220-1101 Practice Exam 53 — 20 Questions

Question 1

A financial services company must store customer data on-premises due to strict regulatory requirements. However, they want to leverage cloud resources to run analytics on that data during peak reporting periods. The company plans to use a cloud provider that can securely access the on-premises data and provide additional compute capacity only when needed. Which cloud deployment model BEST describes this configuration?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Hybrid cloud. The hybrid cloud model combines on-premises infrastructure (private cloud) with public cloud resources, connected via a secure VPN or dedicated link. This allows the company to keep sensitive customer data on-premises for regulatory compliance while bursting compute-intensive analytics workloads to the public cloud during peak reporting periods, paying only for additional capacity when needed.

Answer

Public cloud

Answer

Private cloud

Answer

Community cloud

Question 2

A user reports that their smartphone's screen does not turn off during phone calls when held to the ear, causing unintended button presses. The screen works normally at all other times. The technician has verified the device's operating system and apps are up to date. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of this issue?

Accepted Answer

A faulty proximity sensor. The proximity sensor, typically an infrared (IR) LED and photodetector, detects when the phone is held to the ear during a call and disables the touchscreen to prevent unintended inputs. Since the screen works normally at other times and the OS/apps are updated, a faulty proximity sensor is the most likely cause, as it fails to trigger the screen-off command during calls.

Answer

A faulty ambient light sensor

Answer

Incorrect display calibration

Answer

A damaged digitizer

Question 3

A small business hosts its e-commerce website on a public cloud IaaS platform. During a major promotional event, traffic to the website increases by 15 times its normal volume. The cloud platform automatically provisions additional virtual servers to handle the load and then deprovisions them after the event ends, without any manual intervention. Which essential characteristic of cloud computing does this scenario BEST demonstrate?

Accepted Answer

Rapid elasticity. The scenario describes the cloud platform automatically scaling virtual servers up and down in response to a 15x traffic spike, then deprovisioning them without manual intervention. This directly demonstrates rapid elasticity, which is the ability to dynamically scale resources out and in based on demand, a core characteristic defined by NIST SP 800-145.

Answer

On-demand self-service

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Broad network access

Answer

Resource pooling

Question 4

A technician replaced a failed power supply in a desktop computer with a higher wattage unit. The computer now powers on for one second then shuts down. The technician has verified all cable connections are secure and the PSU passes the paperclip test. What should the technician check NEXT?

Accepted Answer

The voltage selector switch on the PSU.. The voltage selector switch on the PSU must match the local mains voltage (115V for North America, 230V for Europe/Asia). If set to 230V while plugged into a 115V outlet, the PSU will briefly start but immediately shut down due to undervoltage protection. The paperclip test only verifies the PSU fan spins, not that it delivers correct voltages under load.

Answer

The motherboard BIOS settings.

Answer

The CPU fan header connection.

Answer

The front panel power switch.

Question 5

A system administrator deploys a Type 1 hypervisor on a physical host with 16 GB of RAM. The administrator creates four virtual machines, each configured with 8 GB of allocated memory. Despite the total allocation being 32 GB, all four VMs operate normally without any performance degradation. The administrator checks and sees that the host's memory usage is steady at 85%. Which virtualization feature is MOST likely enabling this configuration?

Accepted Answer

Memory overcommitment. Memory overcommitment allows a hypervisor to allocate more virtual memory to VMs than the physical host actually has, relying on the fact that VMs rarely use their full allocation simultaneously. In this scenario, the host has 16 GB of RAM but the VMs are configured with a total of 32 GB; the hypervisor (Type 1) uses memory overcommitment to assign only the memory actually needed by each VM, keeping host usage at 85% (approximately 13.6 GB) without performance degradation.

