cannot be parsed, which directly points to encoding.
Option D (missing private key) is incorrect because certificate chain uploads must NOT include a private key ― private keys are only used during CSR signing and are handled separately by the system.
A
Explanation:
VCF Operations enforces strict certificate format validation when importing certificate chains. According to VMware Cloud Foundation 9.x certificate management requirements, all uploaded certificates must be PEM-encoded. A PEM certificate must contain:
ASCII-encoded content
Proper headers such as:
—–BEGIN CERTIFICATE—–
—–END CERTIFICATE—–
If the certificate is encoded in DER, PFX, PKCS#12, or any non-PEM format, VCF Operations will reject the upload with the error:
“The provided certificate content is invalid.”
This matches the behavior described in the question.
Option B (chain order invalid) and Option C (missing root CA) can cause validation issues only after the certificate file is successfully parsed. The error described indicates the file itself cannot be parsed, which directly points to encoding.
Option D (missing private key) is incorrect because certificate chain uploads must NOT include a private key ― private keys are only used during CSR signing and are handled separately by the system.
Question #4
Through the VMware NSX Manager user interface, the administrator has identified an issue with BGP peering.
Which command on the NSX Edge Transport Node provides more information about the issue?
- A . get edge-cluster status
- B . get logical-routers
- C . get edge-cluster history state
- D . get log-file routing follow
Correct Answer: D
D
Explanation:
When troubleshooting BGP peering issues on an NSX Edge Transport Node, VMware documentation directs administrators to examine routing logs, because BGP failures are often caused by adjacency negotiation errors, authentication mismatches, keepalive/hold timer issues, or route-policy failures.
The NSX Edge CLI command:
get log-file routing follow
streams real-time routing logs, including BGP daemon logs (bfdd, routed, wdog) and provides detailed insight into:
BGP session establishment and teardown
Keepalive and hold timer exchanges
Neighbor state transitions
Route advertisement or rejection
Authentication mismatches
MTU or connectivity issues on TEP / uplinks
This is the only command in the list that exposes diagnostic-level BGP information needed to troubleshoot peering.
Option A (edge-cluster status) shows cluster membership only.
Option B (get logical-routers) shows logical router configuration, not BGP logs.
Option C (edge-cluster history state) is unrelated to routing.
D
Explanation:
When troubleshooting BGP peering issues on an NSX Edge Transport Node, VMware documentation directs administrators to examine routing logs, because BGP failures are often caused by adjacency negotiation errors, authentication mismatches, keepalive/hold timer issues, or route-policy failures.
The NSX Edge CLI command:
get log-file routing follow
streams real-time routing logs, including BGP daemon logs (bfdd, routed, wdog) and provides detailed insight into:
BGP session establishment and teardown
Keepalive and hold timer exchanges
Neighbor state transitions
Route advertisement or rejection
Authentication mismatches
MTU or connectivity issues on TEP / uplinks
This is the only command in the list that exposes diagnostic-level BGP information needed to troubleshoot peering.
Option A (edge-cluster status) shows cluster membership only.
Option B (get logical-routers) shows logical router configuration, not BGP logs.
Option C (edge-cluster history state) is unrelated to routing.
Question #4
Through the VMware NSX Manager user interface, the administrator has identified an issue with BGP peering.
Which command on the NSX Edge Transport Node provides more information about the issue?
- A . get edge-cluster status
- B . get logical-routers
- C . get edge-cluster history state
- D . get log-file routing follow
Correct Answer: D
D
Explanation:
When troubleshooting BGP peering issues on an NSX Edge Transport Node, VMware documentation directs administrators to examine routing logs, because BGP failures are often caused by adjacency negotiation errors, authentication mismatches, keepalive/hold timer issues, or route-policy failures.
The NSX Edge CLI command:
get log-file routing follow
streams real-time routing logs, including BGP daemon logs (bfdd, routed, wdog) and provides detailed insight into:
BGP session establishment and teardown
Keepalive and hold timer exchanges
Neighbor state transitions
Route advertisement or rejection
Authentication mismatches
MTU or connectivity issues on TEP / uplinks
This is the only command in the list that exposes diagnostic-level BGP information needed to troubleshoot peering.
Option A (edge-cluster status) shows cluster membership only.
