EX200 Deploy, configure, and maintain systems Practice Question
An administrator needs to configure system tuning profiles for a database server. Which command is used to set the 'throughput-performance' profile?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse `systemctl` (which manages systemd services) with `tuned-adm` (which manages Tuned profiles), or they assume a generic sysctl parameter exists for setting a complete tuning profile.
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
✓
tuned-adm profile throughput-performance
The `tuned-adm profile throughput-performance` command is correct because Tuned is the system tuning service on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and `tuned-adm` is the command-line tool used to activate predefined tuning profiles. The 'throughput-performance' profile optimizes the system for maximum network and disk throughput by disabling power-saving features and tuning kernel parameters.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
powertop --set-profile=throughput-performance
Why it's wrong here
powertop --set-profile=throughput-performance is invalid because powertop is an interactive power-analysis tool, not a tuning-profile manager. Its --set-profile flag only accepts power-oriented profiles (such as performance or powersave) and merely adjusts a small set of power management sysfs entries; it cannot load a full tuned profile that aggregates kernel, block device, and CPU scheduler settings. Thus it is the wrong tool for applying a throughput-performance system tuning profile.
- ✗
sysctl -w kernel.throughput=1
Why it's wrong here
The sysctl command modifies individual kernel parameters at runtime through /proc/sys, and kernel.throughput is not a real parameter, so sysctl -w would exit with an invalid key error. sysctl has no notion of a predefined, named profile; it can only set or read one key at a time. A tuning profile like throughput-performance is a curated bundle of dozens of sysctl and sysfs settings that only tuned-adm knows how to apply wholesale.
- ✗
systemctl set-profile throughput-performance
Why it's wrong here
systemctl controls systemd units, services, sockets, targets, and properties, but it has no 'set-profile' action, making this an invalid command. Tuning profiles are managed by the tuned service and its tuned-adm command-line utility, which selects a profile and persists it; using systemctl here would fail because there is no such verb. Do not confuse 'systemctl set-property' (for unit properties) with tuning-profile selection.
- ✓
tuned-adm profile throughput-performance
Why this is correct
The tuned-adm command is the correct and intended utility for managing tuning profiles on RHEL. Running 'tuned-adm profile throughput-performance' instructs the tuned daemon to activate the shipped throughput-performance profile, which tunes CPU scaling_governor, vm.swappiness, and other kernel/disk parameters for maximum throughput at the cost of power savings. Administrators can verify the change with 'tuned-adm active' or revert with 'tuned-adm off'.
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