NSE7 Troubleshooting and Diagnostics Practice Question
A FortiGate administrator wants to check if the device is experiencing high CPU usage due to a specific process. Which command should they use to display real-time process CPU usage?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse 'show system resource' (overall stats) with per-process diagnostics, or they mistakenly think 'get system performance status' provides process-level detail, when it only shows aggregate performance metrics.
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
✓
diagnose sys top
The 'diagnose sys top' command provides a real-time, top-like view of FortiGate processes, showing CPU and memory usage per process. This allows the administrator to identify which specific process is consuming high CPU, making it the correct choice for this diagnostic task.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
show system resource
Why it's wrong here
'show system resource' is a configuration-display command that prints configured resource limits and reservations, not live per-process CPU consumption. It would be the right check when verifying whether a resource limit or guarantee is configured, but it cannot show which running process is currently consuming CPU.
- ✓
diagnose sys top
Why this is correct
The diagnose sys top command displays a live, refreshing list of running processes ranked by CPU and memory consumption, letting the administrator identify the specific process driving high CPU. It also supports interval and sort options for real-time monitoring.
- ✗
get system performance status
Why it's wrong here
'get system performance status' returns a periodic summary of overall CPU, memory and session counts, without per-process breakdown. It suits a quick health snapshot of the whole device, but identifying which individual process is driving high CPU requires the diagnose sys top command instead.
- ✗
diagnose debug application crashlog read
Why it's wrong here
'diagnose debug application crashlog read' displays recorded crash logs for a named application, so it only shows processes that already terminated abnormally. It is the right tool when investigating why a daemon crashed, but a process consuming CPU while still running leaves no crashlog entry.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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