LPIC-1 Practice Exam 4 — 20 Questions

Question 1

Which TWO of the following commands can be used to replace text patterns in a file and output the result?

Accepted Answer

awk. Option A, awk, is correct because awk is a full text-processing language that supports substitution via the gsub() function (e.g., awk '{gsub(/old/,"new"); print}' file), which replaces matching patterns and prints the modified result to standard output. Option C, sed, is correct because sed is the classic stream editor whose s/// substitution command (e.g., sed 's/old/new/g' file) replaces text patterns and writes the transformed content to stdout without altering the original file. Option B, grep, is not correct because grep only searches for and prints lines matching a pattern; it does not replace text. Option D, tr, is not correct because tr translates or deletes individual characters rather than replacing multi-character text patterns. Option E, cut, is not correct because cut extracts selected fields or columns from each line and performs no substitution.

Answer

grep

Answer

tr

Answer

cut

Question 2

Refer to the exhibit. The system administrator sees that /var/log is 93% full and the syslog file is nearly 2 GB. What is the most appropriate immediate action to free up disk space without losing any critical log data?

Accepted Answer

Run 'logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.conf' to force log rotation.. 'logrotate -f' forces an immediate rotation of all log files as defined in /etc/logrotate.conf, which compresses or archives the current syslog file (e.g., syslog becomes syslog.1) and creates a fresh empty log file. This frees disk space without deleting any data, as the rotated logs remain on disk until the configured retention policy removes them. It is the standard, safe immediate action for a nearly full /var/log partition.

Answer

Increase the size of the /var/log partition using lvextend.

Answer

Delete /var/log/syslog and restart the syslog daemon.

Answer

Move /var/log/syslog to /tmp and create a symbolic link.

Question 3

A directory contains files with spaces and special characters in their names. An administrator wants to delete all files older than 30 days using find and xargs. Which command is safe?

Accepted Answer

find /path -type f -mtime +30 -print0 | xargs -0 rm. It uses `-print0` with `find` to output null-delimited filenames, and `xargs -0` to process them safely. This handles spaces, newlines, and special characters in filenames without word-splitting or shell interpretation, ensuring all matching files older than 30 days are deleted reliably.

Answer

find /path -type f -mtime +30 -delete

Answer

find /path -type f -mtime +30 -exec rm {} \;

Answer

find /path -type f -mtime +30 | xargs rm

Question 4

A Linux administrator is troubleshooting a package dependency issue. When attempting to install package 'foo', the package manager reports a missing dependency 'libbar.so.2'. Which of the following is the most appropriate next step?

Accepted Answer

Use 'apt-file search libbar.so.2' or 'dnf provides libbar.so.2' to find the package that contains the file. The error indicates that the file 'libbar.so.2' is missing from the system. The most appropriate next step is to identify which package provides this file, so that it can be installed to satisfy the dependency. On Debian-based systems, 'apt-file search' queries the package repository metadata to find the package containing a specific file; on Red Hat-based systems, 'dnf provides' performs the same function. This targeted search is the correct first troubleshooting step before any installation or library cache update.

Answer

Run 'ldconfig' to update the library cache

Answer

Reinstall the 'foo' package using 'rpm -i --force foo.rpm'

Answer

Run 'rpm -q --whatrequires libbar.so.2'

Question 5

Which directory contains information about hardware devices in a hierarchical structure, such as PCI devices and USB devices?

Accepted Answer

/sys. The /sys directory (sysfs) is a virtual filesystem that exports information about hardware devices, drivers, and kernel objects in a hierarchical structure. It organizes devices by their bus type (e.g., PCI, USB) and provides detailed attributes such as vendor IDs, device IDs, and power management states, making it the correct location for querying hardware topology.

Answer

/dev

Answer

/etc

Answer

/proc

Question 6

Which TWO of the following are true about the /proc filesystem?

Accepted Answer

It is a pseudo-filesystem that contains runtime system information.. Option C is correct because /proc is a pseudo-filesystem (a virtual, kernel-generated filesystem) that exposes runtime system and process information such as /proc/cpuinfo, /proc/meminfo, and per-process directories like /proc/PID, rather than storing real data blocks on disk. Option E is correct because /proc is typically mounted automatically at boot time, commonly via an entry like 'proc /proc proc defaults 0 0' in /etc/fstab or by systemd, since many tools and the kernel expect it to be present early in the boot process. Option A is incorrect because /proc is not formatted with ext4 or any on-disk filesystem; it has no persistent backing store. Option B is incorrect because /proc is not a network filesystem like NFS or CIFS; it is a kernel-internal virtual filesystem. Option D is incorrect because /proc does not store persistent configuration data—it reflects transient kernel and process state, and changes are lost on reboot.

