010-160 Practice Test 9 — 10 Questions

Question 1

A junior administrator is logged into a Linux server and needs to view the contents of the file '/etc/hosts' without opening an editor. Which command should they run?

Accepted Answer

cat /etc/hosts. Viewing a file without editing it requires a reader such as cat, which streams the file to standard output. Editors like nano, permission tools like chmod, and directory creators like mkdir all serve different purposes and would either modify state or fail outright. For a short configuration file, cat is the direct and correct choice.

Answer

mkdir /etc/hosts

Answer

nano /etc/hosts

Answer

chmod /etc/hosts

Question 2

You need to create a new group named 'audit'. Which command should you execute?

Accepted Answer

groupadd audit. The `groupadd` command is the standard Linux utility for creating a new group, and `groupadd audit` will create a group named 'audit' in the system's group database (/etc/group). This is part of the shadow-utils package and is the canonical way to add groups on Linux distributions.

Answer

newgroup audit

Answer

useradd -g audit

Answer

addgroup audit

Question 3

Which TWO of the following are true about the 'others' category of file permissions?

Accepted Answer

Is the last set of characters in the 'ls -l' output.. Option B is correct because in the ten-character permission string produced by 'ls -l' (e.g., -rwxr-xr-x), the final three characters represent the permissions for the 'others' category, following the owner and group triplets. Option E is correct because 'others' is defined as every user account that is neither the file's owner nor a member of the file's owning group, so those users are governed by this third permission set. Option A is wrong because any user who falls into the 'others' category is affected by these bits, and the owner or root can change them via chmod; it is not restricted to root. Option C is wrong because 'others' permissions are set independently and do not inherit from group permissions. Option D is wrong because owner permissions take precedence in the kernel's permission-checking order (owner, then group, then others), so 'others' can never override the owner's bits.

Answer

Only root can modify this category.

Answer

Automatically inherits group permissions.

Answer

Can override owner permissions.

Question 4

You need to see the last 20 lines of a file named 'access.log'. Which command is the most appropriate?

Accepted Answer

tail -n 20 access.log. tail -n 20 access.log prints the last 20 lines of the file, which is exactly what is needed to inspect recent log entries. The -n option specifies the number of lines, and tail reads from the end of the file, making it ideal for logs where the newest events are appended at the bottom.

Answer

cat -n 20 access.log

Answer

less -n 20 access.log

Answer

head -n 20 access.log

Question 5

You need to change the environment variable PATH to include the directory '/opt/bin'. Which command is standard?

Accepted Answer

export PATH=$PATH:/opt/bin. The export command marks a shell variable for inclusion in the environment of subsequently executed child processes, so 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/bin' both appends /opt/bin to PATH and ensures the change propagates to child processes. This is the standard, portable way to modify PATH in bash and other POSIX shells. Without export, the change would remain local to the current shell.

Answer

set PATH=$PATH:/opt/bin

Answer

env PATH=$PATH:/opt/bin

Answer

PATH=$PATH:/opt/bin

Question 6

Which THREE of the following are valid directory navigation commands?

Accepted Answer

pushd. The three valid directory navigation commands are pushd (C), pwd (D), and cd (E). cd (E) changes the current working directory, which is the core navigation command in Linux/Unix shells. pwd (D) prints the absolute pathname of the current working directory, confirming where you are in the directory tree. pushd (C) pushes the current directory onto the directory stack and changes to a new directory, enabling stack-based navigation (paired with popd). The unmarked options do not belong: ls (A) lists directory contents rather than navigating, and mkdir (B) creates a new directory rather than changing location.

Answer

ls

Answer

mkdir

Question 7

Which THREE commands can be used to check user information or current session identity?

Accepted Answer

whoami. Option C, whoami, is correct because it prints the effective username of the current session, directly answering the question of current session identity. Option D, id, is correct because it displays the current user's UID, GID, and all supplementary group memberships, giving a complete picture of the session's identity. Option E, groups, is correct because it lists the groups the current user (or a specified user) belongs to, which is user information relevant to session identity. Option A, userdel, is not correct because it is an administrative command that deletes a user account and does not report identity. Option B, chage, is not correct because it manages password aging information for a user account rather than reporting current session identity.

Answer

userdel

Answer

chage

Question 8

A small business owner wants to implement a server that allows for long-term support and stability for critical financial applications. Which distribution strategy should they prioritize?

Accepted Answer

Choosing a distribution that offers an LTS version with a long support lifecycle.. For long-term support and stability of critical financial applications, an LTS (Long Term Support) distribution is ideal because it provides a stable, well-tested platform with security updates for an extended period (often 5-10 years). This minimizes disruptive changes and ensures reliability. Rolling releases and desktop-focused distributions prioritize frequent updates or ease of use, not long-term stability.

Answer

Using a desktop-focused distribution for ease of installation.

Answer

Compiling the kernel from source to match the specific hardware.

Answer

Selecting a rolling release distribution for frequent kernel updates.

Question 9

Which THREE of the following are common shell built-in command types?

Accepted Answer

echo. echo (A) is a shell built-in because most shells implement it internally to print arguments to standard output, and it is listed among the shell's built-in commands. cd (B) must be a built-in since changing the current working directory affects the shell process itself, and an external program could not alter its parent shell's directory. export (E) is a built-in because it sets or modifies environment variables in the current shell's environment, which external commands cannot do for the parent shell. grep (C) and tar (D) are external utilities located as separate executables (e.g., /usr/bin/grep, /bin/tar) rather than shell built-ins, so they do not belong.

Answer

grep

Answer

tar

Question 10

Which THREE of the following are valid ways to get help on a command?

Accepted Answer

info command. Option C (info command) is correct because GNU Info pages provide detailed, hyperlinked documentation for many commands and utilities, invoked as 'info <command>'. Option D (command --help) is correct because most GNU/Linux commands support the '--help' flag, which prints a concise usage summary and available options directly to standard output. Option E (man command) is correct because the 'man' utility displays the system manual pages for a command, covering its syntax, options, and description. Options A and B are not valid: 'help command' is not a general help mechanism (the 'help' builtin only works for shell builtins, not arbitrary commands), and 'search command' is not a help command at all.

Answer

help command

Answer

search command