CV0-004 Troubleshooting Practice Question
A small business hosts a web application on a single cloud server. The server has 2 vCPUs and 4 GB RAM. Recently, the application crashes when the number of concurrent users exceeds 50. The administrator checks the system logs and finds out-of-memory (OOM) errors. What is the best course of action to resolve this issue without redesigning the application?
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 server's RAM to 8 GB
The best course of action is to increase the server's RAM to 8 GB (Option C). The OOM errors indicate that the current 4 GB RAM is insufficient for 50+ concurrent users. Increasing RAM directly addresses the memory shortage without requiring application changes or redesign. Option A (load balancer and another server) adds complexity and cost, and may not resolve the memory issue on the single server if the application is not stateless. Option B (code optimization) is a redesign effort that may not be feasible as a quick fix. Option D (enabling swap space) can lead to severe performance degradation because swapping is much slower than RAM, and may still cause crashes under high load.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Add a load balancer and another server
Why it's wrong here
Adding a load balancer and another server does not address the root cause of the OOM errors, which is insufficient memory on the existing single server. The application crashes because 4 GB of RAM is exhausted at 50 concurrent users; distributing traffic across two servers still leaves each server with only 4 GB, so each will still hit the same memory ceiling independently. This option is tempting because load balancing is the standard solution for scaling out to handle increased concurrent user load, and it would be correct if the bottleneck were CPU or network throughput rather than a per-instance memory limit.
- ✗
Reduce the application's memory footprint by code optimization
Why it's wrong here
Code optimization is a form of redesign, not a quick fix.
- ✓
Increase the server's RAM to 8 GB
Why this is correct
Increasing memory directly resolves OOM errors without application changes.
- ✗
Enable swap space on the server
Why it's wrong here
Swap can cause performance degradation and is a temporary fix.
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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.