CIS 191AB, UNIX/Linux System Administration

 Spring 2004
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Review Questions

This page will be used to post the knowledge and skills that you should have acquired from each lesson. Knowledge and skills both cover varying degrees of accomplishment. The following represent the three levels of accomplishment I will be looking for in your progress:
1) Competent      2) Mastery      3) Wizardry

Your knowledge will be assessed through quizes and exams.
Your skills will be assessed based on your performance in completing tasks in and outside of class.

Lesson 1: An Overview of the Unix/Linux Operating Systems

Knowledge
  1. Give an example of software that is:
  2. Name three ways a company can make money selling "free" software.
  3. Name four different Linux Distributions and the architectures Linux runs on.
  4. Compare and contrast the following OS components between UNIX and Microsoft:
  5. Name six subdirectories of the / directory and what types of files they contain.
  1. Name three common features among all Linux Distributions, and describe what is different among the Distributions.
  2. Name three advantages and three disadvantages of free software
  3. Describe the function of each of the major modules of Linux OS, and name a file that corresponds to each of the modules.
  4. Name three components of the ext2 file system
  5. Name three functions of a file system.
  6. Name the three commands that allow you to create a file system, mount a file system, and unmount a file system
  1. Outline a procedure a company can use to market free software?
  2. What are the two most important provisions of the GNU GPL?
  3. Distinguish between device drivers, device files, and symbolic links.
Skills
  1. Switch screens between a graphics console and multiple text terminals.
  2. Use a UNIX command to determine the kernel version of an installed Linux System
  3. Use the correct UNIX command to obtain the name (hostid) of a system.
  1. Identify the version of the installed Linux Distribution
  2. Run a UNIX command that lists out all the system daemons currently running on your system.
  3. Find what shell you are using and what shells are available for use on the system.
  4. Use a UNIX command to find out if your are connected to a network and what your IP and MAC addresses are.
  1. Using UNIX commands, find the lineage of processes starting from init that lead to your login shell process.
  2. Identify what services are running at any given runlevel
  3. Use UNIX commands to find your default network gateway address and the primary DNS server address.

Lesson 2: Disk Layout and Booting

Knowledge
  1. Given the number of cylinders, heads and sectors/track, compute the size of a disk.
  2. Name three boot loaders commonly used with Linux.
  3. What names does linux give for hard disks and the partitions on them?
  4. Outline the steps, (flow of control) in booting a kernel.
  1. Define the structure of the MBR
  2. Where is the partition table and what information does it contain?
  3. What is the file /etc/fstab used for? /etc/mtab?
  4. What command is made to make an emergency boot disk in Linux?
  1. Define the keywords used in either the GRUB or LILO configuration files.
  2. What is the purpose of the lost+found directory?
  3. Compare and contrast the LILO and GRUB boot loaders.
Skills
  1. Use the Linux fdisk to partition a hard disk
  2. Mount and unmount the floppy and cdrom devices
  3. Format a floppy disk
  4. Use the mount command to display your file systems and to mount and unmount those file systems
  1. Be able to use fdisk, mkfs, and mount to add a new file system to your operating system.
  2. Make an ext2 file system on a floppy disk
  3. Use the dd command to save a copy of your MBR
  1. Use dd to restore a corrupted MBR.
  2. Edit the /etc/fstab file to mount your floppy drive to the directory /floppy.
  3. Add a home filesystem to your system using a logical volume in the the extended partition. Configure the system so that this file system will be mounted to the /home directory upon booting.

