SK0-005 Practice Exam 4 — 20 Questions

Question 1

A systems administrator is configuring a new server that will host a mission-critical database. The server has two redundant power supplies. The organization's data center has two separate power circuits, each backed by a different UPS. Which of the following power configurations provides the BEST redundancy?

Accepted Answer

Connect each power supply to a different power circuit.. Connecting each power supply to a different power circuit ensures that if one circuit or UPS fails, the server continues to receive power from the other source. Option B is correct because it eliminates single points of failure in the power path. Option A is incorrect because connecting both to the same circuit creates a single point of failure; a circuit trip would take down the server. Option C is incorrect because using a single live PSU with a cold spare does not provide automatic failover and would cause downtime if the active PSU fails. Option D is incorrect because a single high-capacity UPS is still a single point of failure, and does not protect against UPS failure or circuit issues.

Answer

Connect both power supplies to a single, high-capacity UPS.

Answer

Use a single power supply and keep the second as a cold spare.

Answer

Connect both power supplies to the same circuit to balance load.

Question 2

A small business relies on a tower server that acts as a file and print server for 15 employees. The server has a single Intel Xeon E-2300 series processor, four 16GB DDR4 ECC RDIMMs installed in dual-channel configuration, and two 2TB 7200 RPM SATA hard drives in a hardware RAID 1 mirror. The power supply unit (PSU) is a 500W 80+ Bronze unit that is about four years old. Recently, the server has started experiencing random, intermittent crashes resulting in a blue screen, typically during periods of heavy disk I/O, such as when multiple users access large files. Event Viewer logs show occasional corrected memory errors (ECC events) but no uncorrected errors. The administrator runs MemTest86+ on all four DIMMs for multiple passes, and no errors are detected. The server room ambient temperature is normal, and all fans are operating. The crashes are becoming more frequent. Which of the following actions would MOST likely resolve the underlying issue?

Accepted Answer

Upgrade the power supply to a higher wattage, 80+ Gold unit. Option B is correct. Intermittent crashes under heavy load, combined with ECC corrected errors but passing memory tests, can indicate a power supply that is failing or inadequate under peak load. A 500W PSU may be marginal, especially with aging capacitors, causing voltage drops that lead to memory and system instability. Option A: Replacing the motherboard is premature, as no clear evidence points to a faulty memory controller. Option C: Reseating RAM may help if a connection issue, but given MemTest passes and errors are corrected, physical seating is less likely. Option D: Replacing HDDs with SSDs would reduce I/O load but does not address the likely power instability causing memory errors and crashes.

Answer

Reseat all memory modules and clean the DIMM slots

Answer

Replace the hard drives with solid-state drives (SSDs)

Answer

Replace the motherboard, as the memory controller is likely failing

Question 3

A small business has purchased a new server to function as a file server for 25 employees. The server is equipped with four 1TB SATA hard disk drives and no hardware RAID controller; the operating system supports software RAID. The business owner's primary requirements are data redundancy to protect against a single drive failure and maximum usable storage capacity, while keeping costs low. The IT technician is tasked with configuring the storage. The technician evaluates the following options: RAID 0 striping across all four drives; RAID 1 mirroring using two pairs (drives 1+2 mirrored, drives 3+4 mirrored), providing two separate volumes; RAID 5 with parity across all four drives; and RAID 10 combining mirroring and striping. The technician needs to recommend the configuration that best meets the requirements. Which of the following should the technician implement?

Accepted Answer

Configure RAID 5 to stripe data and parity across all four drives, providing 3TB of usable storage with single-drive fault tolerance.. Option C is correct because RAID 5 provides single-drive fault tolerance and maximizes usable capacity (3TB out of 4TB), offering the best balance between redundancy and storage space. Option A provides no redundancy. Option B uses mirroring, which wastes half the total capacity (only 2TB usable). Option D also provides only 2TB and adds performance benefits that are not the primary requirement, while costing more in usable space.

Answer

Configure RAID 10 by mirroring two pairs and striping across them, providing 2TB of storage with high performance and redundancy.

Answer

Configure RAID 0 to stripe across all four drives for maximum 4TB storage and performance.

