SK0-005 Practice Test 2 — 25 Questions

Question 1

A company is designing a disaster recovery plan for its primary datacenter. The plan must include a warm site that can take over production within four hours and must verify that the recovery procedures actually work. Which two elements should be included? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

A tabletop exercise that walks stakeholders through the recovery steps and identifies gaps in the plan.. A workable disaster recovery plan for a four-hour warm site takeover needs measurable objectives and validation. Documented RTO and RPO values define the acceptable downtime and data loss, guiding the warm site design and replication schedule. A tabletop exercise validates the plan by walking stakeholders through the procedures, revealing gaps without risking production. The other options either describe a real outage, an inadequate cold site, or backups stored in a single failure domain, none of which support the stated recovery targets.

Answer

Biweekly incremental backups to tape stored only in the primary datacenter.

Answer

A full-scale failover test that shuts down the primary datacenter during business hours without notifying users.

Answer

A cold site with no pre-installed hardware or data replication, relying on emergency procurement during a disaster.

Question 2

A company runs a critical application on a physical server with four 15,000 RPM SAS drives in a hardware RAID 5 array. Users report that write performance has degraded significantly during peak hours. Performance monitoring shows high disk queue length. The administrator wants to improve write performance without sacrificing redundancy or adding more drives. Which of the following should the administrator implement?

Accepted Answer

Configure the RAID controller to use write-back caching with a battery-backed cache module.. RAID 5 suffers from a write penalty because each write requires reading old data and parity, calculating new parity, and writing both. Write-back caching with a battery-backed module allows the controller to buffer writes and acknowledge them quickly, dramatically improving write throughput while preserving redundancy. The battery ensures data is not lost if power fails before the cache is flushed to disk.

Answer

Change the RAID level to RAID 0 to eliminate parity overhead.

Answer

Increase the RAID stripe size to 256 KB.

Answer

Enable disk defragmentation on the server's data volume.

Question 3

A company's file server is running low on disk space. The administrator notices that the volume hosting user home directories is nearly full, with only 10 GB free out of 2 TB. Users report that they cannot save new files. The administrator needs to free up space immediately without deleting any user data. Which of the following should the administrator do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Use File Server Resource Manager to generate a storage report and identify large files.. The administrator should first identify what is consuming disk space before taking any action. File Server Resource Manager provides detailed storage reports that show large files, duplicates, and usage by owner, enabling targeted cleanup without risking user data. Other options either do not address the specific volume or are not immediate or effective enough.

Answer

Enable NTFS compression on the volume.

Answer

Move the pagefile to another volume.

Answer

Run Disk Cleanup to remove temporary files and system caches.

Question 4

A company's datacenter is in a region prone to flooding. Management requires that a copy of nightly backups be stored where a regional flood cannot destroy both the production data and the backup copy, and that the copy be retrievable within 24 hours. Which strategy BEST meets these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Ship encrypted backup copies to an offsite vault in a different geographic region.. The requirement is geographic separation of a backup copy so that a single regional flood cannot destroy production data and its backup, plus retrieval within 24 hours. Offsite vaulting in a different region satisfies both the survivability and recovery-time requirements, and encryption keeps the media safe while it is outside the organization's control.

Answer

Increase the RAID level on the production servers from RAID 5 to RAID 6.

Answer

Replicate the backups to a tape library in a hardened rack in the same datacenter.

Answer

Configure an on-site disk-to-disk backup target and enable snapshots every four hours.

Question 5

A server administrator is troubleshooting a physical server that reports a predictive failure on a drive in a hardware RAID 5 array. The array is still online and functioning. The administrator wants to replace the failing drive while minimizing risk to the data. Which of the following steps should the administrator perform? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Identify the physical bay of the failing drive using the RAID controller management utility or locator LED before removal.. Replacing a member of a degraded RAID 5 array safely requires two things: a validated backup in case the rebuild fails or another drive dies, and positive identification of the correct physical bay so the wrong drive is never removed. Both steps directly reduce the risk of catastrophic data loss during the swap.

