SK0-005 Practice Test 29 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A datacenter administrator is hardening a newly racked server that will host a public-facing application. The security policy requires that all administrative access to the server use encrypted protocols and that remote interactive logons be limited to the secure shell. Which action best meets these requirements?

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

Accepted Answer

Disable Telnet and enable SSH, then restrict the firewall to TCP port 22 for management traffic.. The policy names two conditions: encrypted administrative protocols and remote interactive logons limited to the secure shell. SSH meets both because it encrypts the session and is the secure shell itself, while disabling Telnet eliminates the cleartext option. Tightening the firewall to TCP 22 ensures no other remote interactive protocol can be used for management.

Answer

Disable Telnet and enable RDP, then restrict the firewall to TCP port 3389 for management traffic.

Answer

Keep Telnet enabled but require administrators to connect through a VPN, and restrict the firewall to TCP port 23 from the VPN subnet.

Answer

Disable both Telnet and SSH, enable a serial console server, and require administrators to use out-of-band access for all management.

Question 2

A server administrator is installing a new 1U server into a rack. The server's rail kit includes both inner and outer rails. The administrator notices that the inner rails need to be attached to the server chassis before mounting. Which of the following is the correct procedure to install the server into the rack?

Accepted Answer

Attach the inner rails to the server chassis, then slide the server into the outer rails already mounted in the rack.. The correct procedure is to attach the inner rails to the server chassis and the outer rails to the rack, then slide the server into the rack. This is the standard method for rail kits with separate inner and outer components. Other options reverse the components or omit rails entirely, which would result in improper or unsafe installation.

Answer

Attach both inner and outer rails to the server chassis, then lift the entire assembly into the rack.

Answer

Attach the outer rails to the server chassis, then slide the server into the inner rails mounted in the rack.

Answer

Mount the server directly onto the rack posts without using the rail kit.

Question 3

A datacenter administrator manages a rack of servers that handle nightly batch processing. The company's security policy requires that all server hard drives be sanitized before disposal, and the drives previously contained customer PII. The administrator needs a method that renders the data unrecoverable and also allows the drives to be reused internally for non-sensitive test systems. Which of the following should the administrator use?

Accepted Answer

Use a software tool to overwrite every sector of each drive with a fixed pattern, then verify the overwrite.. The requirement is to sanitize drives that held PII while keeping them usable for non-sensitive purposes. Overwriting every sector with a fixed pattern and verifying the overwrite achieves both goals. Quick formatting leaves data intact, degaussing ruins the drives, and shredding platters destroys them, so only the overwrite method satisfies both sanitization and reuse.

Answer

Degauss each drive with a strong magnetic field and then relabel it for reuse.

Answer

Remove the platters from each drive and shred them, then install new drives in the test systems.

Answer

Perform a quick format on each drive using the operating system's disk management utility.

Question 4

A server administrator is troubleshooting a rack server that fails to complete POST. The server emits a series of beep codes, and no video output appears. The administrator has already reseated the memory modules and confirmed they are in the correct slots. Which of the following should the administrator check NEXT?

Accepted Answer

The power supply output voltages. Beep codes with no video output during POST indicate a hardware failure detected before video initialization. After confirming memory seating, the next logical check is power delivery, since unstable or out-of-tolerance PSU voltages can halt POST. CMOS battery, disk health, and boot loader configuration affect later stages and would not produce these symptoms.

Answer

The CMOS battery voltage

Answer

The operating system boot loader configuration

Answer

The hard drive S.M.A.R.T. status

Question 5

A server administrator is hardening a newly deployed Linux web server that will be exposed to the internet. The security policy requires minimizing the attack surface and protecting authentication. Which two actions BEST align with that policy? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Disable all unused network services and close their associated ports using the host firewall.. Hardening an internet-facing server means shrinking what is reachable and strengthening how administrators authenticate. Disabling unused services and closing their ports removes unnecessary entry points, while enforcing key-based SSH and disabling password authentication removes the easiest credential attack path. The other choices either expand the attack surface, weaken privileged access, or rely on an ineffective blocklist model.

