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This page has 10 Select Two (Multi-Select) Questions scenario questions for the EX200 exam, each with detailed explanations and wrong-answer analysis.

How should I approach EX200 scenario questions?

Read the full scenario before looking at the answer options. Identify the constraint or requirement in the scenario, then eliminate options that are generally true but wrong for this specific case. Scenario questions reward careful reading over pattern matching.

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Select Two (Multi-Select) Questions

Practise Red Hat Certified System Administrator EX200 practice questions — original exam-style scenarios covering every exam domain, with detailed explanations, wrong-answer analysis, and common exam traps.

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Scenario guide

How to approach select two (multi-select) questions

Multi-select questions tell you to 'Choose TWO' or 'Choose THREE'. Getting partial credit is not a thing — you must select all correct answers with no incorrect ones. The stem always states how many to choose, so trust it. These questions require precision, not best-guess elimination.

Quick answer

Select Two (Multi-Select) Questions questions test whether you can apply the concept in context, not just recognise a definition.

How the topic appears in realistic exam-style scenarios.

Which detail in the question changes the correct answer.

How to eliminate plausible but wrong options.

How to connect the question back to the wider exam objective.

Practice scenarios

Question 1easymulti select

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Which TWO commands can be used to display available disk space on mounted filesystems in a human-readable format?

A
blkid
Why wrong: blkid displays block device attributes (UUID, label), not disk space usage.
B
df -h
df -h correctly shows available disk space on mounted filesystems in human-readable format.
C
ls -lh
Why wrong: ls -lh lists file sizes, not filesystem disk space.
D
du -sh
Why wrong: du -sh shows the total size of a directory or file, not available space on mounted filesystems.
E
fdisk -l
Why wrong: fdisk -l displays partition tables, not filesystem usage.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

Question 2mediummulti select

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Which TWO commands can be used to add a user to a secondary group without removing existing supplementary group memberships? (Choose exactly 2)

A
usermod -aG group user
The `-a` flag in `usermod -aG group user` is the critical component: it stands for 'append', meaning the specified user is added to the supplementary group listed after `-G` without removing the user from any existing supplementary groups. Omitting `-a` would replace the user's entire supplementary group membership list with just the one group, which can unexpectedly strip access to other groups. This command directly edits /etc/group and /etc/passwd to update group membership.
B
usermod -AG group user
Why wrong: `-A` is not a valid option for the `usermod` command on Linux; it is not recognized and will produce an error. Even if a system or a future version tried to interpret it, the absence of the lowercase `-a` means the intended 'append' behavior is lost, so the command would either fail outright or, in some permissive parsers, be treated as `-a` plus `-G` but without the proper flag combination. The correct syntax to append to supplementary groups is `usermod -aG`, with `-a` lowercase and immediately paired with `-G`.
C
adduser user group
Why wrong: The `adduser` utility is a friendly interactive wrapper for `useradd`, and its primary purpose is to create new user accounts, not to modify the group memberships of an existing user. Its argument syntax does not accept `user group` as a way to assign group membership; doing so would be interpreted as specifying a new username with a non-existent 'group' option, or it would simply fail with an error. To add a user to a secondary group, you must use a dedicated group management command like `usermod -aG` or `gpasswd -a`.
D
gpasswd -a user group
The `gpasswd -a user group` command uses the `-a` (add) flag to append a user to a specified group, and it is an official alternative to `usermod -aG` for modifying supplementary group membership. Unlike directly editing /etc/group, `gpasswd` handles the atomic update of group files and works correctly even if the group file is large. This command preserves all other group memberships of the user, only adding the named group.
E
groupadd -a user group
Why wrong: The `groupadd` command is designed exclusively for creating new groups in /etc/group, not for adding users to existing groups. The `-a` flag is not a valid option for `groupadd`, and even if it were, the syntax `groupadd -a user group` would be misinterpreted as placing 'user' in a group-creating context, which is completely nonsensical. To add a user to a group, the correct utilities are `gpasswd -a` or `usermod -aG`, both of which explicitly operate on existing users and groups.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

Question 3hardmulti select

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Which TWO commands are valid for resizing an XFS file system? (Choose exactly two.)

