LPIC-1 Devices, Filesystems and FHS Practice Question
This LPIC-1 practice question tests your understanding of devices, filesystems and fhs. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A Linux system has a 500GB SSD. The administrator wants to partition it to support a web server with the following requirements: root (/) 20GB, swap 4GB, /var 50GB, /home 100GB, and the remaining for /srv. Which partitioning strategy is best practice according to the FHS and performance considerations?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Create separate partitions for root, swap, /var, /home, and /srv.
Option C is correct because creating separate partitions for root, swap, /var, /home, and /srv aligns with best practices for the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) and performance isolation. This approach prevents one filesystem from exhausting space needed by another (e.g., runaway logs in /var cannot fill /home) and allows independent mount options (e.g., noexec on /home) and filesystem tuning for each mount point.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Use a single partition for root, but create separate partitions for /tmp, /var, /home, and /srv.
Why it's wrong here
Separating /tmp is unnecessary and reduces available space for other uses.
✗
Create a single LVM volume group with logical volumes for each mount point.
Why it's wrong here
LVM is overkill for this fixed layout; direct partitions are simpler and adequate.
✓
Create separate partitions for root, swap, /var, /home, and /srv.
Why this is correct
Separate partitions provide isolation, prevent one oversize from affecting others, and allow different mount options per filesystem.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Allocate one large partition for root and use bind mounts for /var, /home, and /srv.
Why it's wrong here
Bind mounts don't provide isolation; if root fills, all directories are affected.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often choose LVM (Option B) thinking it is always best practice for flexibility, but the question explicitly asks for best practice according to the FHS and performance considerations — for a fixed-size single disk with known requirements, simple partitions are simpler, faster, and more aligned with FHS separation principles than LVM's added abstraction layer.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Separate partitions allow each mount point to have its own filesystem type (e.g., ext4 for /, XFS for /var) and mount options (e.g., noatime, nodiratime for performance). Under the hood, the kernel manages each partition independently via the block device layer, so I/O to /var does not contend with I/O to /home. In a real-world web server scenario, separating /var prevents log floods from crashing the entire system, and separating /home protects user data from system updates.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A practitioner preparing for the LPIC-1 exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Devices, Filesystems and FHS — This question tests Devices, Filesystems and FHS — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Create separate partitions for root, swap, /var, /home, and /srv. — Option C is correct because creating separate partitions for root, swap, /var, /home, and /srv aligns with best practices for the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) and performance isolation. This approach prevents one filesystem from exhausting space needed by another (e.g., runaway logs in /var cannot fill /home) and allows independent mount options (e.g., noexec on /home) and filesystem tuning for each mount point.
What should I do if I get this LPIC-1 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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