PK0-005 Practice Question: Basics of IT Infrastructure and IT Project Management
A project manager is overseeing a data center migration. The new infrastructure must support high availability and scalability. Which TWO components are essential for achieving these goals?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse RAID 0 with RAID 1 or RAID 5, mistakenly thinking striping provides redundancy, when in fact RAID 0 sacrifices fault tolerance for performance.
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
✓
Load balancer
Option B (Load balancer) is correct because a load balancer distributes incoming traffic across multiple servers, eliminating a single point of failure at the application tier and enabling horizontal scaling by allowing additional servers to be added to the pool as demand grows. Option D (Redundant power supplies) is correct because dual/redundant PSUs (often connected to separate PDUs and UPS circuits) ensure that the failure of one power feed or supply does not take down a server, which is a foundational requirement for high availability in a data center. Option A (RAID 0) is incorrect because it provides striping for performance with no redundancy, so any single disk failure destroys the array, which is the opposite of high availability. Option C (IP addressing scheme) is incorrect because, while necessary for network communication, an addressing scheme by itself does not deliver high availability or scalability. Option E (Single point of failure) is incorrect because it is precisely what high-availability design must eliminate, not a component that achieves it.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
RAID 0
Why it's wrong here
RAID 0 stripes data with no redundancy, so any single disk failure destroys the array, directly contradicting high availability. It tempts because it improves read/write throughput and capacity, which suits performance-focused workloads, but it provides no fault tolerance.
- ✓
Load balancer
Why this is correct
A load balancer distributes incoming traffic across multiple servers, eliminating single points of failure and enabling horizontal scaling as demand grows. This directly satisfies the stem's high availability requirement by rerouting around failed nodes, and its scalability requirement by adding backend instances without service disruption.
- ✗
IP addressing scheme
Why it's wrong here
An IP addressing scheme is a design artefact; it neither provides redundancy nor scales capacity by itself. It tempts because addressing underpins any network build and is essential to planning, but high availability and scalability come from redundant components and horizontal scaling.
- ✓
Redundant power supplies
Why this is correct
Redundant power supplies eliminate a single point of failure at the power layer, letting the infrastructure keep running if one supply or feed fails. This directly supports the high-availability requirement of the data centre migration.
- ✗
Single point of failure
Why it's wrong here
A single point of failure is the condition to eliminate, not a component to include; it directly undermines high availability. It tempts because it is a recognised design term that must be addressed, but the correct choices are redundant components such as clustered servers and load balancers.
Quick reference
RAID Level Comparison
| RAID Level | Min Disks | Fault Tolerance | Read | Write | Usable Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAID 0 | 2 | None | Excellent | Excellent | 100% |
| RAID 1 | 2 | 1 disk | Good | Moderate | 50% |
| RAID 5 | 3 | 1 disk | Good | Moderate | 67–94% |
| RAID 6 | 4 | 2 disks | Good | Lower | 50–88% |
| RAID 10 | 4 | 1 disk per mirror | Excellent | Good | 50% |
RAID is not a backup strategy — it protects against disk failure but not against accidental deletion, ransomware, or site-level events.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PK0-005 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 PK0-005 exam.