PROFESSIONAL-CLOUD-DEVELOPER · Question #14
Your application is running on Compute Engine and is showing sustained failures for a small number of requests. You have narrowed the cause down to a single Compute Engine instance, but the instance i
The correct answer is B. Enable and check the serial port output.. When a Compute Engine instance is unresponsive to SSH, the serial port provides a low-level console output stream that remains accessible even when the OS is hung or the network stack is broken. Enabling and reading serial port output is the correct first diagnostic step - it oft
Question
Your application is running on Compute Engine and is showing sustained failures for a small number of requests. You have narrowed the cause down to a single Compute Engine instance, but the instance is unresponsive to SSH. What should you do next?
Options
- AReboot the machine.
- BEnable and check the serial port output.
- CDelete the machine and create a new one.
- DTake a snapshot of the disk and attach it to a new machine.
How the community answered
(17 responses)- A6% (1)
- B71% (12)
- C6% (1)
- D18% (3)
Explanation
When a Compute Engine instance is unresponsive to SSH, the serial port provides a low-level console output stream that remains accessible even when the OS is hung or the network stack is broken. Enabling and reading serial port output is the correct first diagnostic step - it often reveals kernel panics, OOM events, or boot failures that explain why SSH is unavailable. Rebooting (A) destroys the diagnostic state. Deleting the machine (C) is irreversible and loses all evidence. Taking a snapshot (D) is a recovery strategy, not a diagnostic step, and should come after understanding the cause.
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