NSE7 Troubleshooting and Diagnostics Practice Question
An administrator wants to monitor CPU usage of specific processes on a FortiGate. Which command should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse the generic Linux 'top' command with FortiOS's 'diagnose sys top', or assume that 'get system performance status' provides process-level detail when it only shows aggregate system 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 is the correct tool for monitoring CPU usage of specific processes on a FortiGate because it provides a real-time, interactive view of process-level CPU and memory utilization, allowing the administrator to identify which processes are consuming resources. Unlike the other options, this diagnostic command is specifically designed for granular process monitoring in FortiOS.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
get system performance status
Why it's wrong here
This command reports overall system health counters such as CPU, memory and session totals, not a per-process breakdown, so it cannot attribute usage to individual daemons. It is the right choice for a quick whole-device health snapshot. Per-process CPU requires the diagnostic command that lists processes individually.
- ✓
diagnose sys top
Why this is correct
The diagnose sys top command gives a live, per-process view of CPU and memory consumption on the FortiGate, letting the administrator identify which specific processes are consuming CPU. This directly satisfies the requirement to monitor CPU usage of individual processes rather than aggregate system load.
- ✗
get system performance
Why it's wrong here
This command is incomplete and returns a syntax error rather than any output, so it cannot report CPU usage at all. A bare command prefix is never the intended form; the full command with its subcommand is required. Whole-device health uses get system performance status, while per-process usage needs diagnostic sys top.
- ✗
top
Why it's wrong here
The top command displays live process and CPU statistics on a Linux host, but on FortiGate it is not the diagnostic command for per-process CPU usage. It is tempting because it is the standard Linux tool for that task, yet FortiOS requires the diagnose sys top command to inspect individual process CPU consumption.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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