Linux Interview Questions and Answers

Linux Interview Questions and Answers
We saw the mention on the Linux BIOS website about one million
devices shipped with Linux BIOS. Could you tell us more about these
devices?
Yes, these are internet terminals that were built in India, based on the [x86
system-on-chip] STPC chip, I am told; also, there evidently is a Turkish-built
digital TV that runs Linux BIOS. I have also heard that there are routers and
many other embedded devices running Linux BIOS. I think at this point that
1 million is a low number. I am in contact with other set-top box vendors
that are talking about numbers in the 10s of millions for their products.
These numbers actually make the OLPC numbers seem small, which is in it
amazing.
What’s your goal for your talk at FOSDEM?

I’d like to communicate the basic ideas — that Linux is a good BIOS, and
why; why Linux BIOS is built the way it is; where we are going; and how
people can help. Most importantly, why it all matters — and it really matters
a lot. We’re on the verge of losing control of the systems we buy, and we
need to make a conscious effort, as a community, to ensure this loss of
control does not happen. That effort will not be without some sacrifice, but if
we are to maintain our ability to use and program our machines, and have
fun with them, we have to act now. Because, if the computing business
stops being fun, what’s the point$
If We Send You an Invoice, Then Will You Pay Us?

Now SCO says it will send out invoices to the 1500 companies that got the
earlier warning from them, and maybe you too, in the next weeks or
months. What$ You mean you aren’t in a hurry to stand before a judge$
Expected response from one and all: yawn. Here’s the article:
“SCO Group Inc is preparing to invoice customers running or developing with
Linux, while broadening its copyright net to include manufacturers of
embedded systems. . . .
“Invoices will be dispatched in the ‘next weeks or months’ a company
spokesperson confirmed.
“Those being billed will include 1,500 end-users who were earlier this year
informed by SCO in writing they should seek legal advice as running Linux
violated the company’s copyright. Customers running Linux who were not on
SCO’s original mailing list will also be targeted.”
Chris Sontag says you end user pirates better not wait for the legal case to
be over, or you’ll have to “face the consequences”:
“‘SCO has the right to defend its copyright all the way down to the end user,’
said Sontag. ‘ If necessary we will start picking end users to enforce our
rights.’ Sontag warned that SCO had no qualms about enforcing its claimed
rights anywhere in the world - including the UK.”
And if that doesn’t work, then they’ll huff and they’ll puff and they’ll blow
your house down.
As most people know, SCO is working with IBM and Sequent (which IIRC
IBM bought a while back) to develop a new 64 bit Unix. How will these two
OSes work together on your systems$ Are you planning on using Linux only
on low-end machines, while Monterey runs on IA-64, or will Linux be a
’stopgap OS’ to run on your systems until Monterey is finished$
Once again, we find yet another way any identical code could have come to
be in both SCO’s code and Linux. We just reported yesterday that Compaq
worked with China’s Red Flag Linux with the goal of scaling to 64-bit. Now
we find Old SCO was working hard to do the same thing. You think it’s
possible to write a kernel monitoring utility for Linux without touching or
looking at the Linux kernel$ They were donating code by the buckets,
apparently, judging from their own statements, and they were proud of it.
How in the world they can prove it was IBM that did it, or even IBM that
facilitated it, when Old SCO itself was working to make Linux scale in
precisely some of the high-end ways they now list in their complaint as an
offense, is truly a mystery to me, what with all the possible suspects. And
something appears to be off in SCO’s historic timeline in its legal papers.
Could that be why they took these pages down$ Well, let’s not get paranoid
or anything. But, you think$
What does your future roadmap for SCO Unix look like$ - Are you going the
SGI path and gradually phasing out your own Unix in favor of Linux, or are
you pursuing a parallel development path of both OSs$ What features
currently in SCO that are not in Linux do you feel is necessary for wider
corporate acceptance of Linux$
“McCrabb: Our formal product roadmap is undergoing a complete overhaul.
When we begin to outline our OS deliverables for the next 18 months, you
will see that UnixWare 7 and SCO Open Server 5 will continue moving
ahead. Look forward to new developments as well.
“Enterprises building their businesses on a server platform are interested in
reliability and availability. Although we believe in a high degree of reliability
that comes from the level of code inspection provided by the Open Source
Community, we feel it needs to be quantified with benchmarking statistics
like MTBSS. This opens a number of possible further improvements —
journalizing file systems, support for hot-plug PCI, multi-path I/O — things
that make is easier to never bring the system down, or to recover the
system more quickly.
Will SCO be contributing/open-sourcing any technology and/or patents that
it holds as part of its Linux adoption effort$ Also, did your market research
pan out - is Linux really being used in large businesses or is it still primarily
used by small startup companies strapped for cash$
“McCrabb: SCO is accelerating its participation in, and contributions to, the
Open Source Community. In some cases, we will be taking current
technology that we think is needed in the Linux market and driving it
forward as the project maintainers. Right now, we are focusing on bringing
some of our high-performance Intel development tools to Linux. In other
cases, we will make some sources available as reference documents, without
a specific intention of driving them forward as projects.
How do you see your role fitting into the NCLB goals? With district
goals? With building goals? With departmental goals?
As Instructional Media and Technology Coordinator, my role is to help others
realize the promise of technology to impact teaching, learning and
leadership. Effectively integrating technology, using digital content to
enhance learning to foster inquiry, analysis, collaboration, and creativity is
what NCLB Title 2, Part D is about. Aligning federal, state, district and
building goals can only be done by facilitating ever-deepening conversations
about what it means to use digital content and technology to change teacher
and leadership practices. My role specifically has to focus on helping
teachers and administrators SEE what teaching and learning can be like,
then supporting them as they grow to discover their own technology-
enhanced teaching style. In fact, in my previous position, 3 initiatives were
celebrated as success stories in the new Educational Technology Plan.
Aside from serving as a leader, I’m also committed to handling the day-to-
day aspects of dealing with technology equipment, software and supply
purchases. While I am a guide on the side in the use of technology in the
classroom, I can take a role that is more active when ensure district
compliance with appropriate laws and administrative procedures. Technology
can bridge the chasm between classrooms, public perception, and
administrative procedure. Increasing transparency of what we are doing is
frightening. However, being unafraid in front of your class, your peers, to
the benefit of all, is exactly what we’re called to do as educators.
What do you see happening in educational technology in the next 2,

5 and 10 years?
Powerful technologies are enhancing the voices of individuals. With the
advent of web-based tools for data aggregation/disaggregation, online
publishing, communication and mass collaboration, people we never
imagined will be joining the dialogue. I’ve experienced this first-hand with
my foray into blogging and podcasting, and the ability to collaborate with
others around the globe.
I imagine it will be like when everyone bought modems for their computers.
Like that Christmas after the movie War Games where a teenager almost
began a global thermonuclear war, when everyone ran out to buy a modem,
people are going to congregate in online communities. I was one of those
teenagers who spent many a night having conversations with people around
my home town. Now, those conversations are happening with people around
the globe. My role in this position will be to facilitate and model the
appropriate use of the Read/Write Web. In a world where everyone can
contribute, the need for information literacy and problem-solving is critical.
My experiences in guiding educators through Big6 information problem-
solving approach has not only familiarized me with these approaches, but
also helped me guide others. Merging information-problem-solving
approaches with the Levels of Technology Implementation (LOTI) framework
can help teachers move a lesson activity from a lower level of the revised
Bloom’s Taxonomy, such as synthesis to creation.
Mass collaboration and peer production will pull the rug out from traditional
educational technology efforts. In 10 years, if not less, educational
technology will become THE deciding factor in whether schools are judged
successful or not, but will do so from a completely different direction than
we imagined. In the past, ed-tech was about individual productivity.
Increasingly in the future, it will be about mass communication, mass
collaboration, working in virtual environments like Second Life mean that
educational technology will become an anachronism.
What are MySQL transactions?

A set of instructions/queries that should be executed or rolled back as a
single atomic unit.
Explain multi-version concurrency control in MySQL.
Each row has two additional columns associated with it - creation time and
deletion time, but instead of storing timestamps, MySQL stores version
numbers.
Explain MySQL locks.
Table-level locks allow the user to lock the entire table, page-level locks
allow locking of certain portions of the tables (those portions are referred to
as tables), row-level locks are the most granular and allow locking of specific
rows.
Explain MySQL architecture.
The front layer takes care of network connections and security
authentications, the middle layer does the SQL query parsing, and then the
query is handled off to the storage engine. A storage engine could be either
a default one supplied with MySQL (MyISAM) or a commercial one supplied
by a third-party vendor (ScaleDB, InnoDB, etc.)
List the main applications of 8 bit microprocessors?
8 bit microprocessors are used in a variety of applications such as appliances
, automobiles ,industrial process and control applications.
What is NV-RAM?
Nonvolatile Read Write Memory, also called Flash memory. It is also know as
shadow RAM
Can ROM be used as stack?

