XK0-006 Troubleshooting Practice Question
A system is running slowly and the administrator suspects a memory leak. Which THREE commands or tools can be used to analyze memory usage and identify processes consuming excessive memory? (Choose three.)
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
✓
ps aux --sort=-%mem
free shows overall memory. ps can sort by RSS. vmstat shows memory stats. iostat is disk I/O. strace traces system calls, not memory usage directly.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
strace -p PID
Why it's wrong here
strace traces system calls; useful for debugging but not for summarizing memory usage.
- ✓
ps aux --sort=-%mem
Why this is correct
ps lists processes sorted by memory usage.
- ✗
iostat -x
Why it's wrong here
iostat shows disk I/O, not memory.
- ✓
vmstat 1
Why this is correct
vmstat reports memory statistics (swpd, free, buff, cache) along with system activity.
- ✓
free -h
Why this is correct
free displays total, used, and free memory, including buffer/cache.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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