XK0-005 CompTIA Linux+ Exam Questions and Answers

This answer allows the accounting user to run the /opt/acc/report command as root on any host without entering a password. The % sign indicates that accounting is a group name, not a user name. The ALL keyword means any host, any user, and any command, depending on the context. The NOPASSWD tag overrides the default behavior of sudo, which is to ask for the user’s password.

The other answers are incorrect for the following reasons:

• A. accounting localhost=/opt/acc/report
• B. accounting ALL=/opt/acc/report
• D. accounting /opt/acc/report= (ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

The dig command uses the DNS servers listed in the /etc/resolv.conf file to resolve domain names. If the dig command returns an NXDOMAIN response, it means the domain does not exist according to the DNS servers used. Therefore, the administrator should check the /etc/resolv.conf file first34.

References:3(https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/help-me-dig-status-nxdomain-4175684441/) 4(https://serverfault.com/questions/729025/what-are-all-the-flags-in-a-dig-response)

The renice command is used to change the priority of a running process by specifying its PID and the new nice value. The -n flag indicates the amount of change in the nice value, which can be positive or negative. A lower nice value means a higher priority, so -15 will increase the priority of the process with PID 2274. The administrator needs to have root privileges to do this.

References:

• The renice command is listed as one of the commands to manipulate process priority in the web search result 1.
• The renice command is also explained with examples in the web search result 2.
• The CompTIA Linux+ Certification Exam Objectives mention that the candidate should be able to “manage process execution priorities” as part of the System Operation and Maintenance domain1.

 The command sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_forward=1 enables IPv4 packet forwarding temporarily by setting the kernel parameter net.ipv4.ip_forward to 1. To make this change persistent, the administrator needs to edit the file /etc/sysctl.conf and add the line net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1. The other options are incorrect because they either use the wrong file (/proc/sys/net/ipv4/ipv_forward), the wrong command (firewall-cmd or systemct1), or the wrong option (--enable or start). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 12: Managing Network Connections, page 378.

The systemd is a system and service manager for Linux systems that provides a standard way to control and monitor system services. The systemd uses various commands and tools to manage and troubleshoot system services, such as systemct1, sysctl, and journalctl. The systemct1 command is used to start, stop, enable, disable, restart, reload, status, and list system services. The sysctl command is used to configure kernel parameters at runtime. The journalctl command is used to view and filter the logs of system services.

To investigate a service that is not starting up, the administrator can use the journalctl command with the -xu option. The -x option enables verbose output that includes explanatory text and priority information. The -u option filters the output by a specific unit name, such as network.service. Therefore, the command journalctl -xu network will show detailed logs of the network service, which can help identify the cause of the failure. The statement D is correct.

The statements A, B, and C are incorrect because they do not provide more details about the failing service. The systemct1 analyze network command does not exist. The systemct1 info network command shows basic information about the network unit, such as description, load state, active state, sub state, and main PID. The sysctl -a network command shows all kernel parameters related to network settings. References: [How to Use Systemd to Manage System Services]

The best tool to use to verify the integrity of a file is A. sha256sum. This tool will compute and display the SHA-256 hash of a file, which is a 64-digit hexadecimal number that uniquely identifies the file’s content. By comparing the hash of a downloaded file with the hash provided by the file owner or source, you can confirm that the file has not been altered or corrupted during the transfer. The other tools are either not relevant or not suitable for this task. For example:

• B. fsck is a tool for checking and repairing the file system, but it does not verify the integrity of individual files.
• C. gpg -d is a tool for decrypting files that have been encrypted with GnuPG, but it does not verify the integrity of unencrypted files.
• D. hashcat is a tool for cracking passwords or hashes, but it does not verify the integrity of files.

The most likely issue is that the service does not have permissions to read or write the startupfile. The output of systemct1 status startup.service shows that the service has failed to start and the error message is “Permission denied”. The output of ls -l /etc/startupfile shows that the file has the permissions -rw-r--r--, which means that only the owner (root) can read and write the file, while the group (root) and others can only read the file. The service may not run as root and may need write access to the file. The administrator should change the permissions of the file by using the chmod command and grant write access to the group or others, or change the owner or group of the file by using the chown command and assign it to the user or group that runs the service. The other options are incorrect because they are not supported by the outputs. The file size, owner, and group are not the causes of the issue. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 11: Managing Files and Directories, pages 345-346.

The command firewall-cmd --query-service http will accomplish the task of checking whether web traffic has already been allowed through the firewall. The firewall-cmd command is a tool for managing firewalld, which is a firewall service that provides dynamic and persistent network security on Linux systems. The firewalld uses zones and services to define the rules and policies for the network traffic. The zones are logical groups of network interfaces and sources that have the same level of trust and security. The services are predefined sets of ports and protocols that are associated with certain applications or functions. The --query-service http option queries whether a service is enabled in a zone. The http is the name of the service that the command should check. The http service represents the web traffic that uses the port 80 and the TCP protocol. The command firewall-cmd --query-service http will check whether the http service is enabled in the default zone, which is usually the public zone. The command will return yes if the web traffic has already been allowed through the firewall, or no if the web traffic has not been allowed through the firewall. This is the correct command to use to accomplish the task. The other options are incorrect because they either do not exist (firewalld query-service-http or firewalld --check-service http) or do not query the service (firewall-cmd --check-service http instead of firewall-cmd --query-service http). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 12: Managing Network Connections, page 392.

The /boot/efi directory is the mount point in a UEFI system. This directory contains the EFI System Partition (ESP), which stores boot loaders and other files required by UEFI firmware. The /sys/efi directory does not exist by default in Linux systems. The /efi directory does not exist by default in Linux systems. The /etc/efi directory does not exist by default in Linux systems. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 11: Managing the Linux Boot Process, page 398.

The correct command to block the IP address 192.168.10.50 from accessing a Linux server is iptables -A INPUT -s 192.168.10.50 -j DROP. This command appends a rule to the INPUT chain that matches the source address 192.168.10.50 and jumps to the DROP target, which discards the packet. The other commands are incorrect because they either have invalid syntax, wrong parameters, or wrong order of arguments. References: CompTIA Linux+ Study Guide, Fourth Edition, page 457-458.

TRIM is a feature that allows the operating system to inform the SSD which blocks of data are no longer in use and can be wiped internally. This helps to maintain the SSD’s performance and endurance by preventing unnecessary write operations and reducing write amplification12. Running the corresponding command to trim the SSD drives, such as fstrim or blkdiscard on Linux, can help to solve the issue of slow writes by freeing up space and optimizing the SSD’s internal garbage collection34.

References: 1: What is SSD TRIM, why is it useful, and how to check whether it is turned on 2: How to Trim SSD in Windows 10 3: How to run fsck on an external drive with OS X? 4: How to Use the fsck Command on Linux

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks, which is a technology that combines multiple physical disks into a logical unit that provides improved performance, reliability, or both. RAID can significantly help to reduce data loss if more than one drive fails at the same time, depending on the RAID level used. For example, RAID 1 (mirroring) duplicates the data on two or more disks, so that if one disk fails, the data can be recovered from another disk. RAID 5 (striping with parity) distributes the data and parity information across three or more disks, so that if one disk fails, the data can be reconstructed from the remaining disks. RAID 6 (striping with double parity) extends RAID 5 by adding another parity block, so that if two disks fail, the data can still be recovered from the remaining disks. References: [What is RAID?]

