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CompTIA
Coming Soon
Server Plus
The course teaches server hardware installation, administration, security, storage, and disaster recovery, preparing candidates for the CompTIA Server+ (SK0-005) exam and real‑world server management in enterprise environments.
Who Should Take This
It is designed for IT professionals such as system administrators, network engineers, or support technicians who have 18–24 months of hands‑on server administration experience and seek to validate their expertise. Learners aim to master hardware configuration, security controls, storage solutions, and disaster‑recovery procedures to advance their careers and meet industry standards.
What's Included in AccelaStudy® AI
Adaptive Knowledge Graph
Practice Questions
Lesson Modules
Console Simulator Labs
Exam Tips & Strategy
20 Activity Formats
Course Outline
70 learning goals
1
Domain 1: Server Hardware Installation and Management
3 topics
Server Form Factors and Components
- Identify server form factors (rack-mount 1U/2U/4U, tower, blade) and describe the density, cooling, and management characteristics of each form factor.
- Describe server CPU architectures including multi-socket configurations, core counts, hyper-threading, and thermal design power (TDP) considerations for server workloads.
- Identify server memory types (ECC, registered/buffered, LRDIMM) and describe how memory channels, speed ratings, and capacity affect server performance and reliability.
- Describe server network adapter types including single-port and multi-port NICs, NIC teaming/bonding modes, and offload features (TCP offload, SR-IOV) for virtualized environments.
- Compare server storage interfaces (SAS, SATA, NVMe, U.2, M.2) and describe their bandwidth, latency, and hot-swap capabilities for different workload requirements.
Power, Cooling, and Data Center Infrastructure
- Describe server power supply configurations including redundant power supplies, hot-swap capabilities, voltage requirements, and UPS integration for power protection.
- Describe server cooling methods (air cooling, liquid cooling, hot/cold aisle containment) and environmental monitoring for temperature, humidity, and airflow management.
- Apply rack installation procedures including rail kit mounting, cable management, power distribution unit (PDU) connections, and labeling conventions.
BIOS/UEFI and Firmware Management
- Describe BIOS and UEFI firmware features including Secure Boot, boot order configuration, TPM integration, and hardware monitoring sensor readings.
- Apply firmware update procedures including scheduling maintenance windows, validating firmware versions, and performing rollback procedures for failed updates.
- Configure BIOS/UEFI settings for virtualization support (VT-x/VT-d/AMD-V), memory interleaving, and hardware RAID controller initialization.
2
Domain 2: Server Administration
5 topics
Operating System Installation and Configuration
- Describe server operating system families (Windows Server, RHEL/CentOS, Ubuntu Server, SUSE) and identify their licensing models and support lifecycle policies.
- Apply server OS installation procedures including media preparation, partitioning schemes, driver installation, and initial network configuration for headless and GUI deployments.
- Implement unattended and automated OS deployment using PXE boot, kickstart files, preseed configurations, and Windows Deployment Services (WDS).
- Configure server roles and features including DHCP, DNS, file services, print services, and web services and explain role-based installation best practices.
Directory Services and User Management
- Describe directory services concepts including Active Directory, LDAP, organizational units, domain controllers, and forest/domain trust relationships.
- Configure user accounts, security groups, and organizational units in Active Directory or LDAP directories for centralized identity management.
- Implement Group Policy Objects (GPOs) to enforce security settings, software restrictions, and desktop configurations across organizational units and domains.
- Evaluate directory service replication topologies and assess the impact of domain controller placement on authentication performance and fault tolerance.
Remote Administration
- Identify out-of-band management interfaces (iLO, iDRAC, IPMI, BMC) and describe their capabilities for remote power control, console access, and hardware monitoring.
- Configure remote management interfaces including network settings, user accounts, virtual media, and SNMP alerting for lights-out server administration.
- Apply in-band remote administration tools (RDP, SSH, PowerShell Remoting, VNC) and explain their security considerations and appropriate use cases.
Patch Management and Maintenance
- Describe patch management processes including vulnerability assessment, patch testing, approval workflows, deployment scheduling, and rollback procedures.