Answer

Configure RAID 1 with two mirrored pairs, providing 2TB of total storage across two volumes, ensuring redundancy.

Question 4

A server administrator receives reports that a production server is shutting down unexpectedly after running for several hours. The server is a 2U rackmount unit located in a data center with proper ambient cooling (20°C/68°F). The server has redundant power supplies connected to separate PDUs and no power anomalies are reported. The administrator checks the operating system event logs and finds a critical log entry: 'The system was shut down due to a thermal event.' However, the CPU temperature logs show that the CPU was at 47°C at the time of shutdown, and the chassis inlet temperature was 23°C. The server's internal fans are running at high speed and are clearly audible. The administrator suspects a thermal issue but is unsure why the CPU is not showing high temperature. The server has a baseboard management controller (BMC) that monitors various sensors. Which of the following components should the administrator investigate FIRST to identify the likely cause of the shutdown?

Accepted Answer

Inspect the voltage regulator module (VRM) temperatures and airflow around the motherboard.. Option B is correct because voltage regulator modules (VRMs) can overheat and trigger a thermal shutdown via the BMC even when the CPU temperature is within normal limits. VRMs are often located in areas with restricted airflow and are critical to CPU power delivery. Option A is incorrect because CPU temperature is normal, so the heatsink is likely functioning. Option C is incorrect because power supply faults would not generate a thermal event. Option D is a possible long-term fix for a firmware bug, but physical inspection of temperature-sensitive components should come first.

Answer

Swap the redundant power supplies to rule out a failing PSU.

Answer

Replace the CPU heatsink and reapply thermal paste.

Answer

Update the server firmware and BIOS to the latest version.

Question 5

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 6

A server technician replaces a failed RAM module with an identical spare. After installation, the server powers on but emits continuous short beeps and does not complete POST. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The RAM module is not fully seated in the slot.. Continuous short beeps typically indicate a memory error, and the most common cause after a RAM replacement is that the module is not fully seated. Even though the module is known good and compatible, improper installation can prevent POST. Option C is correct because reseating the module will often resolve the issue. Option A is incorrect because an incompatible module would likely produce a different beep code or no POST at all, but the module is identical and known good. Option B is incorrect because insufficient power would likely prevent the server from powering on at all, not cause RAM beep codes. Option D is incorrect because CPU damage is unlikely from a simple RAM swap and would produce different symptoms.

Answer

The new RAM module is incompatible with the motherboard.

Answer

The CPU has been damaged during the installation.

Answer

The power supply is providing insufficient voltage.

Question 7

A server has been intermittently crashing, and the system logs repeatedly show 'Machine Check Exception (MCE) errors' referencing a specific CPU core. The server is under warranty. The technician suspects a hardware fault. Which of the following actions should be taken FIRST to resolve the issue while minimizing downtime?

Accepted Answer

Run a diagnostic stress test to confirm the CPU failure.. Machine Check Exceptions are serious hardware errors often indicating a failing CPU or system board. Before replacing components under warranty, it is best practice to run diagnostics to confirm the failure and gather evidence for the vendor. Option D is correct because diagnosing the failure first avoids unnecessary parts replacement and provides documentation for warranty service. Option A is incorrect because disabling the core might temporarily mask the issue but does not resolve the root cause and could degrade performance. Option B is incorrect because replacing the CPU without confirming the fault could waste time and resources if the issue lies elsewhere (e.g., motherboard). Option C is incorrect because firmware and driver updates are unlikely to fix a confirmed hardware MCE, and applying them would delay actual repair.

Answer

Update the server's firmware and device drivers to the latest versions.

Answer

Disable the faulty CPU core in the BIOS and continue monitoring.

Answer

Replace the CPU with a known-good unit immediately.

Question 8

A small business plans to deploy a new on-premises server for a virtualization environment. The server will run a hypervisor hosting four virtual machines: a domain controller, a file server, a web application server, and an SQL database server. The business expects moderate workloads and needs to ensure reliable performance and data protection. The procurement department has proposed the following server configuration: single Intel Xeon E-2300 series CPU (4 cores, 8 threads), 16 GB DDR4 ECC RAM, two 1 TB SATA hard drives configured in RAID 1, a single 1 GbE network interface, and a 500W power supply. The IT manager reviews the proposal and identifies several deficiencies that will not meet the expected workload requirements. Which of the following changes to the server configuration is the MOST important to address first to ensure the VMs can run effectively?

