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

The VCF Automation Costing and Pricing Guide explains:

“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 VCF 9.0 Service Mesh Integration Guide defines Istio as: “Istio Service Mesh provides an infrastructure layer that transparently handles service-to-service communication, securing, observing, and controlling traffic between microservices.” The key purpose is enabling structured and observable communication between applications. While Istio includes discovery and load balancing, those are features, not the overarching purpose. A centralized routing table (Option D) is not the core definition. VMware documentation highlights Istio’s role in service-to-service communication, observability, and policy enforcement within the service mesh. Therefore, the correct answer is B.

For dark site (air-gapped) deployments, VMware Cloud Foundation requires the use of the VCF Download Tool to retrieve the required software bundles from a connected system before transferring them into the isolated environment.

The VCF 9.0 Installation Guide specifies:

“For deployments in disconnected or air-gapped environments, use the VCF Download Tool on a connected system to download required bundles and then transfer them to the target environment.”

The VCF Installer (A) consumes bundles but does not download them.

SDDC Manager (B) can download bundles only in connected mode.

Broadcom Downloads (D) is the source portal, but not the supported workflow tool for preparing offline repositories.

Therefore, the correct method for dark site deployments is to use the VCF Download Tool.

In VCF 9.x, air-gapped bring-up requires staging the required binaries in the VCF Installer. The documented list explicitly includes NSX and VCF Operations among the components to upload. The product guide states: “VMware Cloud Foundation required binaries include… NSX … VMware Cloud Foundation Operations … vCenter … SDDC Manager…” (exact list excerpt). This list does not call for ESX images or the legacy “Lifecycle Manager.”

Therefore, from the given options the two binaries that must be uploaded are NSX and VCF 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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Per the VCF 9.0 Automation Provider Management Guide:

Supervisor Activation: “Kubernetes-based workloads require Supervisor to be enabled in the Management Domain before deploying organizations.”

Region Configuration: “Organizations for All Applications must be deployed into a preconfigured Region, defined in the Provider Management Portal.”NSX Federation (D) is optional for multi-site deployments. Supervisor is not activated in workload domains (B) but centrally in the management domain. VMware Kubernetes Service (E) is enabled per tenant but not required before Organization creation. Thus, correct prerequisites are A and C.

A VM Class predefines hardware for Supervisor-managed VMs: “The VM class… defines such parameters as the number of virtual CPUs, memory capacity, and reservation settings.”

Administration steps show these are configurable: “You can configure hardware resources such as CPU, memory, and different devices” when editing a VM class.

Additionally, the DCLI/API specification underscores CPU and Memory fields: “--cpu-count … Required.” and “--memory-mb … Required.” for a VM class.

While network adapters, PCI devices, and instance storage can also be added via advanced config, the question asks for two; CPU and Memory are canonical, always-present VM Class resources per the core definition above.

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VCF 9.0 describes the VKS architecture and explicitly notes: “The Cluster API provides declarative, Kubernetes-style APIs for cluster creation, configuration, and management.” Inputs include resources describing the cluster, VMs, and add-ons. Provisioning flows also present ClusterClass/Cluster API as the supported “cluster type” when creating a Kubernetes cluster via self-service. These extracts confirm that Cluster API is the foundational component used by VMware Kubernetes Service (VKS) on vSphere Supervisor to bootstrap and manage Kubernetes workload clusters in VCF 9.0.

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Upgrading from VCF 5.2 to VCF 9.0 involves a significant architectural transition. The VCF 9.0 Upgrade Guide outlines the sequence for environments previously using Aria components.

Deploy VCF Installer (E):VCF 9.0 introduces the VCF Installer appliance to orchestrate deployment and lifecycle operations. This must be deployed first.

Deploy NSX Manager 9.0 (A):NSX must align with the new VCF 9.0 architecture before further component integration.

Manually upgrade Aria Operations to VCF Operations 9.0 (D):Aria Operations transitions to the integrated VCF Operations platform. This is not automatic in major version transitions and requires administrator-driven upgrade.

Options B and F are incorrect because automatic upgrade paths are not supported for this major version shift. Option C is not part of the initial mandatory sequence before platform alignment.

Therefore, the correct three are:

Deploy NSX Manager 9.0, Manually upgrade Aria Operations to VCF Operations 9.0, and Deploy VCF Installer appliance.

