25+ VMWare Interview Questions & Answers - COMPLETE GUIDE

25+ VMWare Interview Questions & Answers – COMPLETE GUIDE

Last updated on 03rd Jun 2020, Blog, Interview Questions

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VMware is a software tool for Windows operating systems that lets you install a virtual operating system within the windows operating system. Suppose you are familiar with Windows operating system and now for some reason you need to use other operating system, let’s say Fedora then you might be reluctant to remove Windows and install Fedora from your system , so in that case you can use VMware on your Windows operating system and add virtual Fedora operating system to have experience of Fedora without actually installing it on your system.

1. What is vMotion? 

Ans:

vMotion is a feature that allows live migration of running virtual machines from one physical host to another without any downtime, ensuring seamless workload mobility.

2. Explain VMware snapshots.

Ans:

Snapshots are point-in-time images of a VM’s state. They capture the VM’s disk and memory contents, allowing you to revert back to that state if needed. Snapshots are useful for testing, but not recommended for long-term use due to potential storage overhead.

3. What is a vCenter Server?

Ans:

vCenter Server is a centralized management platform that provides tools for managing multiple VMware hosts and virtual machines, offering features like VM provisioning, monitoring, and resource management.

4. Describe VMware DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler).

Ans:

DRS is a feature that automatically balances compute resources within a cluster of hosts. It monitors host performance and migrates VMs to ensure optimal resource utilization.

5. What is the purpose of a VM template? 

Ans:

A VM template is a master image used to create new VM instances. It helps in standardizing VM deployments, reducing provisioning time, and maintaining consistency.

6. What is VMware Fault Tolerance (FT)? 

Ans:

FT provides continuous availability for VMs by creating a duplicate VM on a different host. If the primary VM fails, the secondary VM takes over instantly to minimize disruption.

7. How does vSAN (Virtual SAN) work? 

Ans:

vSAN is a software-defined storage solution that aggregates local storage from multiple hosts to create a shared storage pool. It provides high-performance, scalable, and cost-effective storage for VMs.

8. Explain the concept of NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) in virtualization.

Ans:

NUMA is a hardware architecture where processors have varying access times to memory. In virtualization, it’s important to align VMs with NUMA boundaries for optimal performance.

9. What are VMware Snapshots and how do they differ from backups?

Ans:

Snapshots capture the state of a VM at a specific moment, but they’re not a substitute for backups as they only capture changes to the VM’s disk and memory. Backups include the entire VM and provide better disaster recovery options.

10. What is Transparent Page Sharing (TPS) in VMware?

Ans:

TPS is a memory-saving technique that identifies and eliminates duplicate memory pages across VMs, reducing memory consumption and improving overall host performance.

11.  Explain the purpose of vRealize Operations Manager.

Ans:

vRealize Operations Manager is a tool for performance monitoring, capacity planning, and resource optimization of VMware environments, helping administrators maintain efficiency and troubleshoot issues.

12. What is VMware NSX? 

Ans:

VMware NSX is a network virtualization and security platform that abstracts networking and security services, allowing for the creation of virtual networks and enhanced security policies independent of underlying hardware.

13. What is HA Admission Control in VMware?

Ans:

 HA Admission Control ensures that sufficient resources are reserved in a cluster to accommodate VMs during a host failure. It prevents over-commitment by reserving resources for failover scenarios.

14. Explain the concept of Resource Pools.

Ans:

Resource Pools group VMs and allocate resources such as CPU and memory, allowing for hierarchical organization and prioritization of VMs within a host or cluster.

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    15. What is vRealize Automation? 

    Ans:

    vRealize Automation is a cloud automation platform that enables self-service provisioning of IT services, including virtual machines, applications, and other resources, while maintaining governance and control.

    16. Describe the purpose of VMware Tools.

    Ans:

    VMware Tools is a suite of utilities that enhances VM performance and management. It provides drivers, synchronization of guest OS time, and improved integration between the host and VM.

    17. How does Storage DRS differ from Storage vMotion?

    Ans:

    Storage DRS is a feature that balances storage resources across datastores in a cluster, while Storage vMotion moves a VM’s storage from one datastore to another. Storage DRS focuses on load balancing, while Storage vMotion is about mobility.

    18. Explain the concept of Linked Clones.

    Ans:

    Linked Clones are copies of VMs that share a base VM’s virtual disk, using snapshots to capture changes. They are often used in VDI environments to optimize storage usage.

    19. What is the purpose of a Content Library in vSphere? 

    Ans:

    A Content Library stores VM templates, ISO images, and other files in a centralized location, making it easier to manage and distribute content across multiple vCenter Servers.

