EX200 Configure local storage Practice Question
Which THREE filesystem types are natively supported in RHEL 8/9 for local storage? (Choose exactly three.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates assume Btrfs is supported because it is common in other distributions, but Red Hat explicitly deprecated and removed it from RHEL 8/9, making ext4 and XFS the correct choices alongside vfat for UEFI boot.
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
✓
vfat
A is correct because vfat (FAT32) is natively supported in RHEL 8/9 for local storage, primarily for compatibility with UEFI boot partitions and removable media. The kernel includes the vfat module, and mkfs.vfat is available from the dosfstools package, allowing creation and mounting of FAT32 filesystems without additional software.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
vfat
Why this is correct
vfat is natively supported in RHEL because the kernel includes the vfat driver, primarily for compatibility with EFI System Partitions and Windows-formatted removable media. It supports long filenames but lacks advanced features like permissions and journaling. This support is maintained specifically for interoperability, not as a primary data filesystem.
- ✗
ntfs
Why it's wrong here
ntfs is not natively supported because the RHEL kernel does not include an in-tree read-write NTFS driver. To access NTFS volumes, administrators must install third-party packages such as ntfs-3g from EPEL, which works through the FUSE layer. Without such packages, RHEL cannot mount NTFS partitions at all.
- ✓
xfs
Why this is correct
xfs is the default filesystem in RHEL and is fully supported. It is designed for high scalability, handling very large files and partitions, and provides metadata journaling for crash consistency. XFS supports online resizing and is tuned for performance in enterprise workloads, making it the recommended choice on RHEL.
- ✗
btrfs
Why it's wrong here
btrfs is not supported in RHEL because it was included only as a technology preview in RHEL 7, then deprecated in RHEL 8 and completely removed from the kernel in RHEL 9. It was never offered as a supported filesystem in the RHEL product lifecycle. Therefore, installing or trying to use btrfs on supported RHEL releases is not possible without unsupported kernel changes.
- ✓
ext4
Why this is correct
ext4 is fully supported in RHEL and serves as a reliable general-purpose filesystem. It includes journaling, extents, and backward compatibility with ext2 and ext3, allowing existing volumes to be mounted and upgraded. Although XFS is the default, ext4 remains a fully supported alternative for many use cases.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This EX200 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Red Hat certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the EX200 exam.