CompTIA Server+ (SK0-005) — the full course

Every lesson and every lab is free to read, mapped one-to-one to CompTIA’s published exam objectives. The paid tier adds the 598-question exam simulator; nothing is taken away from the free course to make room for it.

Prefer a book? The 500-question practice-test book is an ebook on Google Play.

Prefer timed practice exams on Udemy? The 500 questions from this course’s bank are there as timed practice tests: see the Udemy course (launch price until 16 Nov 2026).

19 lessons end with a short “try it” on a real Linux server that runs in your browser and checks each step, and the Linux sandbox gives you that machine with no task at all.

51written lessons

72hands-on labs

62hours of lab work

51audio episodes

598practice questions

Start with lesson 1 — A lab server you can break, and the two halves of it Exam simulator

Jump to a domain: 1. Server hardware installation and management · 2. Server administration · 3. Security and disaster recovery · 4. Troubleshooting

What the exam weighs

Domain	Share of the exam	Lessons here
1. Server hardware installation and management	18%	9
2. Server administration	30%	15
3. Security and disaster recovery	24%	12
4. Troubleshooting	28%	14

The curriculum

1. Server hardware installation and management 18% of the exam

01 Rack units, server chassis, and what fits where objective 1.1 part single
- Plan a rack elevation that fits, balances and can be powered applied · 45 min
02 Power for servers: redundant supplies, UPS and PDUs objective 1.1 part single
- Build a power budget and size a UPS for the lab short · 40 min
03 Cooling, airflow, and cabling the rack objective 1.1 part single
- Measure temperatures under load and label the lab's cables short · 40 min
04 RAID levels, and what each one actually survives objective 1.2 part single try it
- Build RAID 1 and RAID 5 from loop devices, fail a member, and rebuild short · 50 min
05 Drives, interfaces, and capacity planning objective 1.2 part single
- Inventory drives by interface and project when storage runs out short · 35 min
06 Shared storage: NAS, SAN, iSCSI and Fibre Channel objective 1.2 part single
- Compare file-level NAS shares with block-level iSCSI on the same data applied · 50 min
- Serve an iSCSI LUN from lin-srv and connect to it from win-srv short · 50 min
07 Out-of-band management: iLO, iDRAC, IPMI and Redfish objective 1.3 part single
- Query a Redfish management API and read a server's health remotely short · 45 min
08 Firmware, UEFI and driver updates without bricking the server objective 1.3 part single
- Plan and rehearse a rolling driver update with a rollback applied · 50 min
- Record firmware versions, boot mode and Secure Boot state across the lab short · 35 min
09 Hot-swappable components, and replacing parts safely objective 1.3 part single
- Domain 1 capstone: replace a failed mirror member live, with the paperwork capstone · 90 min
- Hot-add and hot-remove a disk on a running server VM short · 30 min

2. Server administration 30% of the exam

01 Partitions, file systems, and disk layout for a server objective 2.1 part single try it
- Lay out a data disk with GPT, LVM and two file systems, then grow one short · 45 min
02 Installing a server OS, and the methods that scale objective 2.1 part single
- Build a golden template, deploy two clones, and fix what cloning copies applied · 60 min
- Install a server unattended from an answer file, and prove it matches short · 60 min
03 IP addressing, subnets and NIC teaming for servers objective 2.2 part single try it
- Team two NICs on lin-srv and prove the team survives losing one short · 45 min
04 DNS for servers: records, zones and name resolution objective 2.2 part single
- Run a lab DNS zone with forward and reverse records, and watch the TTL short · 50 min
05 DHCP and VLANs from the server side objective 2.2 part single try it
- Put lin-srv on two VLANs through one tagged adapter applied · 50 min
- Run a DHCP scope with a reservation and options, and read the lease short · 45 min
06 Server roles, monitoring, and performance baselines objective 2.3 part single try it
- Take a performance baseline, then catch a deviation from it short · 50 min
07 Migrating data between servers without losing anything objective 2.3 part single try it
- Plan and run a cutover that keeps a way back applied · 60 min
- Migrate a directory tree with rsync and prove nothing changed short · 40 min
08 Clustering and failover objective 2.4 part single
- Cause a split-brain on purpose, then work out the quorum that prevents it applied · 50 min
- Make a virtual IP fail over between two nodes with keepalived short · 50 min
09 Load balancing, and keeping a service up objective 2.4 part single
- Domain 2 capstone: a highly available web service, measured in nines capstone · 120 min
- Balance two web servers with HAProxy and a real health check short · 45 min
10 Hypervisors, hosts, guests and resource allocation objective 2.5 part single
- Put guests on two VLANs through a virtual switch, and prove a snapshot is not a backup applied · 50 min
- Overcommit memory on purpose and watch the host and guest react short · 45 min
11 Cloud models, and where a server workload lives objective 2.5 part single
- Map a workload onto IaaS, PaaS and SaaS and cost it both ways short · 40 min
12 Scripting basics: variables, loops and conditions objective 2.6 part single try it
- Write the same disk check in Bash and PowerShell short · 45 min
13 Automating common server tasks objective 2.6 part single try it
- Create users from a CSV with a script kept in Git applied · 60 min
- Schedule a cleanup job that logs what it did and fails loudly short · 45 min
14 Documentation that survives the person who wrote it objective 2.7 part single
- Catch configuration drift against an as-built baseline applied · 50 min
- Document the lab well enough for a stranger to use it short · 45 min
15 Asset lifecycle, licensing and secure storage objective 2.7 part single
- Build an asset register that warns before support runs out short · 40 min