Answer

It is formatted with the ext4 filesystem.

Answer

It is a network filesystem.

Answer

It is used to store persistent configuration data.

Question 7

A system administrator needs to check if a filesystem has any errors without actually performing a repair. Which command should be used?

Accepted Answer

fsck -n /dev/sdb1. The `-n` option with `fsck` performs a read-only check, displaying any filesystem errors without making any modifications or repairs. This is the correct choice for a non-destructive check that only reports issues.

Answer

fsck -y /dev/sdb1

Answer

fsck -N /dev/sdb1

Answer

e2fsck -p /dev/sdb1

Question 8

Which command can be used to check whether a specific kernel module is currently loaded?

Accepted Answer

lsmod | grep <module>. `lsmod` lists all currently loaded kernel modules by reading the `/proc/modules` file, and piping its output through `grep` filters for the specific module name. This directly shows whether the module is loaded in the running kernel, which is the exact requirement of the question.

Answer

modinfo <module>

Answer

depmod -a

Answer

insmod <module>

Question 9

Which TWO commands can display the UUID of block devices?

Accepted Answer

blkid. Option A, blkid, is correct because it directly queries block-device metadata and prints each device's UUID (along with TYPE and LABEL) by reading the filesystem superblock, e.g. /dev/sda1: UUID="..." TYPE="ext4". Option B, lsblk -f, is correct because the -f (--fs) flag adds filesystem information columns including UUID, FSTYPE, LABEL, and mountpoint for each block device in a tree view. Option C, df -T, only reports filesystem type, size, and usage per mountpoint, not UUIDs. Option D, fdisk -l, lists partition tables, sizes, and types but does not display filesystem UUIDs. Option E, parted /dev/sda print, shows the partition table, geometry, and partition types, but not filesystem UUIDs.

Answer

df -T

Answer

fdisk -l

Answer

parted /dev/sda print

Question 10

A company runs a web server using Apache with multiple virtual hosts. The administrator needs to restrict access to a specific virtual host based on the client IP address. Which configuration directive should be placed inside the <VirtualHost> block to deny IP 192.168.1.100?

Accepted Answer

Require not ip 192.168.1.100. In Apache 2.4 and later, access control is managed using the `Require` directive with the `not` modifier to deny specific IP addresses. Placing `Require not ip 192.168.1.100` inside the `<VirtualHost>` block will deny access to that IP while allowing all others, as the default behavior is to require all IPs unless a `Require` directive explicitly grants access.

Answer

Require host 192.168.1.100

Answer

Deny from 192.168.1.100

Answer

Require valid-user

Question 11

Which TWO of the following are valid methods to list currently loaded kernel modules?

Accepted Answer

lsmod. Lsmod reads /proc/modules and prints the currently loaded kernel modules along with their size and usage count, making it the standard tool for this task. Option D (cat /proc/modules) is also correct because /proc/modules is the kernel-provided virtual file that lists all loaded modules, so displaying it directly shows the same information lsmod parses. Option A (dmesg | grep module) only filters kernel ring-buffer log messages and does not enumerate loaded modules. Option C (modprobe -l) lists available module files on disk rather than loaded modules, and the -l option is deprecated/removed in modern kmod. Option E (modinfo) displays metadata about a specific module file or name, not a list of currently loaded modules.

Answer

dmesg | grep module

Answer

modprobe -l

Answer

modinfo

Question 12

Refer to the exhibit. What can be concluded about the cron daemon based on this systemctl output?

Accepted Answer

It is running and will start automatically at system boot.. The systemctl output shows 'Loaded: loaded' and 'Active: active (running)' for the cron daemon, which indicates it is currently running. Additionally, the 'enabled' status in the 'Loaded' line means the service is configured to start automatically at system boot. Therefore, option D is correct.

Answer

It is stopped.

Answer

It is enabled but not currently running.

Answer

It has failed recently.

Question 13

A server configured with UEFI firmware and GPT partitioning fails to boot after a GRUB package update. The administrator suspects the bootloader is not correctly installed. Which command should be used to reinstall GRUB to the EFI system partition?

