Exam 70-462: Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012/2014 Databases Practice Test
Exam 70-462 focuses on administering SQL Server 2012 and 2014 databases. Its subject matter includes database configuration, security, backup and recovery, high availability, and performance monitoring. The practice bank’s scenarios also touch transaction log handling, restore options, SQL Server Agent job security, indexing, authentication, and query execution plans.
Exam overview
About the Exam 70-462: Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012/2014 Databases Exam
Database administration requires choosing settings and procedures that protect data while keeping services available. Backup and recovery work includes selecting a recovery model, preserving an unbroken transaction log backup sequence, and restoring files or databases to an appropriate destination and point in time. Security tasks involve authentication modes, permissions, constraints, and running SQL Server Agent steps under suitably limited identities. Administrators also need to understand how clustered and nonclustered indexes relate, how SQL Server recovers completed transactions after a restart, and how estimated execution plans help evaluate a query without running it. Change capture concepts matter when downstream applications need to consume table modifications asynchronously. These skills connect routine maintenance decisions with data integrity, recoverability, and operational troubleshooting.
Sample Practice Questions
Review a selection from this exam's published US Practice Tests practice bank.
A database administrator needs to capture changes made to tables so that downstream systems can read those changes asynchronously. Which SQL Server feature is designed to expose table changes in this way?
Show answer
Correct answer: AChange Data Capture records inserts, updates, and deletes in change tables, allowing consumers to retrieve changes asynchronously. The other options address point-in-time database views, encryption, and resource management.
A database must be restored to a point in time using a full backup, a differential backup, and subsequent transaction log backups. What must be true of the log backups applied in sequence?
Show answer
Correct answer: APoint-in-time recovery using log backups requires an unbroken log sequence from the backup set being restored through the desired recovery point. The final restore is recovered after all required backups have been applied.
A table's clustered index is rebuilt, and a nonclustered index on that table is then queried. What is the usual role of the clustered index key in the nonclustered index?
Show answer
Correct answer: AFor a table with a clustered index, the clustered key identifies the row and serves as the row locator in nonclustered indexes. This lets SQL Server navigate from a nonclustered index entry to the corresponding base row when needed.
An administrator needs a SQL Server Agent job to run under a Windows identity that has only the operating-system permissions required by the job. Which feature should be configured for the job step?
Show answer
Correct answer: BA SQL Server Agent proxy lets a job step run under a specified security context. The proxy is associated with a credential and is granted access to the relevant job-step subsystem.
A database administrator wants to restore a database to a different database name while keeping the original database intact. Which RESTORE option is used to specify a new destination file path for each database file?
Show answer
Correct answer: AThe MOVE option in a RESTORE DATABASE command maps each logical database file to a specified physical path. This lets the restored database use different file locations and, with a new database name, coexist with the original. REPLACE permits overwriting an existing database, NORECOVERY leaves the database ready for further restores, and STATS reports progress.
A SQL Server database must retain transaction log records so that transaction log backups can be performed. Which recovery model supports this?
Show answer
Correct answer: BThe FULL recovery model supports transaction log backups and point-in-time restore when an appropriate log backup chain is maintained. SIMPLE does not support transaction log backups; BULK_LOGGED also supports log backups, so the wording asks for the standard model that supports them, making FULL the best answer among these options.
A SQL Server instance is configured to use Windows Authentication and SQL Server Authentication. What authentication mode is this?
Show answer
Correct answer: BMixed mode enables both Windows Authentication and SQL Server Authentication. Windows-only mode accepts Windows identities but not SQL Server logins.
How to use this practice test
The free practice session draws up to 20 random questions from the 70-462 question bank. Submit the session to see results, then use missed or uncertain items to identify concepts for targeted review, such as restore sequencing, job-step credentials, or index behavior.
Preparation tips
- Work through point-in-time restore scenarios and verify how full, differential, and transaction log backups must relate.
- Compare SQL Server recovery models, especially their effects on transaction log backup and restore options.
- Review authentication modes, constraints, and SQL Server Agent proxy credentials; distinguish database permissions from Windows identity permissions.
- Trace how a nonclustered index uses the clustered key, and practice reading estimated execution plans to assess expected operations and costs.
- Study database change capture and restart recovery as separate mechanisms: one exposes table changes, while the other applies logged transactions.