A
xfs_admin -L /mnt
Why wrong: xfs_admin is a utility for tuning and displaying parameters of an XFS filesystem, such as setting the volume label, UUID, or other metadata, but it has no functionality to alter the size of the filesystem. The -L option specifically sets the label, not the size, and the command expects a device argument rather than a mount point, so it is invalid for resizing. Attempting to use xfs_admin -L /mnt to resize an XFS filesystem would fail because it is not designed for size changes.
B
xfs_growfs /mnt
xfs_growfs is the standard tool for resizing an XFS filesystem, and running it with a mount point grows the filesystem to occupy all available space in the underlying device or logical volume. This command works online—meaning the filesystem can remain mounted and in use during the operation—which is a key advantage in production environments. Therefore, xfs_growfs /mnt is a valid and correct answer for resizing an XFS filesystem.
C
resize2fs /dev/sda1
Why wrong: resize2fs is the resizing utility specifically for the ext2, ext3, and ext4 filesystem families, not for XFS. It operates using EXT2_IOC_RESIZE_FS ioctl and expects ext-family superblock structures, so running it against an XFS device like /dev/sda1 will fail with an error about an unsupported filesystem type. Because it cannot understand or modify XFS metadata, this command is invalid for resizing an XFS filesystem.
D
xfs_growfs -D 10g /mnt
xfs_growfs -D 10g /mnt is a valid resizing command because the -D option explicitly sets the new filesystem size to 10 gigabytes, overriding the default behavior of expanding to the full device capacity. It can be used as an alternative to the plain xfs_growfs /mnt when you want to control the exact final size, and the command still requires the target to be larger than the current filesystem since XFS only supports growing. This option is useful when extending a logical volume to a specific size rather than filling all available space.
E
xfs_repair /dev/sda1
Why wrong: xfs_repair is a filesystem repair tool used to check and rebuild XFS metadata, such as inodes, allocation group headers, and the log, but it does not have any capability to resize a filesystem. It typically requires the filesystem to be unmounted and will refuse to operate on a mounted filesystem, whereas resizing with xfs_growfs is an online operation. Thus, xfs_repair /dev/sda1 is not a resizing command and is invalid for this purpose.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

Question 4hardmulti select

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An administrator wants to change the default systemd target to multi-user.target. Which three steps are part of a correct procedure? (Choose three.)

A
systemctl enable multi-user.target
Why wrong: systemctl enable multi-user.target is incorrect because enable only creates dependency symlinks (in .wants or .requires directories) that pull a unit into the boot transaction; it does not alter the default target. The default boot target is determined by the symlink at /etc/systemd/system/default.target, and enabling a target leaves that symlink unchanged, so the system would still boot to the previous default.
B
systemctl start multi-user.target
Why wrong: systemctl start multi-user.target is the wrong way to change the active target because start is additive—it activates the target and its dependencies without deactivating the units of the current target, leading to an inconsistent runtime state where graphical and multi-user units coexist. This command also has no persistence across reboots, so it neither changes the default nor properly isolates the system to a pure multi-user environment.
C
systemctl isolate multi-user.target
systemctl isolate multi-user.target is correct because it atomically switches the currently running target by stopping all units not required by multi-user.target and starting the required ones, effectively performing a runtime runlevel switch. This is the proper way to change the active target immediately, and while it does not modify the default for future boots, it is the necessary command to apply a target change without a reboot.
D
ln -sf /lib/systemd/system/multi-user.target /etc/systemd/system/default.target
ln -sf /lib/systemd/system/multi-user.target /etc/systemd/system/default.target is a correct manual method for setting the default target because the boot process reads the default.target symlink in /etc/systemd/system to determine the initial target. The -f flag overwrites any existing symlink, and using /lib/systemd/system is valid on both merged and unmerged /usr systems, making this command functionally equivalent to systemctl set-default, though performed at the filesystem level.
E
systemctl set-default multi-user.target
systemctl set-default multi-user.target is the canonical systemd command for changing the default boot target because it creates the proper symlink at /etc/systemd/system/default.target pointing to the specified target unit. Unlike isolate, it has no immediate effect on the current runtime environment; it only determines which target systemd will enter at the next boot. This is the recommended, user-friendly approach and is the standard way to persist a default target change.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

Question 5easymulti select

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A systems administrator needs to list all currently defined firewall rules in firewalld, including rules for all zones. Which TWO commands can be used to accomplish this? (Choose exactly two.)

A
firewall-cmd --list-all-zones
Correct. This command displays the full configuration for all zones, including rules for each zone.
B
iptables -L
Why wrong: Incorrect. `iptables -L` shows the current netfilter rules in the kernel, but firewalld uses a zone-based abstraction; these rules may not directly correspond to firewalld's zone rules.
C
systemctl status firewalld
Why wrong: Incorrect. `systemctl status firewalld` shows whether the firewalld service is running, not the firewall rules.
D
firewall-cmd --get-default-zone
Why wrong: Incorrect. `firewall-cmd --get-default-zone` only returns the name of the default zone, not the rules.
E
firewall-cmd --list-all
Why wrong: Incorrect. `firewall-cmd --list-all` shows the rules for the default zone only, not all zones, so it does not meet the requirement.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

Question 6easymulti select

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Which TWO of the following are valid ways to make a shell script executable?

A
bash script.sh
Why wrong: Running a script with bash does not make it executable; it simply passes the script as an argument to the bash interpreter.
B
chmod 755 script.sh
chmod 755 sets permissions to rwxr-xr-x, making the script executable for everyone, which is a valid way to make it executable.
C
. script.sh
Why wrong: Sourcing a script with . (dot) does not change file permissions; it reads and executes the script in the current shell.
D
chmod u+x script.sh
chmod u+x adds execute permission only for the owner, but the exam expects methods that make the script executable for all users (like 755 or +x); therefore it is not considered correct here.
E
chmod +x script.sh
Why wrong: chmod +x adds execute permission for all users, making the script executable, and is one of the two correct answers.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

Question 7mediummulti select

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Which TWO commands can change the primary group of an existing user?

