SK0-005 Practice Exam 3 — 20 Questions

Question 1

A company is implementing a disaster recovery strategy for its on-premises VMware vSphere environment. The IT manager wants to ensure that virtual machines can be recovered at a secondary site within 4 hours of a primary site failure. The secondary site has identical hardware but no active VMs. The company has a limited budget and wants to minimize ongoing costs. Which of the following solutions BEST meets these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Use VMware vSphere Replication to replicate VMs to the secondary site and perform manual recovery when needed.. VMware vSphere Replication offers a cost-effective way to replicate VMs to a secondary site without requiring expensive storage arrays or SRM licensing. It supports manual recovery, which can meet a 4-hour RTO. Other options either incur high costs, rely on slow tape restoration, or require expensive network infrastructure. Therefore, vSphere Replication is the best fit.

Answer

Implement VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) with array-based replication and automated failover.

Answer

Set up a stretched vSphere cluster across both sites with synchronous replication.

Answer

Configure nightly backups to tape and transport them to the secondary site for restoration.

Question 2

A data center technician must install a new 1U server into a rack that already contains several servers drawing significant power. The rack's power distribution unit reports that the current load is near its rated capacity. Which of the following should the technician do first to avoid overloading the circuit?

Accepted Answer

Calculate the new server's power draw and verify the PDU has sufficient headroom before connecting. Before adding any load, the technician must quantify the new server's power requirement and confirm the PDU and its upstream circuit have enough spare capacity. Only after that calculation can the connection be made safely, possibly requiring a second circuit or PDU if headroom is insufficient.

Answer

Move one existing server's power supply to a different PDU without checking its load

Answer

Connect the new server's power supplies to the nearest available outlets on the existing PDU

Answer

Install the server and immediately enable power capping to reduce its draw

Question 3

A company is implementing a disaster recovery plan for its on-premises data center. The plan must include measures to ensure data integrity and availability during a site-wide power failure. Which two actions should be included in the plan? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Deploy an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for all critical servers and storage.. To ensure data integrity and availability during a site-wide power failure, a UPS provides immediate battery power for graceful shutdown or ride-through, while a generator with ATS supplies long-term power to keep systems operational. Together, they form a layered power protection strategy. Other options compromise data integrity or do not address power failure directly.

Answer

Schedule full backups to run only during business hours.

Answer

Enable write caching on all storage controllers without battery backup.

Answer

Configure RAID 0 on all database servers to improve performance.

Question 4

A security team is hardening a fleet of Linux web servers that will be exposed to the internet. They want to reduce the attack surface and limit the impact of a compromised service account. Which two actions BEST support these goals? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Configure the firewall to allow only ports 80 and 443 from any source and deny all other inbound traffic by default.. Reducing attack surface means exposing only necessary ports and removing unnecessary services, while limiting impact means confining what a compromised process can do. A default-deny firewall with only web ports open and running the service as a restricted non-privileged account with minimal file access both serve those goals. Disabling mandatory access control, granting passwordless sudo, and exposing credentials all increase risk.

Answer

Store database credentials in a world-readable configuration file so all administrators can access them during outages.

Answer

Grant the web service account sudo rights with no password so administrators can troubleshoot quickly during incidents.

Answer

Disable SELinux or AppArmor on the servers so that application updates do not fail during deployment.

Question 5

A company has a Windows Server 2022 server that runs a custom application which writes heavily to a local SSD. The administrator notices that the SSD's wear-leveling indicator shows significant wear after only six months. The server logs show frequent small write operations. Which action should the administrator take to reduce SSD wear while maintaining performance?

Accepted Answer

Configure the application to batch small writes into larger sequential writes.. The most effective way to reduce SSD wear from frequent small writes is to batch them into larger sequential writes, which lowers write amplification. This maintains performance while extending the drive's lifespan. Moving logs within the same SSD or enabling write caching does not reduce the total bytes written, and disabling the page file introduces instability without addressing the application's write pattern.

Answer

Move the application's log files to a different volume on the same SSD.

Answer

Enable write caching on the SSD controller.

Answer

Disable the page file on the SSD.

Question 6

A server administrator notices that a production file server intermittently loses network connectivity for a few seconds, and users report dropped SMB sessions. The switch port shows no errors, and the server's NIC link LED stays solid. The administrator suspects a duplex mismatch. Which tool should the administrator use to verify the NIC's current speed and duplex settings on a Linux server?

