CompTIA · Free Practice Questions · Last reviewed May 2026
24real exam-style questions organised by domain, each with the correct answer highlighted and a plain-English explanation of why it's right — and why the others are wrong.
A technician is installing a new server in a data center. To prevent electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage, which of the following should the technician do FIRST?
Place an anti-static mat on the floor
Spray anti-static solution on the server rack
Wear rubber-soled shoes
Attach an ESD wrist strap to a grounded surface
An ESD wrist strap connected to a grounded surface provides a safe path for static discharge, protecting sensitive components.
A server with a RAID 5 array of four disks reports a degraded logical drive. The technician replaces the failed disk and rebuilds the array. After the rebuild completes, the array is still degraded. Which of the following is the most likely cause?
The replacement disk is assigned a different drive letter in the OS
The RAID controller firmware is outdated
The replacement disk has a different rotational speed than the other disks
Many RAID controllers require all drives in an array to have matching specifications; a speed mismatch can cause the rebuild to fail or the drive to be rejected.
The replacement disk is missing a partition table
A server logged the warning shown in the exhibit. Which of the following should the technician check first?
The power supply voltage to the processor
The processor cooling fan
A failed or obstructed cooling fan is the most common cause of high CPU temperature warnings.
The ambient temperature of the data center
The thermal paste between the heatsink and processor
A technician is replacing a failed hard drive in a hot-swap RAID 5 array. After inserting the new drive, the RAID controller does not automatically rebuild. What should the technician do first?
Check the SAS cable connection
Reboot the server
Replace the drive with a different model
Manually initiate a rebuild from the RAID controller utility
Correct. Most controllers require the administrator to manually start the rebuild after replacing a failed drive.
A server has four memory slots on two channels (A and B). Currently, DIMM_A1 and DIMM_A2 are populated with 8 GB DDR4-2666 modules each. To maximize performance and capacity, which memory configuration should be added?
Add two 8 GB DDR4-2400 modules to channel B
Add one 8 GB DDR4-2666 module to DIMM_B1
Add one 16 GB DDR4-2666 module to DIMM_B1
Add two 8 GB DDR4-2666 modules to DIMM_B1 and DIMM_B2
Correct. Matching capacity and speed on both channels enables dual-channel mode, maximizing bandwidth and increasing capacity to 32 GB.
A company has a virtualized server environment with two physical hosts running VMware vSphere. Each host has 2 CPUs, 128GB RAM, and 6x 600GB SAS drives in RAID 10. Recently, host A experienced a power surge that caused it to shut down abruptly. After restarting, the host boots but the RAID controller reports that one of the drives in the RAID 10 array is missing. The administrator has a replacement drive of the same model. What should the administrator do first?
Use the RAID controller utility to set the new drive as a hot spare and then reboot
Replace the missing drive with the new one and allow the RAID controller to automatically rebuild
Check the RAID controller logs to determine if the drive is faulty or if it's a connection issue, and then reseat the drive or replace cables before replacing
Checking logs and reseating is the safest first step to confirm the drive is actually faulty.
Rebuild the entire RAID array after backing up data from the surviving drives
Want more server-hardware-installation-management practice?
Practice this domainA server administrator is tasked with ensuring that a critical database server remains available in the event of a hardware failure. The solution must provide automatic failover with minimal administrative overhead. Which of the following should be implemented?
Load balancing
Scheduled backups
RAID 1 mirroring
Server clustering
Server clustering ties multiple servers together to act as a single system; if one node fails, another takes over automatically, providing high availability with minimal administrative effort.
Which TWO of the following are considered best practices for securing a server's remote management access?
Use SSH key-based authentication
SSH keys provide a more secure alternative to passwords, using cryptographic keys that are resistant to brute-force attacks.
Enable default administrative shares
Allow all inbound ICMP
Disable unused services
Disabling services that are not required reduces the number of potential entry points for attackers.
