010-160 Practice Test 3 — 30 Questions

Question 1

A Linux administrator is reviewing user account files and needs to understand where user information is stored. Which TWO of the following files contain user account details? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

/etc/shadow. User account details are primarily stored in /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow. The former holds general account information, while the latter holds encrypted passwords and aging data. Other files like /etc/group and /etc/gshadow pertain to groups, and /etc/login.defs provides configuration defaults, not actual account records.

Answer

/etc/login.defs

Answer

/etc/group

Answer

/etc/gshadow

Question 2

Which THREE of the following items are typically found in the /etc directory?

Accepted Answer

/etc/fstab. /etc/fstab (B) is correct because it is the standard configuration file listing filesystems to be mounted at boot, including mount points, filesystem types, and mount options. /etc/passwd (C) is correct because it is the traditional system file storing user account information such as usernames, UIDs, GIDs, home directories, and login shells. /etc/hosts (D) is correct because it provides static hostname-to-IP-address mappings used by the system resolver before DNS. The other options do not belong: /etc/tmp (A) is not a standard file or directory in /etc, and /etc/bin (E) is not standard since executable binaries reside in /bin, /usr/bin, or /usr/local/bin, not under /etc.

Answer

/etc/tmp

Answer

/etc/bin

Question 3

Which command removes a group named 'tempgroup' from the system?

Accepted Answer

groupdel tempgroup. The groupdel command is the standard Linux utility used to remove a group from the system. It deletes the group entry from /etc/group and /etc/gshadow, and is the correct tool for this task.

Answer

usermod -r tempgroup

Answer

grouprm tempgroup

Answer

removegroup tempgroup

Question 4

A technician needs to identify the amount of RAM installed in a server without opening the chassis. Which command provides this information from the command line?

Accepted Answer

free -m. `free -m` reads memory statistics from /proc/meminfo and displays total, used, free, shared, buff/cache, and available RAM in mebibytes. It is the standard command-line tool for reporting installed and currently used physical memory without touching the hardware.

Answer

uptime

Answer

lsblk

Answer

df -h

Question 5

What is the primary role of the 'Free Software Foundation' (FSF)?

Accepted Answer

Advocating for computer user freedom and maintaining the GNU project.. The Free Software Foundation (FSF), founded by Richard Stallman in 1985, exists to promote computer user freedom and to defend the rights of free software users. It is the principal organizational sponsor of the GNU Project, which develops much of the userland software (bash, coreutils, GCC, Emacs) that forms a GNU/Linux system.

Answer

Manufacturing servers and hardware for Linux.

Answer

Providing commercial support for Linux users globally.

Answer

Developing Linux distribution patches for security.

Question 6

A junior administrator is reading documentation for a command-line utility and sees that it is licensed under the GPLv3. The administrator wants to modify the code and distribute the modified version to a colleague outside the company. Which statement best describes the obligation imposed by the GPLv3 in this situation?

Accepted Answer

The modified version must be distributed under the same GPLv3 license, with the complete corresponding source code made available.. The GPLv3 uses copyleft to ensure that modified versions distributed to others remain free software. When the administrator shares the modified utility with someone outside the company, that act of distribution triggers the requirement to license the derivative under GPLv3 and provide the corresponding source code. Internal use without distribution would not trigger these obligations, but external sharing does.

Answer

The modified version may be kept proprietary as long as the original author is credited in the documentation.

Answer

No obligations apply because the colleague is an individual rather than a company or legal entity.

Answer

The modified version can be relicensed under any OSI-approved license, including a permissive one such as MIT.

Question 7

You want to search for a file named 'notes.txt' starting from the root directory. Which command is most efficient?

Accepted Answer

find / -name notes.txt. The `find` command is purpose-built for filesystem traversal and can search by name, size, time, permissions, and more. Running `find / -name notes.txt` starts at the root directory and recursively descends every subdirectory, matching files whose basename is exactly 'notes.txt'. It is the most efficient and correct tool because it operates directly on directory entries via the kernel, without spawning extra processes per file.

