2V0-17.25 VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 Administrator Question and Answers

TheVCF Automation Costing and Pricing Guideexplains:

“Define core costs for CPU, memory, and storage under Base Settings to apply fleet-wide.” (A)

“Mark the created policy as the default to ensure it applies globally.” (B)

For SAP HANA, “Create an exception policy under Base Settings with VM setup charges assigned to the SAP HANA cluster.” (E)Default Policy (C, F) is system-reserved. Sub-policies under “Resources” (D) are not valid. Correct configuration steps:A, B, E.

The VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 networking design documentation specifies that container workloads running on VMware Kubernetes Service (VKS) with NSX networking require external connectivity via a Centralized Connectivity model. This is implemented using an NSX Tier-0 (T0) Gateway which provides north-south routing to the corporate physical network.

The guide states:“In VKS deployments backed by NSX networking, workloads achieve external reachability through a centralized Tier-0 Gateway, ensuring integration with corporate networking and enterprise services.”This model ensures traffic consolidation, policy enforcement, and simplified routing for Kubernetes workloads.

Round-robin Connectivity is not a supported NSX gateway connectivity model.

Distributed Connectivity refers to east-west NSX overlay communication, not north-south connectivity.

Physical Connectivity is not precise, as workloads do not connect directly to the physical network; instead, they use logical routing.

Centralized Connectivity is the correct model, where the T0 Gateway centralizes external routing for container workloads.

According to the VCF 9.0 Operations and vSAN Integration Guide, performance metrics in the vSAN Cluster Performance widget are only available when the vSAN Performance Service is enabled. The documentation states:

“The vSAN Performance Service must be enabled in vCenter Server for each vSAN cluster to collect and visualize performance statistics in VCF Operations. Without this service, performance dashboards and widgets will not display data.”

Option A (Support Insight) relates to telemetry with VMware, not performance widgets.

Option B (Cloud proxy as Collector) is required for general collection but not specific to vSAN widget visibility.

Option C (SMART data collection) provides disk health analytics, not cluster-level performance stats.

Option D is correct, because enabling the vSAN Performance Service ensures that VCF Operations receives and displays data in the vSAN Performance dashboards.

Therefore, the administrator must enable the vSAN Performance Service for all vSAN clusters in vCenter.

TheVCF 9.0 Operations Access Control Guidedescribes how dashboard sharing and user access is managed:

Identity Broker Authentication (D):All external users must authenticate via theVCF Identity Broker, which integrates with Active Directory, LDAP, or other identity providers. Documentation states:“Identity Broker provides single sign-on and federation, ensuring users are authenticated consistently across VCF Operations and Automation services.”

Grant Access to Dashboard (E):After authentication, the administrator must explicitlygrant accessto the dashboard for the specified group. This ensures that only the intended users can view or interact with the dashboard.

Set Time-Bound Access (C):VCF Operations supports time-bound access policies. The documentation specifies:“Access can be granted with an expiration period, ensuring access is automatically revoked after the configured interval (for example, 90 days).”This aligns with the 3-month requirement.

Other options are not suitable:

Reports (A)only send static data, not interactive dashboard access.

Embedded code (B, F)bypasses access control and does not provide authentication or time-limited sharing, which violates the security requirement.

Thus, the correct three steps are:Use Identity Broker (D), Grant access to dashboard (E), and Configure 3-month access expiration (C).

TheVCF 9.0 Automation Guide – Content Sharing Policiesdescribes how to control catalog item visibility. Administrators createContent Sharing Policiesto restrict which groups can see specific catalog items.

Steps required for this scenario:

Create a new Content Sharing Policy (D):This policy governs catalog item access.

Add the catalog item to the new policy (B):The Mobile Application Backend blueprint must be explicitly added.

Configure the scope as Project → FitnessTrackerApp (C):This ensures the catalog restriction applies only within the FitnessTrackerApp project.

Add the FTA_LeadDevelopers Group (F):Grants visibility only to this group, fulfilling the requirement that only Lead Developers initially see the item.

Incorrect options:

Deployment Limit Policy (A)controls resource limits, not catalog visibility.

FTA_Developers (E)should not be included, as the requirement is Lead Developers only.

Organization scope (G)would expose the item to all projects, which violates the requirement.

Thus, the administrator must configure aContent Sharing Policy, add the catalog item, scope it to the FitnessTrackerApp project, and restrict it to the Lead Developers group.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

The Istio integration in VCF 9.0 defines two main logical groupings for organizing workloads within a service mesh: Cluster groups and Service groups. The documentation notes: “Cluster groups allow you to organize and manage objects across different Kubernetes clusters. Service groups let you aggregate and manage services that share common policies, routing rules, or observability requirements.” .

These groups enable administrators to apply consistent service mesh policies across multiple deployments and clusters. They also simplify administration by centralizing traffic management, routing, and observability of workloads. Security, API, and Node are not Istio-specific grouping constructs but instead are other concepts used elsewhere (e.g., security policies, API endpoints, node objects in Kubernetes). Therefore, the correct group types used in Istio Service Mesh are Cluster and Service groups.

In VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0, the VCF Service Broker is the component responsible for providing a self-service catalog of available services, blueprints, and content to end users in the VM Apps tenant. The documentation explains:

“Service Broker acts as the catalog service for VM-based and cloud-native applications, allowing organizations to expose curated content to end users while applying policies, constraints, and governance.”

VCF Operations Orchestrator (A) provides workflow automation but does not expose services directly in a self-service catalog.

VCF Assembler (B) is used for designing blueprints and application templates but not for publishing them to end users.

