Code Room
On-callMediumoc-p007
Subject Incident responseLevel Mid–Senior~20 minCommon in Reliability & on-call interviewsIndustries Technology

Question

The primary database disk is 98% full and climbing; writes are starting to fail. You have minutes. What now?

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.

Diagram & narrate the incident
Loading whiteboard…
Run or narrate your approach, then ask the coach.