Answer

grep -r notes.txt /

Answer

search notes.txt /

Answer

ls -R / | grep notes.txt

Question 8

You want to replace every occurrence of 'old' with 'new' in the file 'data.txt' and view the result in the terminal. Which command achieves this?

Accepted Answer

sed 's/old/new/g' data.txt. The sed command with the 's/old/new/g' expression performs a global substitution, replacing every occurrence of 'old' with 'new' on each line of data.txt. By default, sed writes the modified content to standard output, which displays the result in the terminal without altering the original file. The 'g' flag is essential because without it, only the first occurrence per line would be replaced.

Answer

sed 's/old/new/' data.txt

Answer

grep 's/old/new/g' data.txt

Answer

sed 'r/old/new/g' data.txt

Question 9

If you want to view a long text file page by page, which command is most suitable?

Accepted Answer

less filename. The less command is a pager that displays a file one screenful at a time, allowing the user to scroll forward and backward with arrow keys, Page Up/Down, and search with '/'. It reads the file lazily and does not load the entire content into memory, making it ideal for viewing long text files interactively. This is the canonical tool for page-by-page file inspection on Linux.

Answer

tail filename

Answer

cat filename

Answer

grep filename

Question 10

A system administrator needs to check the version of the Linux kernel installed on a production server. Which command is most appropriate?

Accepted Answer

uname -r. The `uname -r` command prints the kernel release version, which is exactly what the administrator needs. `uname` is a standard Unix/Linux utility that displays system information, and the `-r` flag specifically outputs the kernel release. This is the most direct and appropriate command for checking the kernel version on a production server.

Answer

check-kernel

Answer

ls /boot

Answer

cat /etc/version

Question 11

A technician needs to locate all files under /var that are larger than 100 MB and were modified more than 30 days ago. Which command will produce this list?

Accepted Answer

find /var -size +100M -mtime +30. The find command is designed for filesystem searches based on metadata such as size and modification time. Using -size +100M and -mtime +30 correctly selects files larger than 100 MB and older than 30 days. Other tools like locate lack metadata filters, ls does not recurse or filter, and omitting the plus signs changes the meaning to exact matches, which would not return the intended set of files.

Answer

ls -lS /var | grep +100M

Answer

locate -size +100M -mtime +30 /var

Answer

find /var -size 100M -mtime 30

Question 12

Which TWO of the following options can be used with 'rm' to ensure safe operation?

Accepted Answer

-I. Option A (-I) is correct because it makes rm prompt once before removing more than three files (or recursively), providing a safety net against accidental mass deletion while avoiding the constant prompting of -i. Option E (-i) is correct because it forces rm to prompt for confirmation before every single removal, which is the classic way to ensure safe, deliberate operation. The unmarked options do not belong: -v only prints what is being removed without any confirmation, -r enables recursive deletion of directories (increasing risk rather than safety), and -f forces removal without prompting and ignores nonexistent files, directly defeating safe operation.

Answer

-v

Answer

-r

Answer

-f

Question 13

What is the primary difference between 'man' pages and 'info' pages?

Accepted Answer

info contains more detailed, hyperlinked documentation. Info pages are GNU's hypertext documentation system, providing more detailed, structured, and hyperlinked content than traditional man pages. They are navigated with the 'info' command using nodes, menus, and cross-references, making them better suited for complex GNU tools like coreutils and bash. Man pages, by contrast, are single-page, linear reference documents.

Answer

man is graphical, info is text-based

Answer

man pages are obsolete

Answer

man is for system files, info is for users

Question 14

Which THREE of the following are typical elements included in a standard Linux distribution package?

Accepted Answer

Package Manager. A standard Linux distribution package typically includes a Package Manager (A), such as APT, DNF, or Pacman, which is essential for installing, updating, and removing software and resolving dependencies. It also includes base libraries and utilities (B), like glibc, coreutils, and system tools, which provide the fundamental runtime and command-line environment for the system. The Linux Kernel (D) is a core component, as it manages hardware, processes, memory, and system calls, and every distribution ships a kernel (often with multiple versions or modules). Proprietary BIOS firmware (C) is not included because BIOS/UEFI firmware is vendor-specific and resides on the motherboard, not in a distribution's package set. A hardware warranty certificate (E) is a physical or vendor document unrelated to the software contents of a Linux distribution.

