Free LPI Linux Essentials 010-160 practice questions

10 free LPI Linux Essentials 010-160 practice questions with the correct answer and a full explanation for each, taken from the CertStash pack of 80 questions. Work through them, then open each answer to check your reasoning.

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Question 1

What are the differences between hard disk drives and solid state disks? (Choose two.)

  1. Hard disks have a motor and moving parts, solid state disks do not.
  2. Hard disks can fail due to physical damage, while solid state disks cannot fail.
  3. Solid state disks can store many times as much data as hard disk drives.
  4. /dev/sda is a hard disk device while /dev/ssda is a solid state disk.
  5. Solid state disks provide faster access to stored data than hard disks.
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: A, E

A. Hard disks have a motor and moving parts, solid state disks do not. E. Solid state disks provide faster access to stored data than hard disks. Hard disk drives contain a motor and spinning platters with moving read/write heads, while solid state disks use flash memory with no moving parts (option A). SSDs provide significantly faster data access times because they don't require mechanical seek operations (option E). Option B is incorrect because SSDs can fail from electrical issues or flash memory degradation. Option C is false as HDDs typically store more data at lower cost. Option D uses an invalid device naming convention, SSDs use standard naming like /dev/sda, not /dev/ssda.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. SSDs can fail due to electrical damage, flash cell degradation, and controller failure, just like mechanical drives can fail.
  • C. HDDs typically offer higher storage capacity and lower cost per gigabyte than SSDs, not the reverse.
  • D. Linux device naming does not use /dev/ssda for SSDs; both HDDs and SSDs use /dev/sda, /dev/sdb naming conventions.

Question 2

Reverse DNS assigns hostnames to IP addresses.

How is the name of the IP address 198.51.100.165 stored on a DNS server?

  1. In the A record for 165.100.51.198.ipv4.arpa.
  2. In the PTR record for 165.100.51.198.in-addr.arpa.
  3. In the RNAME record for 198-51-100-165.rev.arpa.
  4. In the ARPA record for 165.100.51.198.rev.
  5. In the REV record for arpa.in-addr.198.51.100.165.
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. In the PTR record for 165.100.51.198.in-addr.arpa.

Reverse DNS uses PTR (Pointer) records stored in the in-addr.arpa zone. The IP address 198.51.100.165 is reversed to 165.100.51.198 and appended to in-addr.arpa, creating the domain 165.100.51.198.in-addr.arpa, where the PTR record maps the IP back to a hostname. Option A incorrectly references an A record instead of PTR. Option C uses a non-standard RNAME record type. Option D uses rev.arpa which is not the standard reverse DNS suffix. Option E has the incorrect order and uses REV, which is not a DNS record type.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. A records map hostnames to IP addresses, not the reverse; they would not be used for reverse DNS lookups.
  • C. RNAME is not a standard DNS record type used for reverse DNS; PTR is the correct record type.
  • D. The standard suffix for reverse DNS is in-addr.arpa, not rev.arpa, and the octets must be in reversed order.
  • E. REV is not a valid DNS record type, and the ordering of the IP octets is incorrect for reverse DNS.

Question 3

Which of the following types of bus can connect hard disk drives with the motherboard?

  1. The RAM bus
  2. The NUMA bus
  3. The CPU bus
  4. The SATA bus
  5. The Auto bus
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: D. The SATA bus

SATA (Serial ATA) is the standard bus interface used to connect hard disk drives and SSDs to the motherboard. It has largely replaced older standards like IDE/PATA and supports hot-swapping and higher data transfer rates. The RAM bus connects only memory modules. NUMA is a processor architecture design, not a physical bus. The CPU bus connects the processor to the chipset. The Auto bus is not a real computer bus interface.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. The RAM bus connects memory modules to the memory controller, not storage drives.
  • B. NUMA is a multi-processor architecture paradigm, not a physical bus for connecting storage devices.
  • C. The CPU bus (FSB) connects the processor to the chipset, not hard drives to the motherboard.
  • E. The Auto bus is not a recognized computer bus standard for any hardware connections.

Question 4

Members of a team already have experience using Red Hat Enterprise Linux. For a small hobby project, the team wants to set up a Linux server without paying for a subscription.

Which of the following Linux distributions allows the team members to apply as much of their Red Hat Enterprise Linux knowledge as possible?

  1. Ubuntu Linux LTS
  2. Raspbian
  3. Debian GNU/Linux
  4. CentOS
  5. openSUSE
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: D. CentOS

CentOS is a free, open-source distribution that is binary-compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, using the same package management tools (yum/dnf), system architecture, and configuration methods. This allows team members with RHEL experience to apply their knowledge directly with minimal learning curve. Ubuntu uses Debian-based tools and different package management. Raspbian is designed for AR-ased Raspberry Pi devices. Debian uses different package management despite some similarities. openSUSE uses RPM packages but with different management tools and system design.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. Ubuntu uses APT and Debian-based tools, which are significantly different from RHEL's YUM/DNF package management.
  • B. Raspbian is optimized for ARM processors and Raspberry Pi hardware, not server use or RHEL compatibility.
  • C. While Debian shares some similarities, it uses different package management and system administration tools than RHEL.
  • E. openSUSE uses different package management tools, initialization systems, and administrative approaches compared to RHEL.

