You can see it againUnder pressure people bring back shapes and positions long after the wording has gone.
Picture superiority · Shepard 1967, Standing 1973
COMPTIACompTIA Server+
CompTIA Server+ certification validates your skills in server installation, management, and troubleshooting. It is ideal for professionals working in data centers, on-premises, and hybrid environments, covering critical areas such as server hardware, administration, security, disaster recovery, and troubleshooting.
Exam formatMultiple choice and performance-based
Duration90 minutes
DeliveryPearson VUE
Passing score750 (on a scale of 100-900)
Free questions534
Content last reviewed 1 October 2023 · Up to date
The certification
What SK0-005 proves, and what it asks of you
What this certification covers, who it is written for, and what the exam itself looks like on the day.
4domains
20objectives
160concepts
US $369exam fee
What it is
What this certification is
What it validates, who it is written for, and the experience it assumes.
About this certification
The CompTIA Server+ certification validates your ability to install, manage, and troubleshoot servers in data centers, on-premises, and hybrid environments. It covers essential areas such as server hardware, administration, security, disaster recovery, and troubleshooting.
This certification equips you with the hands-on skills needed to excel in server operations and advance your career in the growing field of server management. It is recognized as an industry standard for professionals working with server technologies.
Who it’s for
This certification is designed for IT professionals who work with server technologies in data centers, on-premises, and hybrid environments. It is suitable for those involved in server installation, management, and troubleshooting. Ideal candidates include network operations specialists and systems administrators who are responsible for maintaining server infrastructure and ensuring its security and reliability.
Recommended experience
CompTIA recommends having CompTIA A+ certification or equivalent knowledge, with two years of hands-on experience in a server environment. Experience with server hardware installation and management; Knowledge of server operating systems and network services; Familiarity with server security and disaster recovery strategies
The syllabus
What you’ll learn
Every domain and objective CompTIA measures, with the weight they carry on the exam.
The official CompTIA exam outline · checked 1 October 2023 · See the source
Server hardware installation and management
- Install physical hardware
- Deploy and manage storage
- Perform hardware maintenance
Server administration
- Install server operating systems
- Configure network services
- Manage server functions
- High availability
- Virtualization
- Scripting basics
- Asset management
Security and disaster recovery
- Data security
- Physical security
- Identity and access management
- Mitigation strategies
- Server hardening
- Decommissioning
Troubleshooting
- Troubleshoot hardware
- Troubleshoot software
- Troubleshoot network
- Disaster recovery
On the day
The exam itself
Everything CompTIA publishes about sitting it, and nothing we inferred.
Prerequisites
No mandatory prerequisites — this certification has no required predecessor exam or credential.
Exam codeSK0-005
CertificationCompTIA Server+
Exam formatMultiple choice and performance-based
Duration90 minutes
QuestionsMaximum of 90 questions
Passing score750 (on a scale of 100-900)
DeliveryPearson VUE
LanguagesEnglish, Japanese
PricingUS $369
After you pass
Where this credential goes next
The path CompTIA lays out, how the credential is kept, and where to book.
Step-by-step path to CompTIA Server+
Credential earnedCompTIA Server+ Certification Renewal and maintenance
The CompTIA Server+ certification is valid for three years. Renew before it expires by completing CEUs or retaking exams. Stay current with the latest technologies and maintain your certification.
Learn more about renewal requirements Lifecycle status
This certification is currently active and available. CompTIA maintains this certification to validate current skills and industry relevance.
Exam status: ActiveMaintained by CompTIA
Exam registration
Register for the exam through Pearson VUE, CompTIA’s authorized testing partner.
Schedule your examVisit the official CompTIA certification page for exam policies and requirements.
View the official pageYour coach
And when you are serious, your coach Pip takes over
Your coach in the app reads what you have answered with the book closed and tells you one thing to do tonight. It will not count an answer you gave with the page open, and it will tell you when you are not ready.
See how the coach worksBefore you book
Questions people ask
What job roles does the CompTIA Server+ credential map to?
It aligns with network operations specialist and systems administrator roles responsible for server management and troubleshooting.
Is there a hands-on component in the Server+ exam?
Yes. The exam includes performance-based questions that require practical application of server management skills.
What is the retake policy for the Server+ exam?
You must wait 24 hours after a first failed attempt, and 14 days before each subsequent attempt. There is no annual cap on attempts.
Can I recertify by passing a different CompTIA exam?
Yes. Earning a higher-level CompTIA certification can renew your Server+ credential without retaking the Server+ exam.
