010-160 Practice Test 5 — 25 Questions

Question 1

A server is running out of disk space. Which command allows you to view the space usage of directories in a human-readable format?

Accepted Answer

du -sh. The `du` (disk usage) command reports the space consumed by files and directories. The `-s` flag produces a summary total for each argument rather than listing every file, and `-h` renders sizes in human-readable units (K, M, G). Combining them as `du -sh` gives a concise, readable total for a directory, which is exactly what's needed to find what's eating disk space.

Answer

ls -s

Answer

fdisk

Answer

df -h

Question 2

Your organization wants to standardize its servers on a single distribution to streamline patch management. Which of the following is an advantage of using a major distribution like Ubuntu LTS or RHEL?

Accepted Answer

They provide predictable support lifecycles and stable software versions.. Major enterprise distributions such as Ubuntu LTS and RHEL offer long, predictable support lifecycles (e.g., 5-10 years) with stable, tested software versions, which is exactly what organizations need for consistent patch management. This stability reduces the risk of regressions from frequent upstream changes. The other options describe characteristics that are either false or undesirable for production servers.

Answer

They allow administrators to compile the kernel from source code during every boot.

Answer

They always include the latest experimental features from the Linux kernel.

Answer

They are guaranteed to be smaller in size compared to community distributions.

Question 3

Which file permission represents read, write, and execute for the owner, and read-only for group and others?

Accepted Answer

744. The permission 744 means the owner has read (4), write (2), and execute (1) = 7, while group and others each have read (4) only. This matches the requirement of read, write, and execute for the owner and read-only for group and others. The other options do not match this exact combination.

Answer

755

Answer

644

Answer

700

Question 4

Which THREE of the following are special permission bits in Linux?

Accepted Answer

Sticky bit. The sticky bit (B) is a special permission bit, historically used on directories so that only a file's owner (or root) can delete or rename files within it, and it appears as a 't' in the other-execute position of ls -l output. Setgid (D) is a special permission bit that, when set on an executable, runs it with the file's group identity, and when set on a directory causes new files to inherit the directory's group; it is shown as 's' in the group-execute position. Setuid (E) is a special permission bit that makes an executable run with the file owner's effective UID, displayed as 's' in the user-execute position. By contrast, the immutable bit (A) and append-only bit (C) are file attributes managed by chattr and viewed with lsattr (e.g., chattr +i and chattr +a), not permission bits set via chmod, so they are not among the three special permission bits.

Answer

Immutable bit

Answer

Append-only bit

Question 5

Which THREE of these are valid types of permissions in Linux file systems?

Accepted Answer

Read. In Linux file systems, the standard permission model defines exactly three basic permission types: read (r), write (w), and execute (x), so options A (Read), B (Execute), and C (Write) are all correct. Read allows viewing file contents or listing a directory, write allows modifying file contents or creating/deleting entries within a directory, and execute allows running a file as a program or traversing a directory. These three permissions are represented in the rwx notation and in octal values (4, 2, 1) used by chmod. Option D (Delete) is not a distinct permission type; deletion is governed by write and execute permissions on the containing directory. Option E (Append) is also not a separate permission type in the standard Linux model; append-only behavior is enforced through file attributes such as chattr +a, not through the rwx permission bits.

Answer

Delete

Answer

Append

Question 6

An open source developer wants to choose a license that allows their code to be included in proprietary software without requiring the proprietary software to open its source. Which license should they choose?

Accepted Answer

MIT. The MIT License is a permissive license that allows code to be used, modified, and distributed in proprietary software, requiring only attribution and inclusion of the license text. It imposes no copyleft obligation, so derivative works can remain closed-source.

Answer

AGPL

Answer

GPLv3

Answer

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike

Question 7

You want to delete a directory named 'temp_backup' that contains several files. Which command will successfully remove it and its contents?

Accepted Answer

rm -r temp_backup. `rm -r temp_backup` recursively removes the directory and all its contents, which is required because `rm` by default refuses to delete directories. The -r (recursive) flag descends into subdirectories and deletes files before removing the directory itself. This is the standard way to delete a non-empty directory.

Answer

rm temp_backup

Answer

rmdir temp_backup

Answer

rm -f temp_backup

Question 8

You need to prevent a standard user from accidentally deleting a critical configuration file owned by root. Which command ensures the file cannot be modified or deleted even by the root user?

Accepted Answer

chattr +i file.conf. The 'chattr +i' command sets the immutable attribute on a file, which prevents any modification, deletion, renaming, or even linking — even by the root user — until the attribute is removed with 'chattr -i'. This is the only option that satisfies the requirement of protecting the file from root itself.

Answer

chown root:root file.conf

Answer

chmod 400 file.conf

Answer

umask 000

Question 9

Which shell variable typically contains the directories searched for command executables?

Accepted Answer

$PATH. The $PATH environment variable holds a colon-separated list of directories that the shell searches, in order, when you type a command without a path. It is the standard mechanism for locating executables like ls, grep, or custom scripts.

Answer

$SHELL

Answer

$USER

Answer

$HOME

Question 10

Which TWO of the following are reasons why companies often prefer Linux for server environments?