Lesson 3: Starting Up and Shutting Down

Knowledge
  1. Bringing up a UNIX/Linux system involves what two basic steps, and what is accomplished in each of those steps?
  2. What UNIX/Linux program is responsible for starting and stopping all other system programs?
  3. What is meant by a runlevel? What is runlevel 1 used for? Which runlevels are pre-defined by UNIX convention?
  1. How can a user reboot a Linux system from the login prompt?
    How would you disable this capability?
  2. What is the role of the init.d directory?
  3. What are the three components of an rc script name and what does each signify?
  4. Why should a system administrator use the shutdown command rather than init to bring down a multi-user system?
  1. What are the four fields that make up a record in the /etc/inittab file?
  2. Name three actions that every daemon or subsystem rc script should be able to handle.
  3. In what stage of booting are non-root file systems mounted?
Skills
  1. Reboot a Linux system from the command line
  2. Shutdown a Linux system giving users 5 minutes to save their files and log off.
  3. Bring a Linux system up in single user mode.
  1. Configure a system to boot up in runlevel 3 with 10 virtual ttys
  2. Add an rc script to init.d and have that script startup in runlevel 5 only. It should be shut down at any other runlevel.
  3. Disable the ability to bring a system down with ctrl-alt-del
  1. Configure the system so that X windows does not start unless a user logs on to tty6.
  2. Add a service to runlevel 3 that displays the current month's calendar on the console tty.
  3. Prevent the security loophole that allows a user to enter single user mode without entering a password.

Lesson 4: Communications and Networking Layer

Knowledge
  1. Name three commands available for communicating with other users on the same system.
  2. Name three commands available for communicating with other users on remote systems.
  3. What information must you supply to the netconfig command to configure your network?
  4. Describe the different uses of the following commands:
        telent, ftp, ssh
  1. How can a user block incoming wall or write messages?
  2. What command allows you to see your current IP address?
  3. Why is ssh a more secure method of establishing a remote connection than rsh?
  1. What name is given to the primary network interface on a Linux system?
  2. Which files contain the IP information that the ifconfig command displays and that the netconfig command updates?
  3. Name two files used to communicate system information to users as they log in.
Skills
  1. telnet to the the instructor machine using your account name and create subdirectories in your home directory named Quizzes and Labs
  2. Use ftp to copy files back and forth between your machine and the instructor machine
  3. scp your homework files to the CIS191 account on opus.cabrillo.cc.ca.us
  4. Establish a remote connection to opus using ssh.
  1. Use ftp to put and get binary and text files from one machine to another
  2. Alter the /etc/hosts file to include the instructor and opus hostnames and ip addresses.
  1. Use ssh and scp to connect and transfer files to and from a remote machine.
  2. Edit the /etc/resolv.conf file to include the nameserver 172.16.1.1
  3. Configure the routing table to use 172.30.1.1 as the default router

Lesson 5: The UNIX/Linux X Window System

Knowledge
  1. What is the name of the configuration file for the Xserver, and where is it located?
  2. Where was X first developed?
  3. What are the two main components of the X Window System?
  4. Name three ways to start the X server.
  1. What is the purpose of the "--" option when running xinit or startx?
  2. In which directory are the fonts available to X located?
  3. Name three options supported by nearly all X clients.
  4. What are the three parts to a fully specified display?
  5. What is the name of the X font server?
  1. What logical device is normally used for PS2 mouse devices?
  2. What is the first step in configuring X? What program would you use?
  3. Where would you find the X client programs like window and file managers?
  4. What keystrokes will terminate a running X server?
Skills
  1. Start the X server and bring it back down.
  2. Start a single X session at your terminal while in runlevel 3.
  3. Run an X-client on a remote server.
  1. Use redhat-config-xfree86 to configure an X server.
  2. Configure which destop you would like to use (Gnome or KDE) and which Window Manager you want to run.
  1. Edit the /etc/X11/XF86Config file to reconfigure mouse settings from serial to PS2
  2. Write a custom .xinitrc file in your home directory to customize your desktop environment.

