VMware Virtualization and vSphere Client: 50 Sample Questions

Below is a curated set of 50 questions covering VMware virtualization, vSphere, ESXi, vCenter, and the vSphere Client. These questions span basic concepts, administration, networking, storage, high availability, fault tolerance, and troubleshooting, suitable for interview preparation or learning.

Basic VMware Concepts

1. What is virtualization, and how does VMware vSphere enable it?
2. What is the difference between VMware ESX and ESXi architectures?
3. What is a hypervisor, and how does a Type 1 hypervisor like ESXi differ from a Type 2 hypervisor?
4. What are the key components of the VMware vSphere suite?
5. What is the role of the vSphere Client in managing a VMware environment?
6. How does VMware define a virtual machine (VM) compared to a physical machine?
7. What is the purpose of the VMkernel in ESXi?
8. What are the benefits of server virtualization in VMware vSphere?
9. What is the difference between vSphere and vCenter Server?
10. What is a vSphere Cluster, and what features does it enable?

vSphere Client Administration

11. How do you install the vSphere Client on a Windows system?
12. What is the difference between the vSphere Client and the vSphere Web Client?
13. How can you connect to an ESXi host using the vSphere Client?
14. What permissions are required to log in to the vSphere Client?
15. How do you create a new virtual machine using the vSphere Client?
16. What steps are involved in configuring CPU and memory settings for a VM in the vSphere Client?
17. How do you enable Windows session authentication for the vSphere Web Client?
18. What is the process to upgrade VMware Tools using the vSphere Client?
19. How can you monitor resource usage (CPU, memory, disk) in the vSphere Client?
20. What is the purpose of the “Answer Question” wizard in the vSphere Client?

Virtual Machine Management

21. What is a VMware snapshot, and when should you use it?
22. How do you clone a virtual machine using the vSphere Client?
23. Why might the “Clone” option be missing when connected directly to an ESXi host?
24. What is a template, and how is it different from a clone?
25. How do you convert a virtual machine to a template in the vSphere Client?
26. What happens if the .nvram file of a VM is deleted?
27. How do you customize a Windows VM clone using the vSphere Client?
28. What is the purpose of the .vmdk file in a virtual machine?
29. How do you configure a VM to use a Raw Device Mapping (RDM)?
30. What is the maximum number of virtual machines per ESXi host in vSphere 7.0?

Networking

31. What is a vSphere Standard Switch (vSS), and how does it differ from a vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS)?
32. What are the three network security policies for a vSwitch?
33. How do you configure VLAN tagging in a VMware environment?
34. What is the role of the VMkernel port in ESXi networking?
35. How does vMotion utilize the VMkernel networking layer?
36. What is promiscuous mode, and when should it be enabled on a virtual switch?
37. How do you configure a virtual machine to use a specific port group in the vSphere Client?
38. What is Network File Copy (NFC) traffic in vSphere Replication?
39. How does VMware NSX enhance network virtualization?
40. What is the purpose of the Management Network in ESXi?

Storage

41. What is VMware vSAN, and how does it integrate with vSphere?
42. What is the difference between Thick Provision and Thin Provision disks?
43. What is a Virtual Volume (VVol), and how does it simplify storage management?
44. How do you add an RDM disk to a virtual machine using the vSphere Client?
45. What is the role of the VMFS file system in VMware vSphere?
46. How does Network File System (NFS) integrate with ESXi hosts?
47. What is Storage vMotion, and when is it automatically triggered?
48. What is the difference between Eager Zeroed and Lazy Zeroed Thick Provision disks?
49. How do you monitor datastore latency in the vSphere Client?
50. What is VMware vCenter Converter, and how does it assist in virtualization?