A system administrator must mount a datastore using NFSv4 with Kerberos NFS Owner authentication. Which permission level must be applied to NFS datastore?

Question

Options

• ARead-only
• BRead/write
• CFull
• DRead/write, enable Root

• A
  14% (5)
• B
  6% (2)
• C
  3% (1)
• D
  77% (27)

Explanation

When mounting an NFS datastore with NFSv4 and Kerberos NFS Owner (sec=krb5) authentication, the ESXi host must connect as root and perform privileged operations such as creating, deleting, and locking VM files on the datastore. "Read/write, enable Root" (D) is required because it disables root squashing on the NFS share, allowing the ESXi host's root identity to retain full privileges - without this, the NFS server maps root to an anonymous unprivileged user and VM operations fail.

• A (Read-only) fails immediately because ESXi cannot write VM files, snapshots, or swap files to a read-only mount.
• B (Read/write) is insufficient alone - without enabling root, root squash is still active and the ESXi host loses the elevated access it needs for privileged file operations.
• C (Full) is not a valid NFS datastore permission level in VMware's configuration options; the actual choices are Read-only, Read/write, and Read/write with root enabled.

Memory tip: Think "Kerberos proves who you are, but Root proves what you can do" - authentication (Kerberos) and authorization (root access) must both be in place, making D the only option that satisfies both requirements.

No community discussion yet for this question.