Incident Triage Capstone: Diagnose a Degraded Host from Its Artifacts
ExpertLinux+ Exam Prep40-60 minA production host is degraded and you've been handed its evidence bundle in /root/case/ — a kernel log, df and ss snapshots, an HTTP access log, a slow-query log, and a journal excerpt. Diagnose the six problems and record your findings in /root/findings.env, one KEY=VALUE per line (no spaces, no quotes). Every artifact contains a decoy that points at the wrong conclusion — read carefully.
| Key | Determine (from /root/case) |
|-----|------|
| OOM_PROC | the process the kernel actually killed (not the one that invoked the killer) |
| FULL_FS | the mount point of the filesystem that is 100% full |
| HTTP_ERR | the single 5xx status code that dominates the errors |
| API_PORT | the TCP port the api service is listening on |
| SLOW_TABLE | the table named in the most slow queries |
| FLAP_UNIT | the systemd unit that restarted the most |
Grading compares each recorded value exactly.
- Correlate evidence across kernel, filesystem, network, web, database, and init artifacts
- Distinguish the OOM-killed process from the process that invoked the killer
- Separate the truly-full filesystem from a near-full decoy
- Rank error codes, slow-query tables, and unit restarts from noisy logs
- Record precise, machine-checkable findings
Hands-on lab: you work on a real Linux box in your browser, graded on the machine's actual state.