Question 5

What information can be displayed by top?

  1. Existing files, ordered by their size.
  2. Running processes, ordered by CPU or RAM consumption.
  3. User accounts, ordered by the number of logins.
  4. User groups, ordered by the number of members.
  5. User accounts, ordered by the number of files.
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Running processes, ordered by CPU or RAM consumption.

The top command displays real-time information about running processes, including their CPU and memory usage, and allows sorting by these metrics. It shows process ID, user, CPU usage percentage, memory usage percentage, and other runtime statistics. Option A describes file listing functionality. Option C and E refer to user account information. Option D relates to group membership, none of which are displayed by top.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. Listing files and sorting by size is the function of commands like ls -lS, not top.
  • C. User login counts are not displayed by top; this information might come from the who or last commands.
  • D. Group membership information is not displayed by top; the groups command shows this information.
  • E. User files are not tracked or displayed by top; file information comes from commands like find or ls.

Question 6

Which of the following commands can be used to resolve a DNS name to an IP address?

  1. dnsname
  2. dns
  3. query
  4. host
  5. iplookup
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: D. host

The host command is a standard DNS lookup utility that resolves domain names to IP addresses (forward lookups) and IP addresses to hostnames (reverse lookups). It queries DNS servers directly and displays the results. Option A, B, and C are not real commands. Option E (iplookup) is not a standard Linux utility; the correct tools are host, nslookup, or dig.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. dnsname is not a standard Linux command for DNS resolution.
  • B. dns is not a standalone command; it refers to the service, not a lookup utility.
  • C. query is not a standard DNS resolution command in Linux.
  • E. iplookup is not a standard Linux utility; host, nslookup, and dig are the correct DNS lookup tools.

Question 7

What is true about the dmesg command? (Choose two.)

  1. It traces the execution of a command and shows each step the program carries out.
  2. It sends messages to the command lines of all current user sessions.
  3. It displays the content of the Linux kernel's ring buffer.
  4. It immediately outputs all new messages written to the system journal.
  5. It might not display older information because it was overwritten by newer information.
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: C, E

C. It displays the content of the Linux kernel's ring buffer. E. It might not display older information because it was overwritten by newer information. The dmesg command displays messages from the Linux kernel's ring buffer, which stores boot and runtime kernel messages (option C). The ring buffer has a fixed size, so older messages are overwritten when the buffer fills with newer messages, meaning dmesg may not display all historical information (option E). Option A describes strace, not dmesg. Option B describes the wall command. Option D describes real-time journal monitoring with journalctl -f, not dmesg.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. Command tracing and step-by-step execution output is provided by strace, not dmesg.
  • B. Sending messages to all user sessions is the function of the wall command, not dmesg.
  • D. Real-time output of new system journal messages is provided by journalctl -f, not dmesg.

Question 8

Which of the following outputs could stem from the command last?

  1. 1 ls 2 cat text.txt 3 logout
  2. Password for user last changed at Sat Mar 31 16:38:57 EST 2018
  3. Last login: Fri Mar 23 10:56:39 2018 from server.example.com
  4. EXT4-fs (dm-7): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
  5. root tty2 Wed May 17 21:11 – 21:11 (00:00)
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: E. root tty2 Wed May 17 21:11 – 21:11 (00:00)

The last command displays login history in a formatted output showing username, terminal/device, date/time of login, and duration of the session. The output 'root tty2 Wed May 17 21:11 – 21:11 (00:00)' shows exactly this format: root is the user, tty2 is the terminal, the date and time show the login period, and (00:00) indicates a zero-minute session. Option A shows shell command history. Option B shows password change information. Option C shows a login message banner. Option D shows kernel filesystem messages from dmesg.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. Shell command history with numbered list format is displayed by the history command, not last.
  • B. Password change timestamps are shown by commands like chage or getent shadow, not last.
  • C. Login banner messages are displayed at login time or shown by the motd file, not by the last command.
  • D. Kernel filesystem mounting messages are shown by dmesg, not the last command.

Question 9

What is the UID of the user root?

  1. 1
  2. -1
  3. 255
  4. 65536
  5. 0 ✅Correct Answer: E, 0 The root user always has UID 0 in Linux. The UID (User Identifier) is a non-negative integer that identifies each account, and 0 is reserved for the root superuser, which is what grants it full system privileges.
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Answer and explanation for question 9

Question 10

Which permissions are set on a regular file once the permissions have been modified with the command chmod 654 file.txt?

  1. drw-r-xr–
  2. d-wxr-x–
  3. -wxr-x–x
  4. -rwxrw—x
  5. -rw-r-xr–
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: E. -rw-r-xr–

The chmod command 654 represents octal notation where each digit applies to owner, group, and others respectively. 6 (owner) = rw-, 5 (group) = r-x, 4 (others) = r–. For a regular file, this produces -rw-r-xr–, with the leading dash indicating it's not a directory.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. This shows a directory (d prefix) and incorrect permission mapping.
  • B. This shows a directory prefix and doesn't match the 654 octal encoding.
  • C. This doesn't match the 654 octal values and shows incorrect permission assignments.
  • D. This shows rwx for owner (7) instead of rw (6), and incorrect values for group and others.

That was 10 of 80.

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