SK0-005 Practice Test 26 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company has a recovery point objective (RPO) of 15 minutes for its database server. The database is 500 GB, and the nightly full backup takes 4 hours. Which backup strategy best meets the RPO while minimizing storage and backup window impact?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Perform transaction log backups every 15 minutes. The RPO of 15 minutes means no more than 15 minutes of data can be lost. Transaction log backups run every 15 minutes capture all changes since the previous log backup, are small and fast, and support point-in-time recovery. Full backups every 15 minutes are impossible given the 4-hour runtime, while differential and incremental backups are less efficient or less granular for database recovery.

Answer

Perform differential backups every 15 minutes

Answer

Perform a full backup every 15 minutes

Answer

Perform incremental backups every 15 minutes

Question 2

A technician is troubleshooting a server that intermittently reports correctable memory errors on a specific DIMM slot in the management controller log. The server has not crashed, and the operating system is stable. The technician reseats the DIMM and cleans the slot, but the errors continue. Which of the following should the technician do next?

Accepted Answer

Replace the DIMM in the affected slot with a known-good module of the same specifications.. Persistent correctable memory errors after reseating and cleaning indicate a failing DIMM or slot. Replacing the module with a known-good one of the same specifications isolates the fault. Disabling ECC, merely moving the DIMM, or waiting on a BIOS update does not repair the failing hardware and leaves the server at risk of an uncorrectable error.

Answer

Disable memory error correction in the BIOS to stop the log entries.

Answer

Update the server BIOS to the latest version and monitor for 30 days.

Answer

Move the DIMM to a different slot and leave it there permanently.

Question 3

A technician needs to replace a failed hot-swap SAS drive in a running server. The array is configured as RAID 6 with a dedicated hot spare. Which of the following describes the correct procedure?

Accepted Answer

Remove the failed drive, insert the replacement, and allow the controller to rebuild the array onto it.. Hot-swap drive bays and backplanes allow a failed member to be removed and replaced while the server runs. Once the controller detects the new drive, it rebuilds the array automatically, restoring redundancy without interrupting service. RAID 6 can tolerate two simultaneous failures, and the hot spare adds another layer of protection during the rebuild window.

Answer

Move the hot spare into the failed drive's bay and leave the failed bay empty until a replacement arrives.

Answer

Replace the drive, then manually initialize the array from the controller BIOS to force a rebuild.

Answer

Power down the server, replace the drive, then power on and let the controller rebuild automatically.

Question 4

A systems administrator is configuring role-based access for a team of server operators. The operators need to restart services and view logs on production Linux servers, but they must not be able to edit configuration files or install packages. The administrator wants to implement this with the least privilege and avoid sharing the root password. Which of the following should the administrator configure?

Accepted Answer

Configure sudoers entries that allow each operator to run specific service management and log-reading commands without a password.. Least privilege for this team means granting only the specific commands they need while keeping individual accountability. Sudoers entries that permit named operators to run approved service management and log-reading commands achieve this without sharing root credentials. Shared accounts with full sudo, immutable attributes, and direct root SSH all either over-privilege the operators or fail to provide the required controlled access.

Answer

Deploy an SSH key pair for each operator and allow direct root login with the key.

Answer

Set the immutable attribute on configuration files and package directories so operators cannot modify them.

Answer

Create a shared operator account with a strong password and add it to the wheel group.

Question 5

A server administrator is troubleshooting a server that is experiencing slow performance. The administrator suspects a storage bottleneck. Which of the following tools or commands should the administrator use to identify the storage bottleneck? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Performance Monitor (perfmon). iostat and Performance Monitor are both capable of providing detailed storage performance metrics. iostat is used on Linux systems to show disk utilization and I/O statistics, while Performance Monitor is used on Windows to track disk counters. Both can help identify if a storage bottleneck exists by showing high disk queue lengths or high average disk response times. Network tools like netstat, traceroute, and ifconfig are not suitable for this task.