According to the VCF 9.0 Container Registry Documentation, Harbor is defined as:

“Harbor is an open source registry that secures artifacts with policies and role-based access control, ensures images are scanned and free from vulnerabilities, and signs images as trusted.”

This description aligns exactly with option A. Harbor is not Bitnami (B), though it integrates with open-source images. It includes vulnerability scanning but is not only an image scanner (C). It does not require GitHub as a source (D); Harbor can integrate with multiple registries.

Therefore, Harbor’s primary role within VCF is to act as a secure image registry with RBAC, scanning, and signing capabilities.

In Kubernetes RBAC, ClusterRoleBinding is the mechanism for granting permissions to resources that are not namespace-scoped. The documentation integrated into VCF 9.0 explains: “ClusterRoleBinding binds a user, group, or service account to a ClusterRole, granting cluster-wide permissions to non-namespaced resources such as nodes, storage classes, or persistent volumes.”

A RoleBinding grants access to namespace-scoped resources. RoleReference is a field within a RoleBinding/ClusterRoleBinding object, not a standalone object. ClusterRoleAccess is not a valid Kubernetes construct.

Thus, to assign permissions at a cluster-wide level, the correct object is ClusterRoleBinding.

To integrate VCF Automation with an external CMDB (such as ServiceNow) for compliance and tracking of Kubernetes or VM resources, the system utilizes a specific extensibility framework. According to the VCF 9.0 documentation on "Integrating VCF Automation for ITSM with ServiceNow":

Event Subscriptions (D): These act as the trigger mechanism within the VCF Automation Event Broker Service. When a resource (such as a Kubernetes cluster or deployment) is provisioned, an event is published. An administrator creates a subscription to listen for these specific lifecycle events (e.g., Compute.PostProvision or Kubernetes-specific topics) to initiate the registration process.

VCF Operations orchestrator (B): This is the orchestration engine (formerly known as VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator or vRO). Documentation specifies that for CMDB and ITSM compliance, VCF Automation is integrated with VCF Operations orchestrator workflows. These workflows contain the complex technical logic required to:

Separate objects and feed inputs into technical integration tasks.

Handle API tokens and authentication for the external CMDB.

Execute the REST API calls to the CMDB (e.g., to the cmdb_ci_vmware_instance table).

Update custom properties (like serviceNowSysId) back into the deployment for future decommissioning lifecycle events.

Extract from VCF 9.0 Documentation:

"Enterprise users commonly integrate their Cloud Management Platform with an IT Service Management (ITSM) and Configuration Management Database (CMDB) platform for compliance. Following this example, you can integrate VCF Automation with ServiceNow for CMDB and ITSM using VCF Operations Orchestrator Client... This integration uses Event Subscriptions to trigger VCF Operations Orchestrator workflows."

In VMware vSphere with Supervisor (used within VCF), a vSphere Namespace allows administrators to define resource quotas for Kubernetes workloads.

The vSphere documentation specifies that administrators can configure limits on:

CPU resources

Memory resources

Storage capacity

These quotas control the maximum resources that workloads deployed within the namespace can consume.

Incorrect options:

The number of containers (A) is managed at the Kubernetes level, not directly as a namespace resource quota in vSphere.

The number of services (D) is a Kubernetes object count limit, not a vSphere namespace resource limit.

Thus, the three configurable resource limitations are CPU, Memory, and Storage.

According to VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 documentation for VCF Automation (Aria Automation integration):

To deploy workloads to specific NSX segments with VLAN-based selection and IPAM integration, the administrator must:

1️⃣ Configure Network IPAM Settings (Option C)

VCF Automation requires network segments to be associated with IPAM configuration:

“To enable automatic IP allocation for workloads, configure network profiles with gateway, subnet, and IP range details for the associated networks.”

This ensures automatic IP address allocation from the internal IPAM.

2️⃣ Create a Network Profile and Associate Segments (Option D)

VCF Automation uses Network Profiles to group NSX segments and associate them with projects:

“A network profile defines the networks available to a project and includes capability tags that are matched during workload deployment.”

Including all appdev segments in a dedicated network profile ensures logical isolation from other projects.

3️⃣ Use Capability Tags for VLAN Selection (Option F)

VCF Automation uses capability tags to match user input to infrastructure:

“Capability tags applied to networks can be matched in cloud templates to dynamically select networks based on user-defined inputs.”