ROM cannot be used as stack because it is not possible to write to ROM.
What is stack?
Stack is a portion of RAM used for saving the content of Program Counter
and general purpose registers.
What is flag?
Flag is a flip-flop used to store the information about the status of a
processor and the status of the instruction executed most recently
Which processor structure is pipelined?

All x86 processors have pipelined structure.
What is a compiler?
Compiler is used to translate the high-level language program into machine
code at a time. It doesn’t require special instruction to store in a memory, it
stores automatically. The Execution time is less compared to Interpreter.
Differentiate between RAM and ROM?

RAM: Read / Write memory, High Speed, Volatile Memory. ROM: Read only
memory, Low Speed, Non Voliate Memory.
Which transistor is used in each cell of EPROM?

Floating .gate Avalanche Injection MOS (FAMOS) transistor is used in each
cell of EPROM.
What is called .Scratch pad of computer.?

Cache Memory is scratch pad of computer.
What is cache memory?

Cache memory is a small high-speed memory. It is used for temporary
storage of data & information between the main memory and the CPU
(center processing unit). The cache memory is only in RAM.
What is interrupt?
Interrupt is a signal send by external device to the processor so as to
request the processor to perform a particular work.
Difference between static and dynamic RAM?

Static RAM: No refreshing, 6 to 8 MOS transistors are required to form one
memory cell, Information stored as voltage level in a flip flop. Dynamic RAM:
Refreshed periodically, 3 to 4 transistors are required to form one memory
cell, Information is stored as a charge in the gate to substrate capacitance.
What is the difference between primary & secondary storage device?

In primary storage device the storage capacity is limited. It has a volatile
memory. In secondary storage device the storage capacity is larger. It is a
nonvolatile memory. Primary devices are: RAM / ROM. Secondary devices
are: Floppy disc / Hard disk.
Why does microprocessor contain ROM chips?

Microprocessor contain ROM chip because it contain instructions to execute
data.
What is meant by LATCH?

Latch is a D- type flip-flop used as a temporary storage device controlled by
a timing signal, which can store 0 or 1. The primary function of a Latch is
data storage. It is used in output devices such as LED, to hold the data for
display.
What is the difference between microprocessor and microcontroller?

In Microprocessor more op-codes, few bit handling instructions. But in
Microcontroller: fewer op-codes, more bit handling Instructions, and also it is
defined as a device that includes micro processor, memory, & input / output
signal lines on a single chip.
What is the disadvantage of microprocessor?

It has limitations on the size of data. Most Microprocessor does not support
floating-point operations.
Is the data bus is Bi-directional?

The data bus is Bi-directional because the same bus is used for transfer of
data between Micro Processor and memory or input / output devices in both
the direction.
Is the address bus unidirectional?
The address bus is unidirectional because the address information is always
given by the Micro Processor to address a memory location of an input /
output devices.
Define HCMOS?
High-density n- type Complimentary Metal Oxide Silicon field effect
transistor.
What is 1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th generation processor?

The processor made of PMOS / NMOS / HMOS / HCMOS technology is called
1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th generation processor, and it is made up of 4 / 8 / 16 /
32 bits.
3. Why 8085 processor is called an 8 bit processor?

Because 8085 processor has 8 bit ALU (Arithmetic Logic Review). Similarly
8086 processor has 16 bit ALU.
Give examples for 8 / 16 / 32 bit Microprocessor?

8-bit Processor - 8085 / Z80 / 6800; 16-bit Processor - 8086 / 68000 /
Z8000; 32-bit Processor - 80386 / 80486.
What is a Microprocessor?
Microprocessor is a program-controlled device, which fetches the instructions
from memory, decodes and executes the instructions. Most Micro Processor
is single- chip devices.
What command would you use to create an empty file without

opening it to edit it?
You use the touch command to create an empty file without needing to open
it. Answers a and e point to invalid commands, though either of these might
actually be aliased to point to a real command. Answers b and c utilize
editors, and so do not satisfy the requirements of the question.
actually touch is used to change the timestamps of a file if its exits,
otherwise a new file with current timestamps will be created
Which of the following commands can you use to cleanly restart a

Linux machine?
The commands used to restart a Linux box are shutdown -r, reboot, and init
6. Answers c and e are incorrect. Both of these are used to shut down a
Linux box, not restart it.
init 6 command is used to restart the Linux machine .
What do you type to stop a hung process that resists the standard
attempts to shut it down?
The kill command by itself tries to allow a process to exit cleanly. You type
kill -9 PID, on the other hand, to abruptly stop a process that will not quit by
any other means. Also, pressing Ctrl+C works for many programs. Answers
b and d are only valid in some contexts, and even in those contexts will not
work on a hung process.
Which command do you use to change run levels?

The command used to change run levels is init. Answers a, c, and d point to
invalid commands. Answer b is a valid command, but does not set the
current run level. The run level command displays the current run level, and
the one that was used directly before entering this one.
Which two commands can you use to delete directories ?

You can use rmdir or rm -rf to delete a directory. Answer a is incorrect,
because the rm command without any specific flags will not delete a
directory, it will only delete files. Answers d and e point to a non-existent
command.
What would you type to send the last 20 lines of a text file to STDIN?
Use the command tail -20 filename to see the last 20 lines of a file. The
answers for a and d both point to an invalid command. The answer for b
points to a valid command. Typing this answer in with a valid file name will
even give you some output. However, the last command tells you who is
logged in, it does not actually list the contents of any file named in the
command. The answer for c, the head command, is used to look at the
beginning of a file, not the end.
last choice will be correct answer because only tail command is used to see
the last content of any file by default it take 10 line
Which daemon controls the network service -> POP3 mail service?
The intend super daemon controls the POP3 mail service. The POP3 mail
service runs through the super daemon, not on its own. Answers c and e
point to nonexistent, or at least nonstandard daemons. Answer d points to
the Usenet news
daemon.
Who owns the data dictionary?

The SYS user owns the data dictionary. The SYS and SYSTEM users are
created when the database is created. The SYS user owns the data
dictionary. The SYS and SYSTEM users are created when the database is
created.
how we can configure sata hard derive during redhat 9 installation.
Have the data driver on a floppy drive. At the start of installation, when u
boot from the CD/DVD, on the prompt, write “dd”. It will ask for the driver
floppy later on and will load the sata driver. Then you can configure/partition
the drive using disk druid or fdisk
What is difference between AT and CRON?

Cron command is used to schedule the task daily at the same time
repeatedly ,”at” command is used to schedule the task only once i.e. to run
only one time.
What is difference between user right and user permission?

user rights:user rights is that user is authorized to used password. if his
password/file/dir is expired he is not able to login
user permission:permission is user is permitted to use file/directory. that is
authentication
if he is authentication for particular file or not.
it might be true as per my suggestion.
What is the real mean of DHCP?

Dynamic addressing simplifies network administration because the s/w
keeps track of IP addresses rather than requiring an administrator to
manage the task. That means new computer can be added to the network
without any risk of manually assigning unique IP address.
Describe the boot process of your favorite Linux in as much detail as you
can.
Boot process takes place in 4 scenes with 4 main characters.
Scene 1
when the computer
is switched on, it automatically invokes BIOS[a ROM chip embedded in the
motherboard].The BIOS will start the processor and perform a POST[power
on self test] to check whether the connected device are ready to use and are
working properly.
Once the POST is completes BIOS will jump to a specified location in the
RAM and check for the booting device. The boot sector is always the first
sector of the hard disk and BIOS will load the MBR into the memory.
Scene 2
Here the boot loader takes the control of the booting process.LILO or GRUB
is the boot loaders commonly available. It will help the user to select various
boot options. Depending on the boot option selected the kernel is loaded.
scene 3
After kernel is loaded the kernel will take the control of the booting process
and it will initialize all the hardwares including I/O processors etc.kernel then
creates a root device and mounts the partitions.
Scene 4
INIT is loaded.
How to install 8139 realtek drivers in rhel5.0$ Please help me out.
Download the driver from internet.
then just unzip the tarball using tar -zxvf
then for first compile it using make and make install
For proper installation of the driver read the INSTALL / README file given in
the tarball.
You are debugging a new application that is crashing. You want to

watch the messages as they are being written to the log. What
command should you use?
The tail command allows you to keep a log open and see each new message
as it is written to the log.
Which of the following tasks cannot be accomplished with the touch

command?
The touch command is usually used to modify either a file’s access or
modification time. It can also be used to create a new file.
You want to copy the user’s home directories to a new location.

