This LPIC-1 practice question tests your understanding of administrative tasks. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 system administrator wants to schedule a script to run every Monday at 3:00 AM, but only if the system clock is set to local time (not UTC). Which crontab entry should be used?
3 0 * * 1 /path/to/script
Why wrong: Fields swapped: runs at 0:03, not 3:00.
0 3 * * 1 /path/to/script
Correct: minute 0, hour 3, any day of month, any month, Monday (1).
0 15 * * 1 /path/to/script
Why wrong: 15 is 3 PM, not 3 AM.
0 3 * * 0 /path/to/script
Why wrong: 0 is Sunday, not Monday.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
0 3 * * 1 /path/to/script
Option B is correct because the crontab format is 'minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week command'. To run at 3:00 AM Monday, the minute field is 0, the hour field is 3 (using 24-hour time), and the day-of-week field is 1 (Monday). The cron daemon does not care about UTC vs local time; it uses the system's configured timezone, so no special flag is needed.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
3 0 * * 1 /path/to/script
Why it's wrong here
Fields swapped: runs at 0:03, not 3:00.
0 3 * * 1 /path/to/script
Why this is correct
Correct: minute 0, hour 3, any day of month, any month, Monday (1).
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
0 15 * * 1 /path/to/script
Why it's wrong here
15 is 3 PM, not 3 AM.
0 3 * * 0 /path/to/script
Why it's wrong here
0 is Sunday, not Monday.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates confuse the order of minute and hour fields (minute first, then hour) or mistakenly use 0 for Monday instead of 1, leading to selection of option A or D.
Detailed technical explanation
Cron reads the system's local time from the kernel, which is set by the system administrator via the timezone configuration (e.g., /etc/localtime or the TZ environment variable). The cron daemon does not interpret UTC vs local time; it simply uses the system clock as-is. In real-world scenarios, if the system clock is set to UTC but the administrator expects local time, the script would run at the wrong hour unless the timezone is explicitly adjusted.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A small business has 20 workstations on the 192.168.1.0/24 network and one public IP from its ISP. The router uses PAT (NAT overload) so all 20 devices share one public address using different source ports. NAT questions test whether you understand the four address terms and which direction each translation applies.
What to study next
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FAQ
Administrative Tasks — This question tests Administrative Tasks — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: 0 3 * * 1 /path/to/script — Option B is correct because the crontab format is 'minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week command'. To run at 3:00 AM Monday, the minute field is 0, the hour field is 3 (using 24-hour time), and the day-of-week field is 1 (Monday). The cron daemon does not care about UTC vs local time; it uses the system's configured timezone, so no special flag is needed.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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