To methodically troubleshoot sudden database-related delays, a Lead System Architect should focus on isolating the root cause without exacerbating the issue.

Option A is a direct diagnostic step. By reducing the query-time alert threshold, the system becomes more sensitive to long-running database queries. This helps capture performance data on queries that are slower than desired but might not have crossed the default, higher threshold, enabling precise identification of problematic SQL.

Option C represents a sound analytical methodology. Correlating user-reported delays with peak database usage times allows the architect to focus their investigation of logs and alerts (like those generated from option A) on the most relevant time windows, making the troubleshooting process more efficient and targeted.

B: Raising the blob-size alert threshold would make the system less likely to report large case instances, effectively hiding the very problem you might be looking for.

D: Writing Pega logs to the database would add extra load to a database server that is already suspected of being a performance bottleneck, likely worsening the user-reported delays.

1. For A & C: Pegasystems. (2023). Investigating performance issues. Pega Community. This article outlines a methodology that includes analyzing alerts during periods of poor performance. It states

"Check the PegaRULES log and the PegaALERT log for the time when the performance was poor... The PegaALERT log contains specific information about the performance of the system." Lowering thresholds is a standard technique to generate more granular alerts for analysis.

Reference: Pegasystems Documentation

"Investigating performance issues

" section on "Checking logs."

2. For A: Pegasystems. (2023). List of performance-related system settings. Pega Community. The documentation for the alerts/database/queryTimeThreshold setting explicitly describes its purpose for identifying long-running queries. Lowering this value is the correct action to increase diagnostic sensitivity.

Reference: Pegasystems Documentation

"List of performance-related system settings

" entry for alerts/database/queryTimeThreshold.

3. For B: Pegasystems. (2023). PEGA0025 alert: Blob size is greater than threshold. Pega Community. This documentation explains that the alert is triggered when the blob size exceeds the configured threshold. To detect more potential issues

one would lower

not raise

this threshold.

Reference: Pegasystems Documentation

"PEGA0025 alert: Blob size is greater than threshold."

4. For D: Pegasystems. (2023). Managing logs. Pega Community. Pega best practices recommend writing logs to files rather than the database in production environments to avoid performance overhead on the database. The documentation notes that logging to the database can impact performance.

Reference: Pegasystems Documentation

"Managing logs

" section on "Log files."