Accepted Answer

Increase the RAM to at least 32 GB to support the four VMs.. In virtualization, RAM is typically the first resource to become a bottleneck because each VM requires its own memory allocation. 16 GB is insufficient for four VMs, especially with an SQL database server, which often demands a large memory footprint. Option C is correct because increasing RAM to at least 32 GB allows the hypervisor to allocate adequate memory to each VM, preventing excessive swapping and performance degradation. Option A is incorrect because the proposed CPU (4c/8t) can handle moderate workloads if RAM is sufficient; more cores are secondary. Option B is incorrect because while SSDs and RAID 10 would improve disk I/O, the immediate showstopper is insufficient RAM, which would cause VMs to fail or thrash regardless of storage speed. Option D is incorrect because a single 1 GbE link might be adequate initially, and NIC teaming addresses redundancy, not the fundamental resource deficit.

Answer

Replace the SATA hard drives with SSDs and configure RAID 10 for better I/O performance.

Answer

Add a second 1 GbE network interface and configure NIC teaming for redundancy.

Answer

Upgrade the CPU to a model with at least 8 cores and 16 threads.

Question 9

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 10

A system administrator is configuring a backup schedule for a critical database server that must be available 24/7. The company's recovery point objective (RPO) is 1 hour and recovery time objective (RTO) is 4 hours. The database files change frequently, but the operating system and application binaries rarely change. Which of the following backup strategies would BEST meet these requirements while minimizing storage and backup window impact?

Accepted Answer

Full backup daily, incremental backup every hour. Option D is correct because daily full backups provide a recent recovery base, and hourly incremental backups are small and fast, meeting the 1-hour RPO with minimal backup window. Restoration applies at most 24 incrementals to the latest full, which fits within the 4-hour RTO. Option A is wrong because weekly full backups with hourly incrementals may require restoring too many incrementals, risking the RTO. Option B is wrong because hourly differential backups grow in size throughout the day, increasing backup time and storage. Option C is wrong because weekly fulls with hourly differentials cause exponential growth in differential size over the week.

Answer

Full backup daily, differential backup every hour

Answer

Full backup weekly, differential backup every hour

Answer

Full backup weekly, incremental backup every hour

Question 11

Refer to the exhibit. An administrator receives reports that a web application is returning HTTP 502 errors. The administrator examines the Nginx error log on the reverse proxy server and sees the following. Which of the following is MOST likely causing the errors?

Accepted Answer

The upstream server at 10.0.1.25:8080 refuses connections.. Option A is correct because the error 'Connection refused' indicates the upstream server (10.0.1.25:8080) is not accepting connections, typically because the backend service is down or the port is closed. Option B is incorrect because if Nginx were not running, no such log entry would be generated. Option C is incorrect because the client's DNS resolution is not involved after Nginx has already attempted to contact the upstream IP. Option D is incorrect because a firewall blocking outbound connections would cause a timeout, not a 'Connection refused' message.

Answer

The Nginx service is not running.

Answer

The firewall on the reverse proxy is blocking port 80.

Answer

The client's DNS cannot resolve example.com.

Question 12

A VMware ESXi host runs six virtual machines, each configured with 8GB of RAM, totaling 48GB allocated. The host physically has 32GB of RAM, and memory overcommitment is enabled. Recently, a critical VM experienced severe performance degradation during peak hours, with the guest OS showing high memory pressure and balloon driver activity, while other VMs showed moderate usage. Which of the following actions will BEST resolve the issue without compromising other VMs?

Accepted Answer

Configure a memory reservation of 8GB for the critical VM.. Option B (Set a memory reservation equal to its configured 8GB on the critical VM) is correct because it guarantees physical RAM for that VM, preventing the balloon driver from reclaiming its memory and reducing hypervisor swapping. Option A (Increase host RAM) would solve it broadly but is not the most immediate, targeted action and may not be feasible. Option C (Disable balloon driver on all VMs) could cause host swapping, degrading all VMs. Option D (Reduce CPU limits) does not address memory contention.