Answer

Memory ballooning

Answer

Dynamic memory allocation

Answer

Virtual memory paging

Question 6

A network administrator configures a new managed switch with 24 ports. All ports are in the same VLAN (VLAN 1) by default. The administrator then changes ports 1-12 to VLAN 10 and ports 13-24 to VLAN 20. Computers connected to ports in different VLANs are assigned IP addresses from the same DHCP server. Which of the following is a direct consequence of this configuration?

Accepted Answer

Computers in different VLANs cannot communicate unless a router is configured. VLANs segment a network at Layer 2, isolating broadcast domains. Without a router or Layer 3 switch configured for inter-VLAN routing, devices in different VLANs cannot communicate because they are on separate subnets and the switch will not forward frames between VLANs. The DHCP server can still assign IP addresses if it is connected to a port that is a member of both VLANs (e.g., a trunk port) or if a DHCP relay (ip helper-address) is configured on the router, but direct Layer 2 communication between VLANs is impossible without a routing device.

Answer

Computers in different VLANs can communicate directly at Layer 2

Answer

The switch will forward traffic between VLANs using internal routing

Answer

DHCP requests from VLAN 20 will be dropped by the switch

Question 7

A financial services company needs to migrate its customer transaction processing system to the cloud. Regulatory requirements mandate that all customer data must reside on servers physically located within the country’s borders and that the hardware must be dedicated solely to the company (no multi-tenancy at the hardware level). The company wants to retain the ability to scale resources on demand and manage the operating system and applications. Which cloud deployment model BEST meets these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Private cloud. A private cloud is the only model that guarantees single-tenant, dedicated hardware while allowing the organization to manage the OS and applications and scale on demand. It satisfies the data-residency mandate (servers physically within national borders) and the no-multi-tenancy requirement, which public and community clouds cannot guarantee at the hardware level. Hybrid cloud could include a private component but does not by itself ensure all customer data stays in-country on dedicated hardware.

Answer

Public cloud

Answer

Hybrid cloud

Answer

Community cloud

Question 8

A user reports that a laser printer is printing vertical blank lines on every page. The toner cartridge is new and properly installed. Which of the following should the technician check FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Clean the corona wire. Vertical blank lines on laser printer output typically indicate a dirty or damaged corona wire (or its equivalent primary charge roller), which creates uneven charge distribution on the drum and results in streaks of missing toner. Cleaning the corona wire is the correct first step because it is a low-cost, non-destructive check that directly addresses the symptom before replacing more expensive components.

Answer

Replace the fuser assembly

Answer

Replace the pickup rollers

Answer

Check for a paper jam

Question 9

A network printer shows 'Offline' in the print queue on a user's Windows computer. The printer is powered on, has a link light on its network port, and other users on the same network can print to it without issues. The technician has already verified that the printer is online from its control panel. Which of the following should the technician do FIRST to resolve the issue?

Accepted Answer

Restart the Print Spooler service on the affected computer.. The Print Spooler service manages print jobs on a Windows computer. When a printer shows 'Offline' in the print queue despite being powered on, having a link light, and being accessible by other users, the issue is likely a local spooler hang or communication glitch. Restarting the Print Spooler service (via `net stop spooler` and `net start spooler` or the Services console) clears the spooler cache and re-establishes the connection to the printer, which is the simplest and least disruptive first step.

Answer

Change the printer’s IP address to a different static address.

Answer

Reinstall the network printer driver on the affected computer.

Answer

Replace the Ethernet cable connecting the printer to the switch.

Question 10

A user reports that their Android smartphone's screen does not rotate when the device is turned sideways. The auto-rotate setting is enabled. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The accelerometer sensor is faulty.. The accelerometer sensor is responsible for detecting the orientation of the device by measuring linear acceleration along the x, y, and z axes. When auto-rotate is enabled but the screen fails to rotate, a faulty accelerometer is the most likely cause because the operating system relies on this sensor to determine when to switch between portrait and landscape modes.

Answer

The gyroscope sensor is faulty.

Answer

The magnetometer sensor is faulty.

