010-160 Practice Exam Questions with Answers Linux Essentials Certificate Exam - version 1.6 Certification

Linux passwords are not stored in plain text, but in a scrambled or encrypted form known as a hash. A hash is a one-way function that transforms a string of characters into a fixed-length value. The same input always produces the same hash, but it is impossible to reverse the process and recover the original input from the hash. This way, the system can verify the user’s password without exposing it to anyone who can read the file where the hashes are stored. The file that contains the password hashes is /etc/shadow, which is only readable by the root user or members of the shadow group. The passwd utility is used to change the user’s password, which updates the hash in the /etc/shadow file. References: Linux Essentials 1.6 Topic 105: Security and File Permissions, How to Change Account Passwords on Linux, Where is my password stored on Linux?

 Linux hardware drivers are software components that enable the Linux kernel to communicate with various devices, such as keyboards, mice, printers, scanners, network cards, etc. Drivers are either compiled into the Linux kernel or are loaded as kernel modules. Kernel modules are pieces of code that can be loaded and unloaded into the kernelon demand. They extend the functionality of the kernel without requiring to rebuild or reboot the system. Drivers that are compiled into the kernel are always available, but they increase the size and complexity of the kernel. Drivers that are loaded as kernel modules are only available when needed, but they require a matching version of the kernel and the module. Linux supports a large number of hardware devices, thanks to the efforts of the open source community and some vendors who provide drivers for their products. However, some devices may not have a driver available for Linux, or may require a proprietary driver that is not included in the Linux distribution. In such cases, the user may need to install the driver manually from the vendor’s website or from a third-party repository. References:

• Linux Essentials - Linux Professional Institute (LPI), section 2.2.1
• LPI Linux Essentials Study Guide: Exam 010 v1.6, 3rd Edition, chapter 3, page 67.

The zip command is used to create compressed archive files that can contain one or more files or directories. The zip command takes the name of the archive file as the first argument, followed by the names of the files or directories to be included in the archive. You can also use wildcards to match multiple files or directories with a common pattern. For example, the command zip poems.zip *.txt will create the ZIP archive poems.zip containing all files in the current directory whose names end in .txt. The other commands are either invalid or do not perform the desired operation. The command zip *.txt > poems.zip will try to create an archive for each file ending in .txt and redirect the output to poems.zip, which is not a valid archive file. The command zcat *.txt poems.zip will try to decompress and concatenate the contents of the files ending in .txt and poems.zip, which is not a valid ZIP file. The command zip cfz poems.zip *.txt will fail because the options c, f, and z are not valid for the zip command. The command cat *.txt | zip poems.zip will try to read the contents of the files ending in .txt from the standard input and create an archive named poems.zip, but this will not preserve the file names or attributes of the original files. References:

• Linux Essentials - Linux Professional Institute (LPI), section 3.1.1
• 3.1 Archiving Files on the Command Line - Linux Professional Institute Certification Programs, slide

A web server is a program that listens for requests from web browsers and serves web pages, images, or other resources. Apache HTTPD and NGINX are two popular web servers that can run on Linux systems. They can handle multiple protocols, such as HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and SMTP. Postfix, Curl, and Dovecot are not web servers, but they are related to web or network services. Postfix is a mail transfer agent (MTA) that can send and receive emails. Curl is a command-line tool that can transfer data from or to a web server. Dovecot is a mail delivery agent (MDA) that can store and retrieve emails from a local mailbox. References:

• Linux Essentials - Linux Professional Institute (LPI), section 1.2 Major Open Source Applications
• LPI Linux Essentials 010-160 - Testprep Training Tutorials, section 4.4 Your Computer on the Network

A recursive directory listing is a way of displaying the files and folders in a directory and all its sub-directories. The recursive option can be used with various commands, such as ls, find, or dir, to list the files recursively. For example, the command ls -R will list all the files and folders inthe current directory and any sub-directories, showing the hierarchy of the file system123 A recursive directory listing does not include the permissions, ownership, or file system details ofthe files, unless specified by other options. For example, the command ls -lR will list the files recursively and also show the permissions, ownership, size, and modification date of each file1 A recursive directory listing also does not include a preview of the content of each file, unless specified by other options. For example, the command ls -R --file-type will list the files recursively and also show the file type indicator, such as / for directories, * for executable files, @ for symbolic links, etc1 References: 1: ls (Unix) - Wikipedia 2: Recursively List all directories and files - Stack Overflow 3: Why is ls -R called “recursive” listing? - Ask Ubuntu

