VCP-VMC 2024 Question 229
Single answerA VMware administrator is tasked with creating a snapshot of a virtual machine that is running a critical database application. The administrator wants to ensure the snapshot is consistent and can be used later for recovery. Which action must the administrator take before creating the snapshot?
- A
Ensure the virtual machine is powered off.
- B
Quiesce the guest file system during the snapshot process.
- C
Detach all virtual disks from the virtual machine before creating the snapshot.
- D
Manually pause any ongoing database transactions within the application.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
To ensure a consistent snapshot for a virtual machine running a critical database application, enabling the 'quiesce guest file system' option is necessary. This ensures the I/O operations are temporarily paused and the file system is in a consistent state, making the snapshot suitable for recovery purposes. Other options, such as powering off the VM or detaching disks, are either unnecessary or not relevant to the snapshot process.
- A. Incorrect.
Powering off the virtual machine is not required to take a consistent snapshot. VMware supports creating snapshots of running VMs.
- B. Correct.
Quiescing the guest file system ensures that the I/O operations within the guest OS are in a consistent state, which is crucial for applications like databases.
- C. Incorrect.
Detaching all virtual disks is not a valid practice for creating snapshots, as it would disrupt the functionality of the virtual machine.
- D. Incorrect.
While pausing database transactions might help, VMware’s snapshot process with file system quiescing can handle consistency automatically without requiring manual intervention.