EX200 Manage users and groups Practice Question
A junior administrator is asked to create a new group named 'qa' with an explicit GID of 4500 on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 server. After running the appropriate command, they verify the result with getent group qa and see 'qa:x:4500:'. Which command did the junior administrator most likely run?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse group management commands: assuming usermod or groupmod creates groups, when only groupadd can add a new group entry.
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
✓
groupadd -g 4500 qa
Creating a group with a specific GID requires the groupadd command with the -g option. The -g flag sets the numeric GID, and the final argument is the group name. The getent output shows the group exists with the requested GID and no supplementary members, which matches exactly what groupadd -g 4500 qa produces. None of the other commands create a new group entry.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
usermod -g 4500 qa
Why it's wrong here
This fails because usermod with -g changes the primary group of an existing user, not a group's GID. The argument 'qa' would be interpreted as a username, and since no user named qa exists, the command errors out. It cannot create a new group named qa or assign a GID to a group, so it would never produce the getent output shown.
- ✗
groupmod -g 4500 qa
Why it's wrong here
This is wrong because groupmod modifies an existing group; it cannot create one. If the group qa did not already exist, groupmod would fail with 'group qa does not exist'. Even if it existed, groupmod only changes the GID, and the scenario describes creating a new group with that GID, so groupmod is not the command that produced the initial entry.
- ✓
groupadd -g 4500 qa
Why this is correct
This is correct because groupadd with the -g option creates a new group and assigns the specified GID value of 4500 to it. The output from getent group qa confirms the group exists with GID 4500 and no members, which is exactly what groupadd -g produces. No other command in the list creates a group entry in /etc/group with a custom GID.
- ✗
newgrp -g 4500 qa
Why it's wrong here
This is incorrect because newgrp changes the current user's effective group ID for a shell session; it does not create a group or assign a permanent GID. Running newgrp with -g is not valid syntax for creating a group, and it would not add an entry to /etc/group that getent could display. It has no role in persistent group account creation.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Red Hat exam blueprint
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