Use telnet for remote CLI
Your organization is migrating a Windows Server 2019 file server with 2 TB of shared data to a new server running Windows Server 2022. The migration must minimize user downtime and ensure file permissions are preserved. Users access files during business hours (8 AM to 6 PM) and the migration must be completed within a four-hour window starting at 10 PM on Saturday. You plan to use DFS Replication (DFSR) for initial data copy and then perform a final synchronization during the cutover. After setting up DFSR between the old and new servers, you realize that the initial replication will take approximately 12 hours due to the large number of files. What should you do to complete the migration within the allowed window?
Use robocopy to pre-stage the data from old to new server during off-hours before the cutover, then enable DFSR to replicate only changes made after pre-staging; during the cutover window, do a final DFSR sync
Pre-staging reduces the data transferred during the cutover to only changes, allowing the final sync to complete within the window.
Disable DFSR and use robocopy with /MIR /COPYALL during the cutover window to copy all data
Perform a full backup of the old server and restore to the new server during the cutover window using Windows Backup
Increase the DFSR staging quota and bandwidth throttling to accelerate initial replication
A technician is installing a new server for a department. The server will run a single application that requires high reliability. The operating system should be protected against a single disk failure without sacrificing read performance. Which RAID configuration is MOST appropriate?
RAID 5
RAID 6
RAID 1
RAID 1 mirrors data across two disks, providing fault tolerance and excellent read performance for the OS.
RAID 0
A SQL Server database administrator wants to backup a large database (500 GB) with minimal impact on transaction log growth and recovery time. Which TWO backup strategies should the administrator implement? (Choose two.)
Perform a tail-log backup before each full backup
Perform weekly full backups
Full backups provide a complete copy of the database and are required as a base for differential and log backups.
Perform transaction log backups every 15 minutes
Frequent log backups truncate the transaction log, preventing it from growing too large, and enable point-in-time recovery.
Perform daily differential backups
Perform hourly copy-only backups
A company operates a Windows Server 2019 machine that functions as a domain controller and file server. Over the past week, the server has randomly rebooted several times, often during periods of heavy file access. The administrator reviews the System event log and finds multiple Event ID 41 (Kernel-Power) entries with no preceding critical errors. The server is connected to an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) that reports stable input voltage. The server room temperature sensors indicate normal ambient temperature (22°C / 72°F). The server hardware is three years old and has not had any recent changes. The administrator has already run a full antivirus scan with no threats found. Which of the following should the administrator do NEXT to diagnose the issue?
Inspect and clean the CPU and chassis fans, and check for dust buildup
Internal fans may be clogged or failing, causing thermal throttling and random shutdowns despite normal ambient temperature.
Update the server's BIOS to the latest version
Replace the power supply unit
Disable the automatic restart feature in System Properties
Want more server-administration practice?
Practice this domainA server administrator is restoring a file server from a full backup taken 7 days ago and incremental backups taken daily. The restoration fails with an error about missing catalog files. What is the most likely cause?
The hard drive on the file server has failed
The backup software is not compatible with the current OS version
The full backup media is corrupted
The incremental backup chain is broken
A broken chain (e.g., a missing incremental) prevents the restore from completing, often resulting in a catalog error.
A medium-sized company uses a backup strategy that includes a full backup every Sunday at 2:00 AM and differential backups Monday through Saturday at 2:00 AM. The backups are written to a network-attached storage (NAS) device. On Thursday morning, the company experiences a ransomware attack that encrypts all data on the file server, including the NAS. The administrator needs to restore the file server with minimal data loss. The last successful full backup was from the previous Sunday, and differential backups were successful on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. However, Thursday's differential was not completed because the attack occurred before the scheduled time. The administrator attempts to restore using the Sunday full backup and Thursday's differential, but the restore fails because the differential backup on the NAS is also encrypted. Which of the following is the best course of action?
Pay the ransom to decrypt the differential backup
Restore from the Sunday full backup and Wednesday's differential backup
This is the most recent complete and uncorrupted backup set, providing the best recovery point.