VCF Config (D) is responsible for infrastructure configuration management and desired state compliance, not catalog services.

Thus, the correct component for the catalog is the VCF Service Broker.

In VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0, the construct of VM Applications Organizations was deprecated in favor of All Applications Organizations. The documentation highlights this change:

“Organizations for All Applications provide a unified model for managing both VM and Kubernetes workloads. They support third-party integrations such as Tanzu Salt and Active Directory, and enable deployments to Native Public Cloud endpoints.”

Since the customer upgraded from VCF 5.2, their first new Organization after the upgrade must use the All Applications model. VM Applications Organizations (Option A) are legacy and do not support the full feature set such as NPC or third-party integrations. Option C is incorrect because the Fleet Management API is for monitoring and operational insights, not for creating Organizations.

Therefore, the administrator must create the new Organization as an All Applications Organization in the VCF Automation Provider Management Portal.

TheVCF 9.0 Resource Policy Guidedescribes IaaS Resource Policies as mechanisms to enforce deployment rules for Supervisor-based Kubernetes clusters.

For theproduction project, only Kubernetes resources are allowed, so administrators mustdisallow VM deployments(A).

To tolerate asingle control plane node failure, production clusters should usemulti-control-plane node templates, ensuring availability (B).

In thedevelopment project, resources should be minimized, so asingle-control-plane node policyis enforced (D), which reduces overhead.

Incorrect options:

Organization-wide policies (C and F) would apply to both projects, which is not desired since dev and prod have different requirements.

Enforcing single-control-plane nodes in production (E) contradicts the requirement for failure tolerance.

Thus, the correct approach is:Disallow VMs in production, enforce multi-control-plane clusters in production, and enforce single-control-plane clusters in development.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

The VCF Automation Networking Guide (9.0) documents that when an Organization for All Applications is created, networking constructs are provisioned automatically to provide immediate connectivity. Specifically, “During region creation, the system automatically deploys a Default VPC, a Provider Tier-0 Gateway, a VPC connectivity profile, and default SNAT rules to enable outbound access.” .

DNAT rules are not provisioned by default (they must be configured for inbound services). Likewise, NSX Transit Gateway is a multi-region design element, not automatically deployed for a single org setup. A VDS is a vSphere construct and not part of the NSX automation performed at this stage. Therefore, the automatically created items are: Default VPC (A), Provider Tier-0 Gateway (B), SNAT rule (E), and VPC Connectivity Profile (G).

VCF 9.0 licensing is managed through VCF Operations and the VCF Business Services console. The product requires periodic license updates even in connected mode. The documentation states explicitly: “You must update your licensesat least once every 6 months (180 days).If license usage data is not submitted… your licenses are treated as expired, your hosts are disconnected from the vCenter instance, and you cannot start any workload operations.” This language is repeated in the Licensing Overview and Upgrade/Registration sections, confirming the 180-day requirement applies to both connected and disconnected modes (in connected mode usage submission is automated, but you still must perform an update action). Therefore, the correct interval is180 days.

TheVCF 9.0 Operations DocumentationidentifiesOperations for Networksas the key enabler for the Network Operations feature:

“VCF Operations for Networks (formerly vRNI) provides visibility into network traffic flows, NSX fabric health, application dependency mapping, and micro-segmentation planning. It integrates directly into VCF Operations dashboards under Network Operations.”

The vDefend firewall is unrelated, as it provides workload-level security. The VCF Operations Collector is required for telemetry ingestion but does not provide full Network Operations. NSX itself provides the underlying virtual networking, but it must be monitored throughVCF Operations for Networks. Therefore, the correct answer isVCF Operations for Networks.

TheVCF 9.0 Kubernetes Service documentationconfirms thatAntreais the default CNI used for VMware Kubernetes Service (VKS) workload clusters.

“When deploying a new VKS workload cluster, the Antrea Container Networking Interface is automatically enabled by default to provide pod-to-pod and pod-to-service networking. Antrea is fully integrated with NSX-T for advanced policy control.”

Flannel, Calico, and Cilium are widely used CNIs in upstream Kubernetes but are not the default in VCF. Administrators can optionally integrate with third-party CNIs, but the supported default choice isAntrea.

The vSphere 9.0 Resource Management Guide describes Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC) as the mechanism that masks CPU instruction set differences across ESXi hosts, presenting a consistent baseline to VMs.

The documentation states:

“EVC ensures vMotion compatibility across hosts with different CPU generations by exposing a uniform set of CPU features to all virtual machines in the cluster.”

vSphere Fault Tolerance (A): Provides continuous availability for individual VMs but does not address CPU instruction compatibility.

vSphere Availability (B): Refers to HA (High Availability) which handles VM failover, not CPU feature alignment.

Host Affinity Rules (C): Control placement of VMs but cannot solve compatibility between mixed CPU generations.

Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (D): Specifically addresses the requirement for vMotion and DRS across mixed CPU generations, making it the correct answer.

In VCF 9.x, air-gapped bring-up requires staging therequired binariesin the VCF Installer. The documented list explicitly includesNSXandVCF Operationsamong the components to upload. The product guide states: “VMware Cloud Foundation required binariesinclude…NSX…VMware Cloud Foundation Operations… vCenter … SDDC Manager…” (exact list excerpt). This list doesnotcall for ESX images or the legacy “Lifecycle Manager.”

Therefore, from the given options the two binaries that must be uploaded areNSXandVCF Operations. ESX is pre-imaged on hosts per preparation guidance and is not a required VCF Installer binary; “Lifecycle Manager” is not used in VCF 9.0 bring-up.

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