SK0-005 Practice Exam 4 — 20 Questions

Question 1

A server displays a 'CMOS battery low' error during POST. After the technician replaces the CR2032 battery with a new one, the server still loses date and time settings when disconnected from power. Which of the following should the technician try NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Verify the new battery is functional and properly seated. Option A is correct because it is possible the new battery is defective, installed incorrectly, or not making proper contact. The first step is to verify the battery itself and its installation. Option B is wrong because a faulty motherboard is possible, but troubleshooting should start with the simplest and most likely cause. Option C is wrong because power supply fluctuations are unlikely to cause CMOS settings loss specifically when unplugged. Option D is wrong because the BIOS chip retaining settings is part of the CMOS circuit, but the immediate issue is likely the power source (battery) for the CMOS.

Answer

Check the power supply for voltage fluctuations

Answer

Update the BIOS firmware

Answer

Replace the motherboard

Question 2

After a brief power outage, a server does not power on when the power button is pressed. The power supply LED indicator is green, but the internal fans do not spin and there is no video output. Which of the following is the MOST appropriate troubleshooting step?

Accepted Answer

Check that the 24-pin ATX power connector is securely connected to the motherboard.. A green LED indicates standby power is present. If the system does not fully power on, the primary power delivery from the PSU to the motherboard may be disrupted, often by a loose connector.

Answer

Test the system with a known-good CPU.

Answer

Reset the server's configuration via the CMOS jumper.

Answer

Replace the power supply.

Question 3

Refer to the exhibit. A server administrator is troubleshooting a DNS resolution issue on a Windows Server 2019. The exhibit shows the output of the command `nslookup` queried against the server's own IP. Based on the output, what is the most likely cause of the resolution failure?

Accepted Answer

The DNS server does not have an A record for server1.contoso.com.. Option D is correct because the NXDOMAIN response indicates the queried name does not exist in the DNS zone. Option A is wrong because forwarding is irrelevant for an authoritative zone. Option B is wrong because reverse lookup zones are for IP-to-name resolution, not name-to-IP. Option C is wrong because root hints are used for recursion, not for authoritative responses.

Answer

The DNS server's root hints are misconfigured.

Answer

The DNS server is not configured to forward queries to an external DNS server.

Answer

The DNS server has an incorrect reverse lookup zone configuration.

Question 4

Refer to the exhibit. A server administrator runs a dmidecode command to check memory configuration and obtains the output shown. The system supports DDR4-2666, but all DIMMs are running at 1866 MT/s. Which action will allow the memory to run at the maximum supported speed?

Accepted Answer

Replace the DIMM in slot A1 with a DDR4-2666 registered module.. Correct: The slower 2133 MT/s DIMM in slot A1 limits all modules to its speed. Replacing it with a 2666 MT/s module allows the system to run at the highest common denominator. Option A is wrong because reordering slots won't change the speed limitation. Option C is wrong because XMP is for overclocking desktop memory, not typical on registered server DIMMs. Option D is wrong because clearing CMOS only resets BIOS settings, not memory speed mismatch.

Answer

Enable XMP profile in the BIOS to force all DIMMs to 2666 MT/s.

Answer

Clear the CMOS to reset the memory training data.

Answer

Move the DIMM from A1 to A2 and the DIMM from A2 to A1.

Question 5

A server administrator configures a scheduled task to back up a database using a command-line tool. The task runs successfully when executed manually, but fails when run via the task scheduler. The log shows 'Error: Access denied.' What is the MOST likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The scheduled task is running under the wrong user account.. Option C is correct because 'Access denied' usually points to permission issues; the task scheduler may run under a different user account that lacks necessary privileges. Option A is wrong because a full destination would yield a 'disk full' error, not access denied. Option B is wrong because if the tool were not installed, the error would be 'command not found.' Option D is wrong because a stopped database service would produce a connection error, not access denied.

Answer

The database service is stopped.

Answer

The command-line tool is not installed.

Answer

The backup destination is full.

Question 6

An administrator needs to remotely manage several Linux servers securely without using passwords. Which of the following is the BEST method?

Accepted Answer

Use SSH with key-based authentication.. Option C is correct because SSH with key-based authentication provides strong, password-less remote access. Option A is wrong because RDP is primarily used on Windows, not typical for Linux. Option B is wrong because Telnet is insecure, and SSH tunneling does not make Telnet secure. Option D is wrong because VNC is less secure and not designed for efficient server administration.

Answer

Use Telnet with SSH tunneling.

Answer

Use VNC with a strong password.

