FC0-GR1 Exam - Overview of CompTIA Green IT Certification

FC0-GR1 Exam - Overview of CompTIA Green IT Certification

FC0-GR1 exam belongs to the CompTIA Green IT certification which is designed for applicants who are able and have authority to make decision in their company’s IT structure, for example, System Administrator, Network Administrator, IT Manager, IT Security Manager, Network Security Manager, Data Center Manager, Operation Manager, and IT Supervisor.

CompTIA FC0-GR1 Exam stands on two pillars of domains. First and most important domain is Green IT Techniques and Technologies and the second domain is Green IT Policies and Standards. Let’s take an individual look on both of them one by one:

Green IT Techniques and Technologies

Implement environmentally sound techniques to dispose of hazardous materials.

Environmentally hazardous substance disposal

-· Battery disposal

-· CRT disposal-replace with LCDs

-· General Recycling

→ Recycling of computers for reuse or parts

-· Toner disposal / ink cartridge recycling

-· Cleaning supply disposal

-· Materials that meet RoHS guidelines

-· Retired equipment disposal

-· Use of third party approved vendors for disposal

→ Shredding

→ Incinerating

→ Hard drive wiping

Identify and implement environmentally sound techniques to preserve power.

Ø Power management (Power saving features)

-· BIOS settings

→ ACPI

→ Screen brightness

→ Power saving profile

→ Wake on LAN

→ CPU states

Ø SpeedStep™(Intel processors)

Ø PowerNow!/Cool’n’Quiet™(AMD)

Ø LongHaul™ (Via CPU)

Ø LongRun™ (Transmeta)

→ Fan speeds

→ Power on and power off timers

-· OS settings

→ Automatic standby after a specified time limit of non-use

→ Hard disk power down time

→ Wireless and Wired NIC power saving settings

→ Sleep, standby, hibernate modes

→ USB Suspend settings

→ PCI Express power management

→ Search and Indexing power saving mode

→ Windows Vista DreamScene™ power setting modes

→ Multimedia Power settings

→ Power utility in control panel

-· IT policy and procedures

→ Shutdown/power off procedures/policies at end of day

→ Shutdown scripts

Ø Consolidation of office equipment

-· Multifunctional devices

-· Power management PCs and lower power servers replace large desktops with energy efficient laptops and thin clients

-· Consolidation of vendors and/or orders to reduce shipping

Ø Reduce graphic card performance to minimum requirements

-· Motherboard video output using low 3D performance or power

-· Select GPU based on average wattage or performance/watt

Ø No video card - use of shared terminals and thin clients

Ø LED monitors and LED lights

Ø Use Power over Ethernet (PoE)

Ø Wireless AP Auto Transmit Power or Manual Transmit Power

Ø Light/power timer on routers and/or networking equipment

Ø Active cooling (water or fan) vs. Passive (heatsink only)

Explain the purpose and application of virtualization technology.

Ø VDI - Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

Ø Virtual Lab

-· On demand Labs and On Demand Applications

Ø Server consolidation

Ø Storage virtualization

Ø Application virtualization

Ø Best practices

Ø Pros and Cons of virtualization

Pros:

→ Power reduction

→ Reduced infrastructure cost

→ Centralization of computing resources

→ Centralized administration

→ Thin client vs. full workstations

→ Enhanced disaster recovery

→ Licensing costs

→ Faster deployment

→ Maximize hardware utilization

→ Reduced power and cooling consumption

Cons:

→ Potential single point of failure

→ Increased administrative overhead

→ More complex administration

→ High initial investment

→ Training personnel costs

→ Increased network traffic within a single node

→ Resource contention

→ Increase mean time between failure

→ Security

Explain different techniques and technologies that will enhance Green IT initiatives in FC0-GR1 exam

Ø Duplex printing and use lower cost per page network printers

Ø Use Terminal Servers

Ø Blade servers

Ø Use Energy Star rated equipment

Ø Use low power NAS (network attached storage) instead of file servers

Ø Use Solid State drives

Ø Green building infrastructure and renewable energy sources

-· Insulation- Eliminate air leaks in building/rooms

-· Passive Solar and passive cooling, Active solar

-· Heat recovery ventilation

-· Fluorescent lighting and compact florescent lamps

-· HVAC scheduling and monitoring

-· Smart light switches

-· Proper spacing for cooling IT equipment

-· Solar panels

-· Wind power

-· Other energy sources

-· Heat exchangers

-· Rechargeable batteries

Ø Decrease print margins (increase print area)

Ø Paperless documents / electronic records

Ø Online collaboration technologies

Ø KVM switches to share a single PC or a single monitor

Ø Measurement of energy for IT hardware and infrastructure

-· Active accountability and management to measure 6-12 months