CV0-004 Troubleshooting Practice Question
A cloud administrator notices that a virtual machine is consuming excessive CPU resources with no apparent workload. Which of the following should the administrator investigate FIRST to determine the cause?
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
✓
A runaway process inside the VM
A runaway process inside the VM is the most likely cause when a VM exhibits high CPU utilization without an apparent workload. This could be due to a background service, malware, or an application stuck in an infinite loop. Option A is incorrect because a misconfigured load balancer would direct traffic to the VM, which would result in network and CPU activity associated with processing that traffic, not idle high CPU. Option B is incorrect; CPU hotplug settings affect the ability to add CPUs but do not themselves cause high CPU usage. Option D is incorrect; memory overcommitment affects memory availability, not CPU utilization.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
A misconfigured load balancer sending traffic to the VM
Why it's wrong here
A load balancer distributing traffic to the VM would appear as network activity and connections, so it is a plausible source of hidden load. However, the stem specifies no apparent workload, and the administrator should first inspect the VM's own processes and guest-level activity before blaming external traffic sources.
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CPU hotplug settings on the hypervisor
Why it's wrong here
CPU hotplug governs whether vCPUs can be added or removed while the VM runs; it does not generate sustained CPU load. It is relevant when resizing a running VM without downtime, but the symptom here is unexplained consumption, so the administrator should first check what process or traffic is driving it.
- ✓
A runaway process inside the VM
Why this is correct
Guest-level CPU consumption with no external workload points to something executing inside the operating system. A runaway or looping process is the most direct explanation and is checked first via Task Manager or top before examining host-level metrics or hypervisor scheduling.
- ✗
Memory overcommitment ratio
Why it's wrong here
Memory overcommitment causes swapping, ballooning and memory pressure, which inflates CPU through paging overhead, but it is a secondary effect rather than the direct cause to check first. It is the right suspect when hosts are memory-constrained and VMs show swap activity, not when a single VM spikes with no workload.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CV0-004 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CV0-004 exam.