Cybersecurity-Practitioner Network Security Practice Question
An administrator notices that the firewall's management plane CPU utilization is consistently at 99%. Which THREE factors or troubleshooting steps should the administrator investigate? (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
✓
Excessive XML API requests or frequent script-based configuration pushes.
High management plane CPU can be caused by heavy logging/reporting queries, large external dynamic list (EDL) downloads, excessive Panorama synchronization, or frequent XML API requests.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Excessive XML API requests or frequent script-based configuration pushes.
Why this is correct
Automated scripts pushing API calls frequently consume management plane CPU resources.
- ✗
An improperly sized Layer 3 forwarding table causing next-hop packet re-synthesis on the data plane.
Why it's wrong here
Forwarding table lookups occur on the data plane (NP/DP), not the management plane.
- ✓
High volume of logging queries, traffic log exports, or Panorama log forwarding activity.
Why this is correct
Heavy log generation, querying, and reporting place significant load on the management plane.
- ✓
Large or excessively frequent External Dynamic List (EDL) downloads saturating management plane retrieval threads.
Why this is correct
Downloading, parsing, and updating large EDLs is handled by the management plane.
- ✗
GlobalProtect Gateway SSL VPN data tunnel encryption processing.
Why it's wrong here
VPN encryption and decryption are hardware-accelerated on the data plane, not the management plane.
About these practice questions
One of 206 original Cybersecurity-Practitioner practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed August 2026 · checked against the official Palo Alto Networks exam blueprint
This Cybersecurity-Practitioner practice question is part of Courseiva's free Palo Alto Networks 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 Cybersecurity-Practitioner exam.