Answer

traceroute

Answer

ifconfig

Answer

netstat

Question 6

A technician is replacing a failed hard drive in a server that uses a hardware RAID controller. The server is running Windows Server 2019. After physically installing the new drive, which of the following should the technician do to make the drive part of the array?

Accepted Answer

Add the drive to the existing array using the RAID controller management utility.. For a hardware RAID array, the replacement drive must be added to the array via the RAID controller's management interface. This triggers the rebuild process, restoring redundancy. Operating system tools like Disk Management or diskpart do not control hardware RAID membership; they operate on logical volumes presented by the controller.

Answer

Assign the drive as a hot spare in the RAID controller BIOS/UEFI.

Answer

Run the diskpart command to create a new volume.

Answer

Initialize the disk in Disk Management.

Question 7

A server administrator is troubleshooting a Linux server that is experiencing performance issues. The administrator suspects that a specific process is consuming excessive CPU resources. Which two commands can be used to identify the process? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

ps aux --sort=-%cpu. The top and ps aux --sort=-%cpu commands both provide information about CPU usage per process. The top command offers a live, interactive view, while ps aux --sort=-%cpu gives a sorted snapshot. The other commands focus on disk space, network ports, and memory, which are not directly useful for identifying a CPU-intensive process.

Answer

free -m

Answer

netstat -tuln

Answer

df -h

Question 8

A server administrator is troubleshooting a Windows Server 2019 host that intermittently drops connections to a database application. The administrator reviews Performance Monitor and notices that the Network Interface\Output Queue Length counter for the production NIC frequently exceeds 2. The NIC is a 1GbE adapter, and the switch port is configured for 1GbE full duplex. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The NIC is saturating its 1GbE link during peak database traffic. A sustained Network Interface\Output Queue Length above 2 means the OS send queue is backing up because the adapter cannot transmit fast enough. On a 1GbE link handling database traffic, link saturation is the most plausible explanation. Duplex mismatch, cable faults, and gateway errors produce different symptoms such as errors, link flaps, or routing failures.

Answer

An incorrect default gateway on the server

Answer

A duplex mismatch between the NIC and the switch port

Answer

A faulty network cable causing packet loss

Question 9

A small business runs a single physical server that hosts its accounting application and database. The owner wants a backup approach that allows recovery to any point within the last 14 days without restoring a full backup each time. Which backup type should the administrator implement?

Accepted Answer

Transaction log backups every 15 minutes. Point-in-time recovery to any moment in a 14-day window requires transaction log backups, which capture each committed transaction and can be replayed on top of a full backup. Full, differential, and incremental schemes provide at most one restore point per backup cycle and cannot reconstruct an arbitrary moment between backups.

Answer

Full backup every night

Answer

Differential backup every night

Answer

Incremental backup every night

Question 10

A technician is installing a new server in a rack. The server's rail kit includes both a static rail and a sliding rail option. The server will be frequently accessed for maintenance, and the technician needs to pull it out of the rack to service internal components. Which of the following rail types should the technician use?

Accepted Answer

Sliding rails. Sliding rails are designed to allow the server to be extended out of the rack for easy access to internal components. This is essential when frequent maintenance is required. Static rails would require complete removal of the server, which is impractical. Tool-less rails and cable management arms serve different purposes and do not provide the sliding capability needed.

Answer

Static rails

Answer

Cable management arm

Answer

Tool-less rails

Question 11

A server administrator is configuring a Linux server that runs a custom application. The application must start automatically at boot and be restarted if it crashes. The administrator creates a systemd service unit file. After enabling the service, it fails to start, and journalctl shows 'status=203/EXEC'. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The ExecStart path points to a non-existent or non-executable file.. The 203/EXEC status code indicates that systemd failed to execute the command specified in ExecStart. This is typically due to an incorrect path, missing execute permission, or a missing interpreter. The administrator should check that the file exists, is executable, and has a proper shebang if it is a script. Other options do not produce this exact error.

