SK0-005 troubleshooting Practice Test 3 — 15 Questions

Question 1

After installing additional RAM modules in a server, the BIOS displays only a portion of the installed memory. The modules are identical in speed and size but from different manufacturers. Which of the following is the BEST initial troubleshooting step?

Accepted Answer

Reseat all memory modules and ensure proper slot population.. Reseating memory and checking population order (Option C) are the first steps because improper seating or incorrect slot placement can cause the BIOS to not recognize all modules. Updating BIOS (Option A) might help if a compatibility issue exists, but physical inspection should come first. Replacing the motherboard (Option B) is too extreme. Running memtest86 (Option D) is useful but should follow physical checks.

Answer

Replace the motherboard.

Answer

Run memtest86 immediately.

Answer

Update the server BIOS firmware.

Question 2

A virtualization administrator notices that a critical VM on an ESXi host has high CPU Ready time (%RDY) according to performance charts. The VM has 8 vCPUs assigned, and the host has two physical CPUs with 8 cores each. Other VMs on the host are performing normally. Which of the following actions would MOST likely resolve the high CPU Ready time for this VM?

Accepted Answer

Migrate the VM to another host with more available CPU capacity.. Option D is correct because high CPU Ready time indicates the VM is waiting for physical CPU resources. Migrating to a less contended host allows the VM to receive adequate CPU scheduling without waiting. Option A is wrong because adding physical cores is a hardware change that may not be immediately feasible and does not address the root cause; the current host may have sufficient capacity if the VM's vCPU count is appropriate. Option B is wrong because while CPU pinning can reduce overhead, it may not resolve contention if the host is oversubscribed; also, pinning can lead to other issues. Option C is wrong because reducing vCPUs might help if the VM is not using all vCPUs efficiently, but it could also hurt performance if the workload genuinely needs 8 vCPUs; migration is a less intrusive first step and often the recommended action in such scenarios.

Answer

Increase the number of physical cores in the host by adding another CPU.

Answer

Enable CPU affinity to pin the VM to specific physical cores.

Answer

Reduce the number of vCPUs assigned to the VM to 4.

Question 3

A server's performance degrades significantly during peak usage hours. Monitoring shows high memory utilization and consistently high disk I/O. Which of the following should the technician check FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Page file location and configuration. Option B is correct because high memory usage and heavy disk I/O suggest excessive paging. Checking the page file location and its performance (e.g., on a slow disk) is the first step to diagnose paging bottlenecks. Option A is less likely if CPU is not a known issue. Option C would typically cause different symptoms. Option D is unrelated to immediate memory/disk correlation.

Answer

RAID controller battery status

Answer

Network bandwidth utilization

Answer

CPU utilization statistics

Question 4

A server running a critical database application crashes and fails to boot with the error message 'Operating System not found.' The server is equipped with a hardware RAID 5 array consisting of three identical disks. A technician suspects a disk failure. What is the MOST likely cause of this error?

Accepted Answer

Two or more disks have failed.. Option D is correct because RAID 5 can tolerate a single disk failure and continue operating in a degraded state. The 'Operating System not found' message indicates the RAID array is offline or the boot volume is inaccessible, which most commonly happens when two or more disks fail simultaneously, exceeding the redundancy of RAID 5. Option A would not cause this error; a single failure would allow the OS to boot. Option C is less common and might produce different errors. Option B could happen but is normally a second-order effect.

Answer

A single disk has experienced a complete failure.

Answer

The boot sector on the disk is corrupted.

Answer

The RAID controller firmware is corrupted.

Question 5

The Coho Vineyard company operates a two-node Windows Server failover cluster to provide high availability for a critical SQL database. Node A has been running the database workload without issues, while Node B was taken offline two weeks ago due to a memory module failure. The faulty memory was replaced, and Node B was powered on. The administrator verified that Node B boots correctly, the network links are up, and the cluster service is running. However, the database role fails to start on Node B. Checking the cluster logs reveals that Node B cannot join the cluster, and the event 'Cluster service has lost quorum' is recorded. The administrator confirms both nodes can ping each other and access the shared SAN storage, but the cluster disk resource appears as 'Offline' on Node B. What should the administrator do to resolve the issue and bring the database online?

Accepted Answer

Evict Node B from the cluster and re-add it.. Evicting and re-adding the node clears stale configuration and allows it to rejoin the cluster properly after an extended period offline and hardware replacement.

Answer

Manually force start the cluster service on Node B with the /forcequorum switch.