To allow the same Kubernetes container configurations to be deployed in different environments without statically configuring custom locations, the engineer can use an ambassador container (D). An ambassador container is a proxy container that handles communication between containers and external services. It can dynamically configure locations based on environment variables or other methods. The other options are not related to this requirement. References:

• [CompTIA Linux+ Study Guide], Chapter 11: Working with Containers, Section: Using Ambassador Containers
• [How to Use Ambassador Containers]

The command that can be used to check for running containers is docker ps. The docker ps command can list all the containers that are currently running on the system. To show all the containers, including those that are stopped, the administrator can use docker ps -a ©. References:

• [CompTIA Linux+ Study Guide], Chapter 11: Working with Containers, Section: Managing Containers with Docker
• [Docker PS Command with Examples]

The command ss -pint will allow the administrator to obtain the needed information about processes that are listening on the network ports of a Linux server. The ss command is a tool for displaying socket statistics on Linux systems. Sockets are endpoints of network communication that allow processes to exchange data over the network. The ss command can show various information about the sockets, such as the state, address, port, protocol, and process. The -pint option specifies the filters and flags that the ss command should apply. The -p option shows the process name and ID that owns the socket. The -i option shows the internal information about the socket, such as the send and receive queue, the congestion window, and the retransmission timeout. The -n option shows the numerical address and port, instead of resolving the hostnames and service names. The -t option shows only the TCP sockets, which are the most common type of sockets used for network communication. The command ss -pint will display the socket statistics for the TCP sockets, along with the process name and ID, the numerical address and port, and the internal information. This will allow the administrator to obtain the needed information about processes that are listening on the network ports of a Linux server. This is the correct command to use to obtain the needed information. The other options are incorrect because they either do not show the socket statistics (tcpdump -nL or lsof -It) or do not show the process name and ID (netstat -pn). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 12: Managing Network Connections, page 389.

The command useradd -d /comptia/projects user02 will accomplish the task of creating a new user named user02 with a different home directory. The useradd command is a tool for creating new user accounts on Linux systems. The -d option specifies the home directory for the new user, which is the directory where the user’s personal files and settings are stored. The /comptia/projects is the path of the home directory for the new user, which is different from the default location of /home/user02. The user02 is the name of the new user. The command useradd -d /comptia/projects user02 will create a new user named user02 with a home directory under /comptia/projects. This is the correct command to use to accomplish the task. The other options are incorrect because they either do not specify the home directory for the new user (useradd -m /comptia/projects user02 or useradd -s /comptia/projects user02) or do not use the correct option for the home directory (useradd -b /comptia/projects user02 instead of useradd -d /comptia/projects user02). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 13: Managing Users and Groups, page 403.

The output shows that the system has a total of 3736MB of memory, of which 3598MB is free. This indicates that the system has enough free memory space12.

References:1(https://phoenixnap.com/kb/swap-space) 2(https://www.baeldung.com/linux/swap-space-use)

The command sudo fdisk -l should be issued to verify the device name of the partition. The sudo command allows the administrator to run commands as the superuser or another user. The fdisk command is a tool for manipulating disk partitions on Linux systems. The -l option lists the partitions on all disks or a specific disk. The command sudo fdisk -l will show the device names, sizes, types, and other information of the partitions on all disks. The administrator can identify the device name of the partition by looking at the output. This is the correct command to use to accomplish the task. The other options are incorrect because they either do not list the partitions (sudo fdisk /dev/sda or sudo fdisk -h) or do not exist (sudo fdisk -s /dev/sda). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 10: Managing Storage, page 317.

To change the swappiness parameter to 0 and make it persistent across reboots and applied immediately, the administrator can perform the following steps:

• Append the line vm.swappiness=0 to the file /etc/sysctl.conf using echo "vm.swappiness=0" >> /etc/sysctl.conf (A). This will set the swappiness parameter to 0 for future boots.
• Reload the sysctl configuration using sysctl -p (A). This will apply the changes to the current system without rebooting. The other commands will not achieve this task, but either write to a wrong file, use a wrong option, or have a syntax error. References:
• [CompTIA Linux+ Study Guide], Chapter 8: Optimizing Linux Performance, Section: Tuning Kernel Parameters with sysctl
• [How to Change Swappiness in Linux]

The command dd if=/dev/sdc1 of=/dev/sdd1 copies the data from the input file (if) /dev/sdc1 to the output file (of) /dev/sdd1, byte by byte. This is the correct way to clone a partition. The other options are incorrect because they either compress the data (tar -cvzf), synchronize the files (rsync), or copy the files over a network (scp), which are not the same as cloning a partition. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 10: Managing Storage, page 321.

The code snippet is written in Terraform language, which is a tool for building, changing, and versioning infrastructure as code. Terraform uses a declarative syntax to describe the desired state of the infrastructure and applies the changes accordingly. The code defines a resource of type aws_instance, which creates an AWS EC2 instance, and sets the attributes such as the AMI ID, instance type, security group IDs, and key name. The code also uses a count parameter to create three identical instances and assigns them different names using the count.index variable. This is the correct technology that the administrator is using. The other options are incorrect because they use different languages and syntaxes for infrastructure as code. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 19: Managing Cloud and Virtualization Technologies, page 559.

After installing a new version of a package that includes a configuration file that already exists on the system, such as /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf, RPM will create a new file with the .rpmnew extension instead of overwriting the existing file. This allows the administrator to review the default configuration that shipped with this version and compare it with the current configuration before deciding whether to merge or replace the files. The /etc/named.conf.rpmsave file is created by RPM when a package is uninstalled and it contains a configuration file that was modified by the administrator. This allows the administrator to restore the configuration file if needed. The /etc/named.conf file is the main configuration file for the BIND name server, not the httpd web server. The /etc/bind/bind.conf file does not exist by default in Linux systems. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 19: Managing Packages and Software, page 561.

A function of a bootloader is to help load the different kernels to initiate the OS startup process. A bootloader is a program that runs when the system is powered on and prepares the system for booting the OS. A bootloader can load different kernels, which are the core components of the OS, and pass the control to the selected kernel. A bootloader can also provide a menu for the user to choose which kernel or OS to boot. This is a correct function of a bootloader. The other options are incorrect because they are either functions of the kernel (initialize devices or mount root filesystem) or functions of the init system (trigger the start of system services). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 8: Managing the Linux Boot Process, page 265.

The best command to use to prevent the httpd web service from being started both manually and automatically on a server is A. systemctl mask httpd. This command will create a symbolic link from the httpd service unit file to /dev/null, which will make the service impossible to start or enable. This is different from systemctl disable httpd, which will only prevent the service from starting automatically on boot, but not manually. The other commands are either not relevant or not sufficient for this task. For example:

• C. systemctl stop httpd will only stop the service if it is currently running, but it will not prevent it from being started again.
• D. systemctl reload httpd will only reload the configuration files of the service, but it will not stop or disable it.

File attributes are preventing file modification, which is causing the error message. The output of lsattr /home/user/data.txt shows that the file has the immutable attribute (i) set, which means that the file cannot be changed, deleted, or renamed. The command setfacl -b /home/user/data.txt tries to remove the ACL from the file, but fails because of the immutable attribute. The administrator needs to remove the immutable attribute first by using the command chattr -i /home/user/data.txt and then try to remove the ACL again. The other options are incorrect because they are not supported by the outputs. The administrator is using a highly privileged account, as shown by the # prompt. The filesystem is mounted with the correct options, as shown by the output of mount | grep /home. SELinux file context is not denying the ACL changes, as shown by the output of ls -Z /home/user/data.txt. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 11: Managing Files and Directories, pages 357-358.

