Code Room
On-callMediumoc-p022
Subject Incident responseLevel Senior~20 minCommon in Reliability & on-call interviewsIndustries Technology

Question

Your app is throwing 'too many connections' / pool-exhausted errors under normal traffic — connection counts climbed all day until they maxed out. Diagnose 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.

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