220-1101 Exam Dumps - CompTIA A+ Certification Exam: Core 1

The answer is A. High availability and B. Elasticity.

High availability is the ability of a system to remain operational and accessible with minimal or no downtime, even in the event of failures, disasters, or disruptions. High availability can be achieved by designing a system that has redundancy, fault tolerance, and disaster recovery capabilities. For example, a cloud engineer can design a system that replicates data and resources across multiple regions, zones, or availability domains, and uses load balancing and failover mechanisms to distribute the workload and handle failures gracefully12.

Elasticity is the ability of a system to scale up or down automatically in response to changes in demand or utilization. Elasticity can be achieved by designing a system that can dynamically allocate and deallocate resources based on predefined metrics, policies, or triggers. For example, a cloud engineer can design a system that uses auto-scaling groups, horizontal or vertical scaling strategies, and on-demand or spot instances to optimize the performance and cost of the system32.

By implementing high availability and elasticity, a cloud engineer can ensure that the solution is able to immediately fail over to another region in case of an outage and also scale up in the event of high utilization. These are two important aspects of building reliable and scalable cloud architectures. Therefore, options A and B are the correct answers.

A power supply unit (PSU) is a component that converts AC power from the wall outlet to DC power that can be used by the computer components. A PSU has various specifications, such as input voltage, output voltage, wattage, connector type, form factor, and efficiency rating3. In this scenario, the engineer is building a workstation that requires the following components: an ATX motherboard, a multi-core processor, a dedicated graphics solution, a SATA hard drive, and DDR4 memory. The most suitable power supply specification for this workstation is 12V, 500W output. This means that the PSU can provide 12 volts of DC power and 500 watts of total power to the components. 12V is the standard output voltage for most modern PSUs, and it is compatible with the ATX motherboard and the SATA hard drive4. 500W is a sufficient wattage for a workstation that has a multi-core processor and a dedicated graphics solution, which are power-hungry components5. The other power supply specifications are not suitable for this workstation because:

•SFX, 18-pin connector is a form factor and a connector type that are not compatible with the ATX motherboard, which requires an ATX form factor and a 24-pin connector6.

•DC input is a type of input voltage that is not common for desktop PSUs, which usually use AC input from the wall outlet.

•Type A socket is a type of AC power plug that is used in North America and Japan, but it is not a power supply specification.

References

3: What Power Supply Do I Have: Quick Ways to Find Your PSU Specs

4: Power Supply 101: A Reference Of Specifications

5: How to Choose the Right Power Supply for Your PC

6: SFX vs ATX PSU: What’s the Difference?

AC vs DC Power Supply: What’s the Difference?

AC power plugs and sockets - Wikipedia

Shared resources is the concept that allows several websites from different companies to be housed on the same virtual server. A virtual server is a software-based server that runs on a physical server and can host multiple virtual machines (VMs). Each VM can run a different operating system and application, such as a website, and have its own allocated resources, such as CPU, memory, disk space, and network bandwidth. However, the VMs share the underlying hardware resources of the physical server, which reduces the cost and complexity of maintaining separate servers for each website. This also enables rapid scalability, as new VMs can be created or deleted as needed.

One of the methods to host multiple websites on the same virtual server is to use virtual hosts. Virtual hosts are a feature of web servers, such as Apache, that allow the web server to serve different websites based on the domain name or IP address requested by the client. For example, a web server can host two websites, a.example.com and b.example.com, on the same virtual server and the same port (such as 80 or 443), by using virtual hosts to map each domain name to a different document root directory. The web server will then deliver the content of the corresponding website to the client based on the domain name in the HTTP request header.

References:

How to Host Multiple Websites With One Apache Server1

How to run multiple sites on one apache instance2

Multiple different website hosting on same port 443 and same server or …3

When several name-based virtual hosts on the same web server share the …4

How to Host Multiple Sites on One Server - Server Mania5

A physical firewall is a hardware device that filters and blocks unwanted or malicious traffic from entering or leaving a network. A physical firewall can be configured with rules and policies to allow or deny traffic based on various criteria, such as source and destination IP addresses, ports, protocols, applications, etc. A physical firewall can also provide logging and monitoring capabilities to detect and prevent network attacks12.

