Free VMware 2V0-15.25 Practice Exam with Questions & Answers

When troubleshooting NSX on an ESXi host, VMware requires verification that NSX VIBs (vSphere Installation Bundles) are installed and in the correct state. VIBs are responsible for NSX datapath, control-plane modules, and kernel extensions on ESXi. The authoritative and documented method to list VIBs on an ESXi host is the command:

esxcli software vib list

This command displays all installed kernel modules, version numbers, NSX packages, and their installation status. For NSX-T (now part of VCF networking), administrators expect to see VIBs such asnsx-aggservice,nsx-bridge,nsx-esx-datapath, and others. If any required NSX VIBs are missing or inconsistent, the ESXi host will fail to join NSX transport nodes or will show “Not Ready.”

Option A (esxtop) is for performance monitoring and does not show VIB information.

Option C (nsxcli get version) checks NSX version on Edge Nodes or host transport nodes butdoes not list VIBs.

Option D (esxcfg software list) is an outdated and invalid command.

To successfully configure aMicrosoft Certificate Authority (CA)inVMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Operations(formerly vRealize/Aria Operations), the service account used for the integration must have specific permissions on the Certificate Template (e.g., the "VMware" template).

Required Permissions:The VCF 9.0 and Aria Operations documentation explicitly states that the service account must be assignedReadandEnrollpermissions on the target Certificate Template.

Read:This permission is critical for the "Discovery" and "Validation" phase. It allows VCF Operations to query the CA, list available templates, and read the template's properties (like Key Usage and Extended Key Usage) to ensure they meet the security requirements (e.g., Server Authentication, Non-Repudiation).

Enroll:This permission allows the account to actually submit a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) via the interface and receive a signed certificate.

The Cause of Failure (Option A):If the user account is configured withonly the "Enroll" permission, it effectivelylacks the "Read" permission. Without "Read", VCF Operations cannot "see" or validate the template during the configuration wizard. The application attempts to fetch the template details, fails (because the template is invisible to it), and throws the error"Certificate authorities update failed."

Why other options are incorrect:

Option D (Read and Enroll):This is thecorrectand recommended configuration. If the user had these permissions, the operation would succeed (assuming other prereqs like Basic Auth are met).

Option C (Autoenroll):TheAutoenrollpermission is designed for Windows Group Policy-based background renewal. It isnot requiredfor the VCF Operations API-based integration, which relies on explicit "Enroll" calls.

In VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 Automation, the Provider Portal must have full visibility into the underlying VCF inventory—includingNSX Managers,clusters,regions,vCenters, andSDDC Manager objects—before new regions can be created for Kubernetes-based deployments (All Apps Orgs).

The issue described:

“The NSX Manager for the workload domain does not appear in the list of available NSX Managers”

occurs whenSDDC Manager is not integratedinto VCF Automation. Without this integration, VCF Automation cannot discover workload domains or their associated NSX Managers. As a result, when attempting to create a new region, the NSX Manager list is empty.

The required action is:

Add the SDDC Manager integration under VCF Automation → Provider Portal → Integrations.

This integration enables Automation to pull:

NSX Manager inventory

vCenter endpoints

Workload domain topology

Cluster details

Only after this integration is complete will the NSX Manager appear and allow region creation.

Option A and D (deploying new WLD or cluster) are unnecessary—inventory access is the problem, not resources.

Option B (triggering inventory sync) cannot work becauseno SDDC Manager integration exists.

This issue stems from an incorrect role assignment during the user creation process in VMware Cloud Director (VCF Automation).

Organization Administrator Role (Option D): This role grants full control, including visibility of the Administration tab (to manage users, groups, and settings), Data Centers, and Monitor tabs. If the user were an Admin, they would see all tabs.

Organization Auditor Role (Option A): This is a read-only role, but by definition, an Auditor can view anything an Organization Administrator can see (including the Administration settings), just without edit rights. Therefore, an Auditor would still see the Administration tab.

Organization User Role (Option B): This is a consumer-level role designed for deploying and managing vApps. By default, this role does not have access to the Administration tab or high-level organization settings. If the organization is new and has no vApps or VDCs populated yet, a user with this role might see a very restricted view (effectively just a dashboard or "Overview") because they lack the rights to see the administrative configuration menus.

Conclusion: The fact that the "Administration" tab is missing (implied by "only Overview is visible") identifies the user as an Organization User (or a restricted Custom Role) rather than an Administrator or Auditor.

The error message com.vmware.esx.settings.daemon.software.scan_spec (reconstructed from the typo setungs_aaemon.sonware.scan_spec) is a specific failure generated by thevSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM)compliance engine on the ESXi host.

Cause - Removed Component:This error is a documented known issue in vSphere 8.x/VCF 5.x+, specifically occurring when an administrator hasremoved a componentfrom the Cluster Image that the system validates as "required" or "structural" for the host's hardware configuration (common with hosts using DPUs or specific OEM add-ons).

The Scenario:The mention of "High CPU ready times" likely implies the administrator attempted to streamline the host image byremovinga perceived "bloatware" component (like a vendor monitoring agent or unused driver) to improve performance.