Answer

Use RDP with certificate-based authentication.

Question 7

A user attempts to access a shared folder named \Server\Finance. The share permissions are set to 'Everyone – Full Control'. The NTFS permissions on the folder grant the user 'Read & Execute' but deny 'Write'. What is the user's effective permission when accessing the share over the network?

Accepted Answer

Read & Execute. When share and NTFS permissions combine, the most restrictive of the two applies. Share gives Full Control, NTFS gives Read & Execute, so effective access is Read & Execute.

Answer

Full Control

Answer

Write

Answer

No Access

Question 8

A company wants to protect its Microsoft SQL Server database with a backup strategy that provides point-in-time recovery up to every 15 minutes. The database is critical and runs on a dedicated server. Which backup schedule should be implemented?

Accepted Answer

Full backup weekly, differential daily, transaction log backups every 15 minutes.. Option B (Full backup weekly, differential daily, transaction log backups every 15 minutes) is correct because full and differential backups provide a base, while frequent transaction log backups enable granular point-in-time restore. Option A lacks transaction log backups, so recovery granularity is limited to daily. Option C uses mirroring, which is high availability (not a backup) and does not protect against logical corruption. Option D uses snapshot technology but snapshots alone are not a backup and may impact performance if taken every 15 minutes.

Answer

Use storage-level snapshots every 15 minutes on a SAN.

Answer

Full backup daily, differential backup hourly.

Answer

Set up database mirroring with automatic failover and full weekly backups.

Question 9

A company is expanding its data center to support a new four-node database cluster for a critical application requiring 99.999% uptime, meaning only minutes of downtime per year. Each server node has dual 1000W power supplies. The facility provides two independent power feeds from separate utility substations, each backed by its own online double-conversion UPS. There are four 20A/208V PDUs available, two per power feed. The design must ensure that the loss of any single power feed, any single UPS, or any single PDU does not cause any server to lose power or impact the cluster's availability. The servers are located in a single rack, and cabling must follow best practices for manageability and airflow. The IT architect is evaluating different power distribution strategies to meet these fault-tolerance requirements. Which of the following configurations achieves full redundancy with no single point of failure in the power path?

Accepted Answer

Connect the first power supply of each server to a PDU on power feed A and the second power supply to a PDU on power feed B.. Option D is correct because connecting each server's power supplies to two different PDUs that are on separate power feeds guarantees that if one feed, UPS, or PDU fails, the server continues to receive power from the remaining source. Option A does not protect against PDU failure. Option B exposes servers to a power feed failure. Option C introduces a single PDU as a single point of failure.

Answer

Connect each server's power supplies to two PDUs that are both on the same power feed, and use the second feed only as a cold standby in case of a primary feed failure.

Answer

Connect each server's power supplies to the same PDU, but distribute servers across the four PDUs for load balancing.

Answer

Use a single large PDU with dual inputs from both feeds and an automatic transfer switch, connecting all servers to that PDU.

Question 10

To comply with company security policies, a server administrator must disable all unnecessary services on a newly deployed Windows Server 2019. The server will only act as a file server with no web hosting role. Which service should be disabled?

Accepted Answer

World Wide Web Publishing Service. Option C is correct because the World Wide Web Publishing Service (W3SVC) is part of IIS and is not required for a file server role. Leaving it running increases the attack surface. Option A (DNS Server) might be used if the server provides name resolution, but it is not mentioned. Option B (DHCP Server) is also not specified as needed. Option D (Server service) is essential for file sharing and should not be disabled.

Answer

DHCP Server service

Answer

Server service

Answer

DNS Server service

Question 11

A server administrator is assembling a new high-performance server using a Supermicro X12 motherboard, two Intel Xeon Gold 5317 processors (LGA 4189 socket), and 16x 32GB DDR4-3200 ECC LRDIMMs for a total of 512GB of memory. The chassis has redundant 1600W power supplies. After assembling all components, the administrator powers on the server. All fans start spinning at full speed, and the front panel LEDs illuminate. However, the server does not POST, there are no beep codes, and no video output is displayed. The motherboard has a two-digit hexadecimal POST code LED display, which shows '00' and does not change. The motherboard manual states that code '00' indicates the CPU is not detected or has failed. The processors are confirmed to be the correct socket type and stepping as required by the motherboard. What should the technician do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Reseat both processors and inspect the CPU sockets for bent pins. Option B is correct. The POST code '00' typically indicates a CPU initialization failure. The first and least invasive step is to reseat the processors, checking for bent socket pins, debris, or improper mounting. This resolves a majority of such issues. Option A (replace both CPUs) is extreme and should only be done after ruling out physical installation issues. Option C (clear CMOS) may help if the BIOS was misconfigured for a previous CPU, but physical reseating is more direct. Option D (update BIOS) is not possible if the system cannot POST to enter the update utility; furthermore, if the CPUs are supported by the current BIOS version, updating is unnecessary.