Option B (get logical-routers) shows logical router configuration, not BGP logs.
Option C (edge-cluster history state) is unrelated to routing.
D
Explanation:
When troubleshooting BGP peering issues on an NSX Edge Transport Node, VMware documentation directs administrators to examine routing logs, because BGP failures are often caused by adjacency negotiation errors, authentication mismatches, keepalive/hold timer issues, or route-policy failures.
The NSX Edge CLI command:
get log-file routing follow
streams real-time routing logs, including BGP daemon logs (bfdd, routed, wdog) and provides detailed insight into:
BGP session establishment and teardown
Keepalive and hold timer exchanges
Neighbor state transitions
Route advertisement or rejection
Authentication mismatches
MTU or connectivity issues on TEP / uplinks
This is the only command in the list that exposes diagnostic-level BGP information needed to troubleshoot peering.
Option A (edge-cluster status) shows cluster membership only.
Option B (get logical-routers) shows logical router configuration, not BGP logs.
Option C (edge-cluster history state) is unrelated to routing.
Question #6
An administrator needs to confirm which account initiates tasks from VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Operations. As a test, a virtual machine (VM) is powered on/off through VCF Operations.
In the vCenter task pane, what account would be the initiator of the task?
- A . The credentials of the logged in user.
- B . The service account between VCF Operations and vCenter.
- C . The service account between vCenter and SDDC Manager.
- D . The [email protected] account.
Correct Answer: B
B
Explanation:
When VMware Cloud Foundation Operations performs actions on vCenter―such as powering on or off a VM―the tasks are initiated through an integration service account, not the identity of the user logged into the VCF Operations UI. VCF Operations connects to vCenter using a configured collector or integration credential, typically a service account defined during initial setup.
VCF documentation clarifies that all automated or orchestrated tasks originating from VCF Operations use this trusted account to ensure consistent auditing, RBAC enforcement, and operational isolation from user identities. Therefore, in the vCenter task pane, the “Initiated By” field always reflects the VCF Operations → vCenter service account, even if the end-user triggered the action indirectly.
Option A is incorrect because the logged-in user does not directly interface with vCenter.
Option C refers to SDDC Manager’s integration account, which is unrelated to VCF Operations workflows.
Option D ([email protected]) appears only when vCenter’s built-in admin performs the action.
B
Explanation:
When VMware Cloud Foundation Operations performs actions on vCenter―such as powering on or off a VM―the tasks are initiated through an integration service account, not the identity of the user logged into the VCF Operations UI. VCF Operations connects to vCenter using a configured collector or integration credential, typically a service account defined during initial setup.
VCF documentation clarifies that all automated or orchestrated tasks originating from VCF Operations use this trusted account to ensure consistent auditing, RBAC enforcement, and operational isolation from user identities. Therefore, in the vCenter task pane, the “Initiated By” field always reflects the VCF Operations → vCenter service account, even if the end-user triggered the action indirectly.
Option A is incorrect because the logged-in user does not directly interface with vCenter.
Option C refers to SDDC Manager’s integration account, which is unrelated to VCF Operations workflows.
Option D ([email protected]) appears only when vCenter’s built-in admin performs the action.
Question #7
An administrator is managing a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) environment. They receive a request from the developers to enable vDefend – Distributed Firewall. However, they noticed It cannot be enabled due to a missing license.
Where must the new license be applied?
- A . SDDC Manager.
- B . NSX Manager.
- C . VCF Automation.
- D . VCF Operations.
Correct Answer: B
B
Explanation:
vDefend C Distributed Firewall is a security capability delivered by NSX within VMware Cloud Foundation. Although VCF components such as SDDC Manager, VCF Operations, and VCF Automation rely on licensing frameworks, the enforcement and activation of NSX features―including Distributed Firewall―occur entirely within NSX Manager.
To enable vDefend (Distributed Firewall), NSX Manager must detect a valid NSX license that includes security features. Without applying the correct license directly to NSX Manager:
The Distributed Firewall feature remains locked
vDefend cannot be enabled in workload domains
Security rules and micro-segmentation capability remain unavailable
VCF does not apply NSX security licensing at the SDDC Manager, VCF Automation, or VCF Operations layers. Instead, NSX Manager handles all feature entitlement checks internally.
