Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 Exam Research & Evidence-Based Practice 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: According to Microsoft best practices research, which Windows Server 2012 role should be installed on a dedicated server to reduce attack surface?
- Active Directory Domain Services (Correct answer)
- Print and Document Services
- Windows Deployment Services
- DNS Server
Correct answer: Active Directory Domain Services
Microsoft's security research recommends installing Active Directory Domain Services on dedicated servers to reduce the attack surface and potential compromise risk.
Question 2: Evidence-based guidelines for Windows Server 2012 recommend enabling which feature to log all PowerShell commands executed on a server?
- PowerShell Constrained Language Mode
- PowerShell Script Block Logging (Correct answer)
- PowerShell Execution Policy
- PowerShell Remoting
Correct answer: PowerShell Script Block Logging
PowerShell Script Block Logging captures all script content executed by PowerShell, providing an auditable record recommended by security research.
Question 3: Research on Windows Server 2012 hardening identifies which setting as a primary defense against pass-the-hash attacks?
- Disabling NTLM authentication
- Enabling Restricted Admin mode
- Configuring Protected Users security group (Correct answer)
- Enabling Credential Guard
Correct answer: Configuring Protected Users security group
The Protected Users security group in Windows Server 2012 R2 prevents caching of credentials and forces Kerberos-only authentication, mitigating pass-the-hash.
Question 4: Based on performance benchmarking studies, what is the recommended minimum RAM for a Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V host running 10 virtual machines?
- 8 GB
- 16 GB
- 32 GB (Correct answer)
- 64 GB
Correct answer: 32 GB
Industry benchmarks and Microsoft's guidelines recommend at least 32 GB RAM for a Hyper-V host supporting 10 VMs to maintain acceptable performance.
Question 5: Evidence-based Windows Server 2012 deployment research recommends which NIC teaming mode for highest fault tolerance in a switch-independent configuration?
- Address Hash
- Hyper-V Port
- Dynamic
- Switch Independent with Active/Standby (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Switch Independent with Active/Standby
Switch Independent with Active/Standby NIC teaming provides highest fault tolerance by keeping one adapter as a hot standby, requiring no switch configuration.
Question 6: According to Microsoft's deployment research, which tool provides the most evidence of server health by collecting baseline performance data over time in Windows Server 2012?
- Task Manager
- Performance Monitor with Data Collector Sets (Correct answer)
- Resource Monitor
- Server Manager Dashboard
Correct answer: Performance Monitor with Data Collector Sets
Performance Monitor with Data Collector Sets collects and stores performance data over time, enabling trend analysis and evidence-based capacity planning.
Question 7: Research on Windows Server 2012 storage best practices recommends using which RAID level for a database volume requiring both redundancy and read performance?
- RAID 0
- RAID 1
- RAID 5
- RAID 10 (Correct answer)
Correct answer: RAID 10
RAID 10 (mirrored stripes) provides both redundancy and improved read/write performance, making it the evidence-based choice for database workloads.
Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 Exam Research & Evidence-Based Practice 2
According to Microsoft best practices research, which Windows Server 2012 role should be installed on a dedicated server to reduce attack surface?