LPIC-1 System Architecture Practice Test 2 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Refer to the exhibit. How many SATA controllers are detected, and what is the connection speed of the SSD?

Accepted Answer

2 controllers; SSD at 6.0 Gbps. The output from `lspci` shows two SATA controllers: one identified as 'SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801IBM/IEM (ICH9M/ICH9M-E) 4 port SATA Controller' and another as 'SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801IBM/IEM (ICH9M/ICH9M-E) 2 port SATA Controller'. The SSD is connected to the 6 Gbps port, as indicated by the '6 Gbps' label in the device listing, confirming a 6.0 Gbps connection speed.

Answer

3 controllers; SSD at 6.0 Gbps

Answer

2 controllers; SSD at 3.0 Gbps

Answer

1 controller; SSD at 6.0 Gbps

Question 2

A company runs a critical database server on Linux. The server has a hardware RAID controller with two logical volumes: one for the operating system (LV1) and one for the database data (LV2). The server uses LVM on top of the RAID volumes. Recently, the database performance has degraded. The administrator suspects that the file system on LV2 is heavily fragmented. The server uses the ext4 filesystem. The administrator wants to check the fragmentation level and, if necessary, defragment the filesystem without unmounting it or causing downtime. What should the administrator do to minimize fragmentation impact while maintaining availability?

Accepted Answer

Use the e4defrag command with the -v option on the mount point to check and defragment files online.. e4defrag is a userspace tool that provides online defragmentation for ext4 filesystems. It can check fragmentation levels and defragment files without unmounting the filesystem, thus avoiding downtime. This allows the administrator to minimize fragmentation impact while maintaining availability.

Answer

Create a new filesystem on LV2, copy data back, and symlink the old mount point to the new one.

Answer

Use tune2fs to set the reserved block percentage to 0 and increase the inode size.

Answer

Schedule a maintenance window, unmount LV2, run e2fsck -fn, then run e2fsck -D to defragment.

Question 3

A Linux system administrator is tasked with setting up a new server that will host multiple virtual machines using KVM. The server has 64 GB of RAM and two physical CPUs, each with 8 cores (16 threads). The administrator needs to allocate resources efficiently. The VMs will have varying workloads. The administrator wants to ensure that the host system has enough resources for itself and that VMs can use all available CPU cores. Which approach should the administrator take to configure CPU allocation for the host and VMs?

Accepted Answer

Use CPU pinning to reserve two physical cores for the host and distribute the remaining cores among VMs using host-passthrough mode.. It reserves two physical cores for the host system to ensure its stability and performance, while distributing the remaining cores among VMs using CPU pinning and host-passthrough mode. This approach allows VMs to access the full CPU feature set and all available cores efficiently, balancing host overhead with VM resource needs in a KVM environment.

Answer

Use QEMU emulation instead of KVM to reduce CPU overhead.

Answer

Pin all physical CPU cores to the VMs using virsh vcpupin, and leave no cores for the host.

Answer

Overcommit CPU resources by assigning 32 vCPUs to each VM, relying on the hypervisor to schedule.

Question 4

A system administrator notices that a server with a freshly installed Linux system fails to boot with the error 'No bootable device found'. The server has a single SATA hard disk connected to the motherboard's SATA controller. Which of the following is the most likely cause of this issue?

Accepted Answer

The BIOS boot order is set to a device that does not contain a bootable operating system.. The error 'No bootable device found' occurs during the BIOS/UEFI POST phase, before any bootloader is loaded. This indicates that the system firmware cannot find a valid boot sector on any device in its boot order. Since the server has a single SATA hard disk, the most likely cause is that the BIOS boot order is set to a different device (e.g., a network boot or removable media) that does not contain a bootable operating system, or the hard disk itself is not listed first in the boot priority.

Answer

The root filesystem is formatted with an unsupported filesystem type.

Answer

The kernel module for the SATA controller is not included in the initramfs.

Answer

The GRUB bootloader configuration file is missing or corrupted.

Question 5

Which TWO of the following are valid methods to change the default runlevel on a SysV init-based system?

Accepted Answer

Edit /etc/inittab to set the initdefault line.. In SysV init-based systems, the default runlevel is defined in the /etc/inittab file by the 'initdefault' line, which specifies the runlevel the system should enter after boot. Editing this line is the standard method to permanently change the default runlevel. Option B correctly identifies this mechanism.

Answer

Use the 'runlevel' command to set the default runlevel.

Answer

Use 'systemctl set-default' to set the default runlevel.

Answer

Use the 'telinit' command to change the default runlevel.

Question 6

Refer to the exhibit. A Linux system fails to boot with a kernel panic. The dmesg output shows the disk is detected and partitions are recognized. Which of the following is the most likely cause of the kernel panic?

Accepted Answer

The root filesystem cannot be mounted because the root= kernel parameter points to a non-existent or incorrect device.. A is correct because the kernel panic occurs after the disk and partitions are detected, indicating the kernel can see the hardware but cannot mount the root filesystem. The most common cause is an incorrect or missing `root=` kernel parameter in the bootloader configuration (e.g., GRUB), which specifies the root device (e.g., `/dev/sda1` or `UUID=...`). If this parameter points to a non-existent or wrong partition, the kernel cannot pivot to the root filesystem, leading to a panic.

