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Server+ SK0-005 lessons
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A week-by-week plan with every lesson, quizzes, checkpoint tests, a practice exam and hands-on labs.
Open the Server+ study planA week-by-week plan with every lesson, quizzes, checkpoint tests, a practice exam and hands-on labs.
Domain 1: Server hardware installation and management
- Rack planning: rack units, rail kits, weight distribution (heaviest at the bottom), airflow, hot and cold aisles, cable management arms
- Server form factors: tower, rack mount, blade enclosures
- Power: voltage, redundant power supplies, PDUs, UPS sizing and runtime, generators, separate circuits, power connector types
- Network cabling and connectors: Cat5e/Cat6/Cat6a, single-mode vs multimode fiber, SFP/SFP+/QSFP transceivers, twinax/DAC, labeling
- Drive types: HDD speeds (7.2K/10K/15K), SSD, NVMe, SAS vs SATA, hot-swap and hot-plug
- RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6, 10: fault tolerance, usable capacity, write penalty; hardware vs software RAID; JBOD
- Storage architectures: DAS, NAS, SAN, iSCSI, Fibre Channel, FCoE; capacity planning and base-2 vs base-10 sizing
- Out-of-band management: iLO, iDRAC, IPMI/BMC, remote KVM, IP KVM, crash cart
- Firmware, BIOS and UEFI settings, Secure Boot, TPM, boot order, driver and firmware update planning
- Hardware components: CPUs and cores, memory types (ECC, registered), expansion cards, fans and hot-swappable parts
Domain 2: Server administration
- OS installation: minimum requirements, HCL, bare metal vs virtual, GUI vs core/headless installs, partitioning and file systems (NTFS, ReFS, ext4, XFS, VMFS)
- Installation methods: media, PXE/network boot, imaging and cloning, templates, answer files, P2V
- Network services: static vs DHCP addressing, DNS, NTP, NIC teaming/bonding, VLAN tagging, firewall ports, IPv4 and IPv6
- Server roles: web, application, database, file and print, directory services, DNS/DHCP, mail, messaging, NTP, and how roles relate to hardware sizing
- High availability: clustering (active-active vs active-passive), heartbeat, quorum, load balancing methods (round robin, least connections), failover and failback
- Redundancy: NIC teaming, multipathing (MPIO), redundant power and storage, fault tolerance vs high availability
- Virtualization: Type 1 vs Type 2 hypervisors, host vs guest, resource allocation and overcommitment, virtual switches and NICs, snapshots, templates, VM migration
- Cloud models: IaaS, PaaS, SaaS; public, private, hybrid; on-premises vs cloud-hosted servers
- Scripting basics: Bash, PowerShell, batch, Python; variables, loops, conditionals, comparators; common uses (user setup, log checks, scheduled tasks)
- Asset management and documentation: labeling, inventory, warranty, life-cycle, baselines, diagrams, change management, SLAs, secure storage of documents
- Licensing models: per socket, per core, per user, per device/CAL, site, subscription, open source; license compliance and version compatibility
Domain 3: Security and disaster recovery
- Data security: encryption at rest and in transit, data retention, data storage location, UEFI/BIOS passwords, bootloader password
- Physical security: locked racks and cages, mantraps/access vestibules, badge readers, biometrics, cameras, security guards, fire suppression
- Identity and access management: least privilege, role-based access, groups, MFA, SSO, account lockout, password policies, service accounts, auditing
- Data security risks: data loss, unencrypted media, insider threats, malware and ransomware; mitigation with DLP, patching and segmentation
- Server hardening: disable unused services and ports, remove unneeded software, OS and firmware patching, host firewall, antivirus/EDR, secure admin protocols
- Decommissioning and media destruction: wiping, degaussing, shredding, crushing, certificates of destruction, asset records
- Backup types: full, incremental, differential, synthetic full, snapshot; backup media and rotation (grandfather-father-son), 3-2-1 rule
- Backup operations: frequency, retention, on-site vs off-site storage, integrity checks, test restores
- Disaster recovery: hot, warm and cold sites, cloud DR, replication (synchronous vs asynchronous), RPO and RTO, DR plan testing (tabletop, live failover)
- Business continuity: BIA, MTBF and MTTR, prioritizing critical services, communication plans
Domain 4: Troubleshooting
- The CompTIA troubleshooting methodology: identify, theory, test, plan, implement, verify, document
- Hardware problems: POST errors and beep codes, overheating, failed fans and power supplies, memory errors, predictive failure alerts, LED indicators
- Storage problems: degraded or failed RAID arrays, controller battery/cache issues, disk full, slow I/O, mount failures, boot device not found, corrupted file systems
- Storage tools: disk management, fsck/chkdsk, RAID controller utilities, SMART data, partitioning tools
- OS and software problems: failed updates, services not starting, memory leaks, runaway processes, driver issues, boot loops, misconfigured applications
- OS tools: Event Viewer, system logs and journalctl, Task Manager/top, Performance Monitor, rollback of updates, safe mode
- Network problems: no connectivity, wrong IP/mask/gateway, DNS resolution failures, duplex mismatch, firewall rules, NIC teaming misconfiguration
- Network tools: ping, tracert/traceroute, nslookup/dig, ipconfig/ip, netstat/ss, arp, telnet or Test-NetConnection for port tests
- Security problems: permissions and access denied errors, expired certificates, antivirus quarantining files, firewall blocking services, compromised accounts
- Using logs, baselines and performance counters to find root cause