Accepted Answer

Superior scalability and performance for multi-user workloads. Option D is correct because Linux's modular kernel, efficient process scheduling, and lightweight footprint allow it to scale from small VMs to large multi-core servers, handling many concurrent users and heavy workloads with high throughput and low overhead. Option E is correct because Linux provides a strong security model built on discretionary and mandatory access controls (e.g., SELinux, AppArmor), fine-grained file permissions, and extensive logging and auditing tools such as auditd and syslog, which help organizations meet compliance and forensic requirements. Option A is incorrect because Linux servers still require patching, user management, monitoring, and configuration, so they are not maintenance-free. Option B is incorrect because Linux runs on commodity x86-64 hardware, ARM, and embedded systems, not only expensive mainframes. Option C is incorrect because Linux is widely supported and dominant in cloud environments across AWS, Azure, and GCP.

Answer

It requires no administration or maintenance

Answer

It can only be used on very expensive mainframes

Answer

It is not allowed to be used in the cloud

Question 11

How do you rename a file named 'oldname' to 'newname' using the command line?

Accepted Answer

mv oldname newname. The 'mv' command moves or renames files; when the source and destination are in the same directory, it effectively renames the file. Running 'mv oldname newname' renames oldname to newname in place, preserving the inode and all file attributes. This is the standard POSIX way to rename files on Linux and Unix systems.

Answer

rn oldname newname

Answer

ren oldname newname

Answer

cp oldname newname

Question 12

How do you check the exit status of the last command executed?

Accepted Answer

echo $?. In POSIX shells (bash, sh, dash), the special parameter $? expands to the exit status of the most recently executed foreground pipeline. A value of 0 conventionally indicates success, while any non-zero value (1-255) signals failure or a specific error condition. This is the standard mechanism scripts use to branch on command success, e.g., 'if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then ...'.

Answer

echo $#

Answer

echo $!

Answer

echo $status

Question 13

You are in the directory '/home/alex/projects' and want to switch to the parent directory of your current location using a relative path. Which command accomplishes this?

Accepted Answer

cd ... In relative path notation, '..' denotes the parent directory. Executing 'cd ..' from '/home/alex/projects' changes the working directory to '/home/alex', which is exactly the parent of the current location. The other options either stay in place, jump to root, or jump to the home directory.

Answer

cd /

Answer

cd .

Answer

cd ~

Question 14

You are setting up a local network and need to verify the path traffic takes to reach a remote host. Which command should you use?

Accepted Answer

traceroute. `traceroute` is designed to map the path packets take to a remote host by sending probes with incrementally increasing TTL values and collecting ICMP Time Exceeded responses from each hop. This directly answers the question of which routers traffic traverses to reach the destination.

Answer

nmap

Answer

ping

Answer

dig

Question 15

You want to set a default umask of 027 for all users. Which file should you edit to apply this globally?

Accepted Answer

/etc/profile. The /etc/profile file is a system-wide initialization script executed by login shells for all users. Placing a umask 027 command there sets the default umask globally, affecting every user who starts a login shell. This is the standard location for system-wide environment and shell settings on Linux distributions that use the Bourne-compatible shell family.

Answer

/etc/bashrc

Answer

/etc/passwd

Answer

~/.bash_profile

Question 16

A startup company is deciding between a Community-driven distribution and an Enterprise distribution. Which scenario best justifies choosing an Enterprise distribution?

Accepted Answer

The company needs long-term stability and guaranteed vendor support for critical infrastructure.. Enterprise distributions (e.g., RHEL, SLES) provide long-term support lifecycles, certified hardware/software stacks, and vendor-backed SLAs — exactly what critical infrastructure needs. A startup running production systems that cannot tolerate unscheduled breakage should choose an Enterprise distro to get guaranteed security patches and support channels. This directly matches the requirement for stability and vendor accountability.

Answer

The development team wants zero cost for the distribution and documentation.

Answer

The company wants to actively contribute to the kernel source code directly.

Answer

The project requires the absolute latest software features released daily.

Question 17

An administrator is comparing package management systems. Which tool is primarily used on RHEL-based distributions for resolving dependencies and downloading packages?

Accepted Answer

DNF. DNF (Dandified YUM) is the default high-level package manager on modern RHEL-based distributions (RHEL 8+, Fedora, CentOS Stream, Rocky, AlmaLinux). It resolves dependencies using the libsolv library and downloads packages from configured repositories, replacing the older YUM tool while maintaining CLI compatibility.

Answer

Pacman

Answer

Portage

Answer

APT

Question 18

A system administrator is checking for hardware errors in the logs. Where are general system messages usually stored?

Accepted Answer

/var/log/syslog. General system messages on most Linux distributions are written to /var/log/syslog (Debian/Ubuntu) or /var/log/messages (RHEL/CentOS). The /var/log directory is the standard location for system and application logs, and syslog is the traditional catch-all for kernel, daemon, and service messages.

Answer

/etc/log/

Answer

/proc/logs

Answer

/tmp/logs

Question 19

Which of the following is considered a 'downstream' consumer of the Linux kernel?

Accepted Answer

An Ubuntu Linux distribution. A downstream consumer is an entity that takes the upstream Linux kernel source and builds derivative products from it. Ubuntu takes kernel source from kernel.org (upstream), applies its own patches, and ships it as a distribution — making it a classic downstream consumer.

Answer

Linus Torvalds

Answer

The GCC Compiler project

Answer

The Linux Kernel Mailing List

Question 20

Which permission bit must be set on a directory to allow a user to enter the directory and access files within it?

Accepted Answer

Execute (x). The execute (x) bit on a directory grants the right to traverse it — that is, to access files and subdirectories by name within it. Without x, even if you have read permission, you cannot cd into the directory or open files whose paths pass through it.

Answer

Write (w)

Answer

Sticky bit

Answer

Read (r)