Answer

The kernel module for the SATA controller is missing from the initramfs.

Answer

The SATA controller is not supported by the kernel.

Answer

The disk has bad sectors causing read errors during boot.

Question 7

A Linux administrator manages a server that runs a custom application requiring a specific kernel module to be loaded at boot. The server uses SysV init and has the module listed in /etc/modules. However, after a recent kernel update, the module fails to load automatically at boot. The administrator can manually load the module with 'modprobe <module>' after the system is running. The application depends on this module being loaded before any network services start. Which of the following actions should the administrator take to ensure the module loads automatically at the correct time during boot?

Accepted Answer

Create a SysV init script that loads the module and place it in /etc/init.d/ with appropriate symlinks in /etc/rc?.d/ to ensure it runs before network services.. SysV init systems use init scripts in /etc/init.d/ with symlinks in /etc/rc?.d/ to control the order of service startup. By creating a custom init script that loads the module via modprobe and placing it with a symlink that has a lower number (e.g., S01module) than network services (e.g., S10network), the module will be loaded before network services start, satisfying the application's dependency.

Answer

Add the module name to /etc/modules-load.d/ directory.

Answer

Add an install directive in /etc/modprobe.d/ for the module.

Answer

Add a blacklist entry for the module in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf.

Question 8

Arrange the steps to configure a firewall rule using iptables to allow SSH.

Accepted Answer

Step 1: Add the SSH allow rule using iptables (e.g., iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT). Step 2: Save the current iptables rules to a file (e.g., iptables-save > /etc/iptables/rules.v4). Step 3: Install and enable iptables-persistent to load rules on boot.. iptables rules are added, then saved to a file, and persistence ensures they survive reboot.

Answer

Step 1: Save the current iptables rules to a file. Step 2: Add the SSH allow rule. Step 3: Install and enable iptables-persistent.

Answer

Step 1: Add the SSH allow rule. Step 2: Install and enable iptables-persistent. Step 3: Save the current iptables rules.

Answer

Step 1: Install and enable iptables-persistent. Step 2: Add the SSH allow rule. Step 3: Save the current iptables rules.

Question 9

Match each ACL term to its meaning.

Accepted Answer

Access ACL: Defines permissions for a file or directory.. The correct matches: Access ACL applies to files and directories; Default ACL applies to new objects; Mask limits permissions for named users/groups. Common confusions include applying ACLs only to directories or misinterpreting mask as owner permissions.

Answer

Access ACL: Applied only to directories.

Answer

Default ACL: Controls access to the current directory's contents.

Answer

Mask: Permissions for the file owner.

Question 10

During the boot process, the system stops at a GRUB prompt. Which command should be typed to continue booting?

Accepted Answer

boot. The 'boot' command at the GRUB prompt instructs the bootloader to load the selected kernel and initramfs, then transfer control to the kernel to continue the boot process. This is the standard way to proceed from the GRUB command-line interface when the system halts at a GRUB prompt.

Answer

quit

Answer

start

Answer

exit

Question 11

Which command displays the system's architecture (e.g., x86_64)?

Accepted Answer

All of the above. ('All of the above') is correct because each of the listed commands—lscpu, arch, and uname -m—can display the system's architecture (e.g., x86_64). lscpu parses /proc/cpuinfo to show architecture details, arch prints the machine hardware name directly, and uname -m outputs the kernel's machine hardware name, all of which report the same architecture identifier on a given system.

Answer

lscpu

Answer

arch

Answer

uname -m

Question 12

What is stored in the first sector of a hard disk (Master Boot Record)?

Accepted Answer

The Master Boot Record (boot loader and partition table). The Master Boot Record (MBR) occupies the first sector (sector 0, 512 bytes) of a hard disk and contains both the boot loader code (first 446 bytes) and the partition table (next 64 bytes), plus a 2-byte signature (0x55AA). This structure is essential for BIOS-based booting, as the BIOS loads the MBR into memory and executes the boot loader, which then uses the partition table to locate the active partition and load the operating system.

Answer

The partition table only

Answer

The Linux kernel

Answer

The root filesystem

Question 13

A system administrator needs to create a new Logical Volume (LV) in an existing LVM setup. Which sequence of commands is correct?

Accepted Answer

pvcreate, vgcreate, lvcreate. The correct sequence is pvcreate, vgcreate, lvcreate because in LVM, you must first initialize physical volumes (PVs) with pvcreate, then combine them into a volume group (VG) with vgcreate, and finally create the logical volume (LV) from the VG's free space with lvcreate. This order reflects the dependency chain: a VG requires PVs, and an LV requires a VG.

Answer

vgcreate, pvcreate, lvcreate

Answer

pvcreate, lvcreate, vgcreate

Answer

lvcreate, vgcreate, pvcreate

Question 14

A Linux system fails to boot with the error: 'Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)'. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

Missing or incorrect initrd. The error 'VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)' indicates the kernel cannot locate or access the root filesystem during boot. The most common cause is a missing or incorrect initrd (initial RAM disk) that contains the necessary drivers (e.g., for SCSI, SATA, or filesystem modules) to mount the root partition. Without a proper initrd, the kernel lacks the modules to access the storage device, resulting in this panic.

Answer

Missing root filesystem

Answer

Corrupt kernel image

Answer

Damaged bootloader

Question 15

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>