Answer

Delete the array and recreate it from scratch to ensure a clean rebuild.

Answer

Force the failing drive offline immediately so the controller begins rebuilding onto a spare.

Answer

Power down the server and remove the drive while the system is offline to avoid hot-swap risk.

Question 6

A Linux server is experiencing random reboots. The administrator checks the system logs and finds multiple entries indicating a machine check exception (MCE). The server is running the latest kernel and all firmware is up to date. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the reboots?

Accepted Answer

Failing CPU or memory hardware.. Machine check exceptions are hardware-level errors reported by the CPU, most commonly due to failing RAM or CPU. Random reboots with MCE logs indicate a hardware fault that firmware updates cannot resolve. The correct course is to run hardware diagnostics and replace the faulty component.

Answer

Overheating due to failed cooling fans.

Answer

A faulty power supply unit.

Answer

Incorrect kernel parameters for memory management.

Question 7

An administrator must choose a physical security control for a new server room door that will allow staff to enter quickly during an emergency while still recording who entered and when. Which solution BEST fits?

Accepted Answer

Install a badge reader with an electronic audit log and a fail-safe release that unlocks on power loss.. The door needs both accountability and safe, fast passage during emergencies. An electronic badge reader with an audit log records entries, while a fail-safe release ensures the lock disengages when power is lost so people are not trapped. Together they meet the physical security and life-safety requirements stated.

Answer

Install a biometric reader that grants access based on fingerprint recognition only.

Answer

Install a badge reader configured as fail-secure so the door remains locked when power is lost.

Answer

Install a mechanical keyed lock with keys issued to each staff member.

Question 8

A server administrator is troubleshooting a server that unexpectedly rebooted overnight. The administrator reviews the system logs and finds Event ID 6008 in the Windows System log, indicating an unexpected shutdown. There are no corresponding events for a thermal trip or power failure. Which of the following should the administrator check FIRST to determine the cause?

Accepted Answer

Check the server's out-of-band management controller logs for power or hardware events.. Event ID 6008 indicates an unexpected shutdown, which often stems from hardware or power issues. The out-of-band management controller logs are the best source for hardware-level events like power supply failures or thermal trips that are not visible to the OS. Reviewing these logs first can quickly identify or rule out hardware causes before moving to OS-level diagnostics.

Answer

Review the Windows Update history to see if a patch was installed that required a reboot.

Answer

Run a memory diagnostic to check for faulty RAM.

Answer

Verify that the UPS is functioning correctly and has enough battery capacity.

Question 9

A rack-mount server must be installed in a cabinet that is only 30 inches deep, while the server's rails are designed for a 36-inch cabinet and allow the chassis to extend beyond the front and rear posts. The server must remain serviceable and the cabinet doors must close. Which of the following should the technician do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Verify the rail kit's minimum cabinet depth and obtain a shorter rail kit or a deeper cabinet if the specified depth is not met.. Rack rails are rated for a specific range of cabinet depths, and installing them in a shallower cabinet leaves the chassis unsupported at the rear and protruding past the posts. Checking the rail kit's published depth range and procuring compatible hardware or a deeper cabinet resolves the incompatibility before any damage or unsafe mounting occurs.

Answer

Install the server with the front posts only and let the rear of the chassis rest on the cabinet base.

Answer

Mount the server vertically using a wall-mount bracket instead of the rails.

Answer

Remove the cabinet's rear door to provide the extra clearance the server needs.

Question 10

A company is hardening a publicly reachable Linux web server that runs an SSH service for administration. The security team wants to reduce the attack surface and enforce stronger authentication. Which two actions BEST accomplish this? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Require public key authentication and disable password-based SSH logins.. The strongest reductions in SSH attack surface come from removing weak authentication paths and eliminating shared, highly privileged logins. Requiring public keys with password authentication disabled blocks brute-force approaches, while forbidding direct root login enforces named accounts and per-user accountability. Together they harden authentication and limit the impact of a single compromised credential.

Answer

Install a host-based intrusion detection system that alerts on suspicious SSH login patterns.

