EX200 Configure local storage Practice Question
During a system audit, an administrator finds that a filesystem mounted at /srv/data with ext4 is not showing in /etc/fstab. Further investigation reveals that the underlying device is an LVM logical volume lv_data in vg_data. The administrator wants to ensure the filesystem is mounted at boot. He adds an entry to /etc/fstab using the device path /dev/vg_data/lv_data. On reboot, the system fails to mount the filesystem and enters emergency mode. The logical volume and filesystem are intact. What is the most likely reason for the failure?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often assume /dev/vg_data/lv_data is a stable device path, but it is actually a symlink that may not be available at boot time, leading them to overlook the correct /dev/mapper/ path or UUID.
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
✓
The device path /dev/vg_data/lv_data is a symlink that may not be available; use /dev/mapper/vg_data-lv_data or UUID.
The device path /dev/vg_data/lv_data is a symbolic link created by LVM that may not be available early in the boot process because the device mapper nodes are not yet created. The correct approach is to use the stable /dev/mapper/vg_data-lv_data path or the filesystem UUID in /etc/fstab to ensure reliable mounting at boot.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The device path /dev/vg_data/lv_data is a symlink that may not be available; use /dev/mapper/vg_data-lv_data or UUID.
Why this is correct
The path /dev/vg_data/lv_data is not a static device node but a symlink created by LVM's udev rules after the volume group is activated. In early boot, especially when the root filesystem is on an initramfs, activation may occur after the mount attempt, leaving that symlink unavailable; /dev/mapper/vg_data-lv_data is created by device-mapper itself and is more reliable, and a filesystem UUID avoids device-name dependence altogether.
- ✗
The mount point /srv/data does not exist.
Why it's wrong here
A mount point is simply a directory that must already exist before a filesystem can be attached to it; /srv/data persisted in the filesystem tree and was not affected by the fstab edit. If it were missing, the systemd mount unit would fail with a 'No such file or directory' error, but the audit confirmed the directory is present, so a missing mount point cannot explain the failure.
- ✗
The filesystem type specified in fstab is incorrect.
Why it's wrong here
The filesystem type in fstab is ext4, and the audit verified that the logical volume actually contains an ext4 filesystem. Had the type been wrong — for example ext3 or xfs — mount(8) would immediately reject it with 'wrong fs type', and the systemd journal would show that error. Since the type matches what is on disk, this is not the root cause.
- ✗
The logical volume is not activated at boot because lvm2-lvmetad is not running.
Why it's wrong here
LVM activation at boot does not depend on lvmetad, the metadata cache daemon, which is optional and disabled by default on modern systems. Instead, LVM2 systemd services and udev rules trigger scan and reactivate volume groups; lvmetad would only speed up metadata caching, not gate activation. Therefore an lvmetad being stopped cannot be the reason the logical volume fails to appear.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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