The push action is used to publish the changes made in a local branch to a remote branch of a Git repository. This action will update the remote branch with the commits made in the local branch and synchronize the two branches. The rebase action is used to reapply commits from one branch onto another branch, creating a linear history of commits. This action does not publish any changes to a remote repository. The tag action is used to create an annotated reference to a specific commit in a Git repository. This action does not publish any changes to a remote repository. The commit action is used to record changes made in the local repository and create a new snapshot of the project state. This action does not publish any changes to a remote repository. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 20: Writing and Executing Bash Shell Scripts, page 579.

The remediation step that will prevent the web service from running as a privileged user is adding the User=webservice to the [Service] section of the service file. The service file is a configuration file that defines the properties and behavior of a systemd service. The systemd is a system and service manager that controls the startup and operation of Linux systems. The service file contains various sections and options that specify how the service should be started, stopped, and managed. The [Service] section defines how the service should be executed and what commands should be run. The User option specifies the user name or ID that the service should run as. The webservice is the name of the user that the administrator wants to run the web service as. The administrator should add the User=webservice to the [Service] section of the service file, which will prevent the web service from running as a privileged user, such as root, and improve the security of the system. This is the correct remediation step to use to prevent the web service from running as a privileged user. The other options are incorrect because they either do not change the user that the service runs as (removing the ExecStart=/usr/sbin/webserver -D OPTIONS from the service file or updating the EnvironmentFile line in the [Service] section to /home/webservice/config) or do not affect the user that the service runs as (changing the multi-user.target in the [Install] section to basic.target). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 15: Managing System Services, page 458.

The command ls | cpio -ov > cloud.cpio can help to create a new cloud.cpio archive containing all the files from the current directory. The ls command lists the files in the current directory and outputs them to the standard output. The | operator pipes the output to the next command. The cpio command is a tool for creating and extracting compressed archives. The -o option creates a new archive and the -v option shows the verbose output. The > operator redirects the output to the cloud.cpio file. This command will create a new cloud.cpio archive with all the files from the current directory. The other options are incorrect because they either use the wrong options (-i instead of -o), the wrong arguments (cloud.epio instead of cloud.cpio), or the wrong syntax (< instead of > or missing |). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 11: Managing Files and Directories, page 351.

The best command to use to rename the image to match the correct version 2.1.2 is A. docker tag comptia/app:2.1.1 comptia/app:2.1.2. This command will create a new tag for the existing image with the new version number, without changing the image content or ID. The other commands are either incorrect or not suitable for this task. For example:

• B. docker push comptia/app:2.1.1 comptia/app:2.1.2 will try to push two images to a remote repository, but it does not rename the image locally.
• C. docker rmi comptia/app:2.1.1 comptia/app:2.1.2 will try to remove two images from the local system, but it does not rename the image.
• D. docker update comptia/app:2.1.1 comptia/app:2.1.2 will try to update the configuration of a running container, but it does not rename the image.

The free -h command can be used to check the amount of free and used memory in the system in a human-readable format. This can help to troubleshoot the issue of mysqld being killed due to out of memory. The vmstat -a 1 4 command can be used to monitor the system’s virtual memory statistics, such as swap usage, paging activity, and memory faults, every one second for four times. This can help to identify any memory pressure or performance issues that may cause out of memory errors. The nc -v 127.0.0.1 3306 command would attempt to connect to the MySQL server on port 3306 and display any diagnostic messages, but this would not help to troubleshoot the memory issue. The renice -15 $( pidof mysql ) command would change the priority of the mysql process to -15, but this would not prevent it from being killed due to out of memory. The lsblk command would display information about block devices, not memory usage. The killall -15 command would send a SIGTERM signal to all processes with a matching name, but this would not help to troubleshoot the memory issue. References: [CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide], Chapter 15: Managing Memory and Process Execution, pages 468-469.

The command visudo -c can be used to check the validity of the sudo rules in the /etc/sudoers file. The visudo command is a tool for editing and validating the /etc/sudoers file, which defines the rules for the sudo command. The -c option checks the syntax and logic of the file and reports any errors or warnings. The command visudo -c will verify the sudo rules and help the administrator avoid any mistakes. This is the correct command to use for this task. The other options are incorrect because they either do not check the validity of the file (test, sudo, or cat) or do not exist (sudo vi check). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 18: Securing Linux Systems, page 546.

"A service mesh controls the delivery of service requests in an application. Common features provided by a service mesh include service discovery, load balancing, encryption and failure recovery."

The technology that provides load balancing, encryption, and observability in containerized environments is service mesh. A service mesh is a dedicated infrastructure layer that manages the communication and security between microservices in a distributed system. A service mesh consists of two components: a data plane and a control plane. The data plane is composed of proxies that are deployed alongside the microservices as sidecar pods. The proxies handle the network traffic between the microservices and provide features such as load balancing, encryption, authentication, authorization, routing, and observability. The control plane is responsible for configuring and managing the data plane and providing a unified interface for the administrators and developers. A service mesh can help improve the performance, reliability, and security of containerized applications and simplify the development and deployment process. A service mesh is the technology that provides load balancing, encryption, and observability in containerized environments. This is the correct answer to the question. The other options are incorrect because they either do not provide all the features of a service mesh (virtual private network or overlay network) or are not a technology but a component of a service mesh (sidecar pod). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 19: Managing Cloud and Virtualization Technologies, page 574.

https://www.techtarget.com/searchitoperations/definition/service-mesh

The correct answer is D. git checkout -b staging

This command will create a new branch named staging and switch to it. The git checkout command is used to switch between branches or restore files from a specific branch. The -b option is used to create a new branch if it does not exist. For example, git checkout -b staging will create and switch to the staging branch.

The other options are incorrect because:

A. git branch -m staging

This command will rename the current branch to staging, not switch to it. The git branch command is used to list, create, or delete branches. The -m option is used to rename a branch. For example, git branch -m staging will rename the current branch to staging.

B. git commit -m staging

This command will commit the changes in the working tree to the current branch with a message of staging, not switch to it. The git commit command is used to record changes to the repository. The -m option is used to specify a commit message. For example, git commit -m staging will commit the changes with a message of staging.

C. git status -b staging

This command will show the status of the working tree and the current branch, not switch to it. The git status command is used to show the state of the working tree and the staged changes. The -b option is used to show the name of the current branch. However, this option does not take an argument, so specifying staging after it will cause an error.

References:

• Git - git-checkout Documentation
• Git Tutorial: Create a New Branch With Git Checkout
• Git Branching - Basic Branching and Merging

The mv /home/tmp/tempa /home/tmp/temp command will fix the issue of the misnamed directory. This command will rename the directory /home/tmp/tempa to /home/tmp/temp, which is the expected path for users to save their documents. The cp /home/tmp/tempa /home/tmp/temp command will not fix the issue, as it will copy the contents of /home/tmp/tempa to a new file named /home/tmp/temp, not a directory. The cd /temp/tmp/tempa command will not fix the issue, as it will change the current working directory to /temp/tmp/tempa, which does not exist. The ls /home/tmp/tempa command will not fix the issue, as it will list the contents of /home/tmp/tempa, not rename it. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 12: Managing Files and Directories, page 413.

