ITIL4-CDS Create, Deliver and Support Practice Question
Exhibit
LOG_FILE_OUTPUT: [2023-10-12 10:05:01] ERROR: Database connection timeout in Service A. [2023-10-12 10:05:05] WARN: Retrying connection attempt 1... [2023-10-12 10:05:10] WARN: Retrying connection attempt 2... [2023-10-12 10:05:15] FATAL: Connection failed after 3 attempts. Service unavailable.
Refer to the exhibit. A service desk team receives a surge of incidents regarding Service A. Based on the logs provided, what is the most appropriate next step for the support team?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often try to resolve the incident repeatedly without investigating the underlying cause, failing to recognize that a recurring pattern requires a transition from incident management to problem management.
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
✓
Initiate a problem investigation to identify the root cause of the timeout.
The log exhibits a consistent failure pattern after retries, indicating a systemic issue rather than a transient glitch. The support team must prioritize problem management to identify the root cause or underlying trigger of the database timeout. This shift from incident management to problem management is crucial in CDS to prevent recurring incidents and maintain service reliability for the end-users.
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 number of retry attempts to five in the configuration.
Why it's wrong here
Increasing retry attempts merely masks the symptom without addressing the underlying database connectivity issue. It may lead to longer wait times for users before they receive an error, potentially straining system resources further rather than solving the actual infrastructure bottleneck causing the timeout.
- ✓
Initiate a problem investigation to identify the root cause of the timeout.
Why this is correct
Initiating a problem investigation is the correct ITIL approach when repeated failures occur. By analyzing the logs and infrastructure dependencies, the team can determine whether the timeout is due to resource contention, network latency, or database misconfiguration, preventing future service interruptions through a permanent resolution.
- ✗
Ignore the logs and wait for the database service to recover automatically.
Why it's wrong here
Ignoring persistent service failures violates the principles of proactive support and service continuity. Relying on self-recovery without understanding the cause leaves the service vulnerable to future outages, negatively impacting user experience and the organization's reputation for providing reliable and available IT services.
- ✗
Close all active incidents and ask users to restart their sessions.
Why it's wrong here
Closing incidents without resolving the core issue is poor practice that creates customer frustration and increases ticket volume. Users cannot fix a systemic backend service failure by restarting their sessions, and this approach fails to address the root cause identified in the service logs.
About these practice questions
This ITIL4-CDS question is part of Courseiva's 155-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. 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 September 2026 · checked against the official PeopleCert/AXELOS exam blueprint
This ITIL4-CDS practice question is part of Courseiva's free PeopleCert/AXELOS 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 ITIL4-CDS exam.