By applying vlan: tags to each segment, a self-service user can specify a VLAN number that determines which segment is selected during deployment.

Why Other Options Are Incorrect

A – Custom groups are not required for network selection.

B – Tagging segments alone is insufficient without associating them through a network profile.

E – Adding networks to the existing development project violates logical isolation requirements.

Document reference (VCF 9.0):

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 → VCF Automation → Projects and Network Profiles

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 → Network Profiles and IPAM Configuration

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 → Capability Tags and Network Selection

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 licenses at 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 is 180 days.

The VCF 9.0 Deployment Guide states:

“Each new VCF instance requires its own management domain consisting of vCenter Server, NSX Manager cluster, and SDDC Manager.”

vCenter (A) is required to manage ESXi hosts and clusters.

NSX Manager (D) provides software-defined networking for the instance.

SDDC Manager (E) is the lifecycle and management component central to each VCF instance.

Supervisor (B) is optional and only enabled if Kubernetes workloads are required. VCF Automation (C) is a separate solution, not part of the core instance bring-up. VCF Installer (F) is the deployment tool, not a persistent component. Thus, the correct components to deploy are vCenter, NSX Manager, and SDDC Manager.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

The VCF 9.0 Architecture and Deployment Guide explains that within a single Workload Domain, administrators can scale resources by adding additional clusters, including compute or vSAN storage clusters. Specifically, “A Workload Domain can contain multiple clusters. You can deploy a new cluster, such as a vSAN cluster, into an existing domain without introducing new management components.” .

Options A and D both introduce new workload domains or VCF instances, which require their own management stack (vCenter, NSX Manager, etc.) and are unnecessary in this scenario. Option B is incorrect because “vSAN storage-only nodes” are supported in vSAN but are not the method for adding a new cluster within VCF automation. The correct approach is deploying a second cluster inside the same workload domain—this reuses the existing management components while meeting the requirement for a new vSAN storage cluster.

The documentation clarifies the scenario when a password is changed outside of VCF Operations: “When an error occurs, for example after a password expires, you must manually reset the password in the component product. After you reset the password in a component, you must remediate the password in VCF Operations.” “Password Rotation” is different—it “allows you to orchestrate the rotation” of stored credentials (a planned, VCF-driven change), not reconcile an externally altered password. Therefore, after the direct password change in vCenter, the correct recovery step in VCF Operations is to use Remediate password to synchronize credentials and restore management from VCF Operations.

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VCF 9.0 replaces legacy bring-up tooling with the VCF Installer, which provides a deployment wizard that validates configuration before bring-up. The guide describes: “The deployment wizard validates your inputs… and displays errors and warnings if any.” and that administrators “Download and complete the planning and preparation workbook and have the information ready for validating inputs in the deployment wizard.”

While the workbook is used to collect information, the validation of those inputs is performed by the VCF Installer wizard prior to deployment. SDDC Manager is used after bring-up for lifecycle operations, and Cloud Builder is not used in VCF 9.0 deployments. Therefore, VCF Installer is the correct tool for collecting (via wizard prompts) and validating initial deployment inputs.

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The VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 Deployment Guide and the vSphere 9.0 Installation and Setup documentation describe the standard manual ESXi installation workflow. The steps are as follows:

Boot from installation media: The host is started from the ESXi ISO image, either via physical media, virtual media through iLO/iDRAC, or PXE boot.

Select target disk: During setup, administrators select the disk or device where ESXi will be installed.

Configure management network: After installation, the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) is used to set up basic network parameters for the management interface (IP address, DNS, gateway).

Set root password: A secure root password is set to complete the initial setup of the host.

The documentation makes it clear that these steps form the foundation before the host can be discovered and commissioned by SDDC Manager in VMware Cloud Foundation.

Option A is incorrect because the VCF Installer is not used for installing ESXi; it is used for deploying management domains and workload domains.

Option B includes “Join vCenter,” which happens after commissioning, not during installation.

Option D is incorrect since vCenter Server is installed later, not during the ESXi manual setup.

Therefore, the correct stages of manual ESXi installation are: Boot media → Select disk → Configure management network → Set root password.

Istio Service Mesh provides built-in capabilities for managing service-to-service communication within Kubernetes environments.

The Istio documentation highlights default capabilities including:

Service discovery (C): Automatic detection and routing between services.