Lesson 6: Installing UNIX/Linux Operating Systems

Knowledge
  1. Know the minimum and recommended hardware requirements for a Linux installation in terms of CPU, memory, storage and supported peripherals.
  2. Define and explain the terms: MasterBootRecord, Primary partion, Extended partition, and partition boot sector.
  3. Name five decisions you must make when installing a Linux System
  4. Describe how LILO/GRUB boots a Linux Operating System
  1. Name three Linux commands useful for determining your hardware specifications.
  2. Describe how the acronym CHS relates to hard disk geometry.
  3. What is the minimum number of partitions required for installing Linux and what partition types must they be.
  4. Define the meaning of the following keywords used in a lilo.conf file:
    boot, default, timeout, image, other, label, root
    or a grub.conf file:
    default, timeout, title, kernel, root, chainloader
  1. Name the four I/O parameters that often cause hardware conflicts during installations.
  2. Define the structure of the MBR
  3. Know which installation issues can be deferred until after the installation.
  4. Describe the role of the following files in the boot process:
    boot.b initrd.img vmlinuz
Skills
  1. Install a Linux Distribution from CD-ROM on to an Intel Computer
  2. Use the Linux fdisk to partition a hard disk.
  3. Edit the /etc/lilo.conf file so that it will be loaded into a partition boot sector rather than the master boot record.
  4. Run the lilo command to install lilo
  1. Be able to edit the /etc/hosts file to resolve hostnames to IP addresses for systems on your local network.
  2. Be able to configure a lilo.conf file to dual boot between two or more operating systems and/or two or more kernel configurations.
  3. Be able to use the mount to display your file systems and to mount and unmount those file systems.
  1. Be able to use fdisk, mkfs, and mount to add a new file system to your operating system.
  2. Be able to edit the /etc/fstab file to configure the way your system's file systems are mounted.
  3. Use either lilo or dd or a DOS boot disk to restore a damaged master boot record.

Lesson 7: Package Managers and Software Management

Knowledge
  1. What is a tarball, and what utility is used to manipulate them?
  2. Define a package and name three popular Linux package managers.
  3. Name four different modes in which package managers may be run.
  4. Identify the package information contained in the name of an RPM package.
  1. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of using package managers
  2. Name the package managers for: Slackware, Red Hat, and Debian Linux
  3. List and describe the three types of shared libraries.
  1. Describe the main benefits of using APT
  2. Describe the naming conventions for shared object libraries
  3. Describe the use of the ldconfig and ldd utilities.
  4. What is the alien command used for, and when should it be used?
Skills
  1. Compress and extract a group of files using the tar command.
  2. Create a compressed file archive using the tar command
  3. Use gzip and gunzip to compress and uncompress files.
  4. Use a package manager to find out what software packages you have iinstalled on a system.
  1. Install the mtoolspackage using one of the package managers
  2. Query and verify the files from an installed package.
  3. Uninstall the mtools package
  1. Update a package such as linuxconf or gcc with the latest release.
  2. Use the ldd command to find out what shared libraries are required for common UNIX commands.
  3. Install the alien package and use it to convert the pkzip package from RPM format to .tgz

Lesson 8: Administrative Responsibilities and Getting Help

Knowledge
  1. List at least five responsibilities of a System Administrator
  2. Describe the importance of a log book and why such information should not be kept online.
  3. Describe what is meant by running a process in the background.
  4. Name three differences between DOS and UNIX filenaming schemes.
  1. Describe how to use command history, aliases, text completion, and command line editing using the bash shell.
  2. Name the three (hidden) shell files in a users home directory used for configuring the user's environment.
  3. Explain the differences between the man pages and the info pages.
  4. Describe the difference between the .bashrc file and the .bash_profile
  1. Name two system wide shell configuration files, and what they are used for.
  2. Describe the difference between your terminal type and your terminal line; which commands do you use to determine these?
  3. List three types of documentation found at the Linux Documentation Project
Skills
  1. Be able to log in and log out of a Linux system using both a CLI shell and a graphical shell.
  2. Be able to edit a previously typed command line for re-execution
  3. Be able to view the last 100 commands you have entered.
  4. Be able to run a process in the background.
  1. Be able to set which editor (vi or emacs) you would like your shell to use for command editing.
  2. Use the bash shell to move user processes from foreground to background and back to foreground.
  3. Be able to start up your own X window session with Xclients of your choosing.
  1. Be able to identify the Window Manager, Desktop Manager, and File Manager being used by a particular graphic session.
  2. Be able to customize your graphic session using hidden configuration files in your home directory.
  3. Use mtool commands to copy UNIX files to DOS floppy disks and vice versa.

