220-1102 Operational Procedures Practice Question
A technician is applying a security patch to a file server as part of an approved change. During the patch installation, the server fails to reboot and the technician is unable to start the server. According to change management best practices, what should the technician do FIRST?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often think notifying the CAB or contacting the vendor is the first step, but the exam emphasizes that restoring service via the backout plan takes precedence over escalation or reporting in a failed change scenario.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Execute the backout plan
Change management best practices require that any change with a risk of failure must include a documented backout plan. When a patch installation causes a server to fail to reboot, the immediate priority is to restore service by executing the backout plan, which typically involves rolling back the patch or restoring from a known good backup. This minimizes downtime and follows the principle of first restoring operations before escalating or investigating further.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Contact the vendor for support
Why it's wrong here
Contacting the vendor for support is not the immediate priority because the backout plan is specifically designed to revert the system to a known-good state after a failed patch. Vendor support may be necessary later for long-term resolution, but escalating first delays restoration of service and extends the outage impact on users and business operations.
- ✗
Notify the CAB of the failure
Why it's wrong here
Notifying the CAB of the failure is a post-incident communication step, not an immediate recovery action. The CAB should be informed after the backout plan has been executed, as the primary goal is to restore service availability as quickly as possible rather than spending time on administrative notifications during the outage.
- ✓
Execute the backout plan
Why this is correct
Executing the backout plan is the correct immediate action because it contains a predefined, tested procedure to revert the file server to its pre-patch configuration, thereby restoring service and minimizing the blast radius of the failed patch. This approach is faster and more reliable than improvisation, and it aligns with change management best practices that mandate a rollback strategy for all production changes.
- ✗
Continue trying to reboot the server
Why it's wrong here
Continuing to reboot the server is incorrect because repeated reboots without a systematic plan can worsen the failure, potentially corrupting data or leaving the server in an inconsistent state. The backout plan, on the other hand, provides a methodical rollback to the last known-good configuration, ensuring that the server is restored reliably instead of relying on trial-and-error.
Go deeper
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Key term
Security
Security in IT is the practice of protecting systems, networks, and data from unauthorized access, damage, or theft.
Key term
Backup
A backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored separately so that the original data can be restored if it is lost, damaged, or corrupted.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 220-1102 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 220-1102 exam.