Answer

Replace both processors as they are likely faulty

Answer

Clear the CMOS using the jumper or button on the motherboard

Answer

Update the BIOS to the latest version using the IPMI interface

Question 12

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 {} \;. Option A is correct. 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 13

An organization uses a cloud-based backup solution with immutable storage to protect against ransomware. However, after a recent attack, an attacker with stolen administrator credentials was able to delete the backup data. Which of the following BEST explains why the backups were deleted?

Accepted Answer

The immutable storage policy was not configured correctly or had a retention lock that was not enabled.. Option A is correct because true immutable storage prevents any deletion or modification, even by administrators, for a specified retention period. The fact that an admin could delete it indicates the immutability feature was misconfigured or not properly locked. Option B describes encryption at the source, but that would not allow deletion of existing backups. Option C is irrelevant to deletion. Option D: versioning helps but does not prevent deletion if immutability is not configured.

Answer

The backup solution did not support versioning.

Answer

The attacker used ransomware to encrypt the backup data at the source before it was sent.

Answer

The backup data was stored in a different geographic region than production.

Question 14

A system administrator manages a collection of Linux web servers that store custom application configurations in /etc/app/config. The configuration changes frequently, and the admin needs to implement an automated daily backup solution that captures the directory at 1 AM, compresses it with gzip, and retains the last 5 days of backups on a central NFS-mounted backup volume /mnt/backups. The solution should be simple and use standard tools. Which approach best meets these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Create a cron job that runs `tar -czf /mnt/backups/config-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/app/config` at 1 AM, and another cron job at 2 AM that runs `find /mnt/backups -name "config-*.tar.gz" -mtime +5 -delete`.. Option B is correct because it uses tar with gzip compression and a dated filename to create daily compressed archives, and a separate cron job using find to delete files older than 5 days, fulfilling all requirements simply. Option A uses rsync which does not create a single compressed archive file and the retention method using find on directories is less suitable for daily snapshot rotation. Option C uses zip which does not easily support date-stamped filenames and relies on external NFS snapshots, which is not a self-contained solution. Option D uses Windows Server Backup on Linux, which is unsupported and inappropriate.

Answer

Use Windows Server Backup scheduled to back up the Linux server's directory via SMB share.

Answer

Create a cron job that runs `rsync -avz /etc/app/config /mnt/backups/` at 1 AM, with a separate cron job to delete old rsync snapshots using `find /mnt/backups -type d -mtime +5 -exec rm -rf {} \;`.

Answer

Write a shell script that uses `zip -r /mnt/backups/config.zip /etc/app/config`, schedule it via cron at 1 AM, and rely on the NFS server's built-in snapshot feature for retention.

Question 15

An organization requires a disaster recovery site that can be operational within 24 hours after a disaster declaration, with critical data replicated on a regular basis, but not necessarily real-time. Which type of site should they implement?

Accepted Answer

Warm site. Option A is correct because a warm site provides pre-installed hardware and network infrastructure, along with data backups that can be loaded and activated within a day. Hot sites offer immediate failover but are more expensive and not necessary here. Cold sites are empty space and take weeks. An alternate processing site is a vague term.

Answer

Alternate processing site

Answer

Cold site

Answer

Hot site

Question 16

You are the lead server administrator for a mid-sized e-commerce company. The web application is hosted on a farm of four Linux servers running Apache, fronted by a hardware load balancer. The load balancer currently uses a round-robin algorithm. Recently, the customer support team has received numerous complaints about slow page load times and occasional timeouts during checkout. You log into the server monitoring console and observe that one of the web servers, web03, has a CPU utilization consistently above 95%, while the other three servers are at around 30-40%. You connect via SSH to web03 and run the 'top' command, identifying a process named 'imagick' consuming 99% CPU. Further investigation reveals that this process is related to image resizing for product thumbnails, and it appears to have entered an infinite loop due to a malformed image file. Meanwhile, the load balancer continues to send requests to all servers equally, including the overloaded web03, causing some requests to time out. You need to restore performance immediately and prevent recurrence. Which of the following actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Kill the 'imagick' process on web03, change the load balancer algorithm to least connections, and clear the malformed image.. Option B is correct because it directly addresses both issues: the runaway process (killing it stops the CPU drain) and the load balancer algorithm (switching to least connections prevents sending traffic to an already overloaded server). Additionally, clearing the malformed image addresses the root cause of the loop. Option A (adding servers) may temporarily hide the problem but does not fix the load distribution or the looping process; the overloaded server would still exist. Option C (rebooting all servers) is unnecessarily disruptive and does not address the root cause; the malformed image could trigger the loop again after reboot. Option D (increasing RAM) misidentifies the issue as memory-related when it is clearly CPU-bound; more RAM would not stop the infinite loop.