Which of the following commands will accomplish this?
The -r option tells the cp command to recurs the directories. The -P option
retains the original permissions.
You read an article that lists the following command: dd if=/dev/fd0

bs=512 of=/new What does this accomplish?
The dd command is a special copy command often used for floppy disks and
tapes. The if= option specifies the source; the bs= is the block size; and the
of= option is the output.
You attempt to delete a file called sales.mem using the rm command

but the command fails. What could be the problem?
In order to delete a file, you must have write rights to the directory
containing the file.
You want to search for sale and sales. What regular expression
should you use?
Use the asterick (*) to match to zero or more characters. The ‘$’ matches to
any one character so sale$ would not find sale.
You have a file named ‘kickoff’ and would like to find every line
beginning with a number. Which of the following commands will
accomplish this?
The command grep ^[0-9] kickoff will cause grep to search the file kickoff
for any line beginning with a digit.
You want to know how many lines in the kickoff file contains ‘prize’.
Which of the following commands will produce the desired results?
Using the -c option with the grep command will show the total number of
lines containing the specified pattern rather than displaying the lines
containing the pattern.
You want to verify which lines in the file kickoff contain ‘Bob’. Which
of the following commands will accomplish this?
The -n option when used with sed prints only the lines containing the
pattern. In this case, the pattern is ‘Bob’ and the file to be searched is
kickoff.
You have a file called docs.Z but do not know what it is. What is the
easiest way to look at the contents of the file?
The .Z extension indicates that this is a file that has been compressed using
the compress utility. The zcat utility provides the ability to display the
contents of a compressed file.
You want to make it possible for your users to mount floppy disks.
What do you need to do?
If you add the user option to the line in the fstab file that defines how to
mount your CD-ROM, then your users will be able to mount it.
What is contained in the directory
The /proc directory is a virtual file system that contains system information.
After copying a file to a floppy disk, what should you do before

removing the disk?
If you do not unmount the floppy before removing it, the files on the floppy
may become corrupted.
You have set quotas for all your users but half of your users are
using more space than they have been allotted. Which of the
following could be the problem?
Quotas are set on a partition by partition basis. If your users have home
directories on different partitions, you will need to configure quotas for each
partition.
What command should you use to check the number of files and disk
space used and each user’s defined quotas?
The repquota command is used to get a report on the status of the quotas
you have set including the amount of allocated space and amount of used
space.
you have a large spreadsheet located in the /data directory that five
different people need to be able to change. How can you enable each
user to edit the spreadsheet from their individual home directories?
By creating a link to the file in each user’s home directory, each user is able
to easily open and edit the spreadsheet. Also, any changes that are made
are seen by all the users with access.
You have a file called sales data and create symbolic links to it in
bob’s home directory. Bob calls you and says that his link no longer
works. How can you fix the link?
Because the link in bob’s directory is a symbolic link, if the file sales data in
the /data directory is deleted, the symbolic link will no longer work.
You have two files in two different directories with the same inode.
What type of link is involved?
Hard links all have the same inode number, unlike symbolic links.
You need to locate a file called sales data that one of your user’s
created in his home directory but you do not know which one. How
could you use the find command to locate this file?
When using the find command to locate a file by name you must specify the
starting place in the directory
hierarchy and the -name option to specify the file to search for.
However, when Bob attempts to open the file he is unsuccessful.

What command do you need to use to give Bob ownership of the
file?
The chown command can be used by root to give ownership of a file to any
user.
What is meant by sticky bit?

When the sticky bit is set on a world writable directory, only the owner can
delete any file contained in that directory.
Your default umask is 002. What does this mean?

The digits of your umask represent owner, group and others in that order.
The 0 gives read and write for files and the 2 gives read only for files.
Which of the following commands will replace all occurrences of the
word rate with the word speed in the file racing?
When using sed to do a search and replace, its default action is to only
replace the first occurrence in each line. Adding the ‘g’ makes sed replace all
occurrences of the search term even when it occurs multiple times on the
same line.
You have a tab delimited file called phonenos and want to change
each tab to four spaces. What command can you use to accomplish
this?
By default, expand converts tabs to eight spaces. Use the -t option to
change this behavior.
You issue the command head *. What would the resulting output be?
If the number of lines to display is not specified, the first ten lines of the
specified file are displayed. The asterick tells head to display the content of
each file in the present working directory.
what text filter can you use to display a binary file in octal numbers?
The od text filter will dumpt the contents of a file and display it in 2-byte
octal numbers.
What would be the result of the command paste -s dog cat ?

The paste text filter usually joins two files separating the corresponding lines
with a tab. The -s option, however, will cause paste to display the first file,
dog, then a new line character, and then the file cat.
You wish to print the file vacations with 60 lines to a page. Which of
the following commands will accomplish this?
The default page length when using pr is 66 lines. The -l option is used to
specify a different length.
What would be the result of issuing the command cat phonenos?

The tac text filter is a reverse cat. It displays a file starting with the last line
and ending with the first line.
You need to see the last fifteen lines of the files dog, cat and horse.
What command should you use?
The tail utility displays the end of a file. The -15 tells tail to display the last
fifteen lines of each specified file.
You have the file phonenos that contains telephone numbers and
names separated by a comma. You want to change each comma to a
semicolon. Which of the following will accomplish this?
The tr utility is used to replace one string by another. Here the input for tr is
provided by the cat command and the commas are all replaced by
semicolons.
If you type the command cat dog > cat what would you see on your
display?
When you use > for redirection, it only effects the standard output. Any
messages sent to standard error would still appear on your display.
Which first-level segment of the file system contains a majority of

system and server configuration files within its subdirectories?
The /etc portion of the file system contains a number of system and daemon
configuration files. Answers a, c, d, and e are valid first-level directories, but
are incorrect. The /var directory contains items that change on a regular
basis, such as log files and print and mail spool directories. The /bin
directory contains system binaries, whereas the /sbin directory contains
binaries that run with SUID privileges or as a specific user. The /lib directory
contains system libraries, both shared and non-shared.
What command allows you to set a processor-intensive job to use

less CPU time?
The nice command is used to change a job’s priority level, so that it runs
slower or faster. Answers a, d, and e are valid commands but are not used
to change process information. Answer c is an invalid command.
Which of the following commands can be used to get information

about a package?
The man command pulls up man pages, the info command pulls up texinfo
pages which have replaced the man pages for some packages, and the
apropos command helps you to find related commands. Answers b and e are
not methods of getting information about a package
Where is a good place to store shell scripts that are for use by the author
It is best to keep scripts meant only for your account under ~/bin. Answers
b, c, d, and e are all valid locations, but not the best places to keep user-
specific scripts.
Which hardware considerations should you keep in mind when putting
together this mail server’s list of components$ [Choose all correct answers]
A mail server benefits from a large amount of RAM, a fast CPU, and large
amounts of fast-access hard drive space. The reason it benefits from having
a lot of memory is that it can then handle groups of mail messages all at
once. A fast CPU helps it move through processes more quickly, especially
when it comes to generating postings to large mailing lists. Having a lot of
hard drive space ensures that the mail spool will not run out of free room.
Answers a and c are unimportant on a machine that is meant to provide mail
service. A Linux box serving such a purpose would only be slowed down with
a GUI running, and the GUI is the reason to be concerned with both the
monitor resolution and video RAM.
Of the following technologies, which is considered a client-side

script?
JavaScript is the only client-side script listed. Java and C++ are complete
programming languages
. Active Server Pages are parsed on the server with the results being sent to
the client in HTML.
What type of server is used to remotely assign IP addresses to

machines during the installation process?
You can use a DHCP server to assign IP addresses to individual machines
during the installation process. Answers a, b, d, and e list legitimate Linux
servers, but these servers do not provide IP addresses. The SMB, or Samba,
tool is used for file and print sharing across multi-OS networks
. An NFS server is for file sharing across Linux net-works. FTP is a file
storage server that allows people to browse and retrieve information by
logging in to it, and HTTP is for the Web
What type of local file server can you use to provide the distribution
installation materials to the new machine during a network
installation?
You can use an NFS server to provide the distribution installation materials
to the machine on which you are performing the installation. Answers a, b,
c, and d are all valid items but none of them are file servers. Inetd is the
superdaemon which controls all intermittently used network services. The
FSSTND is the Linux File System Standard. DNS provides domain name
resolution, and NNTP is the transfer protocol for usenet news.
Which password package should you install to ensure that the

central password file couldn’t be stolen easily?
The shadow password package moves the central password file to a more
secure location. Answers a, b, and e all point to valid packages, but none of
these places the password file in a more secure location. Answer d points to
an invalid package.
Which command works in almost all distributions to create a boot
disk ?
The mkbootdisk command creates a boot disk. Answers b and c are
incorrect. The make package is used to compile software
, not create boot disks. Answers a and d point to invalid commands.
What happens to your ipchains settings when you reboot a machine?