Accepted Answer

ethtool. A duplex mismatch occurs when one side of a link is set to full-duplex and the other to half-duplex, leading to collisions, dropped packets, and intermittent connectivity without a complete link loss. The NIC's link LED remains solid because the physical link is up. The ethtool utility directly reports the negotiated duplex and speed, allowing the administrator to confirm whether the server NIC is operating at half-duplex while the switch port is full-duplex. Other tools show symptoms or unrelated configuration but not the duplex setting itself.

Answer

netstat -i

Answer

ip addr show

Answer

tcpdump

Question 7

A technician receives an urgent alert that a critical file server at a remote branch office has gone offline and is unreachable over the network. The server is accessible via out-of-band IPMI, which indicates that chassis power is present, but the power LED on the server is blinking amber instead of steady green. The IPMI system event log reports "System board voltage regulator failure" as the last critical event before the failure. Attempts to use the remote KVM show no video output, and Wake-on-LAN commands have no effect. The branch office has no on-site IT personnel; the only staff are general office workers with minimal technical training. The earliest a field technician can travel to the site is 48 hours. The main office has an identically configured spare server and a backup image of the file server's system disk. The branch office staff can follow simple plug-and-play instructions if provided. Which of the following is the BEST immediate course of action to restore the file services with minimal downtime?

Accepted Answer

Ship the spare server and a pre-configured backup image to the branch office for local staff to swap.. Given the voltage regulator failure on the system board, the server is not repairable remotely. Shipping the pre-configured spare server allows non-technical staff to swap the entire unit by following simple cabling instructions, restoring service quickly without waiting for a technician. Option A is correct because it minimizes downtime by leveraging available resources. Option B is incorrect because voltage regulator modules are rarely field-replaceable; they are integrated into the motherboard, and dispatching a technician would take 48 hours plus repair time. Option C is incorrect because reseating the power supply is unlikely to fix a system board voltage regulator fault, and could cause further confusion for untrained staff. Option D is incorrect because ordering a replacement board and waiting for a technician to install it would take even longer, extending downtime unnecessarily.

Answer

Order a replacement system board and express ship it to the branch for a technician to install later.

Answer

Instruct a non-technical employee at the branch to reseat the power supply and clear the error log.

Answer

Dispatch a technician with a replacement voltage regulator module for on-site repair.

Question 8

A RAID 5 array is degraded due to a failed disk. What is the best practice for recovery?

Accepted Answer

Replace the failed disk and allow the array to rebuild automatically. In a RAID 5 array, a single disk failure leaves the array degraded but still operational because parity data on the remaining disks can reconstruct the missing data. Best practice is to replace the failed disk and allow the controller to rebuild the array automatically from parity, restoring redundancy without downtime or data loss. This is the standard hot-swap recovery procedure and requires no backup restore because the data is still intact.

Answer

Replace the failed disk and restore from backup

Answer

Replace the failed disk and perform a manual rebuild from backup

Answer

Delete the logical drive and recreate the array

Question 9

A server hosts a database that requires nightly backups. The backup strategy uses a full backup every Sunday and differential backups on other days. On Wednesday, the server fails. Which backup sets are required to restore to the most recent state?

Accepted Answer

Last full backup and the latest differential backup. A differential backup contains all changes since the last full backup. Therefore, only the last full backup and the latest differential are needed for a restore. Incremental backups would require all incrementals since the last full, but the scenario uses differential backups.

Answer

Last full backup and all differential backups since Sunday

Answer

Last full backup only

Answer

Last full backup and all incremental backups since Sunday

Question 10

A server administrator is troubleshooting a RAID controller issue on a production server. The server has a hardware RAID 5 array with three drives. The administrator notices that one drive's status LED is solid amber, and the RAID controller management utility reports the array as degraded. The administrator has a replacement drive of the same model and capacity. Which action should the administrator take to restore the array to optimal status?

Accepted Answer

Hot-swap the failed drive with the replacement and allow the controller to automatically rebuild the array.. A degraded RAID 5 array with a failed drive should be restored by replacing the failed drive and allowing the controller to rebuild. Hot-swapping is supported on most server backplanes and minimizes downtime. Recreating the array or replacing all drives destroys data, and forcing a failed drive online does not address the hardware failure. The correct action is to replace the single failed drive and rebuild.