 Reverse DNS lookups query DNS servers for a PTR (pointer) record; if the server does not have a PTR record, it cannot resolve a reverse lookup. PTR records store IP addresses with their segments reversed, and they append “.in-addr.arpa” to that. For example, if a domain has an IP address of 192.0.2.1, the PTR record will store the domain’s information under 1.2.0.192.in-addr.arpa. In IPv6, the latest version of the Internet Protocol, PTR records are stored within the “.ip6.arpa” domain instead of ".in-addr.arpa."1 Therefore, the name of the IP address 198.51.100.165 is stored in the PTR record for 165.100.51.198.in-addr.arpa. References: 1: Reverse DNS lookup - Wikipedia 1

The UID of the user root is always 0 on Linux systems. This is because the kernel uses the UID 0 to check for the superuser privileges and grant access to all system resources. The name of the user account with UID 0 is usually root, but it can be changed or have aliases. However, some applications may expect the name root and not work properly with a different name. The UID 0 is reserved for the root user and cannot be assigned to any other user. The UID 0 is stored in the /etc/passwd file along with other user information. References:

• Linux Essentials Topic 104: The Linux Operating System, section 104.4: Runlevels and Boot Targets.
• Linux Essentials Topic 106: Security and File Permissions, section 106.1: Basic security and identifying user types.
• Linux Essentials Topic 106: Security and File Permissions, section 106.2: Creating users and groups.

The /etc/passwd file is a plain text-based database that contains information for all user accounts on the system. It is owned by root and has 644 permissions. The file can only be modified by root or users with sudo privileges and readable by all system users. Each line of the /etc/passwd file contains seven comma-separated fields, representing a user account. The fields are as follows:

• Username: The string you type when you log into the system. Each username must be a unique string on the machine. The maximum length of the username is restricted to 32 characters.
• Password: In older Linux systems, the user’s encrypted password was stored in the /etc/passwd file. On most modern systems, this field is set to x, and the user password is stored in the /etc/shadow file.
• User ID (UID): The user identifier is a number assigned to each user by the operating system to refer to a user. It is used by the kernel to check for the user privileges and grant access to system resources. The UID 0 is reserved for the root user and cannot be assigned to any other user.
• Group ID (GID): The user’s group identifier number, referring to the user’s primary group. When a user creates a file, the file’s group is set to this group. Typically, the name of the group is the same as the name of the user. User’s secondary groups are listed in the /etc/group file.
• User ID Info (GECOS): This is a comment field. This field contains a list of comma-separated values with the following information: User’s full name or the application name, Room number, Work phone number, Home phone number, Other contact information.
• Home directory: The absolute path to the user’s home directory. It contains the user’s files and configurations. By default, the user home directories are named after the name of the user and created under the /home directory.
• Login shell: The absolute path to the user’s login shell. This is the shell that is started when the user logs into the system. On most Linux distributions, the default login shell is Bash.

Therefore, the correct answers are B, C, and E. The user’s storage space limit (A) is not stored in the /etc/passwd file, but in the /etc/quota file. The encrypted password (D) is not stored in the /etc/passwd file, but in the /etc/shadow file. References:

• Linux Essentials Topic 104: The Linux Operating System, section 104.4: Runlevels and Boot Targets.
• Linux Essentials Topic 106: Security and File Permissions, section 106.1: Basic security and identifying user types.
• Linux Essentials Topic 106: Security and File Permissions, section 106.2: Creating users and groups.
• Understanding the /etc/passwd File | Linuxize
• Understanding the /etc/passwd File - GeeksforGeeks
• passwd(5) - Linux manual page - man7.org
• Understanding /etc/passwd file in Linux - DEV Community

The correct command to change the ownership of the file doku.odt to a new owner named tux is chown tux doku.odt. This command uses the chown command, which stands for change owner, followed by the name of the new owner and the name of the file as arguments. The chown command allows you to change the user and/or group ownership of a given file, directory, or symbolic link12. The other options are incorrect because they use different commands or syntax that do not change the ownership of the file. For example:

• Option A uses the chmod command, which stands for change mode, and is used to change the permissions of files and directories, not the ownership3.
• Option B uses the newuser command, which is used to create a new user account, not to change the ownership of a file4.
• Option D uses the transfer command, which is not a valid Linux command.
• Option E uses the passwd command, which is used to change the password of a user account, not the ownership of a file5.