A physical firewall is the most appropriate tool for a technician to use to mitigate threats to web clusters, which are groups of web servers that work together to provide high availability and scalability for web applications. Web clusters are often exposed to the internet and face various types of threats, such as denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, brute force attacks, SQL injection attacks, cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, etc. A physical firewall can protect the web clusters’ public-facing interface by filtering and blocking the unwanted or malicious traffic before it reaches the web servers, thus reducing the risk of compromise or downtime34.

The other options are not as effective or relevant as a physical firewall for mitigating threats to web clusters. Device encryption is a process of transforming data into an unreadable form using a secret key, which can prevent unauthorized access to the data if the device is lost or stolen. However, device encryption does not prevent network attacks or filter traffic, and it may not apply to web clusters that use shared storage or cloud services. Intrusion detection system (IDS) is a software or hardware tool that monitors network traffic and alerts the administrator of any suspicious or malicious activity. However, IDS does not block or filter traffic, and it may not be able to prevent or stop an attack in progress. IDS is often used in conjunction with a firewall, not as a replacement. Antivirus/anti-malware is a software tool that scans and removes viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, ransomware, and other malicious software from a device. However, antivirus/anti-malware does not filter or block network traffic, and it may not be able to detect or prevent some web-based attacks, such as XSS or SQL injection. Antivirus/anti-malware is also often used in conjunction with a firewall, not as a replacement.

References:

CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1101) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 5: Networking, Section 5.4: Network Devices, Page 233

CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1101) and Core 2 (220-1102) Exam Cram, Chapter 5: Networking, Section 5.4: Network Devices, Page 197

CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1101) and Core 2 (220-1102) Pearson uCertify Course and Labs and Textbook Bundle, Chapter 5: Networking, Section 5.4: Network Devices, Page 234

CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1101) and Core 2 (220-1102) Cert Guide, Chapter 5: Networking, Section 5.4: Network Devices, Page 205

CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1101) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 9: Security, Section 9.3: Device Security, Page 419

CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1101) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 9: Security, Section 9.4: Network Security, Page 431

CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1101) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 9: Security, Section 9.5: Malware and Threats, Page 443

A firewall is a network device that performs stateful packet inspection, which means it analyzes incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predefined rules and filters, and allows or blocks packets based on their source, destination, protocol, port, or content. A firewall can enhance security by preventing unauthorized access, blocking malicious traffic, enforcing policies, and logging events. A firewall can be hardware-based or software-based, or a combination of both. Reference: https://www.comptia.org/training/books/a-core-1-220-1101-study-guide (page 78)

Testing the power supply first ensures that the correct voltage is reaching all components, which is a common cause of boot issues. Modifying BIOS settings is not possible without a POST. Checking PCIe cards or replacing the motherboard are secondary steps if the power supply is functional. CompTIA A+ Core 1 objectives cover power supply testing as an essential troubleshooting step in system startup issues.

The problem in this scenario is that the battery charger is not a USB device, but a device that plugs into a USB port to draw power. Therefore, it does not have a unique identifier that can be recognized by the peripheral security software, which is designed to prevent unauthorized USB devices from accessing the company’s network or data. The security software cannot add the battery charger to its whitelist, and may block its power supply or generate alerts.

The best solution for this problem is to provide a USB to AC adapter for the battery charger, which is a device that converts the USB power output to an AC power input that can be plugged into a wall outlet. This way, the battery charger does not need to connect to the docking station or the computer, and does not trigger the peripheral security software. The user can still charge the camera’s battery without compromising the company’s security policy.

The other options are not advisable because they either do not solve the problem or create new risks. Option B, adding a powered USB hub to the docking station, may not work if the security software also monitors the hub’s ports and detects the battery charger as an unknown device. Option C, disabling the peripheral security software for this user only, is a very bad idea because it exposes the user’s computer and the company’s network to potential attacks from malicious USB devices. Option D, replacing the battery charger with a USB device that has a unique identifier, is unnecessary and costly, and may not be compatible with the camera’s battery.

References:

CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1101) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 9: Security, Section 9.3: Device Security, Page 419

CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1101) and Core 2 (220-1102) Pearson uCertify Course and Labs and Textbook Bundle, Chapter 9: Security, Section 9.3: Device Security, Page 420

CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1101) and Core 2 (220-1102) Exam Cram, Chapter 9: Security, Section 9.3: Device Security, Page 402