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XK0-006 Practice Question: A system administrator needs to monitor system…
A system administrator needs to monitor system performance over time. Which THREE tools can be used to collect and display CPU, memory, and I/O statistics? (Choose three.)
⚠ Common exam trap
CompTIA often tests the distinction between real-time interactive tools (like top and htop) and historical logging tools (like sar), and the trap here is that candidates may choose htop thinking it covers I/O, but it does not report I/O statistics, while sar is a valid tool that is sometimes overlooked.
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
✓
iostat
iostat reports CPU utilization and I/O statistics for devices, making it suitable for monitoring I/O and CPU over time. sar collects and displays system activity including CPU, memory, and I/O, and can log data for historical analysis. vmstat provides information about processes, memory, paging, block I/O, and CPU activity. top only shows CPU and memory per process and does not display I/O statistics, so it does not meet the full requirement. htop is similar to top and also lacks I/O statistics. Therefore, the three correct tools are iostat, sar, and vmstat.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
iostat
Why this is correct
Correct. iostat reports CPU utilization and input/output statistics for devices, covering CPU and I/O over time.
- ✗
top
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. top displays real-time processes with CPU and memory usage, but does not show I/O statistics.
- ✓
sar
Why this is correct
Correct. sar collects and reports system activity including CPU, memory, and I/O statistics over time.
- ✓
vmstat
Why this is correct
Correct. vmstat provides information about processes, memory, paging, block I/O, traps, and CPU activity.
- ✗
htop
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. htop is an interactive process viewer similar to top and does not display I/O statistics.
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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.