Answer

The proximity sensor is faulty.

Question 11

A company hosts a virtualized application on a public cloud. The application uses a persistent block storage volume for its database. The IT team needs to move the virtual machine to a different availability zone to improve disaster recovery. Which of the following cloud characteristics allows the team to detach the block storage volume from the current VM and attach it to a new VM in the target availability zone without data loss?

Accepted Answer

Persistent block storage. Persistent block storage, such as Amazon EBS or similar services, is designed to be detached from one virtual machine and reattached to another without data loss because the storage volume exists independently of the VM's lifecycle. This allows the IT team to move the volume to a new VM in a different availability zone while preserving the database contents, as the data persists on the block device itself rather than being tied to the VM's ephemeral storage.

Answer

Elasticity

Answer

High availability

Answer

Resource pooling

Question 12

A technician is building a desktop PC. After installing the motherboard, CPU, and RAM, the technician attempts to power on the system. The fans spin for a second and then stop. The motherboard's power LED does not light up. The technician has confirmed the power supply is functional by testing with a multimeter. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The 4/8-pin CPU power connector is not connected.. The most likely cause is that the 4/8-pin CPU power connector is not connected. Without this dedicated power supply to the CPU, the motherboard may briefly attempt to start (fans spin for a second) but then immediately shut down because the CPU cannot initialize. The power supply is confirmed functional, and the motherboard's power LED not lighting up further indicates a missing critical power rail, not a dead CMOS or incorrect front panel wiring.

Answer

The CMOS battery is dead.

Answer

The RAM is installed in the wrong slots.

Answer

The front panel power switch headers are incorrectly connected.

Question 13

A company is migrating a legacy application to the cloud. The application requires a specific operating system configuration and the IT team needs full administrative control over the operating system, including the ability to install custom software and configure kernel settings. The company wants to avoid upfront hardware costs and pay only for what they use. Which cloud service model BEST meets these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). IaaS provides virtualized computing resources over the internet, granting full administrative control over the operating system, including kernel settings and custom software installation. This model eliminates upfront hardware costs by offering pay-as-you-go pricing, aligning with the requirement to avoid capital expenditure.

Answer

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Answer

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Answer

Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

Question 14

A technician is troubleshooting a desktop PC that fails to boot with the error 'Bootmgr is missing.' The technician boots from a Windows installation media and runs bootrec /fixmbr and bootrec /fixboot, which complete successfully. After restarting, the error persists. The hard drive is detected in BIOS and appears in the boot order. Which of the following should the technician do NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Run bootrec /rebuildbcd. The error 'Bootmgr is missing' indicates that the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store is corrupted or missing. While bootrec /fixmbr and bootrec /fixboot repair the master boot record and boot sector, they do not rebuild the BCD store. Running bootrec /rebuildbcd scans the system for installed Windows installations and recreates the BCD store, which is necessary to resolve the persistent error.

Answer

Replace the hard drive

Answer

Check the SATA data cable

Answer

Set the system partition as active

Question 15

A user reports that they can access internal company servers using IP addresses (e.g., 192.168.1.100) but cannot browse the internet. The user can ping the default gateway (192.168.1.1) successfully. Other users on the same subnet have full internet access. The technician checks the user's IP configuration and sees that the IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS server (192.168.1.10) are all correct. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the issue?

Accepted Answer

The user's browser proxy settings are configured to use an incorrect proxy server. Since the user can access internal servers by IP and successfully ping the default gateway, Layer 3 connectivity is intact. The inability to browse the internet while other users on the same subnet have full access points to a client-specific configuration issue. A misconfigured browser proxy setting (e.g., pointing to an incorrect or non-existent proxy server) would prevent HTTP/HTTPS traffic from reaching external destinations, even though DNS and IP routing are working correctly.