They cannot be automatically saved unless you do something like make an
alias for the shutdown routine that ensures this happens. Settings for
ipchains are lost during a reboot or shutdown and there is no “setting” to
ensure they are automatically saved. Answers a, b, and c are completely
incorrect. Answer e is incorrect, but you can save them by hand if you
choose to.
Which package provides secure remote login sessions, such as

secure telnet logins?
The ssh package allows you to configure secure telnet sessions and other
remote logins. Answer a points to an invalid package. Answer c points to a
valid package, but shadow handles passwords, not data encryption. Answers
d and e point to firewalling packages, which regulate what passes in and out
of a LAN, but do not handle data encryption.
Which package can you use to regulate which network traffic is

allowed to enter a specific machine, but not on any other machines?
The tcp_wrappers package is used to regulate the TCP/IP network traffic
coming in and out of a machine. Answers b and c both point to valid
firewalling packages, but these packages are used for an entire LAN, not just
one machine. Answer d points to the commun-ications protocol used to
transmit data over the Internet. Answer e points to an invalid package.
What type of server is used to remotely assign IP addresses to

machines during the installation process?
you can use a DHCP server to assign IP addresses to individual machines
during the installation process. Answers a, b, d, and e list legitimate Linux
servers, but these servers do not provide IP addresses. The SMB, or Samba,
tool
is used for file and print sharing across multi-OS networks. An NFS server is
for file sharing across Linux net-works. FTP is a file storage server that
allows people to browse and retrieve information by logging in to it, and
HTTP is for the Web
Which partitioning tool is available in all distributions?
The fdisk partitioning tool is available in all Linux distributions. Answers a, c,
and e all handle partitioning, but do not come with all distributions. Disk
Druid is made by Red Hat and used in its distribution along with some
derivatives. Partition Magic and System Commander are tools made by
third-party companies. Answer d is not a tool, but a file system type.
Specifically, FAT32 is the file system type used in Windows 98.
Which first-level segment of the file system contains a majority of system
Which file do you edit to set partitions to mount at boot time?

The file /etc/fstab manages which partitions are automatically mounted onto
the file system. Answers b and c refer to valid items, but they are not used
to manage the file system. The file /etc/services maps networking services
to the ports they utilize, and /etc/smb.conf is the configuration file for the
Samba service. Answers d and e point to files that do not exist.
Which first-level segment of the file system contains a majority of

system and server configuration files within its subdirectories?
Which file do you edit to set partitions to mount at boot time?

The file /etc/fstab manages which partitions are automatically mounted onto
the file system. Answers b and c refer to valid items, but they are not used
to manage the file system. The file /etc/services maps networking services
to the ports they utilize, and /etc/smb.conf is the configuration file for the
Samba service. Answers d and e point to files that do not exist.
Which shell do you assign to a POP3 mail-only account?
You assign a POP3 only account to the /bin/false shell. Answers b and c both
point to the same shell, the bash shell. However, assigning this shell to a
POP3 only user gives him or her login access, which is what you are trying to
avoid. Answers d and e are both invalid options in a standard setup.
What command would you use to create an empty file without

opening it to edit it?
You use the touch command to create an empty file without needing to open
it. Answers a and e point to invalid commands, though either of these might
actually be aliased to point to a real command. Answers b and c utilize
editors, and so do not satisfy the requirements of the question.
actually touch is used to change the timestamps of a file if its exits,
otherwise a new file with current timestamps will be created
Which command do you use to change run levels?

The command used to change run levels is init. Answers a, c, and d point to
invalid commands. Answer b is a valid command, but does not set the
current run level. The run level command displays the current run level, and
the one that was used directly before entering this one.
Which daemon controls the network service -> POP3 mail service?
The inetd superdaemon controls the POP3 mail service. The POP3 mail
service runs through the superdaemon, not on its own. Answers c and e
point to nonexistent, or at least nonstandard daemons. Answer d points to
the Usenet news daemon.
Who owns the data dictionary ?

created when the database is created.
how we can configure sata hard derive during redhat 9 installation.
Have the data driver on a floppy drive. At the start of installation, when u
boot
from the CD/DVD, on the prompt, write “dd”. It will ask for the driver floppy
later on and will load the sata driver. Then you can configure/partition the
drive using disk druid or fdisk.
What is difference between AT and CRON?
cron can be set only for a particular time but at is used to schedule and
execute
Contact Author Contact Author Cron command is used to schedule the task
daily at the same time repeatedly ,”at” command is used to schedule the
task only once i.e. to run only one time.

password/file/dir is expired he is not able to login
user permission:permission is user is permitted to use file/directory. that is
authentication
if he is authentication for particular file or not.

dynamic Host Configuration Protocol(DHCP) is a protocol used by networked
devices (clients) to obtain the IP address.
Contact Author Contact Author Dynamic addressing simplifies network
administration because the s/w keeps track of IP addresses rather than
requiring an administrator to manage the task. That means new computer
can be added to the network without any risk of manually assigning unique
IP address.
Describe the boot process of your favorite Linux in as much detail as you
can.
Booting process : first BIOS loads the boot loaders, then boot loaders loads
the kernel ,then kernel mount the file systems and drivers installation will
takes place and in it will be loaded.
How to install 8139 realtek drivers in rhel5.0$ Please help me out.
the tarball.

password/file/dir is expired he is not able to login user
permission:permission is user is permitted to use file/directory. that is
authentication if he is authentication for particular file or not.
Dynamic addressing simplifies network administration because the s/w
keeps track of IP addresses
rather than requiring an administrator to manage the task. That means new
computer can be added to
the network without any risk of manually assigning unique IP address.
Describe the boot process of your favorite Linux in as much detail as

you can?
Boot process takes place in 4 scenes with 4 main characters.
Scene 1
when the computer is switched on, it automatically invokes BIOS[a ROM chip
embedded in the motherboard].The BIOS will start the processor and
perform a POST[power on self test] to check whether the connected device
are ready to use and are working properly. Once the POST is completes
BIOS will jump to a specified location in the RAM and check for the booting
device. The boot sector is always the first sector of the hard disk and BIOS
will load the MBR into the memory.
Scene 2
Here the boot loader takes the control of the booting process.LILO or GRUB
is the boot loaders commonly available. It will help the user to select various
boot options. Depending on the boot option selected the kernel is loaded.
scene 3
After kernel is loaded the kernel will take the control of the booting process
and it will initialize all the hardwares including I/O processors etc.kernel then
creates a root device and mounts the partitions.
Scene 4
INIT is loaded.
What is the minimum number of partitions you need to install Linux?

What command can you use to review boot messages?
1. Three Partition.
boot partition, swap partition and root partition, these are the minimum
partitions to install
the Linux.
2. dmesg or /var/log/messages
What command you execute to display the last five commands you have
entered$ Which partitions might you creates on mail server HDDs other than
the root, swap and boot partitions$ Which partitioning tool is available in all
distributions$ Which two commands can you use to delete directories$
Which file defines all users on your system$
1. history|tail -5
2. /var
3. fdisk, parted
4. rm, rmdir
5. /etc/passwd
How to install 8139 realtek drivers in rhel5.0? Please help me out?