Answer

Shut down the server, replace the drive, and then recreate the RAID array from scratch.

Answer

Replace all three drives simultaneously to ensure compatibility and rebuild the array.

Answer

Run a consistency check on the array and mark the failed drive as online.

Question 11

A server administrator notices that a recently installed PCIe network card is not being recognized by the operating system. The server is running Windows Server 2019. The administrator has verified that the card is securely seated and that the slot is enabled in the BIOS. Which of the following should the administrator try FIRST to resolve the issue?

Accepted Answer

Check the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) for Windows Server 2019.. The first step when a newly installed device is not recognized should be to verify hardware compatibility with the operating system (checking the Hardware Compatibility List). This ensures the device has supported drivers. Options A and C are physical steps that have already been considered (secure seating, slot enabled), and D (updating BIOS) is a later step after confirming compatibility.

Answer

Replace the network card with a known-good card.

Answer

Reseat the network card in a different PCIe slot.

Answer

Update the server BIOS to the latest version.

Question 12

A server administrator is troubleshooting a Windows Server host that has been randomly losing connectivity to its iSCSI storage for the past week. The host has two dedicated NICs for iSCSI, each connected to a separate switch, and multipath I/O is configured. Event logs show intermittent path failures that recover within seconds. Switch port statistics show no errors, and both storage controllers report healthy. Which of the following should the administrator check FIRST to diagnose the intermittent path loss?

Accepted Answer

Review the host's TCP retransmission and timeout settings, and check for network congestion on the storage VLAN. Intermittent iSCSI path failures that recover within seconds, with clean switch port statistics and healthy storage controllers, point to packet loss or congestion on the storage network rather than a hardware fault. Reviewing TCP retransmission counters and timeout settings on the dedicated storage VLAN reveals whether frames are being dropped or delayed, which would cause the initiator to declare a path failed and then recover.

Answer

Replace the transceivers in both iSCSI NICs because intermittent link drops indicate failing optics

Answer

Confirm that the two iSCSI NICs are not participating in a team or spanning tree topology that introduces loops

Answer

Verify that the iSCSI initiator and target are configured with matching CHAP authentication secrets

Question 13

Refer to the exhibit. A Windows file server at a branch office lost network connectivity after a scheduled reboot. The administrator logs in via the console and runs `ipconfig /all`, which shows the output in the exhibit. The server should have a static IP of 10.0.0.50. What should the administrator do to restore connectivity?

Accepted Answer

Set a static IP configuration as intended.. The exhibit shows that the server's network adapter is configured to obtain an IP address automatically (DHCP), as indicated by 'DHCP Enabled: Yes' and an APIPA address of 169.254.x.x. Since the server should have a static IP of 10.0.0.50, the administrator must manually configure the static IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS servers. This will restore connectivity because the server will no longer rely on an unreachable DHCP server and will have the correct network configuration.

Answer

Disable IPv6 on the network adapter.

Answer

The DHCP server is unreachable; check DHCP server availability.

Answer

Release and renew the DHCP lease.

Question 14

A server administrator is upgrading the RAM on a server that supports quad-channel memory architecture. They install four identical 16GB DDR4 ECC modules, but the server only recognizes the memory as operating in single-channel mode. Which of the following is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The DIMMs are not installed in the correct slots. Quad-channel memory requires the DIMMs to be installed in specific slots that are mapped to different memory channels. If the modules are placed in slots belonging to the same channel (e.g., all in channel A), the system will operate in single-channel mode. The correct slot population order is typically printed on the motherboard or in the server manual, often using color-coded slots to indicate channel grouping. Therefore, incorrect slot placement is the most likely cause of the single-channel operation.

Answer

One of the DIMMs is faulty

Answer

The DIMMs do not support ECC

Answer

The DIMMs are not registered (RDIMM)

Question 15

A server administrator needs to remotely manage a Windows Server 2022 Core installation that is located in a secure data center. The administrator's workstation runs Windows 11 and is on the same corporate network. Which of the following tools should the administrator use to manage the server with the GUI-based tools available?

Accepted Answer

Windows Admin Center. Windows Admin Center is a web-based GUI tool that can manage Windows Server Core installations remotely without requiring a GUI on the server. It is accessible from a Windows 11 workstation and provides a graphical interface for many administrative tasks. RDP to Core only offers a command line, Server Manager is not available on Windows 11, and PowerShell remoting is command-line only.

