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XK0-006 Practice Question: A Linux administrator receives reports that a web…
A Linux administrator receives reports that a web application hosted on the company's internal server is intermittently slow. The server runs CentOS 7 and hosts multiple virtual hosts. The administrator checks system resources and notices that the system's swap usage is high. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the performance issue?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often associate performance issues with CPU or network problems first, overlooking that high swap usage is a direct indicator of memory exhaustion, not a symptom of CPU load or network congestion.
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
✓
Insufficient physical memory for the workload
High swap usage indicates that the system is actively paging memory to disk because the available physical RAM is insufficient to hold the active working set. This causes significant latency because disk I/O is orders of magnitude slower than RAM, leading to intermittent slowdowns for the web application. The fact that multiple virtual hosts are running on CentOS 7 increases the memory demand, making insufficient physical memory the most likely root cause.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Misconfigured virtual host causing memory leaks
Why it's wrong here
A misconfigured virtual host would cause request errors or wrong content, not elevated swap usage; swap rises when processes consume more RAM than available. This option is tempting because virtual hosts are implicated in the scenario, but misconfiguration alone does not leak memory; an actual memory leak in an application would.
- ✓
Insufficient physical memory for the workload
Why this is correct
High swap usage indicates the kernel is paging memory to disk because RAM cannot hold the working set. That thrashing causes intermittent slowness, so insufficient physical memory for the workload is the most likely cause in the stem.
- ✗
Network congestion on the internal network
Why it's wrong here
High swap usage indicates memory pressure, where the kernel pages memory to disk; network congestion would not raise swap consumption. Network congestion is tempting because intermittent slowness often implicates the network, and it would be the likely cause when interface errors, retransmits or latency counters are elevated instead.
- ✗
Excessive CPU load from a runaway process
Why it's wrong here
High swap usage points to memory pressure, where the kernel pages inactive memory to disk; a runaway CPU process would show elevated load averages and CPU time, not swap consumption. CPU load monitoring is the right check when a process spins without allocating memory, which is not the symptom described here.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This XK0-006 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 XK0-006 exam.