    20. Explain the concept of Linked Clones.

    Ans:

    Linked Clones are copies of VMs that share a base VM’s virtual disk, using snapshots to capture changes. They are often used in VDI environments to optimize storage usage.

    21. How does vRealize Log Insight help in VMware environments?

    Ans:

    vRealize Log Insight is a log aggregation and analysis tool that helps in monitoring and troubleshooting VMware environments by collecting, analyzing, and providing insights into log data.

    22. What is CPU Ready time in VMware?

    Ans:

    • CPU Ready time indicates the amount of time a VM is ready to run but is waiting for CPU resources to become available. High CPU Ready time can indicate CPU resource contention.

    23. What is a Virtual Volumes (VVols) datastore?

    Ans:

    No, because Host Profiles was designed with the generic vNetwork Distributed Switch. The Cisco Nexus 1000v switch gives administrators fine-grained control of the networking beyond what Host Profiles can apply.

    24.  Explain the concept of Network I/O Control (NIOC).

    Ans:

    NIOC is a feature that prioritizes and allocates network bandwidth to different traffic types (e.g., management, VM, vMotion) within a vSphere distributed switch.

    25. What is the purpose of a vCenter Linked Mode? 

    Ans:

    vCenter Linked Mode allows multiple vCenter Servers to be linked together, providing a unified view and enabling cross-vCenter management and migrations.

    26. Describe the differences between a Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed and Thick Provision Eager Zeroed disk.

    Ans:

    Lazy Zeroed and Eager Zeroed are disk provisioning types. Lazy Zeroed allocates space on demand and zeros out blocks when data is written. Eager Zeroed pre-allocates all space and zeros out blocks immediately, improving performance but consuming more time and space during creation.

    27. How can you secure VM data in transit using VMware features?

    Ans:

    VM data can be secured using features like VM Encryption (VMware vSphere 7.0 and later), vSphere VM-level Encryption (vSphere 6.5 and later), and network encryption protocols like SSL/TLS for vMotion traffic.

    28. What is the purpose of a vApp? 

    Ans:

    A vApp is a container that encapsulates multiple VMs into a single entity, making it easier to manage and deploy multi-tier applications.

    29. Explain the role of a VMkernel adapter.

    Ans:

    A VMkernel adapter provides connectivity between ESXi hosts and various network services, including vMotion, management, iSCSI, NFS, and more.

    30. What is VM Component Protection (VMCP)? 

    Ans:

    VMCP is a feature that enhances VM availability by monitoring and responding to storage-related issues, such as APD (All Paths Down) or PDL (Permanent Device Loss) conditions.

    31. Describe the purpose of VMware Identity Manager.

    Ans:

    VMware Identity Manager is an identity and access management solution that provides single sign-on (SSO) capabilities for applications and virtual desktops in VMware environments.

    32. How does Fault Tolerance (FT) differ from High Availability (HA)?

    Ans:

    FT provides continuous availability by maintaining a synchronized copy of a VM, while HA focuses on restarting VMs on other hosts after a failure occurs.

    33. Explain the concept of Virtual Distributed Switch (vDS).

    Ans:

    A vDS is an advanced version of the standard vSwitch that spans multiple hosts. It offers centralized management and advanced network features in larger virtual environments.

    34. What is the purpose of VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB)?

    Ans:

    VCB was a backup framework that enabled third-party backup tools to create backups of VMs through the VMware infrastructure. However, it has been deprecated in favor of modern backup solutions.

    35. How does vRealize Network Insight assist in network management?

    Ans:

    vRealize Network Insight provides visibility and analysis of network traffic and flows, aiding administrators in managing and troubleshooting networking issues.

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    36. Describe the benefits of using vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) over the Windows-based vCenter Server. 

    Ans:

     Hot Add allows adding resources like CPU and memory to a VM while it’s running, and Hot Plug enables adding devices like USB controllers and NICs to a VM without powering it off.

    37. What is the purpose of VMware Hot Add and Hot Plug capabilities?

    Ans:

     Hot Add allows adding resources like CPU and memory to a VM while it’s running, and Hot Plug enables adding devices like USB controllers and NICs to a VM without powering it off.

    38. Explain the purpose of a Virtual Flash Resource in VMware.

    Ans:

    A Virtual Flash Resource (VFFS) provides a virtual disk cache using SSDs to accelerate VM I/O operations, enhancing performance in storage-intensive scenarios.

