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6.2. Domain-by-Domain Quick Reference
Domain 1: Server Hardware (18%)
| Must Know | Key Fact |
|---|---|
| RAID 5 capacity | (N−1) drives usable; 1 drive can fail |
| RAID 6 capacity | (N−2) drives usable; 2 drives can fail |
| RAID 10 capacity | 50% of total; 1 drive per mirror pair can fail |
| RAID 0 | No fault tolerance; all capacity usable |
| NAS protocols | NFS (Linux/Unix), CIFS/SMB (Windows) |
| SAN protocols | iSCSI (Ethernet), Fibre Channel, FCoE |
| SAS/SATA compatibility | SAS controller → uses SATA drives ✅; SATA controller → cannot use SAS drives ❌ |
| Hot-swap YES | Drives, PSUs, fans (if rated for it) |
| Hot-swap NO | CPU, RAM, motherboard |
| OOB management | iDRAC (Dell), iLO (HP), IPMI; works without OS |
| SFP speeds | SFP=1GbE, SFP+=10GbE, QSFP=40GbE+ |
| Fiber types | Single-mode = long distance, laser; Multimode = short distance, LED |
| CMOS battery failure | Date/time resets after power off; BIOS settings lost |
Domain 2: Server Administration (30%)
| Must Know | Key Fact |
|---|---|
| GPT vs MBR | GPT: >2TB, UEFI boot, 128 partitions; MBR: legacy, 4 primary partitions, <2TB |
| APIPA range | 169.254.0.0/16 — symptom of DHCP failure |
| RFC 1918 | 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16 |
| NTP / Kerberos | Kerberos requires clocks within 5 minutes; NTP synchronizes clocks |
| Sysprep | Required before deploying Windows VM clones into a domain; removes SID |
| Active-passive cluster | One node active, one standby; heartbeat monitors; failover is automatic |
| Active-active cluster | All nodes serve traffic; load balancer required |
| LVM | Physical Volumes → Volume Groups → Logical Volumes; online resize |
| File systems | ext4=Linux, NTFS=Windows, VMFS=VMware (cluster-aware), ReFS=large Windows volumes |
| VMFS | VMware's cluster-aware FS — required for shared vSphere storage (vMotion). Not the only one (CSV, GFS2, OCFS2 exist), but the one Server+ tests |
| Deduplication | Post-process by default; high CPU during window; near-zero savings on compressed files |
| License: per-core | Windows Server, SQL Server; count every physical core |
| Backup before changes | Step 1 of troubleshooting — explicitly required by CompTIA methodology |
Domain 3: Security and Disaster Recovery (24%)
| Must Know | Key Fact |
|---|---|
| MFA categories | Something you know / have / are — must be two DIFFERENT categories |
| Two passwords = | Single-factor (both are "something you know") |
| Hot site | Fully operational duplicate; minutes to hours RTO |
| Warm site | Hardware present; hours to days RTO |
| Cold site | Facility only; days to weeks RTO |
| Synchronous replication | RPO ≈ 0; adds write latency proportional to distance |
| Asynchronous replication | Minutes RPO; no write penalty |
| Incremental restore | Full + every incremental (slowest restore, fastest backup) |
| Differential restore | Full + last differential (medium backup, medium restore) |
| Full restore | Full backup only (fastest restore, longest backup) |
| Degaussing | Destroys HDD data AND drive electronics; does NOT work on SSD |
| SSD destruction | Physical destruction required for SSD with sensitive data |
| PCI DSS scope | Any org that stores, processes, or transmits cardholder data |
| Mantrap | Prevents tailgating; two-door interlock |
| FM-200 | Clean agent fire suppression; safe for occupied spaces |
| CO2 | Suppresses by oxygen depletion; requires evacuation |
| Disk wiping ≠ delete | Delete removes index; wiping overwrites data; both ≠ physical destruction |
| RAID ≠ backup | RAID protects against drive failure; backup protects against deletion, ransomware, corruption |
Domain 4: Troubleshooting (28%)
| Must Know | Key Fact |
|---|---|
| 8-step methodology | Identify → Theory → Test → Plan → Implement → Verify → Root Cause Analysis → Document |
| Step 5 rule | One change at a time; test after each change |
| First step | Identify problem + determine scope |
| Backup when? | Before making changes (part of Step 1) |
| BSOD = Windows | Blue Screen of Death |
| PSOD = VMware | Purple Screen of Death (hypervisor crash) |
| Kernel panic = Linux | Equivalent of BSOD |
| ping success | Proves L3 reachability only; does NOT prove service works |
| telnet / nc | Tests TCP port connectivity |
| nslookup / dig | Tests DNS resolution |
| tracert / traceroute | Shows path and identifies where packets stop |
| netstat | Shows listening ports and active connections |
| fsck | Must be run on UNMOUNTED filesystem |
| Clock skew | Kerberos fails if >5 min drift; check NTP |
| SELinux denial | Causes permission errors even with correct UNIX permissions; check audit.log |
| RAID rebuild risk | RAID 5: zero tolerance for additional failure during rebuild; RAID 6: tolerates one more |
Written byAlvin Varughese
Founder•18 professional certifications