LFCS Storage Management Practice Question
An administrator needs to mount an XFS filesystem with options to optimize for a database workload. Which mount option would reduce metadata updates to improve performance?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse `relatime` (which reduces but does not eliminate atime updates) with `noatime`, or incorrectly assume `nodiratime` is sufficient for database optimization, when only `noatime` fully removes metadata write overhead for all files.
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
✓
noatime
The `noatime` mount option disables updates to the inode access time (atime) on every file read. For database workloads, this eliminates a significant source of metadata write I/O, reducing disk contention and improving overall performance by avoiding unnecessary journal updates on XFS.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
noexec
Why it's wrong here
Prevents execution of binaries, does not reduce metadata updates.
- ✗
nodiratime
Why it's wrong here
Disables atime updates for directories only, but noatime is more comprehensive.
- ✗
relatime
Why it's wrong here
Relatime updates atime conditionally, but not as effective as noatime.
- ✓
noatime
Why this is correct
Disables atime updates, reducing metadata writes.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This LFCS practice question is part of Courseiva's free Linux Foundation certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the LFCS exam.