Answer

Proprietary BIOS firmware

Answer

Hardware warranty certificate

Question 15

You are the administrator of a shared Linux workstation. A new employee needs to be added to the existing group 'research' so they can access group-owned project files. Which command accomplishes this?

Accepted Answer

usermod -aG research newemployee. To add an existing user to an additional group, use usermod with the -aG options. The -a flag ensures the user is appended rather than replacing all current supplementary groups, and -G specifies the target group. This grants the needed access without disrupting other memberships.

Answer

groupmod -a newemployee research

Answer

useradd -G research newemployee

Answer

chgrp research newemployee

Question 16

You are managing a directory shared by a project team. You want all files created in this directory to automatically belong to the 'developers' group, regardless of the user's primary group. Which command achieves this?

Accepted Answer

chmod g+s /data. `chmod g+s /data` sets the setgid (SGID) bit on the directory. When SGID is set on a directory, any file or subdirectory created inside inherits the directory's group ownership instead of the creating user's primary group. This is exactly the behavior needed for a shared 'developers' group directory.

Answer

usermod -aG developers

Answer

chgrp developers /data

Answer

chmod 1777 /data

Question 17

Which TWO of the following directories are usually located at the root of a Linux filesystem?

Accepted Answer

/etc. Option A, /etc, is correct because it is a standard top-level directory directly under the root (/) in the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, holding system-wide configuration files such as /etc/passwd and /etc/fstab. Option E, /bin, is also correct because it is a conventional root-level directory containing essential user command binaries like ls, cp, and bash (often symlinked to /usr/bin on modern distributions). The unmarked options do not belong: /users is not a standard FHS root directory (user home directories live under /home), while /windows and /programs are Windows-style paths with no place in a Linux filesystem hierarchy.

Answer

/users

Answer

/windows

Answer

/programs

Question 18

A support engineer is handed a Linux server and needs to determine which user account is currently logged in on a remote SSH session before performing maintenance, so they can notify the right person. Which command most directly reports the usernames of users currently logged into the system?

Accepted Answer

who. The who utility consults the utmp login records and reports active sessions with usernames, terminals, and login times, including remote connections. That directly satisfies the need to identify who is logged in before maintenance. The alternative commands report identity, group membership, or the invoking user rather than enumerating current sessions.

Answer

id

Answer

whoami

Answer

groups

Question 19

A developer runs `mkdir /srv/collab` on an ext4 filesystem, then runs `chmod 2775 /srv/collab` so that the directory is owned by root:devteam. Later, a member of the devteam group creates a file inside /srv/collab with their default umask of 022. Which group will own the newly created file?

Accepted Answer

The devteam group, because the setgid bit on the parent directory forces group inheritance.. The setgid bit on a directory makes new entries inherit the directory's group instead of the creator's primary group. Because the directory was set to 2775 with group devteam, any file created inside will belong to devteam while retaining the creator as user owner. The umask only strips permission bits and does not change group ownership.

Answer

No group, because the file is created without a group until chgrp is run explicitly.

Answer

The root group, because the parent directory is owned by root:devteam and ownership is copied.

Answer

The creating user's primary group, because file group ownership always mirrors the creator.

Question 20

Which THREE commands are related to viewing or changing group memberships?

Accepted Answer

groups. Option A, `groups`, is correct because it displays the groups a specified user (or the current user) belongs to, directly showing group memberships. Option C, `id`, is correct because it prints the user's UID, primary GID, and the list of supplementary groups the user is a member of, which is exactly membership information. Option E, `usermod -aG`, is correct because the `-aG` combination appends the user to one or more supplementary groups, thereby changing group memberships without removing existing ones. Option B, `chgrp`, is not correct here because it changes the group ownership of files or directories, not a user's group membership. Option D, `groupmod`, is not correct because it modifies a group's attributes such as its name or GID, rather than viewing or changing which users belong to groups.

Answer

chgrp

Answer

groupmod