Answer

Install a full desktop environment and remote GUI tools so administrators can avoid using the command line.

Answer

Configure SSH to permit direct root login with a strong password to simplify administration.

Answer

Set the firewall default policy to allow all inbound traffic, then block only known malicious source IP addresses.

Question 6

A server administrator is troubleshooting a tower server that reports no video output on the local monitor, but the power LED is solid green and the fans spin at normal speed. The administrator connects to the baseboard management controller (BMC) over the network and sees a POST code of 'B4' with a message indicating USB device initialization. A USB flash drive is left in a rear port. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the missing video?

Accepted Answer

The USB flash drive is causing the POST process to stall before video initialization completes.. The POST code 'B4' with a USB initialization message is the key evidence: the server is hanging during USB device enumeration, which can prevent video initialization from completing. Removing the offending USB flash drive and rebooting is the correct remediation. The other causes either contradict the POST code or would not produce that specific code.

Answer

The BMC is redirecting the video output to its remote console, so the local monitor stays blank.

Answer

The video card has failed and must be replaced before the server will POST.

Answer

The monitor cable is connected to the wrong port on the server.

Question 7

A company operates a primary datacenter and a cold standby site. The disaster recovery plan states that the standby site must be able to take over within 8 hours, but the current plan requires rebuilding servers from bare metal and restoring data from tape, which takes 3 days. Which change best aligns the standby site with the stated recovery time objective?

Accepted Answer

Convert the standby site to a warm site with pre-staged hardware and replicated data.. The gap is recovery time, not recovery point. A warm site with pre-staged hardware and replicated data removes the bare-metal rebuild step, bringing recovery within hours. Backup frequency, extra tape libraries, and documentation improvements address data freshness or process quality but leave the multi-day hardware rebuild in place.

Answer

Document the rebuild procedure in more detail and rehearse it quarterly.

Answer

Increase the frequency of tape backups from weekly to daily.

Answer

Add a second tape library at the cold site for parallel restores.

Question 8

A server administrator is configuring a new Linux server that will host a web application. The application requires a persistent storage volume that can be easily expanded without downtime. The server has a single physical disk with 500 GB of free space. The administrator decides to use LVM (Logical Volume Management). Which of the following is the correct sequence of steps to create a new logical volume and mount it?

Accepted Answer

pvcreate, vgcreate, lvcreate, mkfs, mount. The correct order for setting up LVM is to create physical volumes, then a volume group, then logical volumes, then a filesystem, and finally mount it. This logical progression ensures that each layer is built upon the previous one. The other sequences violate the dependency order and would result in errors.

Answer

lvcreate, vgcreate, pvcreate, mkfs, mount

Answer

vgcreate, pvcreate, lvcreate, mkfs, mount

Answer

pvcreate, lvcreate, vgcreate, mkfs, mount

Question 9

A technician is tasked with installing a new PCIe expansion card into a rack-mounted server. The server will be powered off but remains in the rack. Which of the following should the technician do FIRST to prevent electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage?

Accepted Answer

Wear an antistatic wrist strap connected to the server chassis.. The first step to prevent ESD is to wear an antistatic wrist strap connected to the server chassis. This ensures the technician and the server are at the same electrical potential, preventing static discharge that could damage sensitive components. Other methods like touching the rack are temporary and less effective. Always follow proper ESD procedures before handling internal hardware.

Answer

Touch the metal frame of the rack to discharge static electricity.

Answer

Place the expansion card on a non-conductive surface.

Answer

Power on the server to warm up the components and reduce static.

Question 10

A server administrator is installing a new SAS SSD into a server that supports hot-swap drives. The server has a hardware RAID controller and the drive bay is accessible from the front. The administrator wants to add the drive to an existing RAID 5 array without bringing the server down. Which of the following should the administrator do?

