Question 24 of 144
SK0-005 server-administration Practice Question
A company has an internal web application running on a Windows Server 2019 IIS server. Recently, users have been experiencing intermittent slow responses and occasional '503 Service Unavailable' errors. The server has 32 GB RAM and currently hosts only this application. The application pool is configured to use a private memory limit of 2 GB and a request queue limit of 1000. Performance monitoring reveals that the application pool's private memory gradually increases over several hours until it reaches 2 GB, at which point the pool recycles. The slow responses and errors coincide with the recycling events. The administrator suspects a memory leak in the application code but cannot modify the application immediately. The server must remain available during business hours (8 AM to 8 PM). Which of the following is the best short-term mitigation?
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
✓
Configure Performance Monitor alerts to recycle the application pool when memory usage reaches 1.8 GB, and schedule it during low-usage hours
Option A is correct because monitoring the memory usage and triggering a graceful recycle before hitting the limit can prevent sudden 503 errors and maintain availability, and it can be scheduled during off-peak times. Option B is wrong because scheduling a reboot requires downtime. Option C is wrong because adding RAM does not fix a memory leak; the pool will still hit its limit and recycle. Option D is wrong because restarting every hour would cause frequent disruptions and is not user-friendly.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use a script to stop and start the application pool service every hour
Why it's wrong here
Frequent restarts would cause constant interruptions to users and are less efficient than condition-based recycling.
- ✗
Increase the physical RAM to 64 GB and raise the private memory limit to 4 GB
Why it's wrong here
This only delays the inevitable recycling and does not address the memory leak; the pool will still eventually hit the limit.
- ✓
Configure Performance Monitor alerts to recycle the application pool when memory usage reaches 1.8 GB, and schedule it during low-usage hours
Why this is correct
Proactive recycling before the limit avoids 503 errors and can be aligned with low usage to minimize impact.
- ✗
Schedule a nightly reboot of the server to clear memory and reset the application pool
Why it's wrong here
This would cause downtime each night and is not an optimal solution compared to targeted pool recycling.
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Last reviewed: Jul 26, 2026
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