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XK0-005 · topic practice

System Management practice questions

Use this page to practise System Management questions for this certification. Focus on how the exam tests system management in scenario format — understanding the why behind each answer builds more durable knowledge than memorising options.

Courseiva uses original exam-style practice questions designed for learning and revision. The goal is to understand the concepts, recognise exam patterns, and improve through explanations — not memorise copied exam dumps.

Reviewed byJohnson Ajibi· MSc IT Security
20 questionsDomain: System Management
Practice 10 questionsBrowse domain →

What the exam tests

What to know about System Management

System Management questions on this certification test your ability to deploy and manage system management concepts in scenario-based situations.

Core System Management concepts and how they apply in real-world cloud scenarios.

How to deploy system management correctly and verify the outcome.

Troubleshooting system management issues by interpreting error output and system state.

Cloud best practices and System Management design trade-offs tested by this certification.

Watch out for

Common System Management exam traps

  • ▸Selecting the most expensive service when a simpler managed option meets the requirement.
  • ▸Forgetting that cloud resources must be explicitly secured — defaults are rarely secure.
  • ▸Choosing a global service fix when the issue is region-specific.
  • ▸Overlooking cost implications of cross-region data transfer in architecture questions.

Practice set

System Management questions

20 questions · select your answer, then reveal the explanation

Question 1easymultiple choice
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A system administrator needs to determine which process is using the most memory on a Linux server. Which command should be used to display processes sorted by memory usage?

Question 2mediummultiple choice
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A Linux system is experiencing high CPU load. The administrator runs 'top' and sees that the 'kworker' processes are consuming significant CPU time. What is the most likely cause?

Question 3hardmultiple choice
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A company requires that all systems be configured to log all authentication attempts, both successful and failed. Which configuration file and directive should be used to ensure all auth messages are logged to /var/log/secure?

Question 4easymultiple choice
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An administrator needs to update the system time using an NTP server immediately without waiting for the next scheduled sync. Which command should be used?

Question 5mediummultiple choice
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A Linux server runs a web application that frequently runs out of file descriptors. Which configuration change would permanently increase the maximum number of open files for all users?

Question 6mediummulti select
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A system administrator needs to configure a cron job to run a script every Monday at 3:00 AM. Which two cron expressions are correct? (Select TWO).

Question 7hardmulti select
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A Linux system is experiencing kernel panics after a recent update. The administrator wants to boot into a previous kernel version to restore functionality. Which three steps are required to achieve this? (Select THREE).

Question 8hardmultiple choice
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Based on the exhibit, what is the most likely cause of the sshd service failure?

Exhibit

Refer to the exhibit.

# systemctl status sshd
● sshd.service - OpenSSH server daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/sshd.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Mon 2023-10-23 14:30:01 UTC; 5min ago
     Docs: man:sshd(8)
           man:sshd_config(5)
  Process: 1234 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/sshd -D $OPTIONS (code=exited, status=255)
 Main PID: 1234 (code=exited, status=255)

Oct 23 14:30:01 server sshd[1234]: fatal: Cannot bind to port 22: Address already in use
Question 9mediummultiple choice
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Based on the exhibit, the myapp service fails to start. Which troubleshooting step should be taken first?

Exhibit

Refer to the exhibit.

# cat /etc/systemd/system/myapp.service
[Unit]
Description=My Application
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/myapp
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

# systemctl daemon-reload
# systemctl start myapp
# systemctl status myapp
● myapp.service - My Application
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/myapp.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since ...
  Process: 5678 ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/myapp (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Oct 23 15:00:00 server myapp[5678]: Error: Configuration file not found
Question 10easymultiple choice
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A system administrator notices that a server's disk space is critically low. Which command should be used to identify the largest files or directories consuming space?

Question 11mediummultiple choice
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A Linux server with systemd is experiencing boot issues after a recent kernel update. Which command sequence should be used to boot into the previous kernel version?

Question 12hardmultiple choice
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An administrator needs to ensure that a custom script /usr/local/bin/backup.sh runs every day at 2:00 AM and logs output to /var/log/backup.log. How should this be configured using systemd?

Question 13mediummulti select
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A systems administrator wants to monitor system performance in real time. Which TWO commands can be used to display live updating information about processes, CPU, and memory usage? (Select TWO.)

Question 14hardmulti select
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A Linux administrator is troubleshooting a service that fails to start. Which THREE files or commands should be checked to diagnose the issue? (Select THREE.)

Question 15easymultiple choice
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Based on the exhibit, what is the most likely cause of the sshd service failure?

Exhibit

Refer to the exhibit.

$ systemctl status sshd
● sshd.service - OpenSSH server daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/sshd.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Mon 2023-06-12 09:15:22 UTC; 5min ago
     Docs: man:sshd(8)
           man:sshd_config(5)
  Process: 1234 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/sshd -D $OPTIONS (code=exited, status=255)
 Main PID: 1234 (code=exited, status=255)
   Status: "Failed to start sshd"

Jun 12 09:15:22 server sshd[1234]: fatal: Missing privilege separation directory: /var/empty/sshd
Question 16mediummultiple choice
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Based on the exhibit, why does the mv command fail?

Network Topology
-rw-rrRefer to the exhibit.$ getenforceEnforcing$ ls -Z /etc/shadow$ ls -Z /tmp/testfile$ sudo mv /tmp/testfile /etc/shadow
Question 17hardmultiple choice
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An administrator configures a new web server with Apache and needs to ensure it starts automatically after a system reboot. The administrator runs 'systemctl enable httpd' but the service still does not start after reboot. What is the most likely reason?

Question 18easymultiple choice
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A technician needs to find out which port the SSH daemon is listening on. Which command will show this information?

Question 19mediummultiple choice
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A systems administrator needs to ensure that a custom service runs with a specific priority on a Linux server. Which command should the administrator use to achieve this?

Question 20hardmultiple choice
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A server is experiencing intermittent high load. The administrator suspects a memory leak in a service. Which sysfs file should the administrator monitor to track memory usage per cgroup?

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Focused System Management sessions

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Every question in these sessions is drawn from the System Management domain — nothing else.

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Browse all System Management questions →Mixed XK0-005 session

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Frequently asked questions

What does the XK0-005 exam test about System Management?
System Management questions on this certification test your ability to deploy and manage system management concepts in scenario-based situations.
How should I use these practice questions?
Select your answer before revealing the explanation. Then read why each option is right or wrong — this active recall approach builds retention far faster than re-reading notes.
Can I practise just System Management questions in a focused session?
Yes — the session launcher on this page draws every question from the System Management domain. Use a 10-question session first to gauge your baseline, then move to 20 or 30 once the weak spots are clear.
Where can I practise other XK0-005 topics?
Use the topic links above to move to related areas, or go back to the XK0-005 question bank to see all topics.
Are these real exam questions or dumps?
These are original practice questions written to test the same concepts the XK0-005 exam covers. They are not copied from any real exam or dump site.