Lesson 9: Administering User Accounts and Groups

Knowledge
  1. Name three files in the /etc directory that contain account information, and specify which information is kept in each file
  2. Name the three commands used for creating, modifying and deleting user accounts
  3. What command is used to change a user's password?
  1. Define the seven fields within a record of the /etc/passwd file.
  2. How are the files in /etc/skel used?
  3. Explain the purpose of the newgrp command.
  4. What command is used to lock and unlock a user account?
  1. Describe the use and format of the /etc/default/useradd file.
  2. Describe how the /etc/skel directory hierarchy can configured to support different shell environments for different user groups.
  3. Describe how you check to see if disk quotas have been enabled on a system?
Skills
  1. Create a new group with a specific gid
  2. Create a user account with a specific uid and gid
  3. Set a password for the above account.
  1. Modify the location of the home directory of an existing account.
  2. Lock and unlock a user account
  3. Delete a user account
  1. Change the uid of an existing account, and change all existing files owned by that user to the new uid.
  2. Change the password expiration date for a given user to be 1 week hence.
  3. Change the system-wide defaults for creating user accounts so that the group CIS191 is the default group.

Lesson 10: File Systems

Knowledge
  1. Name the three components of a UNIX/Linux file. And Name four components of a File System.
  2. Name six subdirectories of the / directory and what types of files they contain.
  3. Name the three commands that allow you to create a file system, mount a file system, and unmount a file system
  1. Name four functions of a file system.
  2. What is the file /etc/fstab used for? /etc/mtab?
  3. What command is used to check and repair a corrupted file system?
  4. What is the purpose of the lost+found directory?
  1. List three advanced features of the ext2 file system
  2. Name four attributes (extended permissions) that the chattr command can give to a file.
  3. Describe what each of the following e2fsprogs suite utilities does:
    1. dumpe2fs
    2. resize2fs
    3. tune2fs
    4. e2fsck
Skills
  1. Use the lsattr and chattr commands to view and change the extended permissions of a file
  2. Mount and unmount the floppy and cdrom devices
  3. Make an ext2 file system on a floppy disk
  4. Format a floppy disk
  1. Use the stat and dumpe2fs commands to view an i-node and file system respectively. Be able to determine what the logical block size is for that file system.
  2. Add a home filesystem to your system using a logical volume in the the extended partition. Configure the system so that this file system will be mounted to the /home directory upon booting.
  3. Use fsck to check or fix a corrupted file system
  1. Change how often the root filesystem should be checked so that it is checked every 10th time it is mounted.
  2. Edit the /etc/fstab file so that disk file systems are referenced by filesystem labels rather than device names.
  3. Recover a deleted file

Lesson 11: Printing

Knowledge
  1. What is the role of the lpd daemon in the Linux Print system?
  2. What command line would print the file report to the printer named epson if that printer were not the default printer?
  3. How can a Linux user determine if he/she has any print jobs in the queue?
  4. What interactive command is used to control the lp daemon?
  1. What is the difference between disabling a printer and stopping a printer?
  2. Name three attributes required to specify a logical printer.
  3. Where are printjobs spooled on a Linux system?
  4. In what file are the characteristics for logical printers stored on a Linux system?
  1. What is a program called that converts one file format ot another for the purposes of printing?
  2. Which version of lpd and lpr is newer: BSD or LPRng?
  3. In the absence of a graphic printer configuration tool, what two steps must a system administrator accomplish to configure a printer?
  4. What are the differences between serial interfaces (tty)s and pseudo-terminal interfaces (pty)s
Skills
  1. Send a text file to a specified printer.
  2. Cancel a particular print job by removing it from the queue.
  3. Take a printer offline and back on-line again without disrupting the queuing of print jobs.
  1. Add a printer to a Linux system using the Printtool utility
  2. Add an alias printer name to the printcap file.
  3. Shut down and restart the Linux printer subsystem
  1. Add a printer to a Linux system without the aid of a graphical utility.
  2. Stop the lp daemon from queuing any additional print jobs to a particular printer.
  3. Cancel all printjobs belonging to a particular printer.