Answer

SELinux is blocking the service from accessing its log file.

Answer

The service unit file has the wrong permissions.

Answer

The service is missing a [Install] section in the unit file.

Question 12

A server administrator is troubleshooting a Linux server that is experiencing slow disk performance. The administrator runs `iostat -x 1` and sees that the `%util` value for `/dev/sda` is consistently above 98%, while the `await` for write requests is over 500 ms. The server hosts a database that performs many small random writes. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The disk is experiencing a high number of I/O operations, and the storage subsystem cannot keep up with the demand.. The `iostat` output shows the disk is saturated (`%util` near 100%) and requests are waiting (`await` over 500 ms). For a database with many small random writes, this indicates the storage cannot deliver the required IOPS. The correct answer identifies the disk as the bottleneck due to excessive I/O demand.

Answer

The disk is failing and needs to be replaced immediately.

Answer

The filesystem is corrupted, causing the kernel to repeatedly attempt repairs.

Answer

The server's RAM is insufficient, causing excessive swapping to disk.

Question 13

A server administrator is replacing a failed hot-swap SAS hard drive in a production server that uses a hardware RAID controller. The drive is part of a RAID 5 array. After physically swapping the drive, the administrator notices the drive activity LED is blinking green but the array status still shows 'degraded' in the management software. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The RAID controller is performing a rebuild but the management software has not yet updated the status.. The blinking green LED indicates the drive is active, which is consistent with an automatic rebuild in progress. RAID controllers often start rebuilding immediately upon insertion of a replacement drive, but the management software may lag in updating the array status. The array remains 'degraded' until the rebuild completes, so the administrator should monitor the rebuild progress rather than assuming a failure.

Answer

The drive was inserted into the wrong bay, so the controller cannot map it to the array.

Answer

The RAID 5 array requires a manual rebuild command to be issued from the controller BIOS.

Answer

The replacement drive is not a certified spare and must be manually added to the array.

Question 14

A server administrator is troubleshooting a Linux server that boots normally but takes over 20 minutes to reach a login prompt, while CPU, memory, and disk utilization remain low after boot. Running systemd-analyze blame shows a single unit consuming 18 minutes. Which of the following commands will BEST identify what that unit is waiting on?

Accepted Answer

systemctl status and journalctl -u -b. Because systemd-analyze blame already isolated one unit consuming 18 minutes, the next diagnostic step is to inspect that unit directly. systemctl status reveals its state and dependencies, while journalctl -u -b shows the boot-session messages explaining the delay, such as a network mount timeout. Resource-monitoring and general log tools do not attribute boot latency to a specific unit.

Answer

systemd-analyze critical-chain and systemd-analyze plot > boot.svg

Answer

iostat -x 5 3 and vmstat 1 10

Answer

dmesg | grep -i error and check /var/log/messages

Question 15

A research institute stores regulated genomic data on a Windows Server 2022 file server. The IT director wants data at rest encrypted so that a stolen drive cannot be read, but the lab's instrument control software writes directly to the volume and cannot tolerate any interruption during long sequencing runs. The server has a TPM 2.0 module and a separate recovery appliance. Which solution should the administrator implement?

Accepted Answer

BitLocker with XTS-AES 256-bit encryption on the data volume, TPM protector plus a numerical password protector, and recovery keys escrowed to Active Directory.. Full volume encryption is required, not file-level protection, because the threat is physical theft of the drive. BitLocker operates transparently beneath the file system, so the instrument software is unaffected, while TPM plus numerical password protectors and Active Directory escrow provide both unattended operation and a documented recovery path for regulated data.

Answer

Encrypting File System (EFS) applied to the top-level folder with a data recovery agent configured for the lab group.

Answer

NTFS permissions tightened to Administrators only, combined with auditing of all write operations to the volume.

Answer

Storage Spaces Direct with ReFS integrity streams enabled on the data volume and cluster shared volume encryption.