Accepted Answer

Insert the drive and use the RAID controller's online capacity expansion feature to add it to the array.. To add a drive to an existing RAID 5 array without downtime, the administrator should use the RAID controller's online capacity expansion feature. This allows the array to be reconfigured to include the new drive while the system remains online. The process typically involves inserting the hot-swap drive, then using the controller's management software to expand the array. Performance may degrade during the rebuild, but it avoids service interruption.

Answer

Insert the drive and use the operating system's disk management to extend the volume onto the new disk.

Answer

Insert the drive and configure it as a global hot spare for the existing array.

Answer

Insert the drive and create a new RAID 0 array with it, then span the volumes.

Question 11

A datacenter operator is reviewing physical security for a server room that houses backup tapes and network core switches. The room has a single wooden door with a mechanical lock, and the key is shared among the facilities staff. Which change should the administrator recommend FIRST to improve access control?

Accepted Answer

Install an electronic access control system with individual credentials and an audit log. The fundamental weakness is that a single mechanical lock with a shared key provides no individual accountability and cannot be selectively revoked. An electronic access control system issues unique credentials and logs each entry, directly improving both prevention and audit. This is the first and most impactful change for protecting the tapes and core switches.

Answer

Add a second mechanical lock to the door to create two-key access

Answer

Install a security camera in the hallway outside the server room

Answer

Move the backup tapes to a locked cabinet inside the server room

Question 12

A company stores nightly database backups on a dedicated backup server in the same data center as the production database. The security team wants to ensure that a ransomware infection on the production network cannot encrypt or delete the backup copies. Which control should the administrator implement?

Accepted Answer

Configure immutable snapshots or WORM storage on the backup repository and restrict network access to the backup server.. To survive ransomware, backups must be both isolated from the production network and protected from modification. Immutable or WORM storage prevents deletion or encryption even if administrative credentials are compromised, and network restrictions reduce the chance of the repository being reached. Retention or replication alone does not stop a destructive attack.

Answer

Enable deduplication on the backup server to reduce storage consumption.

Answer

Increase the backup retention period from 30 days to 90 days on the existing backup server.

Answer

Add a second backup server in the same rack and replicate backups between the two servers.

Question 13

A server administrator is setting up a new Windows Server 2022 server that will host a database. The server has four 10 TB SAS drives. The administrator needs to configure the drives for maximum performance and fault tolerance, allowing the server to continue operating if one drive fails. Which RAID level should the administrator use?

Accepted Answer

RAID 10. RAID 10 is the best choice because it offers both fault tolerance and high performance. It stripes data across mirrored pairs, allowing the server to continue operating if one drive fails. For a database server, RAID 10 provides better write performance than RAID 5 and better capacity utilization than RAID 1, making it suitable for the stated requirements.

Answer

RAID 1

Answer

RAID 5

Answer

RAID 0

Question 14

A system administrator must choose a backup method for a file server where the business requires that only files changed since the last backup are copied, and the backup window is very short. Which backup type should the administrator select?

Accepted Answer

Incremental backup. The requirement is to copy only files changed since the last backup while keeping the backup window short. An incremental backup captures exactly those changes, so each run is small and fast. Differential and full backups copy progressively more data, and a synthetic full produces a full image rather than a change-only copy.

Answer

Differential backup

Answer

Full backup

Answer

Synthetic full backup

Question 15

A server administrator is configuring a RAID array for a new database server that requires high performance for random writes. The server has eight 1 TB SAS drives and a hardware RAID controller with a battery-backed write cache. The administrator needs to choose a RAID level that provides the best write performance while maintaining redundancy. Which RAID level should the administrator select?

Accepted Answer

RAID 10. RAID 10 provides the best random write performance among the options while maintaining redundancy. It uses mirroring for fault tolerance and striping for performance, avoiding the parity overhead that slows writes in RAID 5 and RAID 6. RAID 0 lacks redundancy, so it does not meet the requirement.

Answer

RAID 5

Answer

RAID 6

Answer

RAID 0