010-160 Practice Test 2 — 30 Questions

Question 1

A junior admin is confused about the difference between software RAID and hardware RAID. Which of the following is a primary characteristic of software RAID?

Accepted Answer

It is managed by the OS and kernel.. Software RAID is implemented in the operating system kernel, which manages the RAID arrays and disk operations. This is its primary characteristic, as opposed to hardware RAID which uses a dedicated controller.

Answer

It is always faster than hardware RAID.

Answer

It is configured in the BIOS.

Answer

It requires a dedicated controller card.

Question 2

What is the result of 'echo $USER'?

Accepted Answer

It prints the current username.. $USER is a shell environment variable that holds the login name of the current user, so 'echo $USER' prints that username (e.g., 'alice'). The shell expands the variable before passing the argument to echo, so the literal string '$USER' is never printed.

Answer

It prints the path to the user home.

Answer

It returns an error.

Answer

It prints '$USER'.

Question 3

A user's account has been compromised. Which command is the most effective way to lock the user account immediately while preserving their files?

Accepted Answer

usermod -L jdoe. `usermod -L jdoe` locks the account by prepending an exclamation mark (!) to the password hash in /etc/shadow, immediately preventing password-based logins while leaving the user's home directory, files, UID, and group memberships fully intact. This is the standard, reversible administrative action for a compromised account because it disables authentication without destroying data or ownership.

Answer

userdel jdoe

Answer

killall -u jdoe

Answer

chsh -s /bin/false jdoe

Question 4

Which TWO of the following help manage compressed archive contents?

Accepted Answer

gzip. Option C, gzip, is correct because it is the standard GNU/Linux compression utility that compresses and decompresses files (creating .gz archives) and can also list compression information with gzip -l, directly managing compressed archive contents. Option E, tar, is correct because it is the archiving utility that bundles multiple files and directories into a single archive and, when combined with compression options such as -z (gzip), -j (bzip2), or -J (xz), creates and extracts compressed archives like .tar.gz, making it a primary tool for managing compressed archive contents. Option A, find, is incorrect because it searches the filesystem for files matching criteria such as name, size, or permissions; it does not compress, decompress, or manipulate archive contents. Option B, cat, is incorrect because it concatenates and displays file contents to standard output and has no archive or compression management capability. Option D, grep, is incorrect because it searches text patterns within files and, while it can search inside uncompressed streams, it does not create, extract, or otherwise manage compressed archives.

Answer

find

Answer

cat

Answer

grep

Question 5

You have created a script but it is not executable. Which command should you use to give the owner execute permissions?

Accepted Answer

chmod u+x. The 'chmod u+x' command adds execute permission for the user (owner) of the file. 'chmod' is the correct command to change file mode bits, and 'u+x' specifies adding execute permission for the user category. This is the standard way to make a script executable for its owner.

Answer

chown u+x

Answer

chgrp u+x

Answer

chperm u+x

Question 6

A file is owned by root and has permissions 600. What happens if a regular user tries to read this file?

Accepted Answer

Access is denied.. With permissions 600 (rw-------), only the file owner (root) has read and write access; group and other have no permissions at all. A regular user falls into the 'other' category, so the kernel denies the read attempt with EACCES (Permission denied). This is standard POSIX discretionary access control behavior — the owner bits apply only to UID 0 in this case, and no ACL or capability overrides the denial.

Answer

The user is prompted for a password.

Answer

The user can only read but not write.

Answer

Access is granted.

Question 7

A technician is preparing a presentation on how Linux organizes its filesystem and wants to describe the role of the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard. Which two statements accurately describe the FHS as it applies to mainstream Linux distributions? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

It defines a common directory layout so that software and administrators can rely on predictable locations for files.. The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard exists to make file locations predictable across distributions, covering both core system directories and conventions for mounts such as /media and /mnt. It deliberately does not dictate storage formats or kernel versions, and configuration files are not forced into one universal directory. The two accurate statements reflect its real scope: consistent layout and defined mount conventions.