To mirror the website files on the primary web server, www1, to the backup web server, www2, the administrator can use the command rsync -a -e ssh /var/www/html/ user1@www2:/var/www/html (A). This will synchronize all files and directories under /var/www/html/ on www1 to /var/www/html on www2 using ssh as the remote shell. The -a option will preserve all attributes and permissions of the files. The other commands will not mirror the website files, but either copy them once, download them from a web server, or archive them. References:

• [CompTIA Linux+ Study Guide], Chapter 12: Troubleshooting Linux Systems, Section: Synchronizing Files with rsync
• [How to Use rsync Command in Linux]

After installing a new version of a package that includes a new version of the corresponding service file, the systemct1 daemon-reload command must be issued first in order to use the new version of the service file. This command will reload the systemd manager configuration and read all unit files that have changed on disk. This will ensure that systemd recognizes the new service file and applies its settings correctly. The systemct1 status command will display information about a service unit, but it will not reload the configuration. The systemct1 stop command will stop a service unit, but it will not reload the configuration. The systemct1 reinstall command does not exist. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 17: System Maintenance and Operation, page 518.

The command that the administrator should run NEXT to allow the file to be renamed by any user is chmod -t files. This command uses the chmod tool, which is used to change file permissions and access modes. The -t option removes (or sets) the sticky bit on a directory, which restricts deletion or renaming of files within that directory to only their owners or root. In this case, since files is a directory with sticky bit set (indicated by t in drwxrwxrwt), removing it will allow any user to rename or delete files within that directory.

The other options are not correct commands for allowing any user to rename files within files directory. The chgrp reet files command will change the group ownership of files directory to reet, but it will not affect its permissions or access modes. The chacl -R 644 files command is invalid, as chacl is used to change file access control lists (ACLs), not permissions or access modes. The chown users files command will change the user ownership of files directory to users, but it will not affect its permissions or access modes. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 8: Managing Users and Groups; chmod(1) - Linux manual page

The commands that will give proper access to the script are:

• chown user2:accounting script.sh: This command will change the ownership of the script to user2 as the owner and accounting as the group. The chown command is a tool for changing the owner and group of files and directories on Linux systems. The user2:accounting is the user and group name that the command should assign to the script. The script.sh is the name of the script that the command should modify. The command chown user2:accounting script.sh will ensure that user2 is the owner of the script and accounting is the group of the script, which will allow user2 to maintain the script and the accounting group to access the script.
• chmod 750 script.sh: This command will change the permissions of the script to 750, which means read, write, and execute for the owner; read and execute for the group; and no access for others. The chmod command is a tool for changing the permissions of files and directories on Linux systems. The permissions are represented by three digits in octal notation, where each digit corresponds to the owner, group, and others. Each digit can have a value from 0 to 7, where each value represents a combination of read, write, and execute permissions. The 750 is the permission value that the command should assign to the script. The script.sh is the name of the script that the command should modify. The command chmod 750 script.sh will ensure that only the owner and the group can execute the script, but not make changes to it, and that the script is not accessible to other users or groups.

The commands that will give proper access to the script are chown user2:accounting script.sh and chmod 750 script.sh. This is the correct answer to the question. The other options are incorrect because they either do not give proper access to the script (chown user1:accounting script.sh or chown accounting:user1 script.sh) or do not change the permissions of the script (chmod 777 script.sh or chmod u+x script.sh). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 11: Managing File Permissions and Ownership, pages 346-348.

The firewall-cmd command is used to manage firewalld, which is a firewall service for Linux systems that provides dynamic and persistent configuration of firewall rules. Firewalld uses zones and services to define different levels of trust and access for network connections.

To permit access temporarily to an application running on port 1234/TCP on a Linux server, the systems administrator can use the firewall-cmd --add-port=1234/tcp command. This command will add a rule to the default zone (usually public) that allows incoming traffic on port 1234/TCP. The rule will only be effective until the next reload or restart of firewalld. To make the rule permanent, the administrator can add the --permanent option to the command. The statement C is correct.

The statements A, B, and D are incorrect because they do not permit access to port 1234/TCP. The firewall-cmd --new-service=1234/tcp command does not exist. The firewall-cmd --service=1234 --protocol=tcp command does not work because 1234 is not a predefined service name in firewalld. The firewall-cmd --add-whitelist-uid=1234 command does not exist. References: [How to Use FirewallD to Manage Firewall in Linux]

The command iptables -t filter -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 4000:5000 -j ACCEPT will enforce the rule of allowing incoming traffic to ports in the range of 4000 to 5000 on a Linux server. The iptables command is a tool for managing firewall rules on Linux systems. The -t option specifies the table to operate on, in this case filter, which is the default table that contains the rules for filtering packets. The -A option appends a new rule to the end of a chain, in this case INPUT, which is the chain that processes the packets that are destined for the local system. The -p option specifies the protocol to match, in this case tcp, which is the transmission control protocol. The --dport option specifies the destination port or port range to match, in this case 4000:5000, which is the range of ports from 4000 to 5000. The -j option specifies the target to jump to if the rule matches, in this case ACCEPT, which is the target that allows the packet to pass through. The command iptables -t filter -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 4000:5000 -j ACCEPT will add a new rule to the end of the INPUT chain that will accept the incoming TCP packets that have a destination port between 4000 and 5000. This command will enforce the rule and allow the traffic to the specified ports. This is the correct command to use to accomplish the task. The other options are incorrect because they either use the wrong options (-f instead of -t or -D instead of -A) or do not exist (iptables filter -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 4000:5000 -D ACCEPT or iptables filter -S INPUT -p tcp --dport 4000:5000 -A ACCEPT). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 18: Securing Linux Systems, page 543.

The chattr command is used to change file attributes on Linux systems that support extended attributes, such as ext2, ext3, ext4, btrfs, xfs, and others. File attributes are flags that modify the behavior of files and directories.

To prevent a file from being modified by all users in a Linux system, including the root account, the development team can use the chattr +i /app/conf/file command. This command will set the immutable attribute (+i) on the file /app/conf/file, which means that the file cannot be deleted, renamed, linked, appended, or written to by any user or process. To remove the immutable attribute, the development team can use the chattr -i /app/conf/file command. The statement C is correct.

The statements A, B, and D are incorrect because they do not prevent the file from being modified by all users. The chmod /app/conf/file command does not work because it requires an argument to specify the permissions to change. The setenforce /app/conf/file command does not work because it is used to change the SELinux mode, not file attributes. The chmod 0000 /app/conf/file command will remove all permissions from the file, but it can still be modified by the root account. References: [How to Use chattr Command in Linux]

The lsscsi command can list the SCSI devices on the system, along with their size and device name. The -s option shows the size of each device. The administrator can look for the device that has a size of 500G and note its device name. See lsscsi(8) - Linux man page and How to check Disk Interface Types in Linux.References1: https://linux.die.net/man/8/lsscsi 2: https://www.golinuxcloud.com/check-disk-type-linux/

An administrator accidentally installed the httpd RPM package along with several dependencies. Which of the following options is the best way for the administrator to revert the package

installation?

