A storage administrator provisions a VMware file system from a NAS server configured with NFSv4. What is the access requirement for the ESXi host?

Question

Options

• ARead/Write
• BKerberos with Integrity
• CKerberos with Encryption
• DRead/Write, allow Root

• A
  6% (1)
• C
  6% (1)
• D
  88% (14)

Explanation

When an ESXi host mounts an NFS datastore, it communicates with the NAS server as the root user. By default, most NFS servers apply "root squashing," which demotes root-level connections to an anonymous unprivileged user - so the share must explicitly allow root access, in addition to Read/Write permissions, for the ESXi host to create, read, and manage VM files on the datastore. Without root access, the ESXi kernel cannot properly lock files or write metadata, making the datastore unusable.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A (Read/Write only): Incomplete. Without root access permitted, the NFS server squashes ESXi's root connection to anonymous, blocking file operations.
• B (Kerberos with Integrity) / C (Kerberos with Encryption): While NFSv4 supports Kerberos-based security (krb5i = integrity, krb5p = encryption), these are optional security modes - not baseline access requirements. The question asks what the ESXi host requires, not what NFSv4 is capable of.

Memory tip: ESXi = root. NFS = squashes root by default. You must un-squash it: "RW + Root = Ready to Work." Kerberos options are a red herring - they're NFSv4 features, not ESXi access requirements.

No community discussion yet for this question.