Answer

It guarantees that all configuration files are stored in a single directory regardless of the software package.

Answer

It specifies the exact kernel version that a conforming distribution must ship.

Answer

It mandates that every distribution use the ext4 filesystem for the root partition.

Question 8

Which of the following describes the core philosophy of 'Open Source' as defined by the Open Source Initiative?

Accepted Answer

The source code must be available for modification and redistribution.. The Open Source Initiative's Open Source Definition centers on the freedom to use, modify, and redistribute source code, including derivative works, without discrimination against persons, groups, or fields of endeavor. Option A captures this core requirement that source code must be available and modifiable. Free-of-charge distribution is explicitly not required — OSI-approved licenses may permit commercial sale.

Answer

The software must be provided for free without any charge.

Answer

The code must be written in C or C++.

Answer

The software must only be used for non-profit purposes.

Question 9

You are managing a Linux server and need to confirm the IP address assigned to the eth0 interface. Which command is most appropriate on modern distributions?

Accepted Answer

ip addr. The `ip addr` command is part of the iproute2 suite, which has replaced the legacy net-tools package on modern Linux distributions. It queries the kernel's network stack directly via netlink sockets and displays all interfaces with their assigned IPv4/IPv6 addresses, MAC addresses, and link state. Running `ip addr` (or its shorthand `ip a`) shows the eth0 interface with its inet address, making it the correct modern tool for this task.

Answer

ifconfig

Answer

route -n

Answer

netstat -rn

Question 10

A Linux administrator needs to check how much free space remains on each mounted filesystem before deploying a large application. The administrator wants a quick, human-readable summary showing used and available space per mount point. Which command should be used?

Accepted Answer

df -h. df -h is the standard tool for reporting filesystem capacity and remaining space across all mount points, with sizes scaled to KiB, MiB, and GiB for readability. It reads superblock information, so it is nearly instantaneous even on large volumes. du, lsblk, and fdisk provide usage totals, device layout, or partition geometry instead of per-filesystem free space.

Answer

fdisk -l

Answer

lsblk -f

Answer

du -sh /

Question 11

A community college instructor is preparing a lesson on the origins of the Linux operating system. She wants to explain why Linux is described as a 'kernel' rather than a complete operating system, and which project provided the essential user-space tools that were combined with it. Which project supplied those foundational command-line utilities?

Accepted Answer

The GNU Project. Linux by itself is only a kernel: it manages hardware, processes, and memory but offers no shell, compiler, or standard utilities. The GNU Project had already built those user-space components, so merging them with the Linux kernel produced a complete operating system. This is why the community frequently refers to the combined result as GNU/Linux, and why GNU is the correct source of the foundational tools.

Answer

The Mozilla Foundation

Answer

The Apache Software Foundation

Answer

The XFree86 Project

Question 12

What is the purpose of the '..' notation in a file path?

Accepted Answer

Parent directory. In filesystem path notation, a single dot (.) refers to the current directory, while two dots (..) refer to the parent directory — the directory one level above the current working directory. This is a POSIX convention used across Linux, macOS, and other Unix-like systems.

Answer

Current directory

Answer

Root directory

Answer

Home directory

Question 13

An administrator needs to monitor network traffic in real-time on a specific interface. Which tool is commonly used to capture and display packets?

Accepted Answer

tcpdump. tcpdump is the classic command-line packet capture tool that reads frames from a network interface via libpcap and displays them in real time or writes them to a pcap file. It supports BPF filter expressions to narrow captured traffic, making it ideal for live monitoring on a specific interface (e.g., tcpdump -i eth0). This matches the requirement to capture and display packets.

Answer

netstat

Answer

iptables

Answer

nmap

Question 14

You are currently in '/home/user/docs' and need to move to '/etc'. Which command is correct?

