EX200 Deploy, configure, and maintain systems Practice Question
A cron job fails to run. Which command should the administrator use to verify the cron daemon is active?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common pitfall is assuming the cron daemon is named 'cron' (as on Debian/Ubuntu) and selecting option A. However, on RHEL-based systems, the service is named 'crond', making option B correct. Always verify the exact service name for the exam's target distribution.
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
✓
systemctl status crond
On RHEL-based systems (including Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, and Fedora), the cron daemon is named `crond`, not `cron`. The `systemctl status crond` command checks whether the `crond` service is active, enabled, and running. This is the correct method for verifying the cron daemon's status on systems using systemd.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
systemctl status cron
Why it's wrong here
On RHEL-based systems, the cron daemon's systemd unit is named crond.service, not cron.service. Running 'systemctl status cron' causes systemd to look for cron.service, which does not exist, so it reports 'Unit cron.service could not be found' instead of showing crond's state. To diagnose a failed cron job, you must address the exact unit name; otherwise, you will be misled into thinking the service is absent.
- ✓
systemctl status crond
Why this is correct
'systemctl status crond' is the correct systemd command to inspect the cron daemon's runtime state. It displays whether crond.service is active (running), its load status, main process ID (PID), and recent log entries from the journal, which helps quickly identify why jobs are not executing. This is the standard, direct diagnostic action on RHEL 7 and later.
- ✗
systemctl list-units --type=service
Why it's wrong here
'systemctl list-units --type=service' outputs every loaded service unit on the system, such as sshd, httpd, and network.service, so it is a broad inventory rather than a targeted check of cron. To find cron in that output you would need to grep or paginate through hundreds of lines, and even then you get only a loaded/active state, not the specific error or journal messages needed to fix a failing job. The outage of one service cannot be efficiently diagnosed this way.
- ✗
service crond status
Why it's wrong here
The 'service crond status' command is a legacy SysVinit-style interface that modern RHEL systems map through systemctl, so it may display status, but it is deprecated and provides abbreviated information relative to native systemd commands. It typically does not show the process PID, recent journal output, or dependency failures in the same integrated view that systemctl status crond does. RHEL 7+ administrative tasks should use systemctl for accurate and complete service monitoring.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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