A technician needs to replace two RAID controllers on a database server as part of an upgrade. The server has six external storage arrays and eight internal disks that are controlled by the two RAID controllers. The technician completes the replacement and powers the systems back on, but the server OS detects several missing disks in the configuration. Which of the following steps should the technician take first to resolve this issue?
Answer : A
When new RAID controllers are installed and disks go missing, the first logical step is to reboot to the RAID controller BIOS and rescan for attached disks and arrays (Answer A). This will allow the RAID controller to detect the connected drives and rebuild the RAID configuration as expected.
Rebooting to RAID controller BIOS (Answer A): This step ensures that all the attached disks and arrays are properly detected and mapped to the RAID configuration.
Checking UEFI settings (Option B): This might be useful later, but initially, the RAID controller BIOS should be checked first to verify disk detection.
Turning off external arrays (Option C): While this could be helpful in some scenarios, it's not the most efficient first step.
Checking cables (Option D): This could be necessary, but since the controllers were just replaced, software/BIOS configurations should be checked first.
CompTIA Server+ Reference:
This topic relates to SK0-005 Objective 3.1: Install and configure server components.
While a technician is troubleshooting a performance issue on a database server, users are disconnected from the database. An administrator is asked to intervene and restore access. Which of the following steps should the administrator take first?
Answer : D
The first step when addressing an urgent issue like a database disconnection should be to gather information to understand what actions caused the problem. Collecting all logs and reviewing the technician's actions (Answer D) will help identify what went wrong and guide appropriate remediation. Restoring access quickly is the priority, and without reviewing logs, it would be hard to identify the root cause or prevent further damage.
Reverting patches (Option A): Reverting patches might cause more issues if the problem isn't directly related to a recent update.
Reproducing the issue (Option B): Reproduction is useful in a controlled environment but not practical as an immediate first step in production.
Root cause analysis (Option C): This is necessary but should come after restoring access.
Performing a quick backup (Option E): While backups are crucial, this step might not help resolve the current access problem and can delay troubleshooting.
CompTIA Server+ Reference:
This topic relates to SK0-005 Objective 3.4: Explain troubleshooting theory and methodologies.
Which of the following should be created to understand how long data is stored and how frequently data backups should be scheduled?
Answer : A
Retention policies define how long data should be kept before being archived or deleted and help in determining the frequency of backups to ensure data is available when needed. These policies are crucial for compliance, storage management, and disaster recovery planning.
Retention policies (Answer A): These directly address how long data is kept and how often it should be backed up.
Service-level agreement (Option B): SLAs define performance expectations and uptime, not specific data retention or backup schedules.
Life-cycle management (Option C): This refers to managing data from creation to disposal but doesn't specifically address backup frequency or retention periods.
Mean time to recover (Option D): This metric measures how long it takes to restore services after a failure, not backup scheduling.
CompTIA Server+ Reference:
This topic relates to SK0-005 Objective 4.2: Explain the importance of data security concepts.
A college is planning for disaster recovery and needs to have access at all times to student data, which contains PII (Personally Identifiable Information). Which of the following would be the most appropriate for the college?
Answer : D
A hot site with private cloud backup is the most suitable for environments that require continuous access to critical data, like student data containing PII. A hot site is fully operational and ready to take over immediately in case of a disaster. Using a private cloud provides more control and security, which is important when handling sensitive data like PII.
Hot site with private cloud backup (Answer D): This ensures minimal downtime and robust security, which is critical for handling PII.
Warm site (Options A & B): A warm site has some infrastructure ready but requires some setup before becoming operational, which introduces some delay.
Cold site (Option C): A cold site has the least preparation and requires significant time to become operational, which would not meet the requirement for constant availability.
CompTIA Server+ Reference:
This topic is addressed in SK0-005 Objective 4.1: Summarize disaster recovery methods and concepts.
A systems administrator notices that a SAN is running out of space. There is no additional funding in the budget to upgrade the storage space. Which of the following will significantly reduce the storage space with the least effort? (Select two).
Answer : A, E
To free up storage space on a SAN with minimal effort and no additional cost, the following methods can be used:
Configuring compression (Answer A): Compression reduces the size of files stored on the SAN, allowing more data to be stored in the same space.
Enabling deduplication (Answer E): Deduplication identifies and removes duplicate copies of data, reducing the amount of space required for storage.
Deleting old and unused files (Option B): While effective, this requires manual effort and may not be the best long-term solution.
Increasing the number of IOPS (Option C): This relates to improving performance, not reducing storage space.
Decreasing the RAID level (Option D): Lowering the RAID level could reduce redundancy, which may free up space but also decreases fault tolerance.
Upgrading the filesystem type (Option F): This is a complex process that doesn't directly reduce storage usage.
CompTIA Server+ Reference:
This topic is covered under SK0-005 Objective 3.2: Summarize storage technologies and solutions.
Which of the following is a benefit of failover NIC teaming?
Answer : D
Failover NIC teaming (Network Interface Card teaming) is a method used to provide fault tolerance by combining two or more NICs into a single logical interface. If one NIC fails, the other NIC(s) take over, ensuring continuous network connectivity.
Increased fault tolerance (Answer D): The primary benefit of failover NIC teaming is to ensure that network communication is not interrupted when one NIC fails. The remaining NICs take over to maintain uptime.
Decreased latency (Option A): NIC teaming is not primarily used to reduce latency; it's focused on redundancy and fault tolerance.
Increased transmission size (Option B): NIC teaming does not directly increase the size of transmissions.
Increased system resources (Option C): NIC teaming doesn't increase system resources like CPU or memory, but it ensures network redundancy.
CompTIA Server+ Reference:
This topic is covered under SK0-005 Objective 1.4: Summarize methods used to manage network connections.
A junior administrator reported that the website used for anti-malware updates is not working. The senior administrator then discovered all requests to the anti-malware site are being redirected to a malicious site. Which of the following tools should the senior administrator check first to identify the potential cause of the issue?
Answer : D
A sniffer (also known as a packet analyzer) is a tool that captures and inspects data packets traveling across the network. In this case, using a sniffer would help identify suspicious or malicious redirection of traffic, possibly caused by a man-in-the-middle attack, DNS hijacking, or malware.
Sniffer (Answer D): This tool will allow the senior administrator to inspect the network traffic and identify if and how requests to the anti-malware website are being intercepted or redirected.
Data loss prevention (Option A): DLP tools focus on preventing data leakage rather than analyzing traffic redirection.
File integrity monitor (Option B): This checks for unauthorized changes to files, which may not directly address network traffic redirection.
Port scanner (Option C): A port scanner would only identify open ports on devices, which is unrelated to the redirection issue.
CompTIA Server+ Reference:
This topic is addressed under SK0-005 Objective 4.2: Explain server roles and their purposes.