Administering Windows Server 2012 Research & Evidence-Based Practice 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which Windows Server 2012 feature generates automated reports analyzing current server configuration against best practices for Active Directory?
- BPA for Active Directory Domain Services role (Correct answer)
- Active Directory Diagnostics Data Collector Set
- Dcdiag.exe
- Netlogon debug logging
Correct answer: BPA for Active Directory Domain Services role
Running BPA against the AD DS role in Server Manager checks domain controller configuration against Microsoft best-practice rules.
Question 2: To research intermittent network drops, an admin enables packet capture on Windows Server 2012. Which built-in command-line tool captures network traffic without installing third-party software?
- netsh trace start (Correct answer)
- netstat -a
- ipconfig /all
- tracert
Correct answer: netsh trace start
Netsh trace start captures live network traffic to an ETL file that can be analyzed in Microsoft Message Analyzer or converted to pcap.
Question 3: Which Windows Server 2012 diagnostic tool analyzes domain controller health and outputs results useful for evidence-based troubleshooting?
- Dcdiag.exe (Correct answer)
- Netdom.exe
- Nltest.exe
- Repadmin.exe
Correct answer: Dcdiag.exe
Dcdiag.exe runs a suite of domain controller diagnostic tests and reports pass/fail results for each, guiding evidence-based remediation.
Question 4: An admin researching replication latency wants AD replication metadata for a specific object. Which tool is most direct?
- Repadmin /showattr (Correct answer)
- Dcdiag /test:replications
- Active Directory Sites and Services
- Event ID 1311
Correct answer: Repadmin /showattr
Repadmin /showattr displays per-attribute replication metadata including originating USN, timestamp, and originating DC.
Question 5: When documenting Group Policy application for a research report, which tool shows the resultant set of policy applied to a specific user and computer?
- Gpresult /H (Correct answer)
- Gpupdate /force
- Group Policy Management Console Modeling
- Auditpol.exe
Correct answer: Gpresult /H
Gpresult /H generates an HTML report of the Resultant Set of Policy (RSoP) for the current or specified user/computer.
Question 6: Which Windows Server 2012 log provides evidence of successful and failed logon attempts for security research?
- Security event log (Correct answer)
- System event log
- Application event log
- Forwarded Events log
Correct answer: Security event log
The Security log records audit events including logon successes (Event 4624) and failures (Event 4625) when auditing is enabled.
Question 7: An administrator wants to research the historical resource consumption of the IIS role on a Windows Server 2012 system. Which Data Collector Set template provides IIS-specific counters out of the box?
- System Diagnostics Data Collector Set
- IIS Performance Data Collector Set (Correct answer)
- Active Directory Diagnostics
- LAN Diagnostics
Correct answer: IIS Performance Data Collector Set
Performance Monitor includes an IIS Performance Data Collector Set template that pre-selects IIS-specific counters for web server analysis.
Administering Windows Server 2012 Research & Evidence-Based Practice 3
Which Windows Server 2012 feature generates automated reports analyzing current server configuration against best practices for Active Directory?