XK0-006 System Management Practice Question
A system administrator is investigating a performance issue and wants to view kernel-related messages. Which three commands can be used to access kernel ring buffer messages? (Choose three.)
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
dmesg
dmesg displays kernel ring buffer. journalctl -k shows kernel messages from systemd journal. cat /var/log/kern.log if available, but /var/log/messages often contains kernel messages; however, the question expects common commands.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
tail -f /var/log/syslog
Why it's wrong here
syslog contains general system logs, not exclusively kernel.
- ✓
dmesg
Why this is correct
Directly prints kernel ring buffer.
- ✓
cat /var/log/kern.log
Why this is correct
On some systems, kernel messages are logged to this file.
- ✓
journalctl -k
Why this is correct
Shows kernel messages from journal.
- ✗
systemctl status
Why it's wrong here
Shows status of a service, not kernel messages.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Process Management and System Monitoring
Key term
journalctl
Journalctl is a command-line tool used to view and query logs collected by the systemd journal, which stores system and application messages on Linux systems.
Key term
Kernel
The kernel is the core program of an operating system that manages hardware resources and provides essential services for all other software to run.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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