• dnf clean all
• rpm -e httpd
• apt-get clean
• yum history undo last

Answer: D

The yum history undo last command will undo the last transaction, which in this case is the installation of the httpd RPM package and its dependencies. This will remove the packages that were installed and restore the previous state of the system. See How to undo or redo yum transactions and yum history.References1: https://www.redhat.com/sysadmin/undo-redo-yum-transactions 2: https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/yum.8.html#HISTORY

The command ip addr add 10.0.6.5/24 dev enp1s0f1 will achieve the goal of temporarily assigning IP address 10.0.6.5/24 to the newly added network interface enp1s0f1. The ip command is a tool for managing network interfaces and routing on Linux systems. The addr option specifies the address manipulation mode. The add option adds a new address to an interface. The 10.0.6.5/24 is the IP address and the subnet mask in CIDR notation. The dev option specifies the device name. The enp1s0f1 is the name of the network interface. The command ip addr add 10.0.6.5/24 dev enp1s0f1 will add the IP address 10.0.6.5/24 to the network interface enp1s0f1, which will allow the administrator to copy data from another VLAN. This is the correct command to use to achieve the goal. The other options are incorrect because they either do not add a new address to an interface (echo "IPV4_ADDRESS=10.0.6.5/24" > /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-enp1s0f1 or ifconfig 10.0.6.5/24 enp1s0f1) or do not use the correct syntax for the command (nmcli conn add ipv4.address-10.0.6.5/24 ifname enp1s0f1 instead of nmcli conn add type ethernet ipv4.address 10.0.6.5/24 ifname enp1s0f1). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 12: Managing Network Connections, page 385.

The ~/.ssh/config file can be used to set various options for SSH connections, including the port number, for specific hosts or groups of hosts. This file is located in the user’s home directory and affects only the current user. The /etc/ssh/sshd_config file is used to configure the SSH server daemon, not the client. The /etc/ssh/moduli file contains parameters for Diffie-Hellman key exchange, not port settings. The ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file contains public keys for authentication, not port settings. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 12: Secure Shell (SSH), page 414.

The command that will back up the directory /data and all its contents to /backup/data on a remote server named remote is rsync -a /data remote:/backup/. This command uses the rsync tool, which is a remote and local file synchronization tool. It uses an algorithm to minimize the amount of data copied by only moving the portions of files that have changed. The -a option stands for archive mode, which preserves the permissions, ownership, timestamps, and symbolic links of the files. The /data argument specifies the source directory to be backed up, and the remote:/backup/ argument specifies the destination directory on the remote server. The rsync tool will create a subdirectory named data under /backup/ on the remote server, and copy all the files and subdirectories from /data on the local server.

The other options are not correct commands for backing up a directory to a remote server. The scp -p /data remote:/backup/data command will copy the /data directory as a file named data under /backup/ on the remote server, not as a subdirectory with its contents. The -p option preserves the permissions and timestamps of the file, but not the ownership or symbolic links. The ssh -i /remote:/backup/ /data command will try to use /remote:/backup/ as an identity file for SSH authentication, which is not valid. The cp -r /data /remote/backup/ command will try to copy the /data directory to a local directory named /remote/backup/, not to a remote server. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 18: Automating Tasks; rsync(1) - Linux manual page

After fixing issues in the code, the next step is to merge these changes into the main branch. This is typically done by creating a pull request78.

References:7(https://zeet.co/blog/deploy-to-production) 8(https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11833511/git-deploy-to-production)

To run a script file, the user needs to have execute permission on the file. The command chmod u+x /home/user/script.sh (A) will grant execute permission to the owner of the file, which is the user who created it. The other commands will not give execute permission to the user, and therefore will not allow the script to run properly. References:

• [CompTIA Linux+ Study Guide], Chapter 3: Working with Files, Section: Changing File Permissions
• [How to Make a Bash Script Executable]

The ip link show eth1 command can be used to check the link status of a network interface named eth1 in a Linux server. It will display information such as the MAC address, MTU, state, and flags of the interface. The ifconfig hw eth1 command is invalid, as hw is not a valid option for ifconfig. The netstat -r eth1 command would display the routing table for eth1, not the link status. The ss -ti eth1 command would display TCP information for sockets associated with eth1, not the link status. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 13: Networking Fundamentals, page 436.

Option C is the only data structure that is written in JSON format. JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation, and it is a lightweight and human-readable data interchange format. JSON uses curly braces to enclose objects, which consist of key-value pairs separated by commas. JSON uses square brackets to enclose arrays, which consist of values separated by commas. JSON supports six data types: strings, numbers, booleans, null, objects, and arrays. Option C follows these rules and syntax of JSON, while the other options do not. Option A is written in XML format, which uses tags to enclose elements and attributes. Option B is written in YAML format, which uses indentation and colons to define key-value pairs. Option D is written in INI format, which uses sections and equal signs to define key-value pairs. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 21: Automating Tasks with Ansible, page 591.

The tool that is best suited to orchestrate a large number of containers across many different servers is Kubernetes. Kubernetes is an open-source platform for managing containerized applications and services. Kubernetes allows the administrator to deploy, scale, and update containers across a cluster of servers, as well as to automate the configuration and coordination of the containers. Kubernetes also provides features such as service discovery, load balancing, storage management, security, monitoring, and logging. Kubernetes can handle complex and dynamic workloads and ensure high availability and performance of the containers. Kubernetes is the tool that is best suited to orchestrate a large number of containers across many different servers. This is the correct answer to the question. The other options are incorrect because they either do not orchestrate containers (Ansible or Terraform) or do not operate across many different servers (Podman). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 19: Managing Cloud and Virtualization Technologies, page 573.

The /etc/sudoers file is used to configure the sudo command, which allows non-privileged users to execute commands that require elevated account permissions1. The file contains a list of users and groups that are allowed to use sudo, and the commands they can run with it. The file also defines the security policy for sudo, such as whether a password is required, how long the sudo session lasts, and what environment variables are preserved or reset.

The /etc/passwd file is used to store information about the user accounts on the system, such as their username, user ID, home directory, and login shell. The /etc/shadow file is used to store the encrypted passwords for the user accounts, along with other information such as password expiration and aging. These files are not directly related to the sudo command, and updating them will not grant a user elevated account permissions.

The /etc/bashrc file is used to set up the environment for the bash shell, such as aliases, functions, variables, and options. This file is executed whenever a new bash shell is started, and it affects all users on the system. However, this file does not control the sudo command or its configuration, and updating it will not allow a user to use commands that require elevated account permissions.

The command dd if=/dev/sda of=/tmp/sda.img should be used to create an image named sda.img from the sda disk and store it in the /tmp directory. The dd command is a tool for copying and converting data on Linux systems. The if option specifies the input file or device, in this case /dev/sda, which is the disk device. The of option specifies the output file or device, in this case /tmp/sda.img, which is the image file. The command dd if=/dev/sda of=/tmp/sda.img will copy the entire disk data from /dev/sda to /tmp/sda.img and create an image file. This is the correct command to use to accomplish the task. The other options are incorrect because they either use the wrong options (--if or --of instead of if or of) or swap the input and output (dd of=/dev/sda if=/tmp/sda.img or dd --of=/dev/sda --if=/tmp/sda.img). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 10: Managing Storage, page 323.

The Linux administrator should choose Kubernetes for the new design that requires portability, high availability, and scalability in production using containerization. Kubernetes is an open-source platform that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications across clusters of nodes. Kubernetes provides features such as service discovery, load balancing, storage orchestration, self-healing, secret and configuration management, and batch execution. Kubernetes also supports multiple container runtimes, such as Docker, containerd, and CRI-O, making it portable across different platforms and clouds. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 18: Automating Tasks; What is Kubernetes? | Kubernetes

The best task to perform to resolve this issue is B. Remove the entry for portal.comptia.org from the local hosts file. This is because the local hosts file has a wrong entry that maps portal.comptia.org to 10.10.10.55, which is different from the actual IP address of 192.168.1.55 that is returned by the DNS server. This causes a mismatch and prevents the workstation from accessing the website. By removing or correcting the entry in the hosts file, the workstation will use the DNS server to resolve the domain name and access the website successfully.

