Question 794 of 977
CV0-004 Troubleshooting Practice Question
A cloud administrator is troubleshooting a virtual machine that is experiencing high CPU utilization during peak hours. The VM runs a web application and is hosted on a public cloud platform. Which TWO steps should the administrator take first to diagnose the issue?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often jump to scaling actions (like adding vCPUs or instances) as a first step, but the exam emphasizes systematic troubleshooting—starting with load balancer and OS-level diagnostics before making changes.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Review the load balancer health check and traffic distribution settings for the backend pool.
Reviewing the load balancer health check and traffic distribution settings helps determine if the high CPU utilization is caused by uneven traffic distribution or unhealthy backend instances. If the load balancer is sending excessive traffic to a single VM due to misconfigured health checks or sticky sessions, the VM's CPU will spike. This is a first-step diagnostic action to rule out load balancing issues before investigating the VM itself.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Adjust the autoscaling policy to add more instances immediately.
Why it's wrong here
This is a reactive resolution, not a diagnostic step. Scaling should be based on analysis, not as a first step.
- ✗
Check for memory leaks in the application that could indirectly affect CPU.
Why it's wrong here
Memory leaks do not directly cause high CPU utilization; they lead to high memory usage and potential swapping, but CPU diagnosis should focus on processes.
- ✓
Review the load balancer health check and traffic distribution settings for the backend pool.
Why this is correct
Improper load balancer configuration can direct excessive traffic to this VM, causing high CPU.
- ✓
Identify the process consuming the most CPU using the OS performance monitoring tools.
Why this is correct
This helps pinpoint the source of high CPU usage, whether an application process, database, or other service.
- ✗
Immediately increase the number of vCPUs assigned to the VM.
Why it's wrong here
This is a resolution step, not diagnostic. It may temporarily alleviate symptoms but does not identify the root cause.
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Last reviewed: Jun 25, 2026
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