Reinstall the operating system and restore files from cloud storage
Restore using only Wednesday's differential backup
A small business has a single file server running Windows Server 2019. The server uses two internal SATA drives in a RAID 1 mirror for the operating system and data. The company's backup solution performs a full backup every night to an external USB hard drive, which is stored in the server room. The IT administrator recently noticed that the server's system volume is running low on space and decides to migrate the data to a larger drive. During the migration, the server crashes and will not boot. The administrator attempts to restore from the latest backup but finds that the backup drive is corrupted and cannot be read. The company has no offsite backups. What should the administrator have done to prevent this situation?
Regularly test backup restorations to verify data integrity.
The administrator should perform periodic restore tests to confirm that backups are valid and can be successfully recovered. This would have identified the corrupted backup drive before it was needed.
Implement a RAID 5 array instead of RAID 1 for better redundancy.
Document the backup procedure and create a disaster recovery plan.
Use a cloud-based backup service with offsite storage.
A medium-sized company runs an e-commerce platform on a cluster of three physical servers hosting virtual machines. The disaster recovery plan includes daily backups to a remote data center using Veeam Backup & Replication. The company's annual disaster recovery drill is scheduled for next week. During the drill, the IT team plans to simulate a complete site failure by powering off the primary data center. The recovery time objective (RTO) is 4 hours, and the recovery point objective (RPO) is 1 hour. The team successfully restores the VMs at the remote site, but the application experiences significant performance degradation and many transactions fail due to database inconsistency. Investigation reveals that the backup was taken at 2:00 AM, but the failure occurred at 10:00 AM, and the application's database had transactions between 2:00 AM and 10:00 AM that were not captured. What should the IT team do to improve the recovery process?
Configure RAID 10 on all database servers to improve disk performance.
Upgrade the WAN connection between sites to reduce backup transfer times.
Enable log shipping with point-in-time recovery for the database.
Log shipping allows transaction log backups to be taken frequently (e.g., every 15 minutes) and applied to the standby database, enabling recovery to any point in time, thus meeting the 1-hour RPO.
Adjust the RTO to 8 hours to allow for more comprehensive backups.
A large enterprise uses a centralized backup solution with a backup server running Commvault. Backups are stored on a deduplicated disk array and replicated to a secondary site for disaster recovery. The company's security team detects ransomware activity that has encrypted several file servers. The backup administrator checks the backup repository and finds that the backup data is also encrypted because the backup service account had permissions to modify backup files, and the ransomware propagated to the repository. The last known good backup is from two weeks ago, which is too old for the organization's RPO of 24 hours. The backup administrator is under pressure to restore operations quickly. Which of the following should the administrator implement to prevent this from recurring?
Immutable backup storage and a dedicated service account with least-privilege access.
Immutable storage ensures backups cannot be altered or deleted, and a least-privilege service account reduces the attack surface. This prevents ransomware from encrypting or destroying backups.
Encrypt all backup data at rest and in transit.
Require multi-factor authentication for the backup service account.
Air-gap the backup repository by disconnecting it from the network except during backup windows.
A company uses a two-node failover cluster for a critical application. The cluster nodes are located in the same data center, and the quorum configuration uses a file share witness on a separate server in the same data center. During a major power outage, both cluster nodes and the file share witness server lose power. What is the impact on cluster availability?
The cluster will automatically fail over to a third site because the witness server is unavailable.
The cluster continues operating because the nodes can use a dynamic quorum and adjust the vote count.
The cluster will be offline until one of the nodes or the witness comes back online.
With all three voting members down, there are zero votes, below the quorum majority. The cluster will not start until at least two members are available (e.g., both nodes, or one node and the witness).
The cluster remains online because the nodes can communicate directly and form quorum without the witness.
Want more security-disaster-recovery practice?
Practice this domainA RAID 5 array is degraded due to a failed disk. What is the best practice for recovery?
Replace the failed disk and restore from backup
Replace the failed disk and allow the array to rebuild automatically
RAID 5 can rebuild using parity; replacing the disk triggers automatic rebuild, preserving data and uptime.