To remove or edit the entry in the hosts file, you need to have root privileges and use a text editor such as vi or nano. For example, you can run the command:

sudo vi /etc/hosts

and delete or modify the line that says:

10.10.10.55 portal.comptia.org

Then save and exit the file.

To troubleshoot a storage capacity issue on a server without a specific mount point or directory, two commands that would be most helpful are df and du. The df command displays information about disk space usage on all mounted filesystems, including their size, used space, available space, and percentage of usage. The du command displays disk space usage by files and directories in a given path, which can help identify large files or directories that may be taking up too much space. The other commands are incorrect because they either do not show disk space usage, or they are used for other purposes such as partitioning, formatting, checking, mounting, copying, or listing files. References: CompTIA Linux+ Study Guide, Fourth Edition, page 417-419.

Some good security practices when hardening a Linux server are:

• Removing unnecessary packages (B) to reduce the attack surface and eliminate potential vulnerabilities
• Disabling the SSH root login possibility (E) to prevent unauthorized access and brute-force attacks on the root account References:
• [CompTIA Linux+ Study Guide], Chapter 9: Securing Linux, Section: Hardening Linux
• [How to Harden Your Linux Server]

The PAM module pam_nologin.so will prevent logins from accounts other than root, while the file /etc/nologin exists. This module checks for the existence of the file /etc/nologin and displays its contents to the user before denying access. The root user is exempt from this check and can still log in. This is the correct module to accomplish the task. The other options are incorrect because they are either non-existent modules (pam_login.so or pam_logindef.so) or do not perform the required function (pam_access.so controls access based on host, user, or time). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 15: Managing Users and Groups, page 471.

The command that would address the memory-related issue is kill -9 8321. This command will send a SIGKILL signal to the process with the PID 8321, which is the mysqld process that is using 99.7% of the available memory according to the top output. The SIGKILL signal will terminate the process immediately and free up the memory it was using. However, this command should be used with caution as it may cause data loss or corruption if the process was performing some critical operations.

The other options are not correct commands for addressing the memory-related issue. The top -p 8321 command will only display information about the process with the PID 8321, but will not kill it or reduce its memory usage. The renice -10 8321 command will change the priority (niceness) of the process with the PID 8321 to -10, which means it will have a higher scheduling priority, but this will not affect its memory consumption. The free 8321 command is invalid because free does not take a PID as an argument; free only displays information about the total, used, and free memory in the system. References: How to troubleshoot Linux server memory issues; kill(1) - Linux manual page

The command that the administrator should run to ensure that both Java 7 and Java 8 are locally available for developers to use when deploying containers is docker image pull java:7. This command will use the docker image pull subcommand to download the java:7 image from Docker Hub, which is the default registry for Docker images. The java:7 image contains Java 7 installed on a Debian-based Linux system. The administrator can also specify a different registry by using the syntax registry/repository:tag.

The other options are not correct commands for ensuring that both Java 7 and Java 8 are locally available for developers to use when deploying containers. The docker image load java:7 command will load an image from a tar archive or STDIN, not from a registry. The docker image import java:7 command will create a new filesystem image from the contents of a tarball, not from a registry. The docker image build java:7 command will build an image from a Dockerfile, not from a registry. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 18: Automating Tasks; docker image pull | Docker Docs

The best command sequence to rebuild a kernel module from source code is A. ./configure make make install. This is the standard way to compile and install a Linux kernel module, as explained in the web search result 5. The other commands are either not relevant, not valid, or not sufficient for this task. For example:

• B. wget gcc cp will try to download, compile, and copy a file, but it does not specify the source code, the module name, or the destination directory.
• C. tar xvzf build cp will try to extract, build, and copy a compressed file, but it does not specify the file name, the module name, or the destination directory.
• D. build install configure will try to run three commands that are not defined or recognized by the Linux shell.

The pkill -9 -f “upload*.sh” command will terminate all of the identified processes. This command will send a SIGKILL signal (-9) to all processes whose full command line matches the pattern “upload*.sh” (-f). This signal will force the processes to terminate immediately without giving them a chance to clean up or save their state. The kill -9 “upload*.sh” command is invalid, as kill requires a process ID (PID), not a pattern. The killall -9 “upload*.sh” command is incorrect, as killall requires an exact process name, not a pattern. The skill -9 “upload*.sh” command is incorrect, as skill requires a username or a session ID (SID), not a pattern. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 15: Managing Memory and Process Execution, page 470.

The mechanism that enables administrators to configure and enforce MFA on a Linux system is PAM. PAM stands for Pluggable Authentication Modules, which is a framework for managing authentication and authorization on Linux systems. PAM allows the administrator to define the rules and policies for accessing various system resources and services, such as login, sudo, ssh, or cron. PAM also supports different types of authentication methods, such as passwords, tokens, biometrics, or smart cards. PAM can be used to implement MFA, which stands for Multi-Factor Authentication, which is a security technique that requires the user to provide more than one piece of evidence to prove their identity. MFA can enhance the security of the system and prevent unauthorized access. PAM enables administrators to configure and enforce MFA on a Linux system. This is the correct answer to the question. The other options are incorrect because they either do not manage authentication and authorization on Linux systems (Kerberos or PKI) or do not support MFA (SELinux). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 17: Implementing Basic Security, page 517.

The su command is used to switch to another user account on Linux systems. The - option makes the shell a login shell, which means that it will read the profile and environment variables of the target user. Without this option, the shell will retain the environment variables of the original user. This can cause confusion when issuing commands that depend on these variables, such as ls, which uses the $HOME variable to determine the home directory. Therefore, Ann should have issued su - Joe to list Joe’s files instead of her own. References: [How to Use su Command in Linux with Examples]

The user has the wrong shell assigned to the account, which is causing the issue. The output 1 shows that the user’s shell is set to /bin/false, which is not a valid shell and will prevent the user from logging in. The output 2 shows that the user’s home directory has the correct permissions (drwxr-xr-x), and the output 3 shows that the user entered the correct password and was accepted by the SSH daemon, but the session was closed immediately due to the invalid shell. The other options are incorrect because they are not supported by the outputs. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 13: Managing Network Services, page 413.

The fastest way to boot the Linux system to normal mode is to comment out the /opt/app filesystem in /etc/fstab and reboot. This will prevent the system from trying to mount the /opt/app filesystem at boot time, which causes an error because the filesystem does not exist or is corrupted. Commenting out a line in /etc/fstab can be done by adding a # symbol at the beginning of the line. Rebooting the system will apply the changes and allow the system to boot normally. Reformatting the /opt/app filesystem will not help to boot the system, as it will erase any data on the filesystem and require manual intervention to create a new filesystem. Performing filesystem checks on local filesystems will not help to boot the system, as it will not fix the missing or corrupted /opt/app filesystem. Triggering a filesystem relabel will not help to boot the system, as it will only change the security context of files and directories according to SELinux policy. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 14: Managing Disk Storage, page 456.