the tarball.
What does Security-enhanced Linux give me that standard Linux

can’t?
The Security-enhanced Linux kernel enforces mandatory access control
policies that confine user programs and system servers to the minimum
amount of privilege they require to do their jobs. When confined in this way,
the ability of these user programs and system daemons to cause harm when
compromised (via buffer overflows or misconfigurations, for example) is
reduced or eliminated. This confinement mechanism operates independently
of the traditional Linux access control mechanisms. It has no concept of a
“root” super-user, and does not share the well-known shortcomings of the
traditional Linux security mechanisms (such as a dependence on
setuid/setgid binaries).The security of an unmodified Linux system depends
on the correctness of the kernel, all the privileged applications, and each of
their configurations. A problem in any one of these areas may allow the
compromise of the entire system. In contrast, the security of a modified
system based on the Security-enhanced Linux kernel depends primarily on
the correctness of the kernel and its security policy configuration. While
problems with the correctness or configuration of applications may allow the
limited compromise of individual user programs and system daemons, they
do not pose a threat to the security of other user programs and system
daemons or to the security of the system as a whole.
What is SELinux?
SELinux
Security-enhanced Linux is a research prototype of the Linux® kernel and a
number of utilities with enhanced security functionality designed simply to
demonstrate the value of mandatory access controls to the Linux community
and how such controls could be added to Linux. The Security-enhanced
Linux kernel contains new architectural components originally developed to
improve the security of the Flask operating system. These architectural
components provide general support for the enforcement of many kinds of
mandatory access control policies, including those based on the concepts of
Type Enforcement®, Role-based Access Control, and Multi-level Security.
What is the most graceful way to get to run level single user mode?
The most graceful way is to use the command init s.
If you want to shut everything down before going to single user mode then
do init 0 first and from the ok prompt do a boot -s.
Write a command to find all of the files which have been accessed within the
last 10 days.
The following command will find all of the files which have been accessed
within the last 10 days
find / -type f -atime -10 > December.files
This command will find all the files under root, which is ‘/’, with file type is
file. ‘-atime -30′ will give all the files accessed less than 10 days ago. And
the output will put into a file call Monthname.files.
What is the main advantage of creating links to a file instead of

copies of the file?
The main advantage is not really that it saves disk space (though it does
that too) but, rather, that a change of permissions on the file is applied to all
the link access points. The link will show permissions of lrwxrwxrwx but that
is for the link itself and not the access to the file to which the link points.
Thus if you want to change the permissions for a command, such as su, you
only have to do it on the original. With copies you have to find all of the
copies and change permission on each of the copies.
What is LILO?
LILO stands for Linux boot loader. It will load the MBR, master boot record,
into the memory, and tell the system which partition and hard drive to boot
from.
What is CVS?
CVS is Concurrent Version System. It is the front end to the RCS revision
control system which extends the notion of revision control from a collection
of files in a single directory to a hierarchical collection of directories
consisting of revision controlled files. These directories and files can be
combined together to form a software release.
There are some useful commands that are being used very often. They are
cvs checkout
cvs update
cvs add
cvs remove
cvs commit
What is NFS? What is its job?
NFS stands for Network File System. NFS enables filesystems physically
residing on one computer system to be used by other computers in the
network, appearing to users on the remote host as just another local disk.
In Linux OS, what is the file server?

The file server is a machine that shares its disk storage and files with other
machines on the network.
What are the techniques that you use to handle the collisions in hash
tables?
We can use two major techniques to handle the collisions. They are open
addressing and separate chaining. In open addressing, data items that hash
to a full array cell are placed in another cell in the array. In separate
chaining, each array element consists of a linked list. All data items hashing
to a given array index are inserted in that list.
What is the major advantage of a hash table?

The major advantage of a hash table is its speed. Because the hash function
is to take a range of key values and transform them into index values in
such a way that the key values are distributed randomly across all the
indices of a hash table.
What is Write Command ?

The write command enables you to write an actual message on the other
terminal online. You have to issue the write command with the login ID of
the user with whom you want to communicate. The write command informs
the user at the other end that there is a message from another user. write
pastes that message onto the other user’s terminal if their terminal’s write
permissions are set. Even if they are in the middle of an edit session, write
overwrites whatever is on the screen. The edit session contents are not
corrupted; you can restore the original screen on most editors with Ctrl-L.
write is mostly used for one-way communication, but you can have an actual
conversation as well
Why You Shouldn’t Use the root Login?

The root login does not restrict you in any way. When you log in as root, you
become the system. The root login is also sometimes called the super user
login. With one simple command, issued either on purpose or by accident,
you can destroy your entire Linux installation. For this reason, use the root
login only when necessary. Avoid experimenting with commands when you
do log in as root.
How big should the swap-space partition be?
Swap space is used as an extension of physical RAM, the more RAM you
have, the less swap space is required. You can add the amount of swap
space and the amount of RAM together to get the amount of RAM Linux will
use. For example, if you have 8MB of RAM on your machine’s motherboard,
and a 16MB swap-space partition, Linux will behave as though you had
24MB of total RAM.
Which field is used to define the user’s default shell?

command-The last field, called either command or login command, is used
to specify what shell the user will use when he logs in.
When you create a new partition, you need to designate its size by
defining the starting and ending?
cylinders-When creating a new partition you must first specify its starting
cylinder. You can then either specify its size or the ending cylinder.
What can you type at a command line to determine which shell you
are using?
echo $SHELL-The name and path to the shell you are using is saved to the
SHELL environment variable. You can then use the echo command to print
out the value of any variable by preceding the variable’s name with $.
Therefore, typing echo $SHELL will display the name of your shell.
In order to display the last five commands you have entered using
the fc command, you would type?
fc -5-The fc command can be used to edit or rerun commands you have
previously entered. To specify the number of commands to list, use -n.
What command should you use to check your file system?

fsck-The fsck command is used to check the integrity of the file system on
your disk.
What file defines the levels of messages written to system log files?
kernel.h-To determine the various levels of messages that are defined on
your system, examine the kernel.h file.
What account is created when you install Linux?

root-Whenever you install Linux, only one user account is created. This is
the super user account also known as root.
What daemon is responsible for tracking events on your system?
Syslogd-The syslogd daemon is responsible for tracking system information
and saving it to specified log files.
Where standard output is usually directed?

To the screen or display-By default, your shell directs standard output to
your screen or display.
What utility can you use to show a dynamic listing of running

processes?
Top-The top utility shows a listing of all running processes that is
dynamically updated

Compare Linux credit based algorithm with other scheduling

algorithms?
For the conventional time –shared processes, Linux uses a prioritized, credit-
based algorithm. Each process possesses a certain number of scheduling
credits; when a new task must be chosen to run, the process with most
credits is selected. Every time that a timer interrupt occurs, the currently
running process loses one credit; when its credits reaches zero, it is
suspended and another process is chosen. If no runnable processes have
any credits, then Linux performs a recrediting operation, adding credits to
every process in the system (rather than just to the runnable ones),
according to the following rule:
Credits = credits/2 + priority
The above scheduling class is used for time-shared process and the in Linux
for the real-time scheduling is simpler it uses scheduling classes: first come,
first served
(FCFS), and round-robin (RR) .In both cases, each process has a priority in
addition to its scheduling class. In time-sharing scheduling, however,
processes of different priorities can still compete with one another to some
extent; in real-time scheduling, the scheduler always runs the process with
the highest priority. Among processes of
equal priority, it runs the process that has been waiting longest. The only
difference between FCFS and RR scheduling is that FCFS processes continue
to run until they either exit or block, whereas a round-robin process will be
preempted after a while and will be moved to the end of the scheduling
queue, so round-robin processes of equal priority will automatically time
share among themselves.
Linux’s real-time scheduling is soft-real time rather than hard-real time. The
scheduler offers strict guarantees about the relative priorities of real-time
processes, but the kernel does not offer any guarantees about how quickly a
real-time process will be scheduled once that process becomes runnable.
Thus the Linux uses different scheduling classes for time-shared and real-
time processes.
SQL interview questions and answers

