Question 99 of 144
SK0-005 server-administration Practice Question
A medium-sized organization runs several critical virtual machines on a Windows Server 2019 Hyper-V host with 64 GB of RAM and two 12-core processors. One of the VMs, a database server, has been experiencing intermittent performance degradation, specifically during peak hours. The VM is configured with 4 vCPUs and 16 GB of static memory. The host's overall CPU utilization rarely exceeds 40%, and memory usage is around 50%. The administrator logs into the host and checks the VM's CPU usage in Hyper-V Manager, which shows it averaging 65% with occasional spikes to 95%. However, inside the VM, Task Manager shows constant 95-100% CPU usage on all logical processors. No other VMs are reporting performance issues. The administrator needs to determine the root cause and apply a fix that does not involve adding more physical resources or rebooting the production VM during business hours. Which of the following actions should the administrator take?
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
✓
Use Performance Monitor on the host to examine 'Hyper-V Hypervisor Virtual Processor' metrics for the VM and compare with in-guest CPU usage to identify scheduling issues
Option C is correct because comparing the host-level guest CPU metrics (which show 65% average) with the in-guest metrics (100%) reveals that the VM is being limited by its vCPU allocation, likely due to co-scheduling or contention with other VMs' vCPUs on the same physical cores. Investigating and adjusting CPU scheduling or reservation settings can alleviate this. Option A is wrong because the host's overall CPU is fine; the issue is within the VM or hypervisor scheduling. Option B is wrong because increasing vCPUs without diagnosing the bottleneck might worsen contention. Option D is wrong because increasing memory won't resolve a CPU bottleneck.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Increase the VM's memory from 16 GB to 32 GB to reduce paging and improve performance
Why it's wrong here
The issue is CPU-bound, not memory-bound; adding memory will not resolve the CPU bottleneck shown inside the VM.
- ✗
Increase the VM's vCPU count to 8 to handle the workload and reduce contention
Why it's wrong here
More vCPUs can worsen co-scheduling problems if the underlying issue is scheduler contention rather than raw capacity.
- ✓
Use Performance Monitor on the host to examine 'Hyper-V Hypervisor Virtual Processor' metrics for the VM and compare with in-guest CPU usage to identify scheduling issues
Why this is correct
This allows the administrator to diagnose whether the hypervisor is limiting the VM's CPU time, and then adjust CPU reservations or scheduling settings accordingly.
- ✗
Check the host's overall CPU usage in Task Manager and increase the VM's vCPU count if the host has spare capacity
Why it's wrong here
The host CPU is not saturated overall; adding vCPUs may increase scheduling overhead and contention without fixing the root cause.
Visual reference
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Last reviewed: Jul 26, 2026
This SK0-005 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA 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 SK0-005 exam.
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