Answer

Restore the system state backup on Node B.

Answer

Run the cluster validation wizard to check configuration.

Question 6

A database administrator notices that the primary SQL Server instance has been experiencing severe performance degradation over the past hour. The server is a virtual machine with 8 vCPUs and 64 GB of RAM, and it normally operates with around 40% CPU utilization. Currently, Task Manager shows 100% CPU usage, with the sqlservr.exe process consuming nearly all cycles. The database response times have increased tenfold, and some queries are timing out. There are no scheduled maintenance jobs running, and the transaction log backup completed successfully earlier. The DBA checks active sessions and finds one long-running ad-hoc query from a new reporting tool that was deployed this morning. The query is performing a cross join on two large tables with missing WHERE clauses, causing a Cartesian product. Ending the session will roll back the query and free resources.

Accepted Answer

Identify and kill the offending long-running query using the SQL Server management tools.. Option A is the correct immediate action. Identifying and terminating the specific offending query is the fastest way to restore normal operation without disrupting other database activities. Option B (adding vCPUs) is not a quick fix and doesn't address the root cause. Option C (restarting the SQL service) will disconnect all users and cause unnecessary downtime. Option D (increasing the VM's memory) won't help a CPU-bound problem caused by an inefficient query.

Answer

Increase the virtual machine's memory allocation from 64 GB to 128 GB to reduce paging.

Answer

Immediately add more vCPUs to the virtual machine to handle the increased load.

Answer

Restart the SQL Server service to clear all active connections and start fresh.

Question 7

An organization has a server with a hardware RAID 5 array consisting of four 2 TB SAS drives. The server hosts a critical database and is configured with a hot spare. During routine monitoring, the storage administrator discovers that one drive has failed and the hot spare has automatically taken over, with the array currently rebuilding. However, the rebuild process repeatedly fails at approximately 30% completion, and the RAID controller logs show I/O errors on the hot spare drive. The failed drive was replaced with an identical model from inventory, and the rebuild was restarted, but it again fails at the same point. All other drives show healthy SMART status, and the server's firmware and RAID controller firmware are up to date. The database is still online and functioning, but the array is running in a degraded state, putting data at risk. The server is located in a remote data center without onsite staff, and a maintenance window is scheduled in three days.

Accepted Answer

Run a low-level diagnostic on the replacement drive and verify its firmware revision against the RAID controller's compatibility list.. Option D is correct because the repeated rebuild failure at the same point, with I/O errors on the new drive, suggests either a physical media error on the new drive or an incompatibility issue. Running a manufacturer diagnostic and checking the firmware version of the spare can reveal if the drive is faulty or needs a firmware update to match the controller’s expectations. Option A (replacing the RAID controller) is unlikely needed when the issue seems confined to a single drive slot. Option B (performing a consistency check) is useful but won't resolve the rebuild failure; it could even cause more wear. Option C (breaking and recreating the array) is the most drastic and will destroy all data, requiring restore from backup.

Answer

Initiate a full array consistency check to find and repair any parity mismatches before rebuilding.

Answer

Back up all data immediately, then break and recreate the RAID 5 array from scratch, restoring the backup.

Answer

Replace the RAID controller card and its cache module, then attempt the rebuild again.

Question 8

Users report slow file server performance. The administrator suspects a single process is consuming excessive CPU and wants to analyse its threads and handles. Which tool should be used?

Accepted Answer

Resource Monitor. Resource Monitor provides real-time, in-depth per-process data including CPU, memory, disk, network, and the ability to drill down into associated threads and handles. Task Manager shows basic per-process CPU but not thread-level details. Performance Monitor is for long-term logging. System Information only gives static hardware/software inventory.

Answer

System Information

Answer

Task Manager

Answer

Performance Monitor

Question 9

Refer to the exhibit. The Print Spooler service on a critical Windows Server 2019 fails to start at every boot. The server was recently updated with the latest cumulative patch. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause?

Accepted Answer

A service on which the Print Spooler depends is not starting. Event ID 7000 with a timeout error strongly suggests a dependency service is not starting correctly. The Print Spooler depends on the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service among others; a recent patch may have altered the startup configuration of a dependency. The Print Spooler runs under the LocalSystem account, so password expiration is not a factor. A corrupt driver usually causes the service to crash after starting, not a timeout. Insufficient disk space would generate a different error.

