VMware VCP-DCV (vSphere) Exam Survival Guide

Window: Global | 70–80 Q / ~135 min

Must-do topics

• vSphere core: ESXi, vCenter, clusters, DRS/HA, vMotion/Storage vMotion
• Storage & networking: VMFS/NFS/vSAN, iSCSI/FC; vDS, NIC teaming, NIOC
• Availability: HA admission control, VM/Host rules, FT basics
• Security: roles/permissions, certificates, lockdown modes
• Lifecycle & troubleshooting: vLCM, host profiles, logs, cmd tools (esxcli)

Top traps (avoid)

• Mixing vMotion (compute) vs Storage vMotion vs Cross-vCenter
• HA failover capacity math; admission control mis-set
• vSAN policies (FTT, RAID-1/5/6) not matching SLA
• NTP/DNS misconfig leading to vCenter/cluster issues

Time split

• ~2 min/Q; flag scenario items, answer recall first

Last-48h checklist

• DRS/HA settings; isolation response behavior
• vSAN policy table; resync behavior; witness placement
• vDS vs vSS differences; teaming/load-balancing options
• Backup/restore vCenter; PSC merge history (if legacy)

Quick facts

• DRS balances compute; HA restarts VMs on host failure
• vMotion needs shared storage or storage vMotion; L2 adjacency considerations
• vSAN storage policies drive placement; policy-based mgmt is key
• vSphere single sign-on controls identity domains

Speed tactics

• Tie every choice to SLA (RPO/RTO) and resource constraints
• Eliminate configs that break prerequisites (DNS/NTP/vDS)
• Use rule of least change for stability

Day-of mini-plan

• 10-min DRS/HA/vSAN skim
• Keep calm; reread scenario asks before picking config answers