This EX200 practice question tests your understanding of essential tools. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Exhibit
Refer to the exhibit.
$ cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep '^processor' | wc -l
4
$ free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7.6G 1.2G 5.2G 100M 1.2G 6.1G
Swap: 2.0G 0.0G 2.0G
$ df -h /var
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda3 50G 10G 37G 21% /var
Refer to the exhibit. An administrator runs these commands on a server. The administrator suspects a performance issue. Which observation from the exhibit is most likely causing a bottleneck?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The 'create' directive requires root privileges, but the job runs as appuser.
Option D is correct because the `create` directive in logrotate requires root privileges to create new log files with the specified ownership and permissions. Since the job runs as `appuser`, it lacks the necessary privileges to execute the `create` directive, causing the rotation to fail and potentially leading to a bottleneck as logs are not rotated properly.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
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 'notifempty' directive may cause delays in rotation.
Why it's wrong here
notifempty just skips rotation if file is empty, no major problem.
✗
The 'compress' directive uses bzip2 by default, which is not installed.
Why it's wrong here
compress uses gzip by default, which is installed.
✗
The 'weekly' directive uses cron syntax incorrectly.
Why it's wrong here
weekly is valid for logrotate frequency.
✓
The 'create' directive requires root privileges, but the job runs as appuser.
Why this is correct
The logrotate job run by appuser cannot change ownership to appuser or appgroup without sudo.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Red Hat often tests the misconception that `compress` defaults to bzip2 or that `weekly` uses cron syntax, but the real trap here is overlooking that `create` requires root privileges, which is a common oversight when configuring logrotate for non-root users.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The `create` directive in logrotate attempts to create a new log file with the same owner, group, and permissions as the original after rotation, which requires root or CAP_CHOWN capability. If the user lacks these privileges, logrotate may skip the rotation or fail, leading to unbounded log growth and disk space exhaustion. In real-world scenarios, this often occurs when logrotate is run from a user crontab instead of the system cron, or when the logrotate configuration specifies a user without proper sudoers entries.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A junior network technician can log in to a core router but cannot reach the enable prompt or configuration mode. The AAA server is authenticating the login — but the authorisation policy only grants privilege level 1, not 15. Authentication (who you are) is working; authorisation (what you can do) is not.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Essential Tools — This question tests Essential Tools — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: The 'create' directive requires root privileges, but the job runs as appuser. — Option D is correct because the `create` directive in logrotate requires root privileges to create new log files with the specified ownership and permissions. Since the job runs as `appuser`, it lacks the necessary privileges to execute the `create` directive, causing the rotation to fail and potentially leading to a bottleneck as logs are not rotated properly.
What should I do if I get this EX200 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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