XK0-006 Automation, Orchestration, and Scripting Practice Test 9 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A DevOps team uses Podman to run containers rootlessly. Which TWO of the following characteristics apply to rootless Podman compared to Docker? (Select TWO).

Accepted Answer

It uses the same CLI syntax as Docker. Podman does not require a daemon (no central daemon), and it can run containers without root privileges by default using user namespaces.

Answer

It can only run containers as root

Answer

It requires a running daemon at all times

Answer

It relies on a central registry for all images

Question 2

An administrator is debugging a Docker container that exits immediately after starting. Which THREE commands can help diagnose the issue? (Select THREE).

Accepted Answer

docker run --rm -it sh. Option A (docker run --rm -it sh) is correct because it overrides the image's default entrypoint/command with an interactive shell, letting you explore the filesystem and manually run the failing process to see errors directly. Option B (docker logs ) is correct because it retrieves stdout/stderr captured from the container's main process, which typically contains the crash message or stack trace explaining the immediate exit. Option C (docker inspect ) is correct because it reveals the container's ExitCode, State, Error, and the configured Entrypoint/Cmd, helping identify misconfigurations or non-zero exit reasons. Option D (docker exec -it sh) does not belong because exec requires a running container, and this container has already exited. Option E (docker ps) does not belong because it only lists running containers by default, so the exited container would not appear unless -a is used, and it provides no diagnostic detail.

Answer

docker exec -it <container> sh

Answer

docker ps

Question 3

In an Ansible playbook, which THREE of the following are valid modules for managing files and packages? (Select THREE).

Accepted Answer

copy. (copy) is correct because the copy module is a dedicated Ansible module for copying files from the local control node to remote hosts, supporting attributes like owner, permissions, and content. It is the standard idempotent way to manage file distribution in playbooks.

Answer

get_url

Answer

command

Question 4

A bash script uses a loop to iterate over files in a directory. Which TWO of the following loop constructs will correctly iterate over each .txt file in the current directory? (Select TWO).

Accepted Answer

for file in *.txt; do. Option C is correct because `for file in *.txt; do` relies on bash pathname expansion (globbing), which expands the unquoted pattern `*.txt` into the list of matching filenames in the current directory, iterating over each one. Option E is correct because `while IFS= read -r file; do ... done < <(find . -maxdepth 1 -name '*.txt')` uses process substitution to feed find's output into the loop; `IFS=` preserves leading/trailing whitespace and `read -r` prevents backslash interpretation, and `find . -maxdepth 1 -name '*.txt'` lists only .txt files directly in the current directory. Option A is wrong because quoting `'*.txt'` suppresses globbing, so the loop runs once with the literal string `*.txt`. Option B is wrong because parsing `ls` output is fragile and breaks on filenames containing spaces, newlines, or glob characters. Option D is wrong because it iterates over indices of a `files` array that is never populated in the scenario, so it does not iterate over the .txt files.

Answer

for file in '*.txt'; do

Answer

for file in $(ls *.txt); do

Answer

for ((i=0; i<${#files[@]}; i++)); do

Question 5

In a bash script, a function is defined to calculate a value. Which TWO of the following are valid ways to return a value from the function to the caller? (Select TWO).

Accepted Answer

echo 42. The return statement sets the exit status (0-255). echo outputs to stdout which can be captured via command substitution. Functions cannot return arbitrary integers directly via return if >255.

Answer

exit 42

Answer

return 'value'

Answer

print 42

Question 6

A Linux administrator is writing a Bash script that must run a cleanup routine when the script exits, whether it exits normally or is interrupted by a signal. The script defines a function named cleanup. Which command should the administrator use to ensure cleanup runs on exit?

Accepted Answer

trap 'cleanup' EXIT. The trap builtin is the standard Bash mechanism for running commands in response to signals or shell events. Using the EXIT pseudo-signal makes the handler run on any script termination, including normal completion and receipt of catchable signals, which is exactly what the administrator needs for a guaranteed cleanup routine.

Answer

setsid cleanup &

Answer

at now + 1 minute <<< cleanup

Answer

trap 'cleanup' SIGKILL

Question 7

A Linux administrator is writing a Bash script that must read a file line by line and preserve leading whitespace in each line. The script currently uses `for line in $(cat file.txt)`. Which construct should replace the current loop to preserve whitespace and avoid word splitting?

Accepted Answer

while IFS= read -r line; do ... done < file.txt. Reading a file line by line while preserving whitespace requires disabling field splitting with IFS= and preventing backslash processing with read -r, and the input must be redirected into the loop rather than piped so the loop runs in the current shell. The quoted command substitution approach collapses the file into one value, and the default read behavior strips leading whitespace.

Answer

cat file.txt | while read -r line; do ... done

Answer

for line in "$(cat file.txt)"; do ... done

Answer

while read line; do ... done < <(cat file.txt)

Question 8

A Linux administrator needs to parse a structured configuration file and extract the value of a specific key. The file format is JSON, and the administrator wants to use a command-line tool that is commonly preinstalled on modern Linux distributions. Which command should the administrator use?

Accepted Answer

jq. jq is purpose-built for JSON, understands the format's structure, and is commonly available on modern Linux distributions. It can extract a specific key with a simple filter and correctly handles nested data, escaping, and type conversions, making it the appropriate choice for parsing a JSON configuration file.