    39. What is the role of vRealize Orchestrator? 

    Ans:

    vRealize Orchestrator is a workflow automation tool that allows creating custom workflows to automate tasks and processes within the VMware environment.

    40. What is Transparent Page Sharing (TPS) and when might it not be efficient?

    Ans:

    TPS identifies and eliminates identical memory pages across VMs to save memory. However, in scenarios with security concerns (such as multitenancy), TPS may be disabled due to potential information leakage.

    41. What Are The Requirements For Converting A Physical Machine To Vm?

    Ans:

    TPS identifies and eliminates identical memory pages across VMs to save memory. However, in scenarios with security concerns (such as multitenancy), TPS may be disabled due to potential information leakage.

    42.  How does Long Distance vMotion work? 

    Ans:

    Long Distance vMotion enables migrating VMs between hosts and datacenters over long distances with minimal downtime, preserving VM state during the migration process.

    43. Explain the purpose of VMware Instant Clone technology. 

    Ans:

    Instant Clones create VMs from a running parent VM, allowing for rapid provisioning of identical VMs for tasks like VDI deployments, improving VM creation speed.

    44. What is the purpose of the VMware Virtual Hardware version?

    Ans:

    Virtual Hardware version represents the compatibility level of the VM with the underlying host and provides access to the latest virtual hardware features and improvements.

    45. What are vCenter Linked Mode Groups? 

    Ans:

    Linked Mode Groups allow multiple vCenter Servers to be managed as a single entity, providing a unified view and enabling efficient cross-vCenter management.

    46. Explain the purpose of VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat. 

    Ans:

    vCenter Server Heartbeat was a tool for high availability of vCenter Server instances, ensuring automatic failover in case of vCenter Server failure. Note that it has been deprecated.

    47. What is the significance of the VMware Compatibility Guide?

    Ans:

    The Compatibility Guide lists supported hardware, guest OSes, and partner solutions for VMware products, helping administrators make informed decisions about their infrastructure.

    48. Describe the differences between a Private Cloud and a Public Cloud. 

    Ans:

     A Private Cloud is dedicated to a single organization and runs within their own data center, while a Public Cloud is a shared infrastructure provided by a third-party provider, available to multiple customers.

    49. What is the purpose of a VM override in vSphere DRS? 

    Ans:

    VM Overrides in vSphere DRS allow custom resource allocation settings to be applied to specific VMs, providing fine-grained control over resource management.

    50. Explain the concept of VMware Cloud Foundation. 

    Ans:

    VMware Cloud Foundation is an integrated software platform that provides a complete set of software-defined services for compute, storage, networking, and management in a unified stack.

    51. What is ESXi Quick Boot, and how does it enhance host reboot times? 

    Ans:

    ESXi Quick Boot skips certain hardware initialization steps during host reboot, resulting in significantly reduced restart times for hosts.

    52. How does VMware AppDefense enhance security in VMs? 

    Ans:

    AppDefense uses machine learning to monitor VM behavior and establish a baseline of normal activity. It then detects and responds to any deviations, providing enhanced security against advanced threats.

    53. What are VMware tags and how are they used?

    Ans:

    VMware tags are labels assigned to objects like VMs, hosts, and datastores, enabling efficient organization and classification for tasks like resource allocation and policy enforcement.

    54. Explain the concept of SRM (Site Recovery Manager). 

    Ans:

     SRM is a disaster recovery solution that automates the failover and failback of VMs between protected and recovery sites, ensuring business continuity in case of disasters.

    55. What is VMware Cloud on AWS? 

    Ans:

     VMware Cloud on AWS is a jointly engineered offering that allows running VMware workloads on the AWS cloud infrastructure, providing a consistent and familiar environment.

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    56. Describe the role of VMware HCX (Hybrid Cloud Extension).

    Ans:

    HCX enables seamless workload mobility and disaster recovery between on-premises environments and VMware Cloud environments, simplifying hybrid cloud management.

    57.  How does the VMware Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC) feature work? 

    Ans:

    EVC masks advanced CPU features to create a consistent CPU compatibility baseline across a cluster, enabling vMotion between hosts with different CPU generations.

    58. Explain the benefits of using VMware Cloud Director. 

    Ans:

     VMware Cloud Director is a cloud service delivery platform that enables the creation and management of multi-tenant cloud environments, offering self-service provisioning and resource management.

    59. What is the purpose of the VMware vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface (VAMI)? 

    Ans:

    VAMI is a web-based interface used to manage and configure vCenter Server Appliance settings, networking, updates, and perform basic troubleshooting.

