LPIC-1 Administrative Tasks Practice Test 2 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Arrange the steps to troubleshoot a service that fails to start.

Accepted Answer

Check service status and logs, then examine configuration files, then fix the issue, then restart the service.. Troubleshooting starts with checking status and logs, then examining config files, fixing, and restarting.

Answer

Examine configuration files, then check service status and logs, then fix the issue, then restart the service.

Answer

Check service status and logs, then fix the issue, then examine configuration files, then restart the service.

Answer

Restart the service, then check service status and logs, then examine configuration files, then fix the issue.

Question 2

Match each Linux signal to its default action.

Accepted Answer

SIGINT: Terminate the process. Common Linux signals: SIGINT, SIGTERM, and SIGKILL terminate processes; SIGSTOP and SIGTSTP stop processes; SIGQUIT terminates with a core dump.

Answer

SIGTERM: Stop the process

Answer

SIGKILL: Core dump

Answer

SIGTSTP: Terminate the process

Question 3

An administrator needs to check the system's load averages without displaying any process information. Which command should be used?

Accepted Answer

uptime. The `uptime` command displays the current time, how long the system has been running, the number of logged-in users, and the system load averages for the past 1, 5, and 15 minutes. It does not show any process-level information, making it the correct choice for checking load averages alone.

Answer

w

Answer

top

Answer

ps

Question 4

An administrator adds the line 'DenyUsers john' to /etc/ssh/sshd_config and restarts the SSH service. What is the effect?

Accepted Answer

User john cannot log in via SSH.. The 'DenyUsers' directive in /etc/ssh/sshd_config explicitly blocks the specified user(s) from authenticating via SSH. When the SSH service is restarted, the configuration is reloaded, and user 'john' will be denied SSH login attempts at the authentication layer, before any shell or command execution occurs.

Answer

User john can still log in but his commands are logged.

Answer

User john is denied all shell access, including local and console logins.

Answer

All users except john cannot log in via SSH.

Question 5

Which command is used to view the last few lines of a log file and simultaneously follow new entries as they are written?

Accepted Answer

tail -f. The `tail -f` command is correct because it displays the last 10 lines of a file by default and then continues to monitor the file for new lines, outputting them as they are appended. This is essential for real-time log monitoring, as it uses inotify or polling to detect file changes without requiring manual re-reading.

Answer

cat

Answer

head -n 10

Answer

less

Question 6

An administrator wants to change the owner of all files in /data to user 'web' without changing the group. Which command should be used?

Accepted Answer

chown -R web /data. `chown -R web /data` changes the owner of all files and directories recursively under /data to user 'web' while leaving the group ownership unchanged. The `-R` flag ensures recursion, and omitting a colon or dot after the username means only the owner is modified.

Answer

chown -R web:web /data

Answer

chown web /data

Answer

chown web:web /data

Question 7

A system administrator needs to ensure a custom script runs every time the system boots. Where should the script be placed for execution during the boot process on a standard Linux system?

Accepted Answer

/etc/rc.local. /etc/rc.local is a legacy system initialization script that is executed at the end of the boot process on many Linux distributions using SysV init or systemd (with a compatibility unit). Placing a custom script inside /etc/rc.local ensures it runs once per boot, after all other init scripts have completed, making it a straightforward method for executing custom commands or scripts at system startup.

Answer

/etc/cron.d/

Answer

/etc/init.d/

Answer

/etc/cron.hourly/

Question 8

An administrator notices the system clock is drifting. Which command can be used to enable automatic time synchronization using NTP on a system with systemd?

Accepted Answer

timedatectl set-ntp yes. `timedatectl set-ntp yes` enables automatic time synchronization via NTP on systems using systemd. This command configures the `systemd-timesyncd` service, which is the default NTP client for systemd-based distributions, to synchronize the system clock with remote NTP servers. It is the standard, modern method for managing NTP settings in such environments.

Answer

ntpdate pool.ntp.org

Answer

systemctl start ntpd

Answer

date --set

Question 9

In the /etc/shadow file, a user's password hash begins with '$6$'. What hash algorithm does this prefix indicate?

Accepted Answer

SHA-512. The prefix '$6$' in the /etc/shadow file indicates that the password hash was generated using the SHA-512 (Secure Hash Algorithm 512-bit) algorithm. This is defined in the crypt(3) function's modular crypt format, where $1$ is MD5, $5$ is SHA-256, and $6$ is SHA-512. SHA-512 is the strongest of the commonly used hash algorithms in Linux password hashing, providing a 512-bit digest.

Answer

SHA-256

Answer

MD5

Answer

Blowfish

Question 10

A systemd service unit file must be configured to automatically restart the service if it exits unexpectedly. Which directive should be used?

Accepted Answer

Restart=always. The `Restart=always` directive in a systemd service unit file instructs systemd to automatically restart the service regardless of the exit status, including unexpected crashes or terminations. This ensures high availability by restarting the process whenever it exits, unless explicitly stopped by systemctl. Other directives like `Type=forking` or `RemainAfterExit=yes` do not control restart behavior.

Answer

Type=forking

Answer

RemainAfterExit=yes

Answer

ExecStop=/bin/true

Question 11

An administrator needs to display the current and previous runlevels of a Linux system. Which command provides this information?

Accepted Answer

runlevel. The `runlevel` command displays both the previous and current runlevels of a Linux system. It outputs two characters: the first indicates the previous runlevel (or 'N' if the runlevel has not changed since boot), and the second indicates the current runlevel. This is the standard tool for querying runlevel information on SysV init systems.

Answer

who -r

Answer

telinit 1

Answer

init 0

Question 12

Which two commands can be used to display the amount of free and used memory in the system?

Accepted Answer

free. The `free` command displays the total amount of free and used physical memory and swap space in the system, along with buffers and cache. The `top` command provides a real-time, dynamic view of running processes and includes a summary of memory usage (both physical and swap) at the top of its output. Both commands are standard Linux utilities for monitoring memory consumption.

Answer

uptime

Answer

ps

Answer

vmstat

Question 13

Which three actions can an administrator take to securely erase data on a disk before decommissioning?

Accepted Answer

Run dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda.. Using `dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda` overwrites the entire disk with random data from the kernel's non-blocking random number generator. This makes the original data unrecoverable through forensic techniques, as each sector is overwritten with unpredictable values, effectively destroying any residual magnetic traces.

Answer

Format the disk with mkfs.

Answer

Delete the partition and create a new one.

Question 14

Which three commands are commonly used to display information about running processes?

Accepted Answer

top. The `top` command (option A) is a standard Linux utility that provides a real-time, dynamic view of running processes, including CPU and memory usage, and is commonly used for process monitoring. It is a core tool for displaying process information, making it correct for this question.

Answer

pkill

Answer

kill

Question 15

Refer to the exhibit. What is the file permission in numeric mode for /etc/crontab?

Accepted Answer

644. The /etc/crontab file is a system-wide configuration file for cron jobs. It must be readable by all users to allow cron to read the scheduled tasks, but only writable by root to prevent unauthorized modifications. The standard permission is 644 (owner read/write, group read, others read).

Answer

600

Answer

444

Answer

755