A
usermod -aG
`usermod -aG` adds the user to a supplementary group, not the primary group.
B
gpasswd -a
`gpasswd -a` adds the user to a supplementary group, not the primary group.
C
vigr
Why wrong: `vigr` edits /etc/group but does not change a user's primary group membership.
D
groupmems -a
Why wrong: `groupmems -a` adds the user to a supplementary group, not the primary group.
E
useradd -G
Why wrong: `useradd -G` sets supplementary groups for a new user and does not affect an existing user's primary group.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

Question 8hardmulti select

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Which three fields are present in every /etc/fstab entry? (Choose three.)

A
Mount point
Correct. The mount point specifies where the filesystem will be attached to the directory tree and is required.
B
Device
Correct. The device field identifies the block device (by path, UUID, or label) and is mandatory.
C
Dump field
Incorrect. Although the dump field is present in the six-column format, it is not considered one of the three mandatory fields as it defaults to 0 if omitted.
D
Filesystem type
Why wrong: Correct. The filesystem type (e.g., ext4, xfs) tells the system how to interpret the device and is required.
E
UUID
Why wrong: Incorrect. UUID is not a separate field; it is a valid way to specify the device, but the required field is the device identifier itself.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

Question 9mediummulti select

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Which command can be used to create a logical volume using all available free space in a volume group?

A
lvcreate --size 20G vgdata lvdata
Why wrong: Beyond using --size to fix the LV at 20 GiB, this command also violates the required lvcreate argument order: the volume group name must follow the -n LV name, so the correct form would be 'lvcreate -n lvdata -L 20G vgdata'. As written, lvcreate interprets 'vgdata' as the LV name and 'lvdata' as the missing VG argument, causing a syntax error. Even if the order were swapped, --size still only allocates a fixed 20 GiB rather than using 100%FREE.
B
lvcreate -l 100%FREE -n lvdata vgdata
The -l flag accepts percentage-based allocation, and 100%FREE specifically targets only the unallocated physical extents in the volume group, so the resulting LV consumes all remaining free space. In contrast to a fixed-size command, this scales automatically as the VG's free space changes. It is the canonical way to create an LV spanning the full free capacity without requiring the administrator to calculate extent counts.
C
lvcreate -L 20G -n lvdata vgdata
Why wrong: This command creates a logical volume with a fixed capacity of exactly 20 GiB, not every available free extent, because -L specifies an absolute size rather than a percentage. Unless the volume group happens to have precisely 20 GiB of free space, the LV will not use all free space; any remaining free extents stay unallocated and are not consumed by lvdata. Moreover, a fixed size does not adapt to changes in VG free space after copy-on-write snapshots or other allocations.
D
lvcreate -l 100%VG -n lvdata vgdata
Why wrong: The `-l 100%VG` flag attempts to allocate 100% of the volume group's extents, including those already used by other logical volumes. If any extents are already allocated, this command will fail. It does not reliably use only free space.
E
lvcreate -L 100%FREE -n lvdata vgdata
Why wrong: The -L flag is intended for a literal size value such as 20G or 512M, not a percentage; passing '100%FREE' is invalid syntax and lvcreate will immediately error out with an unrecognized size specification. Percentages are only accepted by the -l flag, which counts in logical extents, whereas -L expects a human-readable byte-size unit. Therefore this command cannot create any LV.

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Question 10easymulti select

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Which TWO commands can be used to display the current date and time in a format like '2023-10-05 14:30:00'?

A
date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'
Formats date as required.
B
cal
Why wrong: Shows calendar, not current date/time.
C
timedatectl
Why wrong: Shows time and date but not in that exact format.
D
date -Iseconds
Why wrong: date -Iseconds outputs date and time in ISO 8601 format (e.g., 2023-10-05T14:30:00+00:00) with a 'T' separator and timezone, not the requested 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS' format.
E
hwclock
Why wrong: Displays hardware clock, not current date/time.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

These EX200 practice questions are part of Courseiva's free Red Hat certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style EX200 questions with detailed explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics.

Select Two (Multi-Select) Questions

How to approach select two (multi-select) questions

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Practice scenarios

Which TWO commands can be used to display available disk space on mounted filesystems in a human-readable format?

Which TWO commands can be used to add a user to a secondary group without removing existing supplementary group memberships? (Choose exactly 2)

Which TWO commands are valid for resizing an XFS file system? (Choose exactly two.)

An administrator wants to change the default systemd target to multi-user.target. Which three steps are part of a correct procedure? (Choose three.)

A systems administrator needs to list all currently defined firewall rules in firewalld, including rules for all zones. Which TWO commands can be used to accomplish this? (Choose exactly two.)

Which TWO of the following are valid ways to make a shell script executable?

Which TWO commands can change the primary group of an existing user?

Which three fields are present in every /etc/fstab entry? (Choose three.)

Which command can be used to create a logical volume using all available free space in a volume group?

Which TWO commands can be used to display the current date and time in a format like '2023-10-05 14:30:00'?