Therefore, the new license must be installed directly in NSX Manager, under:
System → Licensing → NSX → Add License
Options A, C, and D are incorrect because none of those components control NSX feature activation.
B
Explanation:
vDefend C Distributed Firewall is a security capability delivered by NSX within VMware Cloud Foundation. Although VCF components such as SDDC Manager, VCF Operations, and VCF Automation rely on licensing frameworks, the enforcement and activation of NSX features―including Distributed Firewall―occur entirely within NSX Manager.
To enable vDefend (Distributed Firewall), NSX Manager must detect a valid NSX license that includes security features. Without applying the correct license directly to NSX Manager:
The Distributed Firewall feature remains locked
vDefend cannot be enabled in workload domains
Security rules and micro-segmentation capability remain unavailable
VCF does not apply NSX security licensing at the SDDC Manager, VCF Automation, or VCF Operations layers. Instead, NSX Manager handles all feature entitlement checks internally.
Therefore, the new license must be installed directly in NSX Manager, under:
System → Licensing → NSX → Add License
Options A, C, and D are incorrect because none of those components control NSX feature activation.
Question #8
An administrator is responsible for managing a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Fleet that is configured as follows:
• Single VCF instance with a single workload domain.
• The Workload Domain has a single 5-node VMware vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA) cluster.
• The vSAN Default Storage Policy is configured as RAID1.
The administrator is alerted to the fact that storage capacity is running low and, to improve space efficiency, attempts to change the vSAN storage policy on a number of large virtual machines to a 2 Failures – RAID-6 policy.
The policy change is immediately rejected.
What should the administrator do to reduce overall capacity usage while waiting for new storage devices to arrive?
- A . Enable encryption on the vSAN Default Storage Policy.
- B . Reconfigure the Virtual Machines to use a 1 Failure-RAID-5 Storage Policy.
- C . Convert the Virtual Machines from thick provisioning to thin provisioning.
- D . Enable compression on the vSAN Default Storage Policy.
Correct Answer: C
C
Explanation:
In VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 with vSAN ESA, storage policies must match the capabilities of the existing cluster. The scenario describes a 5-node vSAN ESA cluster where the vSAN Default Storage Policy is RAID-1 (FTT=1). The administrator attempts to apply a 2 Failures C RAID-6 policy, which ESA supports only on clusters with at least 7 nodes. Because the cluster has only five nodes, the policy fails immediately―this is expected and documented in the vSAN ESA design specifications.
Since RAID-6 is not an option and capacity is low, the administrator must look for a method to reclaim storage usage without requiring additional nodes or unsupported policy changes. Converting VMs from thick provisioning to thin provisioning is a safe and effective mitigation approach. Thin provisioning reduces consumed space by allowing disks to grow only as needed, immediately recovering unused blocks. This is a standard vSAN-supported method to temporarily alleviate capacity pressure.
Enabling encryption (A) or compression (D) does not reduce capacity usage retroactively and may actually increase overhead. Using RAID-5 (B) is also not possible because RAID-5 requires at least 6 ESA-enabled hosts.
C
Explanation:
In VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 with vSAN ESA, storage policies must match the capabilities of the existing cluster. The scenario describes a 5-node vSAN ESA cluster where the vSAN Default Storage Policy is RAID-1 (FTT=1). The administrator attempts to apply a 2 Failures C RAID-6 policy, which ESA supports only on clusters with at least 7 nodes. Because the cluster has only five nodes, the policy fails immediately―this is expected and documented in the vSAN ESA design specifications.
Since RAID-6 is not an option and capacity is low, the administrator must look for a method to reclaim storage usage without requiring additional nodes or unsupported policy changes. Converting VMs from thick provisioning to thin provisioning is a safe and effective mitigation approach. Thin provisioning reduces consumed space by allowing disks to grow only as needed, immediately recovering unused blocks. This is a standard vSAN-supported method to temporarily alleviate capacity pressure.
Enabling encryption (A) or compression (D) does not reduce capacity usage retroactively and may actually increase overhead. Using RAID-5 (B) is also not possible because RAID-5 requires at least 6 ESA-enabled hosts.