References: 1: Chown Command in Linux (File Ownership) | Linuxize 2: chown command in Linux with Examples - GeeksforGeeks 3: Chmod Command in Linux (File Permissions) | Linuxize 4: newusers(8) - Linux man page 5: passwd(1) - Linux man page

The command ls …/Documents/ lists the contents of the directory /home/user/Documents/. The reason is that the argument …/Documents/ is a relative path that refers to the parent directory of the current directory, which is /home/user/, followed by the subdirectory Documents/. The ls command displays the files and directories in the specified path, or the current directory if no path is given. The command does not change the current directory, so the user remains in /home/user/Downloads/. References:

• Linux Essentials Exam Objectives, Version 1.6, Topic 103.1, Weight 2
• Linux Essentials Certification Guide, Chapter 3, Page 49-50
• Ls Command in Linux (List Files and Directories) | Linuxize

The last command in Linux is used to display the list of all the users logged in and out since the file /var/log/wtmp was created1. The output of the last command shows the username, the terminal, the IP address, the login time and date, and the duration of the session for each record2. The option E is the only one that matches this format. Theother options are not related to the last command. Option A shows a list of commands executed by a user. Option B shows the password change information for a user. Option C shows the last login information for a user. Option D shows the mount information for a filesystem. References:

• Linux Essentials Version 1.6 Objectives3, Topic 1.4: Command Line Basics, Subtopic: Basic Shell Commands
• Linux last Command Tutorial for Beginners (8 Examples)4
• Linux Essentials Version 1.6 Exam Preparation Guide, Section 1.4: Command Line Basics, Page 16

 In Linux, every file and directory is associated with an owner and a group. The owner is the user who created the file or directory, and the group is the group to which the owner belongs. Therefore, each file is owned by exactly one user and one group. This is true for option A. The other options are false for the following reasons:

• Option B: The owner of a file does not always have full permissions when accessing the file. The permissions are determined by the file mode, which can be changed by the owner or the root user. The file mode specifies the read, write, and execute permissions for the owner, the group, and others. The owner can have different permissions than the group or others.
• Option C: The user owning a file does not have to be a member of the file’s group. The owner can change the group ownership of the file to any group on the system, regardless of whether the owner belongs to that group or not. However, only the root user or a user with the CAP_CHOWN capability can change the group ownership to a group that the owner is not a member of.
• Option D: When a user is deleted, all files owned by the user do not disappear. The files remain on the system, but their owner is changed to an invalid user ID (UID). The files can still be accessed by the group or others, depending on the permissions. The files can also be reclaimed by the root user or a user with the CAP_CHOWN capability, who can change the owner to a valid user.
• Option E: The owner of a file can be changed once it is assigned to an owner. The owner can transfer the ownership to another user, or the root user or a user with the CAP_CHOWN capability can change the owner to any user on the system. The command to change the owner of a file is chown. References: 1: Chown Command in Linux (File Ownership) | Linuxize 2 3: Linux File Permissions and Ownership Explained with Examples 4 2: 3 Ways to Find File Owner in Linux - howtouselinux 1

The ls command is used to list the files and directories in a given path. By default, the ls command displays only the file names, without any additional information. However, the ls command can also take various options to modify its output. For example, the -l option tells ls to display the long format, which includes the file permissions, owner, group, size, date, and name. The -h option tells ls to display the file sizes in a human-readable format, such as KB, MB, GB, etc. The -a option tells ls to display all files, including thehidden ones that start with a dot (.). The -n option tells ls to display the numeric user ID and group ID instead of the user name and group name. Therefore, the only option that does not add any additional information to the file names is the -a option. The command ls -a will display all the file names in the current directory, including the hidden ones, but nothing else. References:

• Linux Essentials - Linux Professional Institute (LPI), section 2.1.1
• 2.1 Lesson 1 - Linux Professional Institute Certification Programs, slide 6.

