Checkout latency spikes after deploy
At 14:02 you deploy v412 of the checkout API (a Java/Spring service behind 12 pods). Within 4 minutes p99 latency on /checkout climbs from 180ms to 9s and the error rate ticks to 6% with 'connection timeout acquiring from pool' in logs. The DB CPU dashboard is flat at 40%. Active DB connections jumped from ~120 to the configured max of 200 and are pinned there. The only thing in v412's diff is a new audit-write that runs inside the same request transaction. Walk me through how you triage and mitigate.
What a strong answer looks like
Stop the bleeding first (mitigate), then form hypotheses from real signals. Separate root cause from symptom, communicate status as you go, and close with what prevents a repeat.
0:00 of about 30 min
Which questions mattered is sealed until you submit. Telling you now would just be handing over the edge cases.
Run or narrate your approach, then ask the coach.