    60. Name the components that are used in VMware infrastructure

    Ans:

    The vSphere Client (HTML5-based) and vSphere Web Client (deprecated) are user interfaces used to manage and administer VMware vCenter Server and ESXi hosts.

    61. How does VMware Horizon View enhance virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)?

    Ans:

     VMware Horizon View provides a VDI solution for delivering virtual desktops and applications to end-users, enabling centralized management, optimized user experience, and flexibility.

    62. What is the purpose of the vCenter Server High Availability (VCHA) feature? 

    Ans:

    VCHA ensures high availability of the vCenter Server by creating a passive node that automatically takes over in case of a failure in the active node.

    63. What are the prerequisites in configuring VMotion?

    Ans:

    VCHA ensures high availability of the vCenter Server by creating a passive node that automatically takes over in case of a failure in the active node.

    64. Explain the concept of a Content Library subscription. 

    Ans:

    A Content Library subscription allows one vCenter Server to subscribe to a published Content Library on another vCenter Server, facilitating content replication and distribution.

    65. What is the role of VMware Distributed Firewall (DFW)? 

    Ans:

     DFW is a firewall solution that provides micro-segmentation by enforcing security policies at the virtual NIC level, allowing for granular control and enhanced network security.

    66. Describe the purpose of VMware PowerCLI. 

    Ans:

    PowerCLI is a command-line interface for managing and automating VMware environments using PowerShell scripts, offering automation and management capabilities.

    67. What is the VMware Cloud Provider Program (VCPP)?

    Ans:

    VCPP is a program that allows service providers to offer VMware-based cloud services to their customers, enabling flexibility, scalability, and rapid deployment.

    68.Explain the concept of the VMware Cross-Cloud Architecture.

    Ans:

    The Cross-Cloud Architecture is a strategy that enables organizations to run, manage, connect, and secure applications across different clouds and devices using VMware technologies.

    69. How does VMware VMFork technology work? 

    Ans:

    VMFork allows creating VM clones that share a single memory copy, reducing the memory overhead and enabling rapid VM provisioning.

    70. What is the purpose of VMware vRealize Business for Cloud?

    Ans:

    vRealize Business for Cloud provides cost analysis and cost management capabilities, helping organizations understand and optimize cloud spending.

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    71. What are the differences between clone and template in VMware?

    Ans:

    CLONE TEMPLATE
    Clone is defined as the copy of Virtual Machine. A Template is termed as the master copy of Virtual Machine.
    It can be made when VM is powered on. It can be converted back to the VM to update the base machine.
    We cannot convert back the cloned VM. A Template can convert back to the VM.
    Border Allows cell borders to be changed, removed, colored, etc
    With the help of parent virtual machines, a linked clone can share virtual disks. It is possible to convert clone into a template, but not possible to Virtual Machines into a template when the machine is powered on.
    A full clone doesn’t share anything with VMs and it is independent of parent VMs. A Template cannot be powered on or edited. It is very difficult to change the ordinary VM.

    72. How does VMware NSX-T differ from NSX-V? 

    Ans:

    NSX-T is the next-generation version of NSX, designed for multi-cloud and multi-hypervisor environments, supporting a broader range of platforms and use cases.

    73. Explain the concept of VMware Instant Recovery.

    Ans:

    Instant Recovery allows for quickly recovering VMs using a snapshot. It temporarily runs the VM from the snapshot while restoring the original VM, minimizing downtime.

    74. What is VMware CloudHealth, and how does it assist in cloud management?

    Ans:

    VMware CloudHealth is a cloud management platform that helps organizations optimize cloud costs, manage resources, and enhance security and compliance across various cloud providers.

    75. Describe the purpose of the VMware Cloud Native Storage (CNS) feature. 

    Ans:

    CNS provides a unified storage solution for containerized applications running on Kubernetes platforms, integrating storage management with the container ecosystem.

    76. What is the purpose of VMware Skyline? 

    Ans:

    VMware Skyline is a proactive support technology that helps in identifying and resolving potential issues in VMware environments by providing insights and recommendations.

    77. Explain the concept of VMware vSAN Stretched Clusters.

    Ans:

    A vSAN Stretched Cluster is a configuration that spans two geographic locations, ensuring high availability by replicating data between sites while maintaining synchronous data mirroring.

    78. What is the significance of the VMware Cloud Foundation Builder?

    Ans:

    VMware Cloud Foundation Builder is a tool used to automate the deployment of VMware Cloud Foundation, accelerating the setup and configuration of cloud environments.

    79. Describe the purpose of VMware HCIBench.

    Ans:

    HCIBench is a benchmarking tool designed to test the performance and scalability of Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) solutions like VMware vSAN.