Answer

The system drive has insufficient free space

Answer

A recent printer driver update is corrupted

Answer

The password for the service account has expired

Question 10

A server cannot connect to a specific network share. The administrator can successfully ping the server's IP address from the client. Which of the following is MOST likely causing the issue?

Accepted Answer

Host-based firewall blocking file sharing ports. Option C is correct because Windows Firewall or an equivalent host-based firewall may block SMB (port 445) or NetBIOS ports, preventing share access even though ICMP is allowed. Option A is wrong because DNS would affect name resolution, not reachability by IP. Option B is wrong because an incorrect subnet mask would generally prevent any communication, including pings. Option D is wrong because a duplicate IP would cause intermittent connectivity or an IP conflict error, not a consistent inability to access shares while ping works.

Answer

Incorrect subnet mask

Answer

Duplicate IP address on the network

Answer

DNS server is misconfigured

Question 11

A server running a critical application fails to boot with the error: 'Boot device not found.' The server uses UEFI and a RAID 5 array for the OS. The administrator verifies that all disks are present and powered. Which of the following should the administrator check FIRST?

Accepted Answer

The array configuration in the RAID BIOS. Option C is correct. With all disks powered and present, the RAID array may be degraded or its configuration lost, leading to the boot device error. Checking the array configuration in the RAID controller's BIOS (or UEFI setup) allows verifying that the array is intact and the boot volume is accessible. Option A (RAID battery) is important for write cache but not directly causing 'boot device not found.' Option B (boot order) might be an issue, but after checking that the RAID array is operational; if the array is offline, boot order changes won't help. Option D (OS boot files) should be checked after ensuring the RAID subsystem is functional.

Answer

The integrity of the OS boot files

Answer

The boot order in UEFI

Answer

The RAID controller battery

Question 12

After applying a Windows security patch, a server fails to boot and displays 'Bootmgr is missing'. The server is UEFI-based. Which of the following is the MOST efficient way to resolve the issue?

Accepted Answer

Use the recovery environment to repair the boot loader.. Option D is correct because the error indicates boot loader corruption, and the recovery environment can repair it without reinstalling the OS or replacing hardware. Option A: chkdsk checks disk errors, not boot loader integrity. Option B is overly destructive and time-consuming. Option C: BIOS reset does not affect UEFI boot entries or file system boot loader files.

Answer

Reset the BIOS to factory settings.

Answer

Replace the hard drive and restore from backup.

Answer

Boot from the installation media and run chkdsk.

Question 13

A server that uses iSCSI storage has suddenly lost connectivity to all LUNs. The network team confirms no changes have been made. Which of the following is the FIRST step in troubleshooting this issue?

Accepted Answer

Verify the status of the iSCSI initiator service on the server.. Option A is correct because the iSCSI initiator service must be running to connect to targets; verifying its status is a quick, non-disruptive first check on the local server. Option B: replacing cables is premature when there are no network changes and problem is confined to this server. Option C: changing the IP address would likely break other services. Option D: VLAN issues would normally affect multiple devices and are less likely if the network team reports no changes.

Answer

Check the VLAN configuration on the switch.

Answer

Replace the network cables to the storage array.

Answer

Reconfigure the IP address of the server.

Question 14

A server in the datacenter fails to power on after a scheduled power maintenance. The facility team confirms that power is being supplied to the rack. The server's front panel LED is not illuminated. Which of the following should the administrator check FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Verify that the power cable is securely connected to the server and the PDU.. Option C is correct because, when a server shows no signs of power (no LED), the first and simplest check is to ensure the power cable is securely connected at both ends. Option A is premature; replacing the power supply should only be attempted after ruling out simple physical connections. Option B is unrelated to a no-power scenario. Option D would not cause a complete lack of power.

Answer

Reseat the CPU and memory modules.

Answer

Replace the power supply unit.

Answer

Update the server's BIOS firmware.

Question 15

A server configured with RAID 5 has two failed drives. The array is offline and critical data is inaccessible. The administrator has replacement drives available. What should the administrator do to restore the data and array with minimal data loss?

Accepted Answer

Replace both failed drives and restore from backup.. Option A is correct. RAID 5 can survive a single drive failure, but with two failed drives, the array is completely broken and cannot be rebuilt. Restoring from backup is the only reliable method to recover the data. Options B and C incorrectly assume the array can still rebuild, and option D would worsen data integrity.

Answer

Reconfigure the RAID to RAID 0 using the remaining good drives.

Answer

Replace both failed drives and initiate a full array rebuild.

Answer

Replace one failed drive, allow rebuild, then replace the second.