- Apply patch management tools and procedures to deploy operating system updates, firmware patches, and driver updates across server environments with minimal downtime.
- Evaluate patch criticality and prioritize deployment schedules based on CVE severity scores, exploit availability, and system exposure to balance security and stability.
Virtualization
- Describe server virtualization concepts including hypervisor types, virtual machine resource allocation, and the benefits of server consolidation.
- Configure virtual machine settings including CPU allocation, memory reservation, virtual disk provisioning (thin vs. thick), and virtual network adapter types.
- Implement VM management operations including snapshots, cloning, templates, live migration (vMotion), and resource pool configurations for workload distribution.
- Evaluate virtualization host resource utilization to determine consolidation ratios, identify overcommitted resources, and recommend capacity adjustments.
3
Domain 3: Security
4 topics
Server Security Concepts
- Describe server security principles including defense in depth, least privilege, separation of duties, and the CIA triad as applied to server environments.
- Identify common server attack vectors including brute force, privilege escalation, rootkits, ransomware, and supply chain attacks targeting server infrastructure.
Authentication and Access Control
- Describe authentication protocols (Kerberos, NTLM, LDAP, RADIUS) and explain their roles in server and domain authentication workflows.
- Implement password policies, account lockout thresholds, and multifactor authentication for server administrator and service accounts.
- Apply file system permissions and access control lists (ACLs) to restrict access to sensitive server directories, configuration files, and log files.
Certificates, PKI, and Encryption
- Describe PKI components including certificate authorities, subordinate CAs, certificate templates, certificate revocation lists, and OCSP for server certificate management.
- Implement TLS certificates for web servers, remote management interfaces, and email services including certificate enrollment, installation, and renewal procedures.
- Configure disk encryption (BitLocker, LUKS) and Trusted Platform Module (TPM) integration to protect data at rest on server storage volumes.
Server Hardening and Compliance
- Apply server hardening procedures including disabling unnecessary services, removing default accounts, configuring host-based firewalls, and applying CIS benchmarks.
- Describe physical security controls including biometric access, security cameras, locked cabinets, port blockers, and environmental monitoring for server rooms.
- Configure security event logging and monitoring including Windows Security Event Log, Linux audit frameworks, and centralized SIEM integration for threat detection.
- Assess server security configurations against compliance requirements (PCI DSS, HIPAA, SOX) and identify remediation steps for non-compliant findings.
4
Domain 4: Storage
3 topics
RAID Configurations
- Identify RAID levels (0, 1, 5, 6, 10) and describe the minimum disk requirements, usable capacity, read/write performance, and fault tolerance of each level.
- Describe hardware RAID controllers and software RAID implementations and identify hot spare, hot swap, and rebuild procedures for each approach.
- Configure RAID arrays using hardware RAID controllers or software RAID tools and initialize, format, and verify array health status.
- Evaluate RAID level selection for given workload requirements considering performance priorities, redundancy needs, usable capacity, and rebuild time impacts.
Storage Architectures
- Identify DAS, NAS, and SAN storage architectures and describe their connectivity methods, protocols, performance characteristics, and appropriate use cases.
- Describe SAN protocols (iSCSI, Fibre Channel, FCoE) and explain initiator, target, LUN, and zoning concepts for block-level storage connectivity.
- Configure iSCSI initiators and targets to provide network-attached block storage and implement CHAP authentication for iSCSI session security.
- Configure NAS file shares using NFS and SMB/CIFS protocols and apply share-level and file-level permissions for secure access.
Storage Provisioning and Optimization
- Describe storage provisioning methods including thin provisioning, thick provisioning, and just-in-time allocation and their impact on capacity planning.
- Explain storage optimization techniques including deduplication, compression, tiering (SSD/HDD), and caching strategies for improving storage efficiency and performance.
- Implement storage replication (synchronous and asynchronous) and snapshot-based data protection for disaster recovery across local and remote storage targets.