1. What are two methods of retrieving SQL?
2. What cursor type do you use to retrieve multiple recordsets?
3. What is the difference between a "where" clause and a "having" clause? - "Where"
is a kind of restiriction statement. You use where clause to restrict all the data from
DB.Where clause is using before result retrieving. But Having clause is using after
retrieving the data.Having clause is a kind of filtering command.
4. What is the basic form of a SQL statement to read data out of a table? The basic
form to read data out of table is ‘SELECT * FROM table_name; ‘ An answer: ‘SELECT
* FROM table_name WHERE xyz= ‘whatever’;’ cannot be called basic form because of
WHERE clause.
5. What structure can you implement for the database to speed up table reads? -
Follow the rules of DB tuning we have to: 1] properly use indexes ( different types of
indexes) 2] properly locate different DB objects across different tablespaces, files and so
on.3] create a special space (tablespace) to locate some of the data with special datatype (
for example CLOB, LOB and …)
6. What are the tradeoffs with having indexes? - 1. Faster selects, slower updates. 2.
Extra storage space to store indexes. Updates are slower because in addition to updating
the table you have to update the index.
7. What is a "join"? - ‘join’ used to connect two or more tables logically with or without
common field.
8. What is "normalization"? "Denormalization"? Why do you sometimes want to
denormalize? - Normalizing data means eliminating redundant information from a table
and organizing the data so that future changes to the table are easier. Denormalization
means allowing redundancy in a table. The main benefit of denormalization is improved
performance with simplified data retrieval and manipulation. This is done by reduction in
the number of joins needed for data processing.
9. What is a "constraint"? - A constraint allows you to apply simple referential integrity
checks to a table. There are four primary types of constraints that are currently supported
by SQL Server: PRIMARY/UNIQUE - enforces uniqueness of a particular table column.
DEFAULT - specifies a default value for a column in case an insert operation does not
provide one. FOREIGN KEY - validates that every value in a column exists in a column
of another table. CHECK - checks that every value stored in a column is in some
specified list. Each type of constraint performs a specific type of action. Default is not a
constraint. NOT NULL is one more constraint which does not allow values in the specific
column to be null. And also it the only constraint which is not a table level constraint.
10. What types of index data structures can you have? - An index helps to faster search
values in tables. The three most commonly used index-types are: - B-Tree: builds a tree
of possible values with a list of row IDs that have the leaf value. Needs a lot of space and
is the default index type for most databases. - Bitmap: string of bits for each possible
value of the column. Each bit string has one bit for each row. Needs only few space and
is very fast.(however, domain of value cannot be large, e.g. SEX(m,f);
degree(BS,MS,PHD) - Hash: A hashing algorithm is used to assign a set of characters to
represent a text string such as a composite of keys or partial keys, and compresses the
underlying data. Takes longer to build and is supported by relatively few databases.
11. What is a "primary key"? - A PRIMARY INDEX or PRIMARY KEY is something
which comes mainly from
database theory. From its behavior is almost the same as an UNIQUE INDEX, i.e. there
may only be one of each value in this column. If you call such an INDEX PRIMARY
instead of UNIQUE, you say something about
your table design, which I am not able to explain in few words. Primary Key is a type of
a constraint enforcing uniqueness and data integrity for each row of a table. All columns
participating in a primary key constraint must possess the NOT NULL property.
12. What is a "functional dependency"? How does it relate to database table design? -
Functional dependency relates to how one object depends upon the other in the database.
for example, procedure/function sp2 may be called by procedure sp1. Then we say that
sp1 has functional dependency on sp2.
13. What is a "trigger"? - Triggers are stored procedures created in order to enforce
integrity rules in a database. A trigger is executed every time a data-modification
operation occurs (i.e., insert, update or delete). Triggers are executed automatically on
occurance of one of the data-modification operations. A trigger is a database object
directly associated with a particular table. It fires whenever a specific statement/type of
statement is issued against that table. The types of statements are insert,update,delete and
query statements. Basically, trigger is a set of SQL statements A trigger is a solution to
the restrictions of a constraint. For instance: 1.A database column cannot carry PSEUDO
columns as criteria where a trigger can. 2. A database constraint cannot refer old and new
values for a row where a trigger can.
14. Why can a "group by" or "order by" clause be expensive to process? - Processing of
"group by" or "order by" clause often requires creation of Temporary tables to process
the results of the query. Which depending of the result set can be very expensive.
15. What is "index covering" of a query? - Index covering means that "Data can be found
only using indexes, without touching the tables"
16. What types of join algorithms can you have?
17. What is a SQL view? - An output of a query can be stored as a view. View acts like
small table which meets our criterion. View is a precomplied SQL query which is used to
select data from one or more tables. A view is like a table but it doesn’t physically take
any space. View is a good way to present data in a particular format if you use that query
quite often. View can also be used to restrict users from accessing the tables directly.
Linux command line Q&A
1. You need to see the last fifteen lines of the files dog, cat and horse. What command
should you use?
tail -15 dog cat horse
The tail utility displays the end of a file. The -15 tells tail to display the last fifteen lines
of each specified file.
2. Who owns the data dictionary?
The SYS user owns the data dictionary. The SYS and SYSTEM users are created when
the database is created.
3. You routinely compress old log files. You now need to examine a log from two
months ago. In order to view its contents without first having to decompress it, use
the _________ utility.
zcat
The zcat utility allows you to examine the contents of a compressed file much the same
way that cat displays a file.
4. You suspect that you have two commands with the same name as the command is
not producing the expected results. What command can you use to determine the
location of the command being run?
which
The which command searches your path until it finds a command that matches the
command you are looking for and displays its full path.
5. You locate a command in the /bin directory but do not know what it does. What
command can you use to determine its purpose.
whatis
The whatis command displays a summary line from the man page for the specified
command.
6. You wish to create a link to the /data directory in bob’s home directory so you issue
the command ln /data /home/bob/datalink but the command fails. What option
should you use in this command line to be successful.
Use the -F option
In order to create a link to a directory you must use the -F option.
7. When you issue the command ls -l, the first character of the resulting display
represents the file’s ___________.
type
The first character of the permission block designates the type of file that is being
displayed.
8. What utility can you use to show a dynamic listing of running processes?
__________
top
The top utility shows a listing of all running processes that is dynamically updated.
9. Where is standard output usually directed?
to the screen or display
By default, your shell directs standard output to your screen or display.
10. You wish to restore the file memo.ben which was backed up in the tarfile
MyBackup.tar. What command should you type?
tar xf MyBackup.tar memo.ben
This command uses the x switch to extract a file. Here the file memo.ben will be restored
from the tarfile MyBackup.tar.
11. You need to view the contents of the tarfile called MyBackup.tar. What command
would you use?
tar tf MyBackup.tar
The t switch tells tar to display the contents and the f modifier specifies which file to
examine.
12. You want to create a compressed backup of the users’ home directories. What
utility should you use?
tar
You can use the z modifier with tar to compress your archive at the same time as creating
it.
13. What daemon is responsible for tracking events on your system?
syslogd
The syslogd daemon is responsible for tracking system information and saving it to
specified log files.
14. You have a file called phonenos that is almost 4,000 lines long. What text filter can
you use to split it into four pieces each 1,000 lines long?
split
The split text filter will divide files into equally sized pieces. The default length of each
piece is 1,000 lines.
15. You would like to temporarily change your command line editor to be vi. What
command should you type to change it?
set -o vi
The set command is used to assign environment variables. In this case, you are
instructing your shell to assign vi as your command line editor. However, once you log
off and log back in you will return to the previously defined command line editor.
16. What account is created when you install Linux?
root
Whenever you install Linux, only one user account is created. This is the superuser
account also known as root.
17. What command should you use to check the number of files and disk space used and
each user’s defined quotas?
repquota
The repquota command is used to get a report on the status of the quotas you have set
including the amount of allocated space and amount of used space.
Linux application programming questions
1. Explain the difference between a static library and a dynamic library? - Static
library is linked into the executable, while a dynamic library (or shared object) is loaded
while the executable has started.
2. How do you create a static library? - If you have a collection of object (.o) files, you
can do it by running ar command. Generally a static library has a .a extension, and you
can link it into an executable by providing -l libraryname to gcc.
3. Where should the developed libraries be installed on the system? - GNU recommends
/usr/local/bin for binaries and /usr/local/lib for libraries.
4. What’s LD_LIBRARY_PATH? - It’s an environment variable that lists all the
directories which should be searches for libraries before the standard directories are
searched.
5. How do you create a shared library? - Create the object file with -fPIC for position-
independent code, then run gcc with -shared option.
6. How do you install a shared library? - Run ldconfig in the standard directory that it’s
installed in.
7. What does ldd do? - It shows a list of installed shared libraries.
8. How do you dynamically load a library in your app? - Use dlopen()
9. What does nm command do? - It reports the list of symbols in a given library.
Basic shell scripting questions

1. How do you find out what’s your shell? - echo $SHELL
2. What’s the command to find out today’s date? - date
3. What’s the command to find out users on the system? - who
4. How do you find out the current directory you’re in? - pwd
5. How do you remove a file? - rm
6. How do you remove a <="" b=""> - rm -rf
7. How do you find out your own username? - whoami
8. How do you send a mail message to somebody? - mail
somebody@techinterviews.com -s ‘Your subject’ -c ‘cc@techinterviews.com‘
9. How do you count words, lines and characters in a file? - wc
10. How do you search for a string inside a given file? - grep string filename
11. How do you search for a string inside a directory? - grep string *
12. How do you search for a string in a directory with the subdirectories recursed? -
grep -r string *
13. What are PIDs? - They are process IDs given to processes. A PID can vary from 0 to
65535.
14. How do you list currently running process? - ps
15. How do you stop a process? - kill pid
16. How do you find out about all running processes? - ps -ag
17. How do you stop all the processes, except the shell window? - kill 0
18. How do you fire a process in the background? - ./process-name &
19. How do you refer to the arguments passed to a shell script? - $1, $2 and so on. $0 is
your script name.
20. What’s the conditional statement in shell scripting? - if {condition} then … fi
21. How do you do number comparison in shell scripts? - -eq, -ne, -lt, -le, -gt, -ge
22. How do you test for file properties in shell scripts? - -s filename tells you if the file is
not empty, -f filename tells you whether the argument is a file, and not a directory,
-d filename tests if the argument is a directory, and not a file, -w filename tests for
writeability, -r filename tests for readability, -x filename tests for executability
23. How do you do Boolean logic operators in shell scripting? - ! tests for logical not, -a
tests for logical and, and -o tests for logical or.
24. How do you find out the number of arguments passed to the shell script? - $#
25. What’s a way to do multilevel if-else’s in shell scripting? - if {condition} then
{statement} elif {condition} {statement} fi
26. How do you write a for loop in shell? - for {variable name} in {list} do {statement}
done
27. How do you write a while loop in shell? - while {condition} do {statement} done
28. How does a case statement look in shell scripts? - case {variable} in {possible-value-
1}) {statement};; {possible-value-2}) {statement};; esac
29. How do you read keyboard input in shell scripts? - read {variable-name}
30. How do you define a function in a shell script? - function-name() { #some code here
return }
31. How does getopts command work? - The parameters to your script can be passed as
-n 15 -x 20. Inside the script, you can iterate through the getopts array as while
getopts n:x option, and the variable $option contains the value of the entered option.
Linux Interview Questions And Answers Set - 1
You need to see the last fifteen lines of the files dog, cat and horse. What command should
you use?
tail -15 dog cat horse
The tail utility displays the end of a file. The -15 tells tail to display the last fifteen lines of each
specified file.

