XK0-006 Troubleshooting Practice Question
A Linux technician is troubleshooting a system that is experiencing high disk I/O wait times. Which TWO commands can be used to identify disk I/O performance issues? (Choose two.)
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
✓
vmstat
iostat provides detailed disk I/O statistics including %util and await. dmesg may show disk errors but not performance stats. vmstat shows I/O wait (wa) column. free shows memory, lsof lists open files.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
lsof
Why it's wrong here
lsof lists open files, not I/O performance.
- ✓
vmstat
Why this is correct
vmstat displays system processes, memory, paging, block I/O, traps, and CPU activity, including I/O wait.
- ✓
iostat
Why this is correct
iostat reports CPU and I/O statistics for devices and partitions.
- ✗
free -h
Why it's wrong here
free shows memory usage, not disk I/O.
- ✗
dmesg
Why it's wrong here
dmesg shows kernel messages, typically for hardware errors, not I/O performance metrics.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Linux Fundamentals and History
Key term
Linux
Linux is an open-source operating system that manages computer hardware and software, widely used in servers, desktops, and embedded systems.
Key term
dmesg
dmesg is a Linux command that displays messages from the kernel ring buffer, used to diagnose hardware and boot issues.
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JA
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.