EX200 Deploy, configure, and maintain systems Practice Question
A technician needs to create a new group named 'developers' with GID 5000. Which command accomplishes this?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse `groupadd -r` (system group) with creating a group with a specific GID, or they may think `useradd -g` creates a group, when it actually assigns a user to an existing group.
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 5000 developers
The `groupadd -g 5000 developers` command explicitly sets the GID to 5000 for the new group named 'developers'. The `-g` option specifies the numeric group ID, which is required to meet the technician's exact requirement.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
groupadd -r developers
Why it's wrong here
The -r flag tells groupadd to create a system group, which on RHEL systems receives a GID in the low reserved range (typically 0-999) as defined in /etc/login.defs, not a normal user group GID. Since the requirement is explicitly GID 5000, this command would produce a group with a GID far below that value, and no GID can be specified alongside -r. Therefore it fails both the type and the GID requirement.
- ✗
useradd -g developers
Why it's wrong here
useradd is the utility for creating user accounts, not groups; its -g option assigns the new user's initial login group, and that group must already exist. Running useradd -g developers would return an error because the developers group isn't present, and useradd will never create a group. To create a standalone group, the technician must use groupadd.
- ✗
groupadd developers
Why it's wrong here
Omitting the -g option makes groupadd allocate the next available GID, which starts from GID_MIN (often 1000 or 1001) in /etc/login.defs and is guaranteed to be unique. For a normal group, this default GID could be 1001, 1002, or any higher number—almost certainly not 5000. Hence the group name developers would exist, but the required GID would not be set.
- ✓
groupadd -g 5000 developers
Why this is correct
The -g option lets you explicitly assign the numeric GID 5000 to the new group, making this command exactly what the technician needs. groupadd will validate that the GID is not already in use and that it fits within the allowed range for ordinary groups. As long as no group with GID 5000 exists, this creates developers with the correct ID in a single operation.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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