The Result:When vLCM attempts to build the "Scan Specification" (scan_spec) to validate the host against this modified image, the internal struct validation fails because the removed component creates an invalid dependency state, throwing the Invalid field software_spec... or scan_spec exception.

To convert an existing vSphere environment into aVMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 Management Domain, several prerequisites must be met as defined in the VCF 9.x documentation.

First,VCF 9.0 requires vSphere 9.0as part of its Bill of Materials (BOM). The uploaded VCF 9.0 documentation confirms that VCF 9.0 is built onvSphere 9.0, vCenter 9.0, and NSX versions that align with the 9.x stack. A vSphere 8.0 Update 3 environment isnot supportedas a foundation for a VCF 9.0 management domain; therefore, the administrator mustupgrade the entire vSphere platform to vSphere 9.0before VCF deployment.

(Reference: VCF 9.0 BOM — vSphere 9.0 is mandatory.)

Second, VCF management domain creation strictly requiresvSphere Distributed Switches (vDS). VCF doesnotsupportvSphere Standard Switches (VSS)for any management domain hosts. The VCF 9.0 design and deployment guides state that all ESXi hosts intended for a management domain must use vDS for management, vSAN, and vMotion networking. Therefore, the existence of a VSS must be corrected by deploying and configuring avSphere Distributed Switchand migrating host networking accordingly before Cloud Builder deployment.

Removing standalone hosts or removing a VSS from inventory isnot required. Only the hosts selected for the management domain need to be prepared.

Thus, the required changes are:

✔B. Upgrade vSphere 8.0 Update 3 to vSphere 9.0

✔C. Configure a vSphere Distributed Switch

These are the only changes explicitly required by VCF 9.0 documentation.

In VCF 9.0, when deployingVCF Automationusing the VCF Installer in aSimple Deployment Model, the appliance requirestwo IP addresses:

Primary IP– Management interface

Secondary IP– 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 themost common causesof validation failure for VCF Automation deployment.

Option A (component binaries missing) produces abundle downloaderror, 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.

In VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 Automation, the visibility of debug-level information in Task Logs is controlled centrally by theProvider Administratorthrough theProvider Management portal. Debug logging is not enabled by default because it exposes verbose operational details intended primarily for troubleshooting. According to the VCF Automation architecture and operations model, advanced logging capabilities—including debug output—are gated behindfeature flags.

To enable debug-level information, the Provider Admin must navigate to:

Provider Management → Administration → Feature Flags → Display Debug Information

Once this flag is enabled, the system begins emitting additional diagnostic detail into Task Logs, improving insight into failures, orchestration flows, API calls, and service-to-service interactions. This aligns with VCF’s multi-tenant design, where only the Provider tier has permission to modify global settings that affect all Organizations.

Options A, C, and D are incorrect because Organization-level settings do not control system-wide logging, and the Events/Tasks or General Settings sections do not contain the mechanism for enabling debug output. Only theFeature Flagsection controls this capability.

In avSAN Stretched Cluster, communication between thewitness nodeanddata nodesrequires several specific TCP/UDP ports. The ability to successfully execute:

vmkping -I -s 1472 -d

confirms that:

L2/L3 connectivity is present

MTU is correctly configured

ICMP traffic flows without fragmentation

However,vmkping alone does not verify vSAN control-plane communication.

For the vSAN Witness to properly form a cluster,TCP port 12321must be openbidirectionallybetween:

Witness → Data nodes

Data nodes → Witness

Port12321is required for:

vSAN cluster membership

Witness traffic

vSAN object health/state synchronization

If this port is blocked by firewall policy or misconfigured network ACLs, the nodes can ping each other, butvSAN witness traffic will fail, preventing the stretched cluster from forming.

Why the other options are incorrect:

B. Port 443— Required for management, not cluster formation.

C. No VMs in cluster— Hasno impacton witness formation.

D. Jumbo frames not enabled— Already ruled out by the successful 1472-byte vmkping with DF bit.

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 requires strict vSAN ESA hardware compatibility when creating a workload domain that uses vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA). During host validation, SDDC Manager and vSphere Client check whether each ESXi host meets ESA requirements, including CPU generation, storage controller type, and—most importantly—ESA-certified NVMe storage devices. The validation errors provided:

“Failed to validate vSAN HCL status” for every host

indicate that the hosts do not meet the vSAN ESA HCL requirements.

VCF 9.0 documentation states that ESA uses a next-generation log-structured filesystem requiring certified NVMe devices only, with no RAID controller dependencies. Unlike OSA, ESA eliminates disk groups, but it requires certified devices listed on the vSAN ESA HCL to pass host validation. If non-certified or unsupported NVMe/SAS devices are present, validation fails exactly as described.

Option A is incorrect because RAID pass-through settings apply to OSA, not ESA.

Option C is incorrect because ESA compatibility validation is performed offline using the SDDC Manager BOM, not via internet lookup.

Option D is incorrect because ESA does not use tri-mode RAID controllers.

Therefore, the documented and verified cause is B: hosts are not using vSAN ESA certified storage devices.