EX188 Container Operations And Lifecycle Practice Question
An administrator is managing rootless Podman containers as a non-root user and wants to ensure that these containers automatically start upon system boot and persist across reboots using systemd. Which TWO steps or commands are required to accomplish this? (Choose TWO)
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
✓
Run 'loginctl enable-linger <username>' to allow the user's systemd instance to run in the background when not logged in.
Rootless Podman persistence via systemd requires lingering to be enabled for the user so systemd runs when they are logged out, and generating/enabling a systemd service file.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure the container restart policy to always using '--restart always' without systemd.
Why it's wrong here
Restart policies alone do not ensure container startup on system boot if the container engine service is not running or if lingering is disabled.
- ✗
Run 'systemctl enable --now podman' with root privileges.
Why it's wrong here
Rootless containers do not use the system-level 'podman.service' managed by root.
- ✗
Modify the global '/etc/rc.local' script to execute 'podman start' on boot.
Why it's wrong here
rc.local is deprecated and not the correct mechanism for managing container lifecycles via systemd.
- ✓
Run 'loginctl enable-linger <username>' to allow the user's systemd instance to run in the background when not logged in.
Why this is correct
Lingering is mandatory for rootless containers managed by user systemd to start at boot without an active user session.
- ✓
Generate a user systemd unit file using 'podman generate systemd' and place it in '~/.config/systemd/user/'.
Why this is correct
User-level systemd unit files must be placed in the user's local systemd directory (~/.config/systemd/user/) to be recognized.
About these practice questions
This EX188 question is part of Courseiva's 296-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed August 2026 · checked against the official Red Hat exam blueprint
This EX188 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Red Hat 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 EX188 exam.