3. Security and disaster recovery 24% of the exam

01 Encryption at rest and in transit objective 3.1 part single try it
- Run an internal CA, issue a TLS certificate, and refuse old protocols applied · 60 min
- Encrypt a volume with LUKS and prove the recovery key works short · 45 min
02 Data retention and the data lifecycle objective 3.1 part single try it
- Enforce a retention policy with a legal hold that overrides it short · 45 min
03 Physical access control and biometrics objective 3.2 part single
- Assess physical layers on premises you own, and tune a biometric threshold applied · 50 min
04 Environmental controls: temperature, humidity and fire objective 3.2 part single
- Write an environmental alert that ignores spikes and catches trends short · 40 min
05 User and service accounts, and permissions objective 3.3 part single try it
- Combine share and NTFS permissions on win-srv and predict the result applied · 50 min
- Build role-based access on a shared folder and test effective permissions short · 45 min
06 MFA, and protecting administrative access objective 3.3 part single
- Require a key and a one-time code for SSH, and reach servers only through a jump box short · 60 min
07 Malware prevention on servers objective 3.4 part single try it
- Prove on-access scanning works, then show what an exclusion lets through short · 40 min
08 DLP and SIEM: stopping data leaving, and seeing what happened objective 3.4 part single
- Find card numbers on a file share, cut the false positives, and triage the hits applied · 50 min
- Centralise logs, check the clocks agree, and correlate a brute-force pattern short · 50 min
09 Patching and OS updates for servers objective 3.5 part single
- Patch two servers, find the pending reboot, and report compliance short · 45 min
10 Reducing the attack surface: services, ports and host firewalls objective 3.5 part single try it
- Measure hardening against a published baseline and raise the score applied · 60 min
- Domain 3 capstone: harden a server end to end and prove each control capstone · 120 min
- Close what does not need to be open, and confirm it from outside short · 45 min
11 Media sanitisation and destruction objective 3.6 part single try it
- Sanitise by overwrite and by cryptographic erase, and record the custody applied · 50 min
12 Decommissioning a server, and recycling the hardware objective 3.6 part single
- Decommission a server from every system that knows about it short · 45 min

4. Troubleshooting 28% of the exam

01 The troubleshooting method for servers objective 4.1 part single
- Diagnose a fault you did not choose, one method step at a time short · 50 min
02 Power faults, and a server that will not POST objective 4.1 part single
- Tell no power, no POST and no boot apart on real hardware short · 45 min
03 Storage failures and degraded arrays objective 4.1 part single try it
- Corrupt a file system, detect it read-only, then repair it applied · 45 min
- Make a degraded array raise an alert instead of waiting to be found short · 40 min
04 Hardware connectivity: cables, NICs and transceivers objective 4.1 part single
- Isolate a physical-layer fault with link state, counters and a loopback ladder short · 40 min
05 OS errors and boot failures objective 4.2 part single try it
- Break the boot with a bad fstab entry and recover from the console short · 40 min
06 Application and service failures objective 4.2 part single try it
- Exhaust disk space and inodes, and find what filled them applied · 50 min
- Fix a service that will not start, and one that starts but cannot serve short · 40 min
07 Patching failures, and rolling back safely objective 4.2 part single
- Roll back a package update two ways, and tell users what is happening short · 45 min
08 Network latency and slow services objective 4.3 part single try it
- Add latency and loss to a link, measure them, and unmask a slow DNS lookup short · 45 min
09 Network misconfigurations: IP, DNS, DHCP and VLANs objective 4.3 part single
- Exhaust a DHCP scope, then catch a rogue DHCP server applied · 50 min
- Find a randomly injected network misconfiguration by working up the layers short · 50 min
10 Recognising a security breach on the network objective 4.3 part single
- Hunt planted indicators of compromise, contain the server, and preserve evidence short · 60 min
11 Backup types: full, incremental, differential and snapshots objective 4.4 part single try it
- Run full, incremental and differential backups and restore a chosen day short · 50 min
12 Backup media, rotation and the 3-2-1 rule objective 4.4 part single
- Apply grandfather-father-son retention to a year of backups, encrypted short · 45 min
13 Recovery testing, RTO and RPO objective 4.4 part single
- Rebuild a whole service from backup onto a fresh server, using only the runbook applied · 90 min
- Time a restore and measure it against an RTO and RPO short · 45 min
14 Failover sites, and validating disaster recovery objective 4.4 part single
- Course capstone: declare a disaster, fail over, measure it, and fail back capstone · 150 min
- Replicate to a recovery site asynchronously and measure the lag short · 45 min

Supplementary not examined — background reading

01 A lab server you can break, and the two halves of it part single
- Build the lab servers, snapshot them, and prove a revert really reverts short · 60 min

The exam simulator

598 questions, every one mapped to an objective and to the lesson that teaches it. Timed full-length papers drawn to the real domain split, retakes weighted to your weak areas, and a readiness report from your own results.

Open the simulator See the paid tier

Every lesson has an audio episode, and it plays in the lesson itself — there is nothing extra to sign up for.

The episodes are also a podcast: listen on Spotify.

This is an independent study companion for CompTIA Server+ SK0-005 and is not produced by or endorsed by CompTIA.