Answer

Reboot all four web servers to clear any stuck processes.

Answer

Increase RAM on web03 to handle the high CPU process better.

Answer

Add two more servers to the farm and keep the round-robin algorithm.

Question 17

A small law firm has a single Windows Server 2016 Essentials server that functions as a domain controller and file server. After a sudden power outage over the weekend, the server does not boot normally. Instead, it displays a black screen with the message: 'BOOTMGR is missing. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart.' The IT support specialist arrives on Monday morning to find the server in this state. The firm's operations are at a standstill because all case files and email archives are inaccessible. The specialist has access to the Windows Server 2016 installation media and a recent system state backup stored on an external drive. The server hardware passed POST, and all disks are detected in the BIOS. The specialist needs to restore the server's ability to boot into Windows as quickly as possible, with minimal risk to existing data. Which of the following procedures should the specialist perform FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Boot from the installation media, select 'Repair your computer', and from the Command Prompt run 'bootrec /fixmbr' and 'bootrec /fixboot'.. Option C is correct because the 'BOOTMGR is missing' error typically indicates a corrupt master boot record or boot sector. Using bootrec /fixmbr and /fixboot from the installation media repairs the boot files without affecting data. Option A is a full system restore, which risks data loss and is overkill. Option B is hardware reseating, unnecessary since POST passed. Option D, Last Known Good Configuration, does not fix missing boot manager files.

Answer

Connect the external backup drive, boot from the installation media, and perform a full system restore from the backup.

Answer

Open the server case, reseat the RAM modules and SATA cables, and then attempt to boot again.

Answer

Press F8 during startup to access Advanced Boot Options and select 'Last Known Good Configuration'.

Question 18

A server administrator is responsible for protecting sensitive data. The backup process copies files to a network share daily. Which of the following should the administrator do to BEST ensure the confidentiality of the backup data both during transfer and at rest?

Accepted Answer

Encrypt the backup files before transfer using a tool like GPG, and store them encrypted.. Encrypting the backup files before transfer (Option B) ensures data confidentiality during transit and while stored on the backup server. Option A provides network segmentation but no encryption. Option C encrypts only the transfer, not the data at rest. Option D is a physical security measure and does not encrypt the data.

Answer

Configure the network share with SMB encryption only.

Answer

Use a dedicated NIC for backup traffic on an isolated VLAN.

Answer

Place the backup server in a physically locked cage with restricted access.

Question 19

A financial services firm requires zero data loss in the event of a primary data center failure. They operate two data centers 50 miles apart connected by a high-bandwidth, low-latency link. Which replication method should they use to meet this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Synchronous replication. Option B is correct because synchronous replication writes data to both sites before acknowledging the write to the application, ensuring zero data loss (RPO=0). Asynchronous replication (Option A) introduces a delay and can lose the latest transactions. Snapshot replication (Option C) is point-in-time and not continuous, leading to potential data loss between snapshots. Backup replication nightly (Option D) can lose up to a day's data.

Answer

Asynchronous replication every 15 minutes

Answer

Snapshot replication every hour

Answer

Backup replication nightly

Question 20

A database server hosts a critical application that requires a recovery point objective (RPO) of 4 hours. The company wants to minimize the impact on production performance during backups. Which backup strategy should be implemented?

Accepted Answer

A weekly full backup with hourly incremental backups.. Option C is correct because hourly incremental backups meet the 4-hour RPO while minimizing resource usage compared to more frequent full backups or continuous replication. Option A is wrong because differential backups grow in size and can still exceed the RPO window. Option B is wrong because nightly full backups would fail to meet the 4-hour RPO if a disaster occurs hours after the last backup. Option D is wrong because CDP with synchronous replication imposes high performance overhead and is unnecessary beyond the 4-hour RPO requirement.

Answer

Continuous data protection (CDP) with synchronous replication.

Answer

A weekly full backup with daily differential backups.

Answer

A nightly full backup.