Accepted Answer

cd /etc. `cd /etc` uses an absolute path (starting with /), which navigates directly to /etc regardless of the current working directory. Absolute paths are resolved from the filesystem root, so this works from anywhere. This is the correct and unambiguous way to move to /etc.

Answer

cd ~/etc

Answer

cd ../../etc

Answer

cd etc

Question 15

You need to search for a specific command description within the manual pages using a keyword. Which command should you use?

Accepted Answer

man -k. The 'man -k' option (equivalent to 'apropos') searches the manual page short descriptions for a keyword and returns all matching entries, which is exactly what you need when you know a concept but not the command name. It queries the whatis database built by mandb/makewhatis. This is the standard way to locate commands by keyword rather than by exact name.

Answer

man -s

Answer

man -f

Answer

help

Question 16

Which THREE of the following are types of manual page sections?

Accepted Answer

User commands (1). The Linux manual pages are organized into numbered sections, and the three options marked correct are genuine section types: B 'User commands (1)' is section 1, which documents executable programs and shell commands users can run; C 'System calls (2)' is section 2, which documents the kernel system-call interface used by programs such as open(2) and read(2); and D 'File formats (5)' is section 5, which documents file formats and conventions such as /etc/passwd(5) and proc(5). The unmarked options do not belong: A 'Network protocols (10)' is not a manual section (section 10 does not exist in the standard man-pages layout), and E 'Kernel hardware (20)' is not a manual section either (section 20 is not a standard section; hardware-related pages typically appear in section 4, 'Devices and special files').

Answer

Network protocols (10)

Answer

Kernel hardware (20)

Question 17

Which command is used to display the current working directory in the terminal?

Accepted Answer

pwd. The `pwd` command stands for 'print working directory' and is specifically designed to output the absolute path of the current directory in a Linux/Unix terminal. It reads the current directory from the kernel and displays it, making it the correct choice for this task. This is a fundamental command in the Linux Essentials (010-160) exam domain.

Answer

dir

Answer

cd

Answer

ls

Question 18

A junior administrator needs to display the full contents of /etc/hostname and also see line numbers next to each line. Which command accomplishes this?

Accepted Answer

cat -n /etc/hostname. The cat command copies file contents to standard output, and its -n option prepends a line number to every line, including empty ones. That combination displays the entire file with numbering in a single non-interactive command. The alternatives either misuse an option, open an interactive pager, or merely count lines instead of showing the content.

Answer

wc -l /etc/hostname

Answer

less -N /etc/hostname

Answer

head -n /etc/hostname

Question 19

Which THREE commands are used to manage user account lifecycle?

Accepted Answer

useradd. The three commands that manage the user account lifecycle are useradd (C), userdel (D), and usermod (E). useradd creates a new user account, including its entry in /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, and /etc/group, and optionally provisions a home directory and default shell, which is the creation phase of the lifecycle. userdel removes a user account and, with options like -r, also deletes the home directory and mail spool, covering the deletion phase. usermod modifies an existing account's attributes such as login name (-l), UID (-u), shell (-s), groups (-aG), and account expiry, covering the maintenance/modification phase. passwd (A) only changes or manages a user's password and password aging, and groupadd (B) only creates groups, so neither manages the full user account lifecycle of create, modify, and delete.

Answer

passwd

Answer

groupadd

Question 20

A junior Linux administrator is exploring ways to participate in the open source community beyond simply using the software. Which two activities represent direct contributions to an open source project? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Writing or updating documentation that explains how to install and configure the software. Direct contributions are artifacts submitted back to a project: code patches, documentation updates, translations, bug reports with reproductions, and testing feedback. Submitting a patch or pull request and writing or updating documentation both produce reviewable artifacts that maintainers can merge. Personal use, reading release notes, and recommending the software are consumption or advocacy activities that do not add anything to the project itself.

Answer

Recommending the software to colleagues who are looking for alternatives

Answer

Reading the project's release notes to learn about new features

Answer

Installing the software on a personal laptop and using it for daily tasks