Answer

The DNS server is not resolving external domain names

Answer

The network cable is loose or faulty

Answer

The user's IP address is in the wrong subnet

Question 16

A network administrator is setting up a new wireless network for a small business. The administrator configures a wireless access point with WPA2-PSK and a strong passphrase. Several users on different floors report intermittent connectivity and slow speeds. The administrator checks the access point and finds that the signal strength is excellent in the area. The access point is dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and broadcasts a single SSID. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the issue?

Accepted Answer

The channel width is set to 40MHz on the 2.4GHz band, causing interference.. In the 2.4 GHz band, using a 40 MHz channel width consumes more spectrum and overlaps with adjacent channels, causing co-channel and adjacent-channel interference. This interference leads to intermittent connectivity and slow speeds, especially on different floors where signal propagation is more complex. The strong signal strength and dual-band setup with a single SSID point to channel width misconfiguration as the most likely cause.

Answer

The access point is configured to use the default IP address, causing an IP conflict.

Answer

The encryption type is too weak for the number of users.

Answer

The access point's firmware is outdated and needs an update.

Question 17

A small business wants to move its company website to the cloud. The goal is to eliminate all management tasks related to the operating system and the web server software. The business wants to simply upload its website content and have the cloud provider handle all patching, security, and availability. Which cloud service model BEST meets these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Platform as a Service (PaaS). Platform as a Service (PaaS) is the correct model because it provides a managed platform where the cloud provider handles the operating system, web server software, patching, security, and availability. The business only needs to upload its website content (e.g., HTML, PHP files) and the provider manages the underlying runtime environment, including the web server (like Apache or Nginx) and OS updates. This eliminates all management tasks related to the OS and web server software, directly matching the requirement.

Answer

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Answer

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Answer

Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

Question 18

A user reports that their desktop computer shuts down unexpectedly while running video editing software, usually after about 15 minutes of heavy rendering. The technician has observed that the CPU fan and case fans spin at high speed just before the shutdown. The technician cleaned all dust from the heatsink and case intakes, but the problem persists. The BIOS reports CPU idle temperature at 35°C (95°F). Which of the following should the technician do NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Replace the thermal paste between the CPU and heatsink. The CPU idle temperature of 35°C is normal, but the shutdown after 15 minutes of heavy rendering with high fan speeds indicates the CPU is overheating under load. Since cleaning the dust did not resolve the issue, the most likely cause is degraded thermal paste between the CPU and heatsink, which loses its ability to transfer heat efficiently over time. Replacing the thermal paste restores proper thermal conductivity, allowing the heatsink to dissipate heat effectively and prevent thermal throttling or shutdown.

Answer

Replace the CPU cooler with a larger model

Answer

Update the motherboard BIOS to the latest version

Answer

Test the power supply voltage rails under load with a multimeter

Question 19

A research organization requires a cloud environment that is exclusively used by their team and physically isolated from other organizations. They need complete control over the underlying infrastructure, including the ability to configure hypervisors and virtual switches. Which cloud deployment model should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Private cloud. A private cloud is the correct choice because it provides a dedicated, single-tenant environment that is physically isolated from other organizations. This model gives the research team complete control over the underlying infrastructure, including hypervisors and virtual switches, enabling custom configuration and management.

Answer

Public cloud

Answer

Community cloud

Answer

Hybrid cloud

Question 20

A user reports that their Android smartphone's battery drains significantly faster than usual. The technician checks the battery usage statistics and finds that the screen is consuming 60% of the battery. The screen brightness is manually set to maximum. Which of the following is the MOST effective step to reduce battery consumption?

Accepted Answer

Reduce screen brightness. The screen is the primary battery consumer, and manual maximum brightness forces the display to use full backlight power. Reducing screen brightness directly lowers the power draw of the display, which is the most effective immediate step to extend battery life. This addresses the root cause identified in the battery usage statistics.

Answer

Disable mobile data

Answer

Remove the battery and reinsert it

Answer

Perform a factory reset