- Analyze storage performance metrics (IOPS, throughput, latency) and capacity utilization trends to recommend storage tier migrations and expansion plans.
5
Domain 5: Troubleshooting and Disaster Recovery
5 topics
Hardware Troubleshooting
- Apply hardware diagnostic tools and procedures (POST codes, diagnostic LEDs, event logs, hardware test utilities) to identify failing server components.
- Troubleshoot server hardware failures including CPU overheating, memory errors (ECC corrections, DIMM failures), power supply faults, and disk drive failures.
- Troubleshoot server networking issues including NIC failures, link negotiation problems, teaming/bonding misconfigurations, and iSCSI connectivity failures.
Performance Monitoring and Optimization
- Apply performance monitoring tools (Performance Monitor, top, sar, iDRAC metrics) to collect CPU, memory, disk, and network utilization baselines.
- Analyze server performance data to identify bottlenecks in CPU, memory, storage I/O, and network subsystems and recommend targeted hardware or configuration improvements.
- Evaluate server capacity planning data including growth trends, seasonal patterns, and workload projections to recommend upgrade or expansion timelines.
Log Analysis and Event Management
- Identify server log sources including Windows Event Logs, syslog, application logs, and out-of-band management logs and describe their diagnostic value.
- Analyze server event logs to correlate hardware warnings, service failures, security events, and performance anomalies to determine root causes.
- Troubleshoot server operating system issues including boot failures, blue screen errors, kernel panics, service startup failures, and driver compatibility problems.
Backup Strategies
- Describe backup types (full, incremental, differential, synthetic full) and explain the storage requirements, backup window, and restore time characteristics of each.
- Implement backup schedules using grandfather-father-son (GFS) rotation and configure retention policies, offsite storage, and backup verification procedures.
- Apply backup media types (tape, disk-to-disk, cloud) and deduplicated backup appliances to implement cost-effective data protection solutions.
- Evaluate backup strategies against RPO and RTO requirements and recommend improvements to backup frequency, retention, and recovery testing procedures.
Disaster Recovery and High Availability
- Describe disaster recovery concepts including business impact analysis, recovery point objectives, recovery time objectives, and disaster recovery site types (cold, warm, hot).
- Implement server clustering technologies including failover clusters, active-active and active-passive configurations, and quorum mechanisms for high availability.
- Apply disaster recovery plan testing procedures including tabletop exercises, simulation tests, parallel tests, and full interruption tests to validate recovery capabilities.
- Assess disaster recovery architectures for adequacy by comparing actual RTO/RPO capabilities against business requirements and recommending improvements to close gaps.
Scope
Included Topics
- All domains in the CompTIA Server+ (SK0-005) exam: Server Hardware Installation and Management (18%), Server Administration (30%), Security (18%), Storage (18%), and Troubleshooting and Disaster Recovery (16%).
- Server hardware components including form factors (rack, tower, blade), CPUs, RAM types (ECC, registered), storage interfaces (SAS, SATA, NVMe), SAN, NAS, power supplies, cooling systems, and BIOS/UEFI configuration.
- Server OS installation, network operating system configuration, directory services, user management, group policy, remote administration (iLO, iDRAC, IPMI), and patch management procedures.
- Physical security, authentication mechanisms, certificates and PKI, firewall configuration, server hardening techniques, security policies, and compliance requirements for server environments.
- RAID levels (0, 1, 5, 6, 10), SAN vs. NAS vs. DAS architectures, iSCSI, Fibre Channel, storage provisioning, deduplication, tiering, backup strategies, disaster recovery planning, and high availability (clustering, failover).
Not Covered
- Cloud-native server deployment, serverless architectures, and container orchestration platforms beyond basic virtualization concepts.
- Advanced network engineering including BGP configuration, MPLS, and software-defined networking implementation on server platforms.
- Application development, database administration, and middleware configuration beyond server-level OS and service management.
- Vendor-specific enterprise management platforms (VMware vCenter, Microsoft SCCM) at implementation depth beyond conceptual awareness.
- Data center design and construction including electrical engineering, structural requirements, and environmental control system design.
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