Accepted Answer

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi. On a UEFI-based system with GPT partitioning, GRUB must be installed as an EFI application to the EFI System Partition (ESP). The `--target=x86_64-efi` flag specifies the EFI firmware target, and `--efi-directory=/boot/efi` points to the mount point of the ESP, ensuring the bootloader files (e.g., `grubx64.efi`) are placed in the correct EFI directory (e.g., `/boot/efi/EFI/GRUB/`).

Answer

grub2-install /dev/sda1

Answer

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Answer

grub-install /dev/sda

Question 14

Which directory contains the kernel modules for the currently running kernel?

Accepted Answer

/lib/modules/$(uname -r). The kernel modules for the currently running kernel are stored in /lib/modules/$(uname -r). The uname -r command returns the exact kernel release version, and the corresponding directory contains all loadable kernel modules (.ko files) compiled for that specific kernel. This is the standard location used by the kernel and tools like modprobe and insmod to locate and load modules.

Answer

/boot

Answer

/etc/modprobe.d

Answer

/usr/src

Question 15

Match each Linux runlevel to its typical description.

Accepted Answer

runlevel 0: Halt. Standard SysV init runlevels: 0 (halt), 1 (single-user), 3 (multi-user with network), 5 (graphical multi-user), 6 (reboot). Common confusions involve swapping definitions between runlevels 3 and 5.

Answer

runlevel 3: Graphical multi-user mode

Answer

runlevel 5: Multi-user mode with network

Question 16

A technician needs to output only the kernel release number. Which command should be used?

Accepted Answer

uname -r. The `uname -r` command specifically prints the kernel release number (e.g., '5.10.0-28-amd64') by querying the `utsname` system call. This is the standard, portable way to retrieve only the kernel release string without additional system information.

Answer

cat /proc/version

Answer

dmesg | head -1

Answer

lsmod

Question 17

An administrator needs to restart the SSH service after a configuration change. Which TWO commands can accomplish this on a systemd-based system?

Accepted Answer

systemctl restart sshd. Option C, systemctl restart sshd, is correct because systemctl is the native control utility for systemd, and 'restart' stops and starts the sshd unit in one operation, applying the new configuration. Option D, service sshd restart, is also correct because the service wrapper script on systemd-based distributions translates the request into the appropriate systemctl restart sshd call, so it works on such systems. Option A, initctl restart sshd, belongs to Upstart and is not the systemd interface. Option B, rc.d restart sshd, is not a valid command form for the BSD-style rc.d mechanism. Option E, /etc/init.d/sshd restart, invokes a legacy SysV init script directly, which may exist for compatibility but is not the systemd method and is not guaranteed to be present or functional.

Answer

initctl restart sshd

Answer

rc.d restart sshd

Answer

/etc/init.d/sshd restart

Question 18

During boot, a server loads the wrong kernel. Which file should the administrator modify to change the default kernel in a standard GRUB 2 configuration?

Accepted Answer

/etc/default/grub. In a standard GRUB 2 configuration, the default kernel is selected by setting the GRUB_DEFAULT variable in /etc/default/grub. After modifying this file, the administrator must run update-grub (or grub-mkconfig) to regenerate the /boot/grub/grub.cfg file, which is the actual configuration read by the bootloader. This two-step process separates user-facing settings from the bootloader's runtime configuration.

Answer

/boot/grub/grub.conf

Answer

/etc/grub.d/

Answer

/boot/grub/grub.cfg

Question 19

A system administrator notices that the system's syslog messages are not being written to /var/log/messages. The rsyslog service is running. The administrator wants to check the configuration syntax of rsyslog. Which command should be used?

Accepted Answer

rsyslogd -N. The correct command is `rsyslogd -N` because the `-N` option performs a configuration syntax check without starting or restarting the rsyslog daemon. This allows the administrator to validate the rsyslog configuration file for errors before applying changes, ensuring that syslog messages will be written correctly to /var/log/messages.

Answer

rsyslogd -d

Answer

rsyslogd -f

Answer

rsyslogd -v

Question 20

A technician is repairing a system and needs to mount the root filesystem from a different disk to /mnt/sysroot. The partition is /dev/sda2 with an ext4 filesystem. Which command should be used?

Accepted Answer

mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/sysroot. The `mount` command with the device and mount point as arguments automatically detects the filesystem type (e.g., ext4) and mounts the partition at the specified directory. This is the standard way to mount a root filesystem from a different disk for repair purposes.

Answer

mount -o loop /dev/sda2 /mnt/sysroot

Answer

mount -a

Answer

mount -t ext4 /dev/sda2 /mnt