When a user account is deleted, the files owned by that user are not automatically deleted from the file system, unless they are in the user’s home directory. The files residing outside the home directory will remain unchanged, but they will have an invalid owner. The owner of a file is identified by a numeric user ID (UID), which is mapped to a user name by the /etc/passwd file. When a user is deleted, the corresponding entry in the /etc/passwd file is removed, but the UID of the file is not changed. Therefore, when listing the file’s details, the UID of the former owner is shown instead of the user name. For example, if the user alice with UID 1001 is deleted, and she owns a file named report.txt in the /tmp directory, the output of ls -l /tmp/report.txt will look something like this:

-rw-r–r-- 1 1001 users 1024 Nov 20 14:11 /tmp/report.txt

The user root is not set as the new owner of the file, nor is the file moved to /lost+found or removed from the file system. The /lost+found directory is used to store files that are recovered from a corrupted file system after running the fsck command, not from deleted user accounts. The file system check does not affect the ownership or permissions of the files, unless there is a serious inconsistency that needs to be fixed. References:

• Linux Essentials - Linux Professional Institute (LPI), section 5.2.1
• 5.2 Lesson 1 - Linux Professional Institute Certification Programs, slide 6.

DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. It is a protocol that provides quick, automatic, and central management for the distribution of IP addresses within a network. It also configures other network information, such as the subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS server information, on the device1. DHCP uses a client/server architecture, where a DHCP server issues unique IP addresses and automatically configures the devices that request them2. DHCP allows devices to move freely from one network to another and receive an IP address automatically, which is helpful with mobile devices1.

The other options are not protocols used for automatic IP address configuration. NFS stands for Network File System, which is a protocol that allows a user to access and modify files over a network as if they were on their own computer. LDAP stands for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, which is a protocol that provides access to a centralized directory service that stores information about users, groups, computers, and other resources on a network. SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, which is a protocol that enables the sending and receiving of email messages over a network. DNS stands for Domain Name System, which is a protocol that translates domain names into IP addresses and vice versa. References:

• Linux Essentials Exam Objectives, Version 1.6, Topic 105.1, Weight 4
• What Is DHCP? (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) - Lifewire
• Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) | Microsoft Learn
• Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol - Wikipedia
• How does AutoIP work? - Barix
• [Network File System - Wikipedia]
• [Lightweight Directory Access Protocol - Wikipedia]
• [Simple Mail Transfer Protocol - Wikipedia]
• [Domain Name System - Wikipedia]

 The dmesg command is used to display the messages from the kernel that are stored in a ring buffer. A ring buffer is a fixed-size data structure that overwrites the oldest entries when it is full. Therefore, the dmesg command might not display older information because it was overwritten by newer information. The dmesg command is useful for troubleshooting system issues and checking hardware information. The dmesg command is not used to trace the execution of a command, send messages to user sessions, or output the system journal. Those functions are performed by other commands such as strace, write, and journalctl respectively. References: : [dmesg] : [Ring buffer] : [strace] : [write (Unix)] : [journalctl]4)

To remove a directory, you need to use a command that can delete directories, not just files. The rm command can only remove files by default, unless you use the -r option, which stands for recursive. This option tells rm to delete the directory and all of its contents, including subdirectories and files. The rmdir command can also remove directories, but only if they are empty. If the directory contains any files or subdirectories, rmdir will fail and display an error message. Therefore, the correct commands to remove Downloads, assuming it is empty, are rmdir Downloads and rm -r Downloads. The other commands are either invalid or do not work on directories. References:

• Linux Essentials - Linux Professional Institute (LPI), section 2.3.1
• LPI Linux Essentials Study Guide: Exam 010 v1.6, 3rd Edition, chapter 4, page 93.

The files /etc/passwd and /etc/group are the source of the information in the following output:

uid=1000 (bob) gid=1000 (bob) groups=1000 (bob), 10 (wheel), 150 (docker), 1001 (libvirt) (wireshark), 989

The /etc/passwd file contains information about user accounts, such as the username, password, user ID (UID), group ID (GID), full name, home directory, and login shell1. The /etc/group file contains information about groups, such as the group name, password, group ID (GID), and members2.

The output shows the UID, GID, and group membership of the user bob. The UID and GID of bob are 1000, which can be found in the /etc/passwd file. The groups that bob belongs to are bob, wheel, docker, libvirt, wireshark, and 989, which can be found in the /etc/group file. The group names are shown in parentheses after the GID, except for the last group, which has no name.

The other options are not files that store user and group information in Linux. The /etc/id file does not exist by default. The /home/index file is not a standard file and has no relation to user and group information. The /var/db/users file is not a standard file and has no relation to user and group information. References:

• Linux Essentials Exam Objectives, Version 1.6, Topic 103.1, Weight 2
• Linux Essentials Certification Guide, Chapter 3, Page 51-52
• Linux Filesystem Hierarchy, Chapter 3, Page 17-18
• Linux Users and Groups, Chapter 2, Page 9-10