The users who have root-level command-line access are those who have either the same user ID (UID) as root, which is 0, or the ability to run commands as root using sudo. Based on the /etc/passwd and /etc/sudoers files, the users who meet these criteria are:

• Carl: Carl has the same UID as root, which is 0, as shown in the /etc/passwd file. This means that Carl can log in as root and execute any command with root privileges1
• Mallory: Mallory has the ability to run commands as root using sudo, as shown in the /etc/sudoers file. The line ALL = (ALL) ALL means that any user can run any command as any other user, including root, by using sudo. Mallory can also use the root shell /bin/bash as her login shell, as shown in the /etc/passwd file2

Therefore, the correct answer is A and C. Lee, Eve, Bob, and Alice do not have root-level command-line access because they have different UIDs from root and they cannot use sudo to run commands as root. Lee can only use sudo to run the commands listed in the Cmnd_Alias SHELLS, which are /bin/tcsh, /bin/sh, and /bin/bash. Eve cannot log in at all because her login shell is /bin/nologin. Bob and Alice can only use sudo to run the command /usr/sbin/tcpdump without a password, as specified by the Cmnd_Alias SYSADMIN and the line ALL = NOPASSWD: SYSADMIN2

The lvs command can be used to obtain a list of all volumes that are part of a volume group. This command will display information such as the name, size, attributes, and volume group of each logical volume in the system. The vgs command can be used to obtain a list of all volume groups in the system, not the volumes. The fdisk -1 command is invalid, as -1 is not a valid option for fdisk. The pvs command can be used to obtain a list of all physical volumes in the system, not the volumes. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 14: Managing Disk Storage, page 461.

The command docker rm $(docker ps -aq) will allow the administrator to clean up the containers in an exited state. The docker command is a tool for managing Docker containers on Linux systems. Docker containers are isolated and lightweight environments that can run applications and services without affecting the host system. Docker uses images to create containers, which are files that contain the code, libraries, dependencies, and configuration of the applications and services. The rm option removes one or more containers. The $(docker ps -aq) is a command substitution that executes the command inside the parentheses and replaces it with the output. The docker ps -aq command lists all the containers, including the ones in an exited state, and shows only their IDs. The docker rm $(docker ps -aq) command will remove all the containers, including the ones in an exited state, by passing their IDs to the rm option. This will allow the administrator to clean up the containers in an exited state. This is the correct command to use to accomplish the task. The other options are incorrect because they either do not exist (docker rm --all or docker rm --state exited) or do not remove the containers (docker images prune *). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 19: Managing Cloud and Virtualization Technologies, page 571.

The command find . -type f -print | xargs grep -li denied will accomplish the task of identifying files that contain any occurrence of the word denied. The find command is a tool for searching for files and directories on Linux systems. The . is the starting point of the search, which means the current directory. The -type f option specifies the type of the file, which means regular file. The -print option prints the full file name on the standard output. The | is a pipe symbol that redirects the output of one command to the input of another command. The xargs command is a tool for building and executing commands from standard input. The grep command is a tool for searching for patterns in files or input. The -li option specifies the flags that the grep command should apply. The -l flag shows only the file names that match the pattern, instead of the matching lines. The -i flag ignores the case of the pattern, which means it matches both uppercase and lowercase letters. The denied is the pattern that the grep command should search for. The command find . -type f -print | xargs grep -li denied will find all the regular files in the current directory and its subdirectories, and then search for any occurrence of the word denied in those files, ignoring the case, and print only the file names that match the pattern. This will allow the administrator to identify files that contain any occurrence of the word denied. This is the correct command to use to accomplish the task. The other options are incorrect because they either do not ignore the case of the pattern (find . -type f -print | xargs grep -ln denied or find . -type f -print | xargs grep -wL denied) or do not show the file names that match the pattern (find . -type f -print | xargs grep -nv denied). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 16: Managing Logging and Monitoring, page 489.

The ssh -X option enables X11 forwarding, which allows the user to run graphical applications on the remote server and display them on the local workstation. The user needs to specify the username, the server address, and the application name after the ssh -X command. The remote server also needs to have X11Forwarding enabled and xauth installed for this to work.

References:

• The web search result 8 explains how to run a GUI application through SSH by configuring both the SSH client and server.
• The web search result 6 provides a detailed answer on how to forward X over SSH to run graphics applications remotely, with examples and troubleshooting tips.
• The CompTIA Linux+ Certification Exam Objectives mention that the candidate should be able to “use SSH for remote access and management” as part of the System Operation and Maintenance domain1.

The docker run -d --name web-01 httpd command will launch a container named web-01 in background mode. This command will create and start a new container from the httpd image, assign it the name web-01, and run it in detached mode (-d), which means the container will run in the background without attaching to the current terminal. The docker builder -f --name web-01 httpd command is invalid, as builder is not a valid docker command, and -f and --name are not valid options for docker build. The docker load --name web-01 httpd command is invalid, as load does not accept a --name option, and httpd is not a valid file name for load. The docker ps -a --name web-01 httpd command is invalid, as ps does not accept a --name option, and httpd is not a valid filter for ps. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 16: Virtualization and Cloud Technologies, page 499.

The correct command to list all local accounts in which the UID is greater than 500 is:

awk -F: '$3 > 500 {print $1}' /etc/passwd

This command uses awk to process the /etc/passwd file, which contains information about the local users on the system. The -F: option specifies that the fields are separated by colons. The $3 refers to the third field, which is the UID. The condition $3 > 500 filters out the users whose UID is greater than 500. The action {print $1} prints the first field, which is the username.

The other commands are incorrect because:

• find /etc/passwd —size +500 will search for files that are larger than 500 blocks in size, not users with UID greater than 500.
• cut —d: fl / etc/ passwd > 500 will cut the first field of the /etc/passwd file using colon as the delimiter, but it will not filter by UID or print only the usernames. The > 500 part will redirect the output to a file named 500, not compare with the UID.
• sed '/UID/' /etc/passwd < 500 will use sed to edit the /etc/passwd file and replace any line that contains UID with 500, not list the users with UID greater than 500. The < 500 part will redirect the input from a file named 500, not compare with the UID.

References:

• Linux List All Users In The System Command - nixCraft, section “List all users in Linux using /etc/passwd file”.
• Unix script getting users with UID bigger than 500 - Stack Overflow, section “Using awk”.

The rpm command is used to manage RPM packages on Linux systems. The -qf option queries the package name that provides a given file. Therefore, the command rpm -qf /bin/someapp will show the RPM package name that provides the binary file /bin/someapp. The statements B, C, and D are incorrect because they do not query the package name, but rather verify, remove, or install a package. References: [How to Use RPM Command in Linux with Examples]

 The process that will accomplish the task of creating a custom script to run at boot as part of the system services is:

• Create a unit file in the /etc/systemd/system/ directory. A unit file is a configuration file that defines the properties and behavior of a systemd service. The systemd is a system and service manager that controls the startup and operation of Linux systems. The /etc/systemd/system/ directory is the location where the administrator can create and store custom unit files. The unit file should have a name that matches the name of the script, such as cleanup.service, and should contain the following sections and options:
• Run the command systemct1 enable cleanup. This command will enable the service and create the necessary symbolic links to start the service at boot.
• Run the command systemct1 is-enabled cleanup. This command will check the status of the service and confirm that it is enabled.

This process will create a custom script, cleanup.sh, to run at boot as part of the system services. This is the correct process to use to accomplish the task. The other options are incorrect because they either use the wrong directory for the unit file (/etc/default/, /etc/skel/, or /etc/sysctl.d/) or do not create a unit file at all. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 15: Managing System Services, pages 457-459.