Lesson 12: System Backup and Restore

Knowledge
  1. Name three backup methodologies and the advantages/disadvantages of each
  2. Name three UNIX/Linux utilities used for backing up file systems
  3. Name three compression utilities and how they differ from each other
  4. Name three popular Open Software Backup applications that run on Linux
  1. Describe the issues with symbolic links and relative vs. absolute file names when it comes to backing up and restoring files.
  2. What tar command line would you use to backup and compress all file in your home directory to an archive named mytar.tgz?
  3. What cpio command line would you use to extract a cpio archive from a floppy?
  4. What dump command line would you use to perform an epoch backup of the /home filesystem onto /dev/hda8?
  1. What command line would you use to backup all the files on the system owned by guest. Assume backup to a floppy.
  2. What is backup ghosting, and how does it affect restored file systems?
  3. How can you make tar backup the data to which any symbolic links point?
  4. What do 'block sizes' have to do with tape reading problems?
Skills
  1. Use the tar command to backup your home directory to the file myhome.tar
  2. Use the gzip and the compress commands to compress your myhome.tar file
  3. Extract the myhome.tar file into the /tmp directory
  1. Use either dump, tar or cpio to backup your /home filesystem.
  2. remove your /home file system, and restore it from the backup.
  3. Create a crontab file that would use the dump utility to do a level 0 backup on the first of each month; a level 1 backup every Sunday; and a level 2 backup every weekday at 11:00pm. Assume a tape device of /dev/rmt0
  1. Backup your entire system to an empty partition.
  2. Run the command rm -rf / as root, and then restore the system from your backup.

Lesson 13: System Process Monitoring

Knowledge
  1. What is the name of the daemon that keeps track of what error messages are logged where? Where are most error messages logged?
  2. What is the name of the command that allows you to add and remove tasks for the cron daemon?
  3. What are the roles of the six fields in a cron file?
  4. Name four commands that may be used to monitor system processes.
  5. Name two commands to monitor system storage space.
  1. What are the roles of the three fields in a record of the syslog.conf file?
  2. When would the following command be executed by crond?
    0,30 * 30 2 1-5 /usr/bin/search groundhog
  3. Name four resources for which processes are in competition.
  1. Name three locations to where system messages may be written.
  2. Describe the steps that must be taken for a user to schedule a batch job of commands to be run on the first of every month.
  3. What conditions will cause a process to be swapped out of RAM?
Skills
  1. Kill a hung process.
  2. Start a cron job and remove a cron job.
  3. Identify the offending processes when a system is under a load.
  1. Create a cron file that will record the number of files on the system once a week, and write it to a log file.
  2. Identify the 10 largest processes in memory at any point in time.
  3. Alleviate a full file system by adding additional storage, (a new partition).
  1. Configure the system to display all kernel error messages to the system console and to have all other logs rotate on a monthly basis.
  2. Use process accounting to track what commands users are using.
  3. Gather system data to determine where a system bottleneck resides.

Lesson 14: The Linux Kernel

Knowledge
  1. Name three components of the Linux kernel. Which component is "closest" to the hardware?
  2. In what directory is the kernel stored on most Linux Distributions?
  3. What is the full pathname of start of the linux kernel source tree?
    i.e. the directory that contains the master Makefile
  4. How do you determine the version of the kernel you are currently running?
  1. In what directory are dynamic kernel modules installed?
  2. What is the name of a newly created compressed kernel and in which directory is it stored?
  3. What choices does a kernel builder have to determine which modules are included or excluded from the kernel build?
  4. After a new kernel is built and installed, what must be done before booting this kernel?
  1. What command is used to make a new kernel from a source code tree?
  2. From where can you obtain the latest Linux kernel source code, and when should you download a source tree versus a patch?
  3. Name the six targets of the Makefile that must be run to build a new kernel.
  4. How can you arrange it so that you don't lose the default kernel options that are preselected for a generic kernel?
Skills
  1. Download the latest kernel source tree from www.kernel.org
  2. Extract and uncompress the source tree archive
  3. Run the make commands that will build a new kernel
  1. Use xconfig to select and exclude relevant and irrelelvant kernel modules
  2. Save your selected kernel options to a file
  3. Install a new kernel in the appropriate directory
  4. Update the lilo.conf file and run lilo to boot the new kernel
  1. Download and apply a patch to an existing kernel source tree.
  2. Configure lilo.conf to allow you to select which kernel you want to boot.
  3. Use insmod and rmmod to load and remove modules from a running kernel

Lesson 15: Troubleshooting

Knowledge
Skills
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