Answer

awk

Answer

grep

Answer

sed

Question 9

A Linux administrator needs to schedule a recurring backup script to run every Monday at 02:30 using the system-wide cron facility on a systemd-based distribution. Which entry correctly achieves this when placed in /etc/cron.d/backup?

Accepted Answer

30 2 * * 1 root /usr/local/bin/backup.sh. System-wide cron files placed in /etc/cron.d require six fields: minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week, and a user, followed by the command. The correct entry uses minute 30, hour 2, wildcards for day of month and month, day of week 1 for Monday, and root as the executing user, producing a weekly Monday 02:30 run.

Answer

30 2 1 * * root /usr/local/bin/backup.sh

Answer

2 30 * * 1 root /usr/local/bin/backup.sh

Answer

30 2 * * 1 /usr/local/bin/backup.sh

Question 10

A Linux administrator is writing a Bash script to back up a directory. The script must continue running even if a particular command fails, but the administrator wants to log the error and take corrective action. Which of the following should be used to handle the error condition?

Accepted Answer

Check the exit status of the command using `$?` and conditionally execute recovery steps.. The requirement is to continue after a failure while logging and taking corrective action. Checking `$?` immediately after a command allows the script to branch based on success or failure, enabling custom error handling without terminating the script. This approach is flexible and standard for scenarios where fail-fast is not desired. Other methods either exit prematurely or fail to provide error handling.

Answer

Use `trap` to catch the ERR signal and exit the script.

Answer

Run the command in a subshell and ignore its exit status.

Answer

Use `set -e` at the beginning of the script.

Question 11

A Linux administrator needs to schedule a maintenance script to run every Monday at 03:15 on a systemd-based server. The script must persist across reboots and must not depend on a user being logged in. Which of the following is the BEST approach?

Accepted Answer

Create a systemd timer unit with OnCalendar=Mon 03:15:00 and a matching service unit, then enable the timer with systemctl enable --now.. Systemd timers are the modern, native scheduling mechanism on systemd-based Linux distributions. Pairing a timer unit that defines OnCalendar=Mon 03:15:00 with a service unit that runs the script, then enabling the timer, satisfies the requirement for a recurring, reboot-persistent job that runs without any logged-in user. This approach is more robust than legacy cron or one-shot at jobs.

Answer

Add the entry to /etc/crontab using the root user field, then run systemctl restart crond.

Answer

Place a script in /etc/profile.d/ that invokes the maintenance command, ensuring it runs for every user session.

Answer

Create an at job with at 03:15 Mon and save it with atq so it repeats weekly.

Question 12

A Linux administrator is automating container lifecycle tasks with a script and needs to ensure a specific container, named webapp, is stopped cleanly and removed, while also removing its anonymous volumes. Which TWO docker commands should be used to accomplish this? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

docker rm -v webapp. A clean container teardown involves stopping the container so its main process receives SIGTERM and can exit gracefully, then removing the container with the -v flag to delete its anonymous volumes. Using SIGKILL or broad volume pruning bypasses graceful shutdown or affects unrelated resources, and removing an image does not address the container or its volumes.

Answer

docker volume prune -a

Answer

docker rmi webapp

Answer

docker kill webapp

Question 13

A Linux administrator is automating user account creation. The script reads a list of usernames from a file and creates each account. The administrator wants the script to continue processing remaining users even if one useradd command fails due to a duplicate username. Which Bash construct should be used to run useradd and handle the failure without aborting the script?

Accepted Answer

useradd "$user" || echo "Failed to add $user" >&2. The || control operator provides a concise way to execute a fallback command only when the preceding command fails. By pairing useradd with a failure branch, the script can report the duplicate username and proceed to the next iteration, satisfying the requirement to continue processing the remaining users.

Answer

set -e; useradd "$user"

Answer

useradd "$user" && echo "Failed to add $user" >&2

Answer

useradd "$user" | echo "Failed to add $user" >&2

Question 14

A Linux administrator maintains a Bash deployment script that runs unattended from cron. The script currently contains `set -e` and `set -u`, but it silently continues past a failing command inside a pipeline such as `tar -czf backup.tgz /srv | tee /var/log/backup.log`. The administrator wants the script to abort whenever any element of that pipeline returns a non-zero status. Which line should be added to the top of the script?

Accepted Answer

set -o pipefail. Pipelines report only the last command's status by default, so a failing producer such as tar can be masked by a succeeding consumer such as tee. Enabling pipefail makes the pipeline return the first non-zero status encountered, which combines with set -e to abort the unattended script immediately. This preserves the existing error-handling design while closing the pipeline gap.

Answer

set -v

Answer

set -x

Answer

set -n

Question 15

A Linux administrator needs to schedule a script to run every Monday at 3:00 AM. The script is located at /opt/scripts/weekly_report.sh. Which entry should be added to the crontab to accomplish this?

Accepted Answer

0 3 * * 1 /opt/scripts/weekly_report.sh. Cron entries consist of five time fields followed by the command. The correct sequence for Monday at 3:00 AM is minute 0, hour 3, any day of month, any month, and day-of-week 1. This ensures the script runs weekly on Monday at the specified time. Other options misplace fields or use incorrect day-of-week values, leading to unintended schedules.

Answer

3 0 * * 1 /opt/scripts/weekly_report.sh

Answer

0 3 1 * * /opt/scripts/weekly_report.sh

Answer

0 3 * * 0 /opt/scripts/weekly_report.sh