LPIC-1 Devices, Filesystems and FHS Practice Test 2 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A Linux administrator is troubleshooting a server that fails to boot with the error 'Give root password for maintenance (or press Control-D to continue)'. The root filesystem is on /dev/sda2, formatted as ext4. The administrator suspects a filesystem inconsistency. The server is in a remote data center and the administrator has console access via IPMI. Which of the following is the safest procedure to repair the filesystem?

Accepted Answer

At the maintenance prompt, run 'mount -o remount,ro /dev/sda2 /' then 'fsck -f /dev/sda2' and then 'reboot'.. Option A is correct because it first remounts the root filesystem as read-only to prevent any writes during the repair, which is essential for a consistent fsck run on an ext4 filesystem. Then it uses 'fsck -f' to force a check even if the filesystem appears clean, followed by a reboot to exit maintenance mode. This is the safest procedure as it avoids the risk of the filesystem being mounted read-write during repair, which could cause further corruption.

Answer

At the maintenance prompt, run 'fsck /dev/sda2' and answer yes to all prompts.

Answer

At the maintenance prompt, run 'fsck -y /dev/sda2' to force repair.

Answer

At the maintenance prompt, run 'fsck -a /dev/sda2' to automatically repair.

Question 2

A system administrator notices that the /tmp directory is filling up quickly, causing applications to fail. The administrator wants to ensure that files in /tmp are automatically cleaned after a certain period. Which of the following is the best approach without installing additional software?

Accepted Answer

Configure the systemd-tmpfiles service with a configuration file to clean /tmp regularly.. Option D is correct because systemd-based Linux distributions include the systemd-tmpfiles service, which can be configured via files in /etc/tmpfiles.d/ to automatically clean temporary files based on age, size, or other criteria. This approach uses built-in systemd functionality without requiring additional software, and it is the recommended method for managing /tmp cleanup on modern systems.

Answer

Add a cron job that runs 'rm -rf /tmp/*' every hour.

Answer

Install tmpwatch and configure it to clean files older than 1 day.

Answer

Set the sticky bit on /tmp to automatically delete old files.

Question 3

Which THREE commands can be used to display the UUID of a filesystem on a Linux system without superuser privileges? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

file -s /dev/sda1. The `file -s /dev/sda1` command reads the superblock of the specified block device and displays filesystem type information, which typically includes the UUID for filesystems like ext4, XFS, or Btrfs. This works without superuser privileges because it only performs a read-only inspection of the device file's metadata, not requiring any write access or privileged system calls.

Answer

dumpe2fs -h

Answer

findfs UUID=...

Question 4

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.. Option A is correct because '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 5

You are a systems administrator for a medium-sized company that runs a web server on a Linux host. The server has two physical disks: /dev/sda (250 GB) and /dev/sdb (500 GB). The root filesystem is on /dev/sda2, and /var is on /dev/sda3 (50 GB). The web application stores user-uploaded files in /var/www/uploads, which is part of the /var filesystem. Recently, /var has been running out of space because uploads have grown to 40 GB. You have added /dev/sdb1 (500 GB) and created an ext4 filesystem on it. You need to make the space available for uploads without disrupting the current file paths. The server must remain online during the process. Which of the following actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Mount /dev/sdb1 on /mnt, copy /var/www/uploads to /mnt/uploads, then mount --bind /mnt/uploads /var/www/uploads.. Option D is correct because using a bind mount allows you to mount the new 500 GB filesystem at /mnt/uploads and then bind it to /var/www/uploads, preserving the existing file paths without moving or renaming anything. This operation can be performed online without unmounting /var or disrupting the web server, as bind mounts are a feature of the Linux kernel that make a mounted filesystem accessible at another directory.

Answer

Convert /var to use LVM by backing up, reformatting, and restoring data.

Answer

Create a symbolic link from /var/www/uploads to /dev/sdb1.

Answer

Move /var/www/uploads to /mnt/uploads and create a symbolic link from /var/www/uploads to /mnt/uploads.

Question 6

Order the steps to create and apply a file system permission using ACLs.

Question 7

Arrange the steps to create a LVM logical volume and mount it.

Question 8

Match each file system type to its typical description.

Question 9

Match each networking tool to its primary use.

Question 10

An administrator needs to identify the device file for the first SATA SSD in a server. Which device file should they use?

Accepted Answer

/dev/sda. The first SATA SSD in a Linux system is typically assigned the device file /dev/sda. SATA drives use the SCSI subsystem via the libata driver, which names them /dev/sdX, with 'a' representing the first detected drive. This is the standard naming convention for SATA SSDs in modern Linux kernels.

Answer

/dev/hda

Answer

/dev/sdb

Answer

/dev/nvme0n1

Question 11

According to the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS), which directory contains essential system binaries required during boot?

Accepted Answer

/sbin. According to the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS), /sbin contains essential system binaries required for booting, repairing, and recovering the system. These binaries are critical before /usr is mounted, such as fsck, init, and route. While /bin also contains essential binaries, the FHS specifically designates /sbin for system administration binaries needed during boot.

Answer

/usr/bin

Answer

/usr/local/bin

Answer

/bin

Question 12

Which command creates an ext4 filesystem on /dev/sdb1 without interactive prompts?

Accepted Answer

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1. Option D is correct because `mkfs.ext4` is a direct frontend to `mke2fs` that creates an ext4 filesystem without interactive prompts. It automatically formats the partition with ext4 defaults, requiring no user confirmation, making it suitable for scripting.

Answer

mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sdb1

Answer

mke2fs -t ext4 /dev/sdb1

Answer

mkfs.ext2 /dev/sdb1

Question 13

A system fails to mount an XFS filesystem with the entry in /etc/fstab. The entry looks correct. Which fstab field might be missing or incorrect?

Accepted Answer

The filesystem type field. The XFS filesystem requires the filesystem type field in /etc/fstab to be explicitly set to 'xfs'. If this field is missing or incorrect (e.g., left blank, set to 'auto', or mistyped as 'ext4'), the mount command will fail because it cannot determine the correct filesystem driver to use. Even if the device, mountpoint, and options appear correct, an incorrect or missing type field prevents the kernel from loading the XFS module and mounting the filesystem.

Answer

The device field

Answer

The options field

Answer

The mountpoint field

Question 14

After running 'df -h', the administrator sees that /dev/sda1 is 100% used. 'du -sh /mountpoint' shows only 50% used. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

A large file was deleted but a process still holds it open. When a file is deleted but a process still holds an open file descriptor to it, the kernel does not release the disk space until the process closes the file. The 'df' command reports space usage based on the filesystem's superblock, which still counts the deleted file's blocks. 'du' calculates space by traversing the directory tree and summing file sizes, so it does not see the unlinked file. This discrepancy explains why 'df' shows 100% usage while 'du' shows only 50%.

Answer

The disk has bad blocks

Answer

There is a hard link that du does not count

Answer

The filesystem is corrupted and needs fsck

Question 15

Which directory under the root filesystem is defined by FHS as containing variable data that may change in size, such as logs and spools?

Accepted Answer

/var. The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) defines /var as the directory for variable data that changes in size during normal system operation, including log files (e.g., /var/log), spool directories (e.g., /var/spool/mail), and temporary files that persist across reboots. This is distinct from /tmp, which is cleared on reboot, and /run, which holds runtime variable data that is volatile and cleared at boot.

Answer

/opt

Answer

/run

Answer

/tmp