PCNSA Device Management and Services Practice Question
Exhibit
Refer to the exhibit. admin@PA-500> show system info | match uptime System time: Fri Aug 23 14:22:10 2024 Uptime: 0 days, 2:15:33 admin@PA-500> show system resources CPU: 45% Memory: 78% admin@PA-500> show session info Total active sessions: 85000 Max sessions: 100000 admin@PA-500> show running resource-monitor Resource: dataplane CPU: 89% Memory: 92%
Refer to the exhibit. The firewall is experiencing performance issues and dropping sessions. Based on the exhibit, what is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
Palo Alto Networks often tests the distinction between management plane (system CPU) and dataplane resources, so the trap here is that candidates confuse high system CPU with dataplane exhaustion, not realizing that session drops are almost always a dataplane issue, not a management plane one.
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
✓
Dataplane resources are exhausted
The exhibit shows that the dataplane (DP) utilization is at 100%, which directly indicates that the dataplane resources are exhausted. When the dataplane is fully utilized, the firewall cannot process new sessions or maintain existing ones, leading to session drops and performance issues. This is the most likely cause because the dataplane handles packet forwarding and session setup, and its exhaustion is a common bottleneck in high-throughput environments.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Dataplane resources are exhausted
Why this is correct
The exhibit shows dataplane utilisation at or near maximum, meaning the firewall's dataplane processing capacity is exhausted. When dataplane resources are saturated, the firewall cannot process sessions fast enough and begins dropping them, matching the reported performance issues.
- ✗
The firewall has been recently rebooted
Why it's wrong here
Uptime is 2 hours, but that does not explain drops.
- ✗
System CPU is too high
Why it's wrong here
High CPU would appear as elevated CPU utilisation in the exhibit; if the displayed CPU remains low while sessions drop, CPU is not the constraint. CPU is the correct diagnosis when the management plane shows sustained near-maximum processor load.
- ✗
The session limit is being reached
Why it's wrong here
The exhibit's session counts and resource graphs must be read directly; a session limit produces a specific counter at its maximum, not the CPU or memory pattern shown. Session limits are the cause when the session table is exhausted, which the exhibit does not indicate.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PCNSA 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 PCNSA exam.