FREE Linux+ System Monitoring and Logging Questions and Answers

Question 1

A system administrator notices that systemd journal logs are being cleared after every reboot. Which of the following actions will ensure logs are stored persistently across reboots?

Accepted Answer

Create the directory /var/log/journal.

Answer

By default, systemd-journald uses volatile storage at `/run/log/journal` if the persistent storage directory does not exist. Creating the `/var/log/journal` directory signals to systemd-journald to automatically start writing logs there, making them persistent across reboots.

Question 2

A system administrator is editing a logrotate configuration file for a busy web server. Which directive should be used to ensure that rotated log files are compressed to save disk space?

Accepted Answer

`compress`

Answer

The `compress` directive in a logrotate configuration file instructs the utility to compress the log file after it has been rotated. By default, it uses the gzip utility.

Question 3

A Linux server is experiencing slow application performance, and the administrator suspects a disk I/O bottleneck. Which command provides detailed, real-time statistics for block devices, including transactions per second (tps) and kilobytes read/written per second?

Accepted Answer

`iostat`

Answer

The `iostat` command is specifically designed to monitor system input/output device loading and provides detailed reports on CPU and device utilization, including metrics like transactions per second (tps), and data transfer rates.

Question 4

An administrator needs to forward all log messages with a priority of `crit` or higher to a central log server at `10.50.1.100` using the reliable TCP protocol. Which of the following lines is correctly formatted for `/etc/rsyslog.conf`?

Accepted Answer

`*.crit @@10.50.1.100:514`

Answer

In rsyslog syntax, `*.crit` selects all facilities at the `crit` priority and higher. The `@@` directive specifies forwarding via the TCP protocol, which is considered reliable, to the given IP address and port. A single `@` would indicate UDP.

Question 5

While interactively monitoring a system with the `top` command, a system administrator wants to sort the list of processes by memory consumption to identify which applications are using the most RAM. Which key should be pressed?

Accepted Answer

`M`

Answer

Within the `top` interface, pressing the uppercase `M` key will immediately resort the process list to show the processes consuming the most resident memory at the top.

Linux Practice Test

Linux Practice Test

FREE Linux+ System Monitoring and Logging Questions and Answers