Replace the failed disk and perform a manual rebuild from backup
Delete the logical drive and recreate the array
A technician is troubleshooting a server that fails to boot. The server displays a 'Boot Device Not Found' error. The technician verifies that the hard drives are spinning and appear in the RAID controller's BIOS. What should the technician check next?
Boot order in BIOS
If the boot order is set to a non-bootable device or the wrong disk, the server will not find the boot device even though drives are present.
Operating system files
SATA cable connections
RAID array status
A server administrator is troubleshooting a performance issue on a VMware vSphere host. The host has multiple VMs, and one VM is experiencing high latency on its virtual disk. The administrator checks the datastore and sees it is a RAID 5 array of 4 SAS drives with 50% utilization. Latency for the VM's virtual disk is reported as 200ms. Which action would most likely improve performance?
Add a second disk to the RAID 5 array (convert to RAID 6).
Migrate the VM to a different datastore with SSD storage.
SSD storage provides much lower latency than SAS spinning disks, directly addressing the high latency.
Increase the VM's memory allocation.
Change the virtual disk type from thin to thick.
A technician is troubleshooting a server that fails to boot after a scheduled power outage. The server is connected to a UPS. Upon pressing the power button, the server powers on briefly (fans spin, lights flash) and then shuts down after 2 seconds. The POST does not complete. The server has a dual power supply with each connected to a separate PDU. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause?
The UPS battery is depleted
One of the power supplies has failed
A short circuit in the motherboard
A short circuit causes the power supply to detect overcurrent and shut down immediately, resulting in a brief power-on and then shutdown.
The CMOS battery is dead
A server is running out of disk space on the system drive (C:). The server is running Windows Server 2019. The IT manager wants to add more space without downtime. The server has one free SATA port and one available drive bay. Which of the following is the BEST solution?
Shrink the existing partition and extend it onto an additional drive
Add a new drive, initialize it, and configure a RAID 1 mirror with the existing drive
Add a new drive, create a new partition, and mount it as a folder in the system drive
This allows adding space without downtime; the mounted folder appears as part of C: drive.
Replace the current system drive with a larger one and restore from backup
You are a server engineer for a financial services firm. The company recently deployed a new HP ProLiant DL380 Gen10 server running Windows Server 2022 with SQL Server 2019. The server has 2 Intel Xeon Gold processors, 128GB RAM, and a Smart Array P408i-p controller managing two RAID 1 arrays: one for OS (two 300GB 10K SAS) and one for data (four 600GB 10K SAS). After one month, the OS array reports a predictive failure on one drive. You replace the drive via hot-swap, and the RAID controller rebuilds. However, the server now experiences random system crashes with Event ID 1001 (BugCheck) and the SQL database occasionally becomes corrupt requiring restore from backup. The server's RAM has been tested with HP's diagnostic tool and passed, and the CPU temperature is normal. The RAID controller log shows no errors during the rebuild but occasional 'Parity errors' logged before the drive replacement. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the current instability?
The new replacement drive is faulty.
The motherboard has a faulty PCIe slot for the RAID controller.
The remaining original OS drive has bad sectors that were not detected.
Latent bad sectors on the surviving drive can cause data corruption and system crashes, especially after rebuilding from the other drive.
The RAID controller cache module has failed.
Want more troubleshooting practice?
Practice this domainThe SK0-005 exam has 90 questions and must be completed in 90 minutes. The passing score is 750/1000.
Multiple-choice and performance-based questions covering IT security, networking, and operations. Some questions are performance-based (PBQs), asking you to complete tasks in a simulated environment.
The exam covers 4 domains: server-hardware-installation-management, server-administration, security-disaster-recovery, troubleshooting. Questions are weighted by domain — higher-weight domains appear more on your actual exam.
No. These are original exam-style practice questions written against the official CompTIA SK0-005 exam objectives. They are not copied from the real exam. Courseiva focuses on genuine understanding, not memorisation of braindumps.
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