The issue is caused by the lack of a default route defined in the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-enp0s3 file. A default route is a special route that specifies where to send packets that do not match any other routes in the routing table. Without a default route, the server will not be able to communicate with hosts outside its local network. The default route is usually configured with the GATEWAY option in the network interface configuration file. For example, to set the default gateway to 192.168.1.1, the file should contain:

GATEWAY=192.168.1.1

The other options are not causing the issue. The DNS address is not commented out in the configuration file, it is specified with the DNS1 option. The search entry in the /etc/resolv.conf file is correct, it specifies the domain name to append to unqualified hostnames. Wired connection 1 is online, as indicated by the ONBOOT=yes option and the output of ip link show enp0s3 command. References: Configuring IP Networking with nmcli; Configuring IP Networking with ifcfg Files

The most likely cause of the issue is that two default routes are configured on the server. The default route is the route that is used when no other route matches the destination of a packet. The default route is usually the gateway that connects the local network to the Internet. The server configuration shows that there are two default routes in the routing table, one with the gateway 192.168.1.1 and the other with the gateway 10.0.0.1. This can cause a conflict and confusion for the server when deciding which gateway to use for the outgoing packets. Some packets may be sent to the wrong gateway and fail to reach the Internet, while some packets may be sent to the correct gateway and work as intended. This can result in intermittent connection issues and inconsistent behavior. The administrator should remove one of the default routes and keep only the correct one for the network. This can be done by using the ip route del command or by editing the network configuration files. This will resolve the issue and restore the connectivity. The other options are incorrect because they are not supported by the outputs. The DNS server, the IP netmask, and the ARP table are not the causes of the issue. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 12: Managing Network Connections, pages 381-382.

The command docker cp container_id:/deployment.yaml deployment.yaml can accomplish the task of copying the file deployment.yaml from a container to the host. The docker command is a tool for managing Docker containers and images. The cp option copies files or directories between a container and the local filesystem. The container_id is the identifier of the container, which can be obtained by using the docker ps command. The /deployment.yaml is the path of the file in the container, which must be preceded by a slash. The deployment.yaml is the path of the file on the host, which can be relative or absolute. The command docker cp container_id:/deployment.yaml deployment.yaml will copy the file deployment.yaml from the container to the current working directory on the host. This is the correct command to use to accomplish the task. The other options are incorrect because they either use the wrong syntax (docker cp container_id/deployment.yaml deployment.yaml or docker cp container_id/deployment.yaml local://deployment.yaml) or do not exist (docker cp deployment.yaml local://deployment.yaml). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 19: Managing Cloud and Virtualization Technologies, page 567.

The user1 password is expired. This can be inferred from the output of the chage -l user1 command, which shows the password expiration information for user1. The output shows that the password expired on 2020-10-01, and the account expired on 2020-10-08. This means that user1 cannot log in to the server unless the password and account are reactivated by the system administrator.

The other options are not correct based on the outputs above. User1 does not need to set a long password, because the output of the passwd -S user1 command shows that the password has a minimum length of 5 characters, which is met by user1’s password. User1 is not in the incorrect group, because the output of the groups user1 command shows that user1 belongs to the app group, which is presumably the correct group for accessing the server. The user1 shell assignment is not incorrect, because the output of the grep user1 /etc/passwd command shows that user1 has /bin/bash as the default shell, which is a valid and common shell for Linux users.

The command that will allow the administrator to determine the first command that is executed inside the container right after it starts is docker inspect . This command will display detailed information about the container, including its configuration, state, network settings, mounts, and logs. One of the configuration fields is “Entrypoint”, which shows the command that is executed when the container is run. The entrypoint can be specified in the Dockerfile or overridden at runtime using the --entrypoint option.

The other options are not correct commands for determining the first command that is executed inside the container. The docker export command will export the contents of the container’s filesystem as a tar archive to STDOUT. This will not show the entrypoint of the container, but only its files. The docker info command is invalid because docker info does not take any arguments. It shows system-wide information about Docker, such as the number of containers, images, volumes, networks, and storage drivers. The docker start command will start a stopped container and attach its STDOUT and STDERR to the terminal. This will not show the entrypoint of the container, but only its output. References: docker inspect | Docker Docs; docker export | Docker Docs; docker info | Docker Docs; docker start | Docker Docs

The command source ~/.bashrc should be executed first to use the alias command. The source command reads and executes commands from a file in the current shell environment. The ~/.bashrc file is a configuration file that contains commands and aliases that are executed when a new bash shell is started. The administrator made some changes in the ~/.bashrc file and added an alias command, but the changes are not effective until the file is sourced or a new shell is started. The command source ~/.bashrc will reload the file and make the alias command available. The other options are incorrect because they either do not execute the commands in the file (read, touch, or echo) or do not affect the current shell environment (read or echo). References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 9: Working with the Linux Shell, page 295.

The system has reached its maximum permitted throughput, therefore iowait is increasing. The output of iostat -x shows that the device sda has an average throughput of 44.01 MB/s, which is equal to the disk maximum throughput of 44 Mbps. The output also shows that the device sda has an average iowait of 99.99%, which means that the CPU is waiting for the disk to complete the I/O requests. This indicates that the disk is the bottleneck and the system is slow due to the high iowait. The other options are incorrect because they are not supported by the outputs. The system has not reached its maximum IOPS, as the device sda has an average IOPS of 563.50, which is lower than the disk maximum IOPS of 690. The system is not mostly idle, as the output of top shows that the CPU is 100% busy. The system does not have a partitioned disk, as the output of lsblk shows that the device sda has only one partition sda1. References: CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) Certification Study Guide, Chapter 17: Optimizing Linux Systems, pages 513-514.

To give the support group access to modify the config file while preserving the current ownership, the administrator can execute the command chmod 664 config ©. This will change the permissions of the config file to read and write for the owner and group, and read only for others. The owner and group of the file will remain as root and app respectively. The other commands will not achieve this task, but either change the group ownership, set an access control list, or set a setgid bit. References:

• [CompTIA Linux+ Study Guide], Chapter 3: Working with Files, Section: Changing File Permissions
• [How to Use chmod Command in Linux]

This command will allow the systems administrator to change the password of another user account in the system. The sudo prefix will grant the administrator the necessary privileges to perform this action, and the passwd command will prompt for the new password for the specified user. For example, if the administrator wants to change the password of a user named tom, the command will look like this:

sudo passwd tom

The other options are incorrect because:

B. sudo userdel

This command will delete a user account from the system, not change its credentials. The userdel command removes the user’s entry from the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow files, as well as deletes the user’s home directory and mail spool. This is not what the request asked for.

C. sudo chage

This command will change the password expiration and aging information for a user account, not its credentials. The chage command can be used to set or modify various parameters related to password aging, such as the minimum and maximum number of days between password changes, the number of days before password expiration to issue a warning, and so on. This is not what the request asked for.

D. sudo usermod

This command will modify various attributes of a user account, such as its login name, home directory, default shell, primary group, and so on. However, it cannot change the user’s password directly. To do that, the usermod command requires the -p option followed by an encrypted password string, which is not easy to generate manually. Therefore, this is not a practical way to change a user’s credentials.

References:

• How to Change Account Passwords on Linux
• How to Change a Password in Linux for Root and Other Users
• CompTIA Linux+ Certification Exam Objectives

The file command is used to determine the type of a file by examining its contents. It can recognize many different formats, such as text, binary, executable, compressed, image, audio, video, etc. It can also display some additional information about the file, such as encoding, size, dimensions, etc12

References: 1: file(1) - Linux manual page 2: How to use the file command in Linux