This PCNSE practice question tests your understanding of manage, monitor and operate. Examine the command output carefully: the correct answer depends on what the output actually shows, not on general recall alone. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
An engineer notices a decrease in network performance and wants to verify if a specific security policy is being triggered frequently. Which CLI command will show the hit count for a specific policy?
show security-rulebase
Why wrong: This shows the rulebase content but no hit counts.
show rule-usage
Why wrong: This shows rule usage statistics but is not specific to a single policy.
show running security-policy hit-count
This shows hit counts for all security policies, and can be filtered to a specific rule.
show running security-policy
Why wrong: This shows the policy configuration but not hit counts.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
show running security-policy hit-count
Option C is correct because the 'show running security-policy hit-count' command displays the hit count for each security policy rule, allowing the engineer to identify which specific policy is being triggered frequently. This command directly shows the number of times a rule has matched traffic, which is essential for diagnosing performance issues related to policy usage.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
show security-rulebase
Why it's wrong here
This shows the rulebase content but no hit counts.
show rule-usage
Why it's wrong here
This shows rule usage statistics but is not specific to a single policy.
show running security-policy hit-count
Why this is correct
This shows hit counts for all security policies, and can be filtered to a specific rule.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
show running security-policy
Why it's wrong here
This shows the policy configuration but not hit counts.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates may confuse 'show running security-policy' (which shows configuration) with 'show running security-policy hit-count' (which shows usage statistics), or they may incorrectly recall non-existent commands like 'show rule-usage' from other vendors.
Trap categories for this question
Command / output trap
This shows the rulebase content but no hit counts.
Detailed technical explanation
The hit count is maintained in the data plane and is updated each time a packet matches a security policy rule. This counter is useful for monitoring rule effectiveness and identifying unused or overly triggered rules, which can impact performance. In a real-world scenario, a rule with an abnormally high hit count might indicate a misconfiguration or a traffic pattern that needs optimization, such as moving it higher in the rule order to reduce latency.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A practitioner preparing for the PCNSE exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
What to study next
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FAQ
Manage, Monitor and Operate — This question tests Manage, Monitor and Operate — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: show running security-policy hit-count — Option C is correct because the 'show running security-policy hit-count' command displays the hit count for each security policy rule, allowing the engineer to identify which specific policy is being triggered frequently. This command directly shows the number of times a rule has matched traffic, which is essential for diagnosing performance issues related to policy usage.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 25, 2026
This PCNSE 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 PCNSE exam.
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