Mutual TLS (mTLS) encryption (E): Secure communication between services by default.

Istio does not provide:

Multi-cluster backup/restore (A) — handled by tools such as Velero.

Cluster conformance validation (B).

Advanced container runtime (D) — container runtime is handled by container engines such as containerd.

Thus, the correct answers are Service discovery and Connection encryption.

The VCF 9.0 Automation Guide – Content Sharing Policies describes how to control catalog item visibility. Administrators create Content Sharing Policies to 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 a Content Sharing Policy, add the catalog item, scope it to the FitnessTrackerApp project, and restrict it to the Lead Developers group.

The VCF 9.0 Kubernetes Service documentation confirms that Antrea is 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 is Antrea.

The VCF 9.0 Resource Policy Guide describes IaaS Resource Policies as mechanisms to enforce deployment rules for Supervisor-based Kubernetes clusters.

For the production project, only Kubernetes resources are allowed, so administrators must disallow VM deployments (A).

To tolerate a single control plane node failure, production clusters should use multi-control-plane node templates, ensuring availability (B).

In the development project, resources should be minimized, so a single-control-plane node policy is 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.

In VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0, the strategy for monitoring diverse application types (internal, commercial, and open-source) in a consolidated manner relies heavily on the ingestion and analysis of log data.

According to the VCF 9.0 Operations and Monitoring Guide:

VCF Operations for Logs (D): This is the core platform (formerly VMware Aria Operations for Logs) used for real-time log management. It provides a centralized location to collect logs from any source—be it a custom-coded internal app, a commercial database, or an open-source web server. This satisfy the "consolidated manner" requirement by aggregating disparate data streams into a single searchable interface.

VCF Operations for Logs Content Packs (E): To provide "simple" monitoring for commercial and open-source applications without manual configuration, VCF utilizes Content Packs. These packs contain pre-defined dashboards, extracted fields, and alerts tailored for specific applications (e.g., Apache, Microsoft SQL Server, Linux, etc.). By using Content Packs, an administrator can immediately gain deep visibility into the health and performance of diverse applications without building custom monitoring logic.

Why other options are incorrect:

VCF Operations Service/Application Discovery (A & C): These features are used to map relationships between virtual machines and services to understand dependencies. While they help identify what is running, they do not provide the deep "monitoring" (log analysis and alerting) requested for a mix of internal and open-source apps.

VCF Operations for Applications (B): This usually refers to high-frequency metrics and trace analysis (formerly Tanzu Observability/Wavefront). While powerful, it is often more complex to implement across a standard VCF fleet compared to the "simple, consolidated" log-based approach provided by VCF Operations for Logs and its associated Content Packs.

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-9-0-and-later/9-0/building-your-private-cloud-infrastructure/managing-network-connectivity-in-vcenter/managing-distributed-network-connectivity.html

When converging an existing vSphere cluster into a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Fleet, the cluster must already be a functional vSphere environment. According to the VCF 9.0 Convergence Guide, the minimum prerequisites for convergence include:

A deployed and operational vCenter Server managing the cluster.

ESXi (VMware ESX) hosts installed and joined to that vCenter cluster.

The documentation states:

“The vSphere environment to be converged must consist of ESXi hosts managed by a supported vCenter Server instance.”

NSX (C) is not required before convergence because NSX is deployed and configured as part of the VCF bring-up or workload domain conversion process.

VCF Operations (D) is not a prerequisite for cluster convergence.

vSAN (E) is optional because VCF supports multiple principal storage types (vSAN, VMFS, NFS).

Therefore, the required components that must exist prior to convergence are VMware ESX hosts and VMware vCenter Server.

VCF 9.0 states for the Simple Automation model: “Single node… Applies to Small… Can be scaled out to the high availability model by resizing the node to Medium or Large, which also forces the scale out to 3 nodes.” In addition, the Day-N procedure confirms the action is a Scale (scale-out) operation: “Scale VCF Automation… choose a larger target deployment type such as Medium or Large…” and provide “Additional VIPs” and a “Cluster Node IP Pool” (Medium requires a minimum of four IPs), then submit the scale out request. Therefore, moving from Small (Simple) to Medium necessarily transitions to the High Availability (3-node) model rather than remaining a single medium node. This aligns the form factor with the documented model behavior and the fleet management workflow.

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