    80. How does VMware Smart Assurance enhance network management? 

    Ans:

    VMware Smart Assurance provides network monitoring and management capabilities, offering real-time visibility into network performance, availability, and troubleshooting.

    81.What is the role of VMware Integrated OpenStack (VIO)? 

    Ans:

     VIO is an OpenStack distribution integrated with VMware technologies, allowing organizations to deploy and manage OpenStack-based private clouds within VMware environments.

    82. Explain the concept of Virtual TPM (vTPM) in VMware.

    Ans:

    vTPM is a virtual Trusted Platform Module that provides hardware-based security features to VMs, enabling encryption and secure booting of virtual machines.

    83. What is the purpose of VMware VCF Workload Domain?

    Ans:

    A VCF Workload Domain is a logical construct that represents a set of resources and policies for specific workloads, enhancing resource isolation and management.

    84. Describe the role of VMware Pulse IoT Center. 

    Ans:

    VMware Pulse IoT Center is an IoT device management and monitoring solution that provides centralized control, security, and operational insights for IoT deployments.

    85. How does VMware Cloud Director Availability enhance disaster recovery? 

    Ans:

    VMware Cloud Director Availability (formerly known as vCloud Availability) offers disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) for VMware-based clouds, enabling replication and recovery of workloads.

    86.  Explain the concept of NSX Service Mesh. 

    Ans:

    NSX Service Mesh is a platform that provides visibility, security, and traffic management for microservices-based applications, helping manage complex application architectures.

    87. What is the role of the VMware Cloud Director Multi-tenancy feature? 

    Ans:

    Multi-tenancy in VMware Cloud Director allows service providers to host and manage multiple organizations’ cloud environments on a single platform, maintaining isolation and control.

    88. What are VMware Cloud Templates?

    Ans:

    VMware Cloud Templates are predefined configurations that streamline the deployment of VMs and applications, ensuring consistency and reducing provisioning time.

    89. Explain the benefits of using VMware Secure State.

    Ans:

    VMware Secure State is a cloud security posture management solution that helps organizations identify and mitigate risks in their cloud infrastructure configurations.

    90. How does the VMware vCenter Server Profile-driven Storage feature work? 

    Ans:

    Profile-driven Storage allows associating VM storage requirements with specific storage policies, ensuring VMs are placed on appropriate datastores based on their needs.

    91. What is the purpose of VMware vRealize Log Insight?

    Ans:

    VMware vRealize Log Insight is a log management and analytics solution that helps in aggregating, analyzing, and monitoring logs from various sources for troubleshooting and insights.

    92. Explain the concept of VMware Identity-Based Micro-Segmentation.

    Ans:

    Identity-Based Micro-Segmentation uses identity attributes to define security policies, enhancing network security by restricting communication between VMs based on their roles and attributes.

    93. What is the role of VMware App Volumes?

    Ans:

    VMware App Volumes is a solution that delivers and manages applications and user environments in real-time by attaching or detaching volumes containing applications to VMs.

    94. How does VMware Bitfusion enhance GPU resource sharing?

    Ans:

    VMware Bitfusion enables GPU virtualization and sharing across VMs and containers, allowing efficient utilization of GPU resources for AI, machine learning, and graphics workloads.

    95.  Explain the purpose of VMware Secure Boot. 

    Ans:

    VMware Secure Boot ensures the integrity and authenticity of the boot process by verifying the digital signatures of the boot components, protecting against boot-time attacks.

    96.  What is VMware Enterprise PKS (formerly Pivotal Container Service)?

    Ans:

    VMware Enterprise PKS is a Kubernetes-based container orchestration platform that helps organizations deploy, manage, and scale containerized applications.

    97.  Describe the role of VMware Tanzu Application Service (formerly Pivotal Cloud Foundry).

    Ans:

    VMware Tanzu Application Service is a platform for building, deploying, and managing cloud-native applications, supporting automated application lifecycle management.

    98. What is the purpose of VMware NSX Intelligence? 

    Ans:

    VMware NSX Intelligence is a security analytics engine that uses machine learning to detect and respond to network security threats, offering enhanced visibility and protection.

    99. Explain the benefits of using VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery.

    Ans:

    VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery is a cloud-based disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) solution that provides automated recovery and failover for on-premises VMs to VMware Cloud.

    100. What is the VMware Workspace ONE platform? 

    Ans:

    VMware Workspace ONE is an integrated digital workspace platform that combines mobile device management (MDM), identity management, and application delivery for a unified user experience.

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