Answer

Enable verbose logging of all SSH connection attempts to a remote syslog server.

Answer

Change the SSH service to listen on a non-standard port to hide it from scanners.

Question 11

A small office has a single physical server running Windows Server 2022 that hosts a file share and a print server. The administrator wants to ensure that if the server's operating system becomes corrupted, the server can be restored quickly to a working state. Which backup type should the administrator use?

Accepted Answer

Bare metal recovery backup. A bare metal recovery backup includes the operating system, applications, and data, enabling a complete restore even if the OS is corrupted. This meets the need to quickly return the server to a working state without a lengthy manual rebuild.

Answer

Volume shadow copy

Answer

System state backup

Answer

File-level backup of the file share only

Question 12

A technician is adding a second CPU to a dual-socket 2U server that previously ran with a single processor. After installing the matching CPU and heatsink, the server POSTs but the operating system only reports half of the newly installed memory, and the BIOS memory map shows several DIMM slots as unpopulated. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The DIMMs installed on the second CPU's memory channels are not seated or are in the wrong slots.. Adding a processor activates a second set of memory channels, each with its own required slot population order. If the DIMMs are not moved into the slots owned by the new socket, those channels train as unpopulated and the OS sees only the memory attached to the original CPU. Verifying the server's population table and reseating DIMMs in the correct slots resolves the missing capacity.

Answer

The second CPU requires a BIOS firmware update before memory can be enabled.

Answer

The new CPU is not on the server's hardware compatibility list.

Answer

The memory controller interleave setting was disabled in the BIOS.

Question 13

A security administrator is hardening a Linux server that hosts a public web application. The server currently allows root login via SSH and uses default SSH port 22. The administrator wants to reduce the attack surface by implementing SSH best practices. Which two actions should the administrator take? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Disable password authentication by setting PasswordAuthentication no and use SSH keys.. Disabling root login and disabling password authentication in favor of SSH keys are two fundamental SSH hardening practices. They reduce the attack surface by eliminating direct root access and removing the risk of password brute-force attacks. Changing the port is security through obscurity, enabling password authentication weakens security, and allowing SSH from any IP increases exposure. These two actions directly address the scenario's requirements.

Answer

Change the SSH port from 22 to a non-standard port, such as 2222.

Answer

Enable password authentication to ensure only authorized users can log in.

Answer

Allow SSH access from any IP address to ensure administrators can connect from anywhere.

Question 14

A technician is disposing of several decommissioned servers that previously stored customer financial records. The drives will leave the building. Which action BEST ensures the data cannot be recovered by anyone who obtains the drives?

Accepted Answer

Physically destroy the drives by shredding or degaussing them before disposal.. Because the drives contain regulated financial data and are leaving the facility, the disposal method must make recovery infeasible. Physical destruction through shredding or degaussing removes any possibility of reading the media, which is stronger than any software-based erasure and aligns with the requirement that the data cannot be recovered by a later holder.

Answer

Format each drive with the operating system's quick format option.

Answer

Move the drives to a locked storage room until a future disposal decision is made.

Answer

Delete all files and empty the recycle bin on each drive.

Question 15

A small office has a single physical server running Windows Server 2022 that hosts a file share and a print server. The administrator wants to protect against a hard drive failure that would cause downtime. The server has four drive bays, all currently empty. The administrator needs a solution that provides redundancy and maximizes usable capacity while tolerating one drive failure. Which of the following should the administrator implement?

Accepted Answer

RAID 5 with four drives. RAID 5 with four drives provides single-drive fault tolerance and uses all four bays, yielding usable capacity equal to three drives. RAID 0 offers no redundancy, RAID 1 with two drives wastes two bays, and RAID 5 with three drives leaves a bay unused. Therefore, four-drive RAID 5 best satisfies both redundancy and capacity maximization.

Answer

RAID 1 with two drives

Answer

RAID 5 with three drives

Answer

RAID 0 with four drives

Question 16

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 17

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 18

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 19

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 20

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.