Question #9
An administrator attempts to update the VMware vCenter root account password through VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Operations. The attempt fails with the following error message, "Failed to authenticate with the guest operating system using the supplied credentials."
What is the cause of the failure?
- A . The password does not meet policy requirements.
- B . The password was previously updated on the vCenter directly.
- C . vCenter is down.
- D . The SSH service is not running.
Correct Answer: B
B
Explanation:
VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 Operations manages credentials for integrated components such as vCenter Server through its internal password vault. When administrators modify passwords directly on the component―such as manually changing the vCenter root password―VCF Operations is no longer able to authenticate using its stored credentials. As a result, any password rotation or update operation initiated through VCF Operations fails during the validation step.
The error "Failed to authenticate with the guest operating system using the supplied credentials" is a direct symptom of this condition. VCF Operations attempts to log in to vCenter using the previously stored credential, which no longer matches the actual root password. Documentation describes this as an "out-of-sync credential state," and the resolution is to perform password remediation to re-synchronize VCF Operations with the system.
Option A (password complexity) is irrelevant because complexity is validated only after authentication.
Option C (vCenter down) would generate connectivity errors, not authentication errors.
Option D (SSH disabled) does not prevent password rotation because VCF Operations uses VMware Tools guest operations, not SSH, for authentication.
B
Explanation:
VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 Operations manages credentials for integrated components such as vCenter Server through its internal password vault. When administrators modify passwords directly on the component―such as manually changing the vCenter root password―VCF Operations is no longer able to authenticate using its stored credentials. As a result, any password rotation or update operation initiated through VCF Operations fails during the validation step.
The error "Failed to authenticate with the guest operating system using the supplied credentials" is a direct symptom of this condition. VCF Operations attempts to log in to vCenter using the previously stored credential, which no longer matches the actual root password. Documentation describes this as an "out-of-sync credential state," and the resolution is to perform password remediation to re-synchronize VCF Operations with the system.
Option A (password complexity) is irrelevant because complexity is validated only after authentication.
Option C (vCenter down) would generate connectivity errors, not authentication errors.
Option D (SSH disabled) does not prevent password rotation because VCF Operations uses VMware Tools guest operations, not SSH, for authentication.
Question #10
An administrator is automating the deployment of a new VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) fleet using VCF Installer. The VCF fleet must include VCF Automation being deployed in a simple deployment model.
The administrator creates a JSON file, but during the installation attempt the VCF Installer returns an error indicating that the JSON validation has failed.
What is the cause of the errors?
- A . VCF components binaries are not downloaded.
- B . Second IP address for VCF Automation is not specified.
- C . NSX Manager size was defined as large.
- D . A separate distributed switch was defined for vSAN traffic.
Correct Answer: B
B
Explanation:
In VCF 9.0, when deploying VCF Automation using the VCF Installer in a Simple Deployment Model, the appliance requires two IP addresses:
Primary IP C Management interface
Secondary IP C Required for service separation and internal routing for Automation services
VMware’s JSON schema for VCF Installer enforces this requirement. If the second IP is missing, incorrectly formatted, or placed under the wrong JSON section, the installer validation will fail immediately with a JSON schema error before deployment begins.
This is one of the most common causes of validation failure for VCF Automation deployment.
Option A (component binaries missing) produces a bundle download error, not JSON schema failure.
Option C (NSX Manager size = large) is allowed and does not break JSON validation.
Option D (separate vDS for vSAN) is allowed if defined correctly and also does not cause JSON schema failure.
B
Explanation:
In VCF 9.0, when deploying VCF Automation using the VCF Installer in a Simple Deployment Model, the appliance requires two IP addresses:
Primary IP C Management interface
Secondary IP C Required for service separation and internal routing for Automation services
VMware’s JSON schema for VCF Installer enforces this requirement. If the second IP is missing, incorrectly formatted, or placed under the wrong JSON section, the installer validation will fail immediately with a JSON schema error before deployment begins.
This is one of the most common causes of validation failure for VCF Automation deployment.
Option A (component binaries missing) produces a bundle download error, not JSON schema failure.
Option C (NSX Manager size = large) is allowed and does not break JSON validation.
Option D (separate vDS for vSAN) is allowed if defined correctly and also does not cause JSON schema failure.