Answer

Remote Desktop Connection (RDP)

Answer

Server Manager installed locally on the workstation

Answer

PowerShell remoting using Enter-PSSession

Question 16

A server administrator is troubleshooting a Windows Server that is experiencing intermittent network disconnections. The server has a single NIC connected to a switch. Users report that access to file shares drops for about 30 seconds several times a day. The administrator reviews the switch logs and sees no port flapping. Which Windows tool should the administrator use to determine if the NIC is repeatedly resetting or if a driver is causing the disconnections?

Accepted Answer

Event Viewer, specifically the System log for network adapter events.. Intermittent network disconnections on a Windows server can be caused by NIC driver resets or hardware faults. The System event log in Event Viewer captures driver-level events, including link down/up, resets, and error codes. By filtering for the network adapter source, the administrator can see if the NIC is repeatedly resetting and correlate the timestamps with user reports. Other tools provide live metrics or configuration details but lack the historical event logging needed to diagnose intermittent hardware or driver behavior.

Answer

Performance Monitor with the Network Interface counter set.

Answer

Resource Monitor, Network tab.

Answer

Device Manager, viewing the NIC's properties and driver details.

Question 17

A technician is monitoring a server with a RAID 5 array that has a hot spare. One of the drives fails. Which of the following actions will occur automatically in this configuration?

Accepted Answer

The hot spare will be activated and the array will start rebuilding. In a RAID 5 array with a hot spare, when a drive fails, the controller automatically activates the hot spare and begins rebuilding the array using parity data from the remaining drives. This restores redundancy without manual intervention, keeping the array operational and protected.

Answer

The server will shut down to protect data

Answer

The array will continue to operate in degraded mode until manual intervention

Answer

The data will be mirrored to another server

Question 18

A Linux server administrator notices that the /var partition is 95% full. To free space quickly, the administrator decides to delete old log files. Which of the following commands should the administrator use to find and delete log files older than 30 days in the /var/log directory?

Accepted Answer

find /var/log -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -exec rm {} \;. The `find` command with `-mtime +30` locates files modified more than 30 days ago, and `-exec rm {} \;` safely deletes each file. Option B is syntactically invalid. Option C incorrectly pipes `ls` output through `grep` and then to `rm`, which does not accept piped input. Option D searches file contents for the text '30 days' rather than file age.

Answer

rm /var/log/*.log -30

Answer

ls -l /var/log/*.log | grep "30" | rm

Answer

grep -R "30 days" /var/log | xargs rm

Question 19

A server administrator notices that a database server is experiencing high CPU usage at specific times of the day. After checking logs, the administrator finds that a report generation task scheduled at those times is causing the issue. The task cannot be rescheduled or optimized further. Which of the following actions should the administrator take to ensure the server remains responsive for other applications during peak usage?

Accepted Answer

Configure the task to run at a lower priority.. Configuring the report generation task to run at a lower priority ensures that the operating system scheduler gives the database and other applications preferential access to CPU resources during peak times. This keeps the server responsive without changing hardware or rescheduling the task. Lowering priority is a non-disruptive, immediate mitigation that addresses the contention directly.

Answer

Add more virtual CPUs to the server's VM.

Answer

Move the database to a server with faster CPU cores.

Answer

Configure processor affinity to dedicate a core to the database process.

Question 20

A server administrator is troubleshooting a production server that boots successfully but intermittently reboots without warning. The IPMI event log shows no thermal or power events, and the OS logs show nothing before each reset. The administrator suspects a hardware fault and wants to capture the most detailed low-level diagnostic information the next time the server hangs or resets. Which of the following should the administrator configure to BEST collect this data?

Accepted Answer

Enable the platform's crash dump or NMI-on-hang feature so hardware state is saved on the next fault. When a server resets with no SEL, thermal, power, or OS log evidence, the fault is likely below the OS, so capturing platform-level state at the moment of failure is the only way to obtain actionable data. A hardware crash dump or NMI-triggered dump preserves CPU, memory, and firmware context that would otherwise be lost on reboot, making it the correct configuration for this scenario.

Answer

Enable the baseboard management controller's System Event Log (SEL) with a higher severity threshold

Answer

Enable the BMC's integrated management log and configure chassis intrusion detection alerts

Answer

Configure a memory dump of the operating system kernel to be written to a dedicated dump partition