On-callHardoc-p024

Subject Incident responseLevel Senior–Staff~20 minCommon in Reliability & on-call interviewsIndustries Technology

Question

After a database failover, some users report stale or inconsistent data and writes seem to be conflicting. You suspect replication lag or split-brain. What's your response?

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.

Learn the concepts

Diagram & narrate the incident

Loading whiteboard…

Run or narrate your approach, then ask the coach.