The SYS user owns the data dictionary. The SYS and SYSTEM users are created when the
database is created.
You routinely compress old log files. You now need to examine a log from two months ago.
In order to view its contents without first having to decompress it, use the _________
utility.
zcat
The zcat utility allows you to examine the contents of a compressed file much the same way that
cat displays a file.
You suspect that you have two commands with the same name as the command is not
producing the expected results. What command can you use to determine the location of
the command being run?
which
The which command searches your path until it finds a command that matches the command you
are looking for and displays its full path.
You locate a command in the /bin directory but do not know what it does. What command
can you use to determine its purpose.
whatis
The whatis command displays a summary line from the man page for the specified command.
You wish to create a link to the /data directory in bob's home directory so you issue the
command ln /data /home/bob/datalink but the command fails. What option should you use
in this command line to be successful.
Use the -F option
In order to create a link to a directory you must use the -F option.
When you issue the command ls -l, the first character of the resulting display represents the
file's ___________.
type
The first character of the permission block designates the type of file that is being displayed.
What utility can you use to show a dynamic listing of running processes? __________
top
The top utility shows a listing of all running processes that is dynamically updated.
Where is standard output usually directed?

to the screen or display
By default, your shell directs standard output to your screen or display.
You wish to restore the file memo.ben which was backed up in the tarfile MyBackup.tar.
What command should you type?
tar xf MyBackup.tar memo.ben
This command uses the x switch to extract a file. Here the file memo.ben will be restored from
the tarfile MyBackup.tar.
You need to view the contents of the tarfile called MyBackup.tar. What command would
you use?
tar tf MyBackup.tar
The t switch tells tar to display the contents and the f modifier specifies which file to examine.
You want to create a compressed backup of the users' home directories. What utility
should you use?
tar
You can use the z modifier with tar to compress your archive at the same time as creating it.
What daemon is responsible for tracking events on your system?

syslogd
The syslogd daemon is responsible for tracking system information and saving it to specified log
files.
You have a file called phonenos that is almost 4,000 lines long. What text filter can you use
to split it into four pieces each 1,000 lines long?
split
The split text filter will divide files into equally sized pieces. The default length of each piece is
1,000 lines.
You would like to temporarily change your command line editor to be vi. What command
should you type to change it?
set -o vi
The set command is used to assign environment variables. In this case, you are instructing your
shell to assign vi as your command line editor. However, once you log off and log back in you
will return to the previously defined command line editor.
What account is created when you install Linux?

root
Whenever you install Linux, only one user account is created. This is the superuser account also
known as root.
What command should you use to check the number of files and disk space used and each
user's defined quotas?
repquota
The repquota command is used to get a report on the status of the quotas you have set including
the amount of allocated space and amount of used space.
In order to run fsck on the root partition, the root partition must be mounted as
readonly
You cannot run fsck on a partition that is mounted as read-write.
In order to improve your system's security you decide to implement shadow passwords.
What command should you use?
pwconv
The pwconv command creates the file /etc/shadow and changes all passwords to 'x' in the
/etc/passwd file.
Bob Armstrong, who has a username of boba, calls to tell you he forgot his password. What
command should you use to reset his command?
passwd boba
The passwd command is used to change your password. If you do not specify a username, your
password will be changed.
The top utility can be used to change the priority of a running process? Another utility that
can also be used to change priority is ___________?
nice
Both the top and nice utilities provide the capability to change the priority of a running process.
What command should you type to see all the files with an extension of 'mem' listed in
reverse alphabetical order in the /home/ben/memos directory.
ls -r /home/ben/memos/*.mem
The -c option used with ls results in the files being listed in chronological order. You can use
wildcards with the ls command to specify a pattern of filenames.
Basic shell scripting questions

By admin | July 22, 2007
1. How do you find out what’s your shell? - echo $SHELL

2. What’s the command to find out today’s date? - date
3. What’s the command to find out users on the system? - who
4. How do you find out the current directory you’re in? - pwd
5. How do you remove a file? - rm
6. How do you remove a <="" b=""> - rm -rf
7. How do you find out your own username? - whoami
8. How do you send a mail message to somebody? - mail
somebody@techinterviews.com -s ‘Your subject’ -c ‘cc@techinterviews.com‘
9. How do you count words, lines and characters in a file? - wc
10. How do you search for a string inside a given file? - grep string filename
11. How do you search for a string inside a directory? - grep string *
12. How do you search for a string in a directory with the subdirectories recursed? -
grep -r string *
13. What are PIDs? - They are process IDs given to processes. A PID can vary from 0 to
65535.
14. How do you list currently running process? - ps
15. How do you stop a process? - kill pid
16. How do you find out about all running processes? - ps -ag
17. How do you stop all the processes, except the shell window? - kill 0
18. How do you fire a process in the background? - ./process-name &
19. How do you refer to the arguments passed to a shell script? - $1, $2 and so on. $0 is
your script name.
20. What’s the conditional statement in shell scripting? - if {condition} then … fi
21. How do you do number comparison in shell scripts? - -eq, -ne, -lt, -le, -gt, -ge
22. How do you test for file properties in shell scripts? - -s filename tells you if the file is
not empty, -f filename tells you whether the argument is a file, and not a directory,
-d filename tests if the argument is a directory, and not a file, -w filename tests for
writeability, -r filename tests for readability, -x filename tests for executability
23. How do you do Boolean logic operators in shell scripting? - ! tests for logical not, -a
tests for logical and, and -o tests for logical or.
24. How do you find out the number of arguments passed to the shell script? - $#
25. What’s a way to do multilevel if-else’s in shell scripting? - if {condition} then
{statement} elif {condition} {statement} fi
26. How do you write a for loop in shell? - for {variable name} in {list} do {statement}
done
27. How do you write a while loop in shell? - while {condition} do {statement} done
28. How does a case statement look in shell scripts? - case {variable} in {possible-value-
1}) {statement};; {possible-value-2}) {statement};; esac
29. How do you read keyboard input in shell scripts? - read {variable-name}
30. How do you define a function in a shell script? - function-name() { #some code here
return }
31. How does getopts command work? - The parameters to your script can be passed as
-n 15 -x 20. Inside the script, you can iterate through the getopts array as while
getopts n:x option, and the variable $option contains the value of the entered option.
What file defines the levels of messages written to system log files?
kernel.h
To determine the various levels of messages that are defined on your system, examine the
kernel.h file.
What command is used to remove the password assigned to a group?

gpasswd -r
The gpasswd command is used to change the password assigned to a group. Use the -r option to
remove the password from the group.
What command would you type to use the cpio to create a backup called backup.cpio of all
the users' home directories?
find /home | cpio -o > backup.cpio
The find command is used to create a list of the files and directories contained in home. This list
is then piped to the cpio utility as a list of files to include and the output is saved to a file called
backup.cpio.
What can you type at a command line to determine which shell you are using?
echo $SHELL
The name and path to the shell you are using is saved to the SHELL environment variable. You
can then use the echo command to print out the value of any variable by preceding the variable's
name with $. Therefore, typing echo $SHELL will display the name of your shell.
What type of local file server can you use to provide the distribution installation materials
to the new machine during a network installation?
A) Inetd
B) FSSTND
C) DNS
D) NNTP
E) NFS
E - You can use an NFS server to provide the distribution installation materials to the machine
on which you are performing the installation. Answers a, b, c, and d are all valid items but none
of them are file servers. Inetd is the superdaemon which controls all intermittently used network
services. The FSSTND is the Linux File System Standard. DNS provides domain name
resolution, and NNTP is the transfer protocol for usenet news.
If you type the command cat dog & > cat what would you see on your display? Choose one:
a. Any error messages only.
b. The contents of the file dog.
c. The contents of the file dog and any error messages.
d. Nothing as all output is saved to the file cat.
When you use & > for redirection, it redirects both the standard output and standard error. The
output would be saved to the file cat.
You are covering for another system administrator and one of the users asks you to restore
a file for him. You locate the correct tarfile by checking the backup log but do not know
how the directory structure was stored. What command can you use to determine this?
Choose one:
a. tar fx tarfile dirname
b. tar tvf tarfile filename
c. tar ctf tarfile
d. tar tvf tarfile
The t switch will list the files contained in the tarfile. Using the v modifier will display the stored
directory structure.
You have the /var directory on its own partition. You have run out of space. What should
you do? Choose one:
a. Reconfigure your system to not write to the log files.
b. Use fips to enlarge the partition.
c. Delete all the log files.
d. Delete the partition and recreate it with a larger size.
The only way to enlarge a partition is to delete it and recreate it. You will then have to restore the
necessary files from backup.
You have a new application on a CD-ROM that you wish to install. What should your first
step be?
Choose one:
a. Read the installation instructions on the CD-ROM.
b. Use the mount command to mount your CD-ROM as read-write.
c. Use the umount command to access your CD-ROM.
d. Use the mount command to mount your CD-ROM as read-only.
Before you can read any of the files contained on the CD-ROM, you must first mount the CD-
ROM.
When you create a new partition, you need to designate its size by defining the starting and
ending _____________.
cylinders
When creating a new partition you must first specify its starting cylinder. You can then either
specify its size or the ending cylinder.

What key combination can you press to suspend a running job and place it in the
background?
ctrl-z
Using ctrl-z will suspend a job and put it in the background.
The easiest, most basic form of backing up a file is to _____ it to another location.
copy
The easiest most basic form of backing up a file is to make a copy of that file to another location
such as a floppy disk.
What type of server is used to remotely assign IP addresses to machines during the
installation process?
A) SMB
B) NFS
C) DHCP
D) FT
E) HTTP
C - You can use a DHCP server to assign IP addresses to individual machines during the
installation process. Answers a, b, d, and e list legitimate Linux servers, but these servers do not
provide IP addresses. The SMB, or Samba, tool is used for file and print sharing across multi-OS
networks. An NFS server is for file sharing across Linux net-works. FTP is a file storage server
that allows people to browse and retrieve information by logging in to it, and HTTP is for the
Web.
Which password package should you install to ensure that the central password file
couldn't be stolen easily?
A) PAM
B) tcp_wrappers
C) shadow
D) securepass
E) ssh
C - The shadow password package moves the central password file to a more secure location.
Answers a, b, and e all point to valid packages, but none of these places the password file in a
more secure location. Answer d points to an invalid package.
When using useradd to create a new user account, which of the following tasks is not done
automatically.
Choose one:
a. Assign a UID.
b. Assign a default shell.
c. Create the user's home directory.
d. Define the user's home directory.
The useradd command will use the system default for the user's home directory. The home
directory is not created, however, unless you use the -m option.
You want to enter a series of commands from the command-line. What would be the
quickest way to do this?
Choose One
a. Press enter after entering each command and its arguments
b. Put them in a script and execute the script
c. Separate each command with a semi-colon (;) and press enter after the last command
d. Separate each command with a / and press enter after the last command
The semi-colon may be used to tell the shell that you are entering multiple commands that should
be executed serially. If these were commands that you would frequently want to run, then a script
might be more efficient. However, to run these commands only once, enter the commands
directly at the command line.
You attempt to use shadow passwords but are unsuccessful. What characteristic of the
/etc/passwd file may cause this?
Choose one:
a. The login command is missing.
b. The username is too long.
c. The password field is blank.
d. The password field is prefaced by an asterisk.
The password field must not be blank before converting to shadow passwords.
When you install a new application, documentation on that application is also usually
installed. Where would you look for the documentation after installing an application
called MyApp?
Choose one:
a. /usr/MyApp
b. /lib/doc/MyApp
c. /usr/doc/MyApp
d. In the same directory where the application is installed.
The default location for application documentation is in a directory named for the application in
the /usr/doc directory.
What file would you edit in your home directory to change which window manager you
want to use?
A) Xinit
B) .xinitrc
C) XF86Setup
D) xstart
E) xf86init
Answer: B - The ~/.xinitrc file allows you to set which window man-ager you want to use when
logging in to X from that account.
Answers a, d, and e are all invalid files. Answer c is the main X server configuration file.
What command allows you to set a processor-intensive job to use less CPU time?
A) ps
B) nice
C) chps
D) less
E) more
Answer: B - The nice command is used to change a job's priority level, so that it runs slower or
faster. Answers a, d, and e are valid commands but are not used to change process information.
Answer c is an invalid command.
While logged on as a regular user, your boss calls up and wants you to create a new user
account immediately. How can you do this without first having to close your work, log off
and logon as root?
Choose one:
a. Issue the command rootlog.
b. Issue the command su and type exit when finished.
c. Issue the command su and type logoff when finished.
d. Issue the command logon root and type exit when finished.
Answer: b
You can use the su command to imitate any user including root. You will be prompted for the
password for the root account. Once you have provided it you are logged in as root and can do
any administrative duties.

There are seven fields in the /etc/passwd file. Which of the following lists all the fields in the
correct order?
Choose one:
a. username, UID, GID, home directory, command, comment
b. username, UID, GID, comment, home directory, command
c. UID, username, GID, home directory, comment, command
d. username, UID, group name, GID, home directory, comment
Answer: b
The seven fields required for each line in the /etc/passwd file are username, UID, GID, comment,
home directory, command. Each of these fields must be separated by a colon even if they are
empty.
Which of the following commands will show a list of the files in your home directory
including hidden files and the contents of all subdirectories?
Choose one:
a. ls -c home
b. ls -aR /home/username
c. ls -aF /home/username
d. ls -l /home/username
Answer: b
The ls command is used to display a listing of files. The -a option will cause hidden files to be
displayed as well. The -R option causes ls to recurse down the directory tree. All of this starts at
your home directory.
In order to prevent a user from logging in, you can add a(n) ________at the beginning of
the password field.
Answer: asterick
If you add an asterick at the beginning of the password field in the /etc/passwd file, that user will
not be able to log in.
You have a directory called /home/ben/memos and want to move it to /home/bob/memos so

you issue the command mv /home/ben/memos /home/bob. What is the results of this action?
Choose one:
a. The files contained in /home/ben/memos are moved to the directory
/home/bob/memos/memos.
b. The files contained in /home/ben/memos are moved to the directory /home/bob/memos.
c. The files contained in /home/ben/memos are moved to the directory /home/bob/.
d. The command fails since a directory called memos already exists in the target directory.
Answer: a
When using the mv command to move a directory, if a directory of the same name exists then a
subdirectory is created for the files to be moved.
Which of the following tasks is not necessary when creating a new user by editing the
/etc/passwd file?
Choose one:
a. Create a link from the user's home directory to the shell the user will use.
b. Create the user's home directory
c. Use the passwd command to assign a password to the account.
d. Add the user to the specified group.
Answer: a
There is no need to link the user's home directory to the shell command. Rather, the specified
shell must be present on your system.
You issue the following command useradd -m bobm But the user cannot logon. What is the
problem?
Choose one:
a. You need to assign a password to bobm's account using the passwd command.
b. You need to create bobm's home directory and set the appropriate permissions.
c. You need to edit the /etc/passwd file and assign a shell for bobm's account.
d. The username must be at least five characters long.
Answer: a
The useradd command does not assign a password to newly created accounts. You will still need
to use the passwd command to assign a password.
You wish to print the file vacations with 60 lines to a page. Which of the following
commands will accomplish this? Choose one:
a. pr -l60 vacations | lpr
b. pr -f vacations | lpr
c. pr -m vacations | lpr
d. pr -l vacations | lpr
Answer: a
The default page length when using pr is 66 lines. The -l option is used to specify a different
length.
Which file defines all users on your system?
Choose one:
a. /etc/passwd
b. /etc/users
c. /etc/password
d. /etc/user.conf
Answer: a
The /etc/passwd file contains all the information on users who may log into your system. If a
user account is not contained in this file, then the user cannot log in.
Which two commands can you use to delete directories?

A) rm
B) rm -rf
C) rmdir
D) rd
E) rd -rf
Answer(s): B, C - You can use rmdir or rm -rf to delete a directