hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
XK0-006 Practice Question: A system administrator is tuning a server for a…
A system administrator is tuning a server for a high-performance computing workload and needs to disable NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) at boot to improve memory access latency. Which kernel boot parameter should be added to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX line in /etc/default/grub?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse `numa=off` with other hardware-disabling parameters like `acpi=off` or `noapic`, assuming any 'disable hardware feature' parameter will fix memory latency, when only `numa=off` directly addresses NUMA memory access behavior.
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
✓
numa=off
The `numa=off` kernel boot parameter explicitly disables NUMA support in the Linux kernel, forcing memory to be treated as a single contiguous block (UMA). This eliminates the latency penalty of remote memory accesses, which is beneficial for high-performance computing workloads that require consistent, low-latency memory access across all CPUs.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
maxcpus=1
Why it's wrong here
Limits the number of CPUs to one, which is too severe and not the correct parameter for NUMA.
- ✓
numa=off
Why this is correct
This parameter disables NUMA support in the kernel.
- ✗
acpi=off
Why it's wrong here
Disables ACPI, which is not specific to NUMA and can cause other issues.
- ✗
noapic
Why it's wrong here
Disables the Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller, not NUMA.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Linux Fundamentals and History
Key term
GRUB
GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader) is a boot loader package that loads and manages the operating system startup process on Linux and other Unix-like systems.
Key term
Kernel
The kernel is the core program of an operating system that manages hardware resources and provides essential services for all other software to run.
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