Information freshness · Content last reviewed on 2023-10-01 Up to date
Practice free questions 534 questions, free, no account needed.
The curriculum
The whole exam, mapped and written
Every domain, every objective, and every concept CompTIA measures — each one written out.
4domains
20objectives
160concepts
114free pages
The domains, and what sits inside them
Every objective below is a page you can open and practise now, without an account.
The official CompTIA exam outline · checked 1 October 2023 · See the source
1Server hardware installation and management81 questions
2Server administration169 questions
Install server operating systems6 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →Configure network services9 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →Manage server functions8 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →High availability7 concepts · 6 pagesOpen →Virtualization10 concepts · 4 pagesOpen →Scripting basics11 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →Asset management7 concepts · 6 pagesOpen →
3Security and disaster recovery175 questions
Not a table of contents
Every line on this map already opens
In front of every objective the practice pages are already there, free and without an account. This is one objective, opened.
Install physical hardware5 pagesOpen →
Free in front of it
24 questions on this objective, five to a page. Every range above is a real page, open now, with no account.
Reading the map is not the same as knowing the ground
The curriculum tells you what is on the exam. Proving you know it is a different job — and it is the one the closed-book run does.
Free questions
534 questions. No account, no card.
The whole bank is open. 5 questions to a page, every answer explained, and a discussion thread on each one.
534questions
114pages
20objectives
Freealways
Browse by domain
Every objective, and every page range, is a link — so you can pick up exactly where you left off.
1Server hardware installation and management81 questions
2Server administration169 questions
3Security and disaster recovery175 questions
4Troubleshooting109 questions
What a practice page gives you
1Five to a page
Short enough to finish, long enough to matter.
2Every answer explained
Not only which one is right — why the others are wrong.
3A discussion on each
Ask, answer, and vote. Every question has its own thread.
A question, and the idea behind it
Every question comes from a concept
These are not trivia. Each one is written against a concept in the book, so when you get one wrong there is somewhere to go and find out why.
The visual book
See it once. Carry it into the exam.
The pages shown here come from our AI-900 book — an example of how each concept is written in plain language and, where the idea needs one, drawn as a full page you can take in at a glance.
160concepts
534free questions
Why a picture, and not another paragraph
Three reasons, and each one is a real finding rather than a slogan.
You can see it againThe whole idea at onceWhere it starts, what happens in the middle, what comes out, and the mistake to avoid.
Multimedia principle · MayerThe look-alikes sit togetherThe pairs the exam tests are drawn side by side, so the difference is seen, not told.
Dual coding · PaivioWhat one page is made of
You are never asked to read a poster here — only to see how one is built. After that, every other page is legible at a glance.
1A numbered strip on top
The idea as a sequence, followed with a finger before a word is read.
2Panels for the parts
What it is, how the machine learns it, when it is the right tool.
3The trap, framed
The distinction the exam tests, given its own box instead of buried in prose.
4One line at the bottom
The sentence to carry into the exam room.
Open book, on purpose
Answer it with the picture beside you
This is the part that teaches. The illustration and the written explanation stay where they are while you work, so a scenario stops being a memory test and becomes something you can simply look at.
It teaches · it does not count
A smartphone uses AI to unlock when the owner looks at the camera. Which AI capability is being used?
AImage classification
BFacial recognition
COptical character recognition
DObject detection
Look at the five steps. Detect finds a face, align straightens it, encode turns it into numbers, search compares it with a stored face, and decide answers one question: is this the same person? Classification would only say “a face”. Detection would only draw a box. Neither decides whose.
Then the page shuts, and it starts counting
The same questions come back with the book closed — that run is the one that counts. After it, your coach picks one thing for tonight, sized to the time you have, and brings pages back before you lose them.
Testing effect · Roediger & Karpicke 2006 · spacing effect · Cepeda et al. 2006
Official resources
Straight from CompTIA
Where the exam is defined, scheduled and scored.
1official link
160concepts mapped
The source
CompTIA’s own pages
We link to them rather than repeat them, so nothing here goes stale behind them.
Checked against the source
Every objective on the official CompTIA outline already has questions here
We build from the official skills outline, not from a summary of it — 20 objectives, 160 concepts written under them, and free questions against every one. When CompTIA changes the outline, this page changes with it.
20objectives on the outline→160concepts written→534free questions
An official page tells you what will be asked. It cannot tell you what you will get right.
That is the only question worth answering the night before, and no link answers it. You answer it by taking the questions with the book closed, and seeing what comes back.