NSE7 Troubleshooting and Diagnostics Practice Question
An administrator needs to monitor the FortiGate's CPU usage in real-time from the CLI. Which command should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse 'get system performance status' (a static snapshot) with a real-time monitoring tool, or they mistakenly think debug commands like 'diagnose debug application' are used for performance metrics instead of debugging specific daemon logs.
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
'diagnose sys top' is the FortiGate CLI command that provides a real-time, top-like display of CPU usage per process, including process IDs and CPU consumption percentages. This command is specifically designed for live performance monitoring and troubleshooting from the CLI, unlike static snapshots or debug outputs.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
diagnose debug application httpsd
Why it's wrong here
This debugs the HTTPS daemon's application-level activity, producing no CPU utilisation metrics at all. It is tempting because diagnose debug commands are the standard CLI tool for live troubleshooting, so it would be correct when investigating httpsd process behaviour rather than system-wide CPU load.
- ✗
diagnose hardware sysinfo memory
Why it's wrong here
This reports hardware memory information, not CPU utilisation, so it cannot show processor load. It is tempting because diagnose hardware sysinfo commands expose live hardware counters, making it the right choice when the administrator needs real-time memory statistics instead of CPU usage.
- ✗
get system performance status
Why it's wrong here
This command returns a one-off snapshot of system status rather than a continuously refreshing real-time view, so CPU spikes between invocations are missed. It is tempting because it does display CPU information, making it the right choice when a single point-in-time status check is all that is required.
- ✓
diagnose sys top
Why this is correct
`diagnose sys top` launches an interactive, continuously refreshing process monitor directly in the CLI, listing per-process CPU and memory consumption. This satisfies the stem's real-time requirement, unlike snapshot commands such as `get system performance status`, which report averaged or instantaneous values without live refresh.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This NSE7 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Fortinet 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 NSE7 exam.