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CV0-004 Practice Question: A cloud administrator receives an alert that the…
A cloud administrator receives an alert that the CPU utilization on a production web server has exceeded 90% for the past hour. The administrator checks the metrics and sees that the request rate has increased. Which of the following is the MOST appropriate action to resolve the issue in the short term?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse high CPU utilization with a memory bottleneck or incorrectly assume that rate limiting is the only way to handle increased traffic, failing to recognize that scaling compute resources is the standard operational response to sustained high load.
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
✓
Increase the number of vCPUs or add additional instances behind a load balancer.
Increasing the number of vCPUs or adding additional instances behind a load balancer directly addresses the high CPU utilization caused by increased request rate. This scales the compute resources horizontally or vertically to handle the load, which is the most immediate and effective short-term action for a production web server under sustained high traffic.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Increase the memory allocation for the virtual machine.
Why it's wrong here
Memory allocation does not relieve CPU saturation caused by rising request volume; the bottleneck is compute, not RAM. It is tempting because memory and CPU are both VM sizing levers, and adding memory would be right if metrics showed swapping or memory pressure, but here request rate drives CPU.
- ✗
Implement rate limiting to reduce incoming requests.
Why it's wrong here
Rate limiting throttles legitimate user requests, degrading the service rather than adding capacity to absorb the traffic surge. It is tempting as a protective measure, and would be correct against abusive or malicious traffic, but the stem attributes the increase to genuine request rate growth, which scaling handles.
- ✓
Increase the number of vCPUs or add additional instances behind a load balancer.
Why this is correct
Adding vCPUs or instances behind a load balancer directly addresses the capacity shortfall causing sustained high CPU from increased request volume. Horizontal scaling via the load balancer distributes load immediately, resolving the short-term constraint without code changes or architectural redesign.
- ✗
Optimize the application code to reduce CPU usage.
Why it's wrong here
Code optimisation is a development effort spanning release cycles, so it cannot resolve a live production incident within the short term. It is tempting because it addresses the root cause of inefficient CPU consumption, and would be correct as a longer-term remediation, but the question demands immediate relief.
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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.