Answer

Purchase and install an additional 32GB of physical RAM in the host.

Answer

Disable the VMware balloon driver on all virtual machines.

Answer

Reduce the CPU limit on the non-critical VMs during peak hours.

Question 13

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 14

Refer to the exhibit. A Linux server is reporting slow I/O on the root filesystem. Which of the following actions should the administrator take to resolve the immediate storage bottleneck?

Accepted Answer

Move non-essential data from / to /backup.. Option B is correct because moving non-essential data from the nearly full root filesystem to /backup (which has ample space) quickly alleviates the space shortage and I/O pressure. Option A is wrong because resizing /dev/sda1 may require downtime and complex partitioning operations; it is not an immediate fix. Option C is wrong because deleting log files may free some space but might also delete valuable diagnostic data and may not be sufficient. Option D is wrong because changing the RAID level of /dev/sda is a fundamental hardware change that does not address the immediate space issue and could be destructive.

Answer

Delete log files in /var/log.

Answer

Resize /dev/sda1 to 30G.

Answer

Change the RAID level of /dev/sda.

Question 15

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 16

Refer to the exhibit. A server administrator configured iptables rules on a Linux server. Immediately afterward, they are unable to connect to the server via SSH. The output of 'iptables -L INPUT -n' is shown. What is the most likely cause of the connectivity issue?

Accepted Answer

The DROP rule for port 22 appears before the ACCEPT rule, causing all SSH packets to be dropped.. iptables processes rules in order. The DROP rule for destination port 22 appears before the ACCEPT rule, so all incoming SSH packets are dropped before the ACCEPT rule can permit new connections.

Answer

The last DROP rule blocks all traffic, including established SSH sessions.

Answer

The default INPUT policy is set to ACCEPT, allowing all traffic.

Answer

The ACCEPT rule for port 22 is missing the ESTABLISHED state, preventing return traffic.

Question 17

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 18

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.. Option D is correct because lowering the priority (nice value) of the task allows other processes to utilize the CPU without being blocked. Option A is wrong because adding vCPUs does not guarantee other processes will get CPU time if the task consumes all available cycles. Option B is wrong because processor affinity only pins a process to a specific CPU core but does not change its scheduling priority. Option C is wrong because replacing hardware is not immediate and may not solve scheduling contention.

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 19

A company is planning to deploy a new web application on multiple servers behind a load balancer. The application requires consistent session data across all servers for seamless user experience. Which of the following solutions would BEST meet this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Store session data in a shared, high-performance in-memory data store like Redis.. Option B is correct because a shared in-memory data store like Redis provides low-latency access to session data for all servers, ensuring consistency and high availability. Option A is wrong because round-robin DNS does not handle session persistence. Option C is wrong because sticky sessions tie a user to one server; if that server fails, the session is lost and consistency is not maintained across servers. Option D is wrong because synchronous database replication adds latency and complexity, making it less suitable for high-performance web applications.

Answer

Configure each web server to store sessions locally and use sticky sessions on the load balancer.

Answer

Use round-robin DNS to distribute traffic.

Answer

Implement database session storage with synchronous replication between servers.

Question 20

A server administrator receives an alert that a critical server's disk is almost full. Upon investigation, the administrator finds a large log file that has grown significantly. The log file is rotated daily, but today's rotation failed. Which command should the administrator use FIRST to free up space immediately?

Accepted Answer

> /var/log/large.log to truncate the file.. Option A is correct because truncating the file to zero size instantly reclaims disk space without removing the file, which could cause issues if processes still have it open. Option B is wrong because deleting the file will not free space if any process holds an open file handle. Option C is wrong because moving the file has similar issues as deletion. Option D is wrong because running logrotate might fail if the disk is full or if the rotation script is broken; truncation is quicker and safer under pressure.

Answer

logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.conf to force log rotation.

Answer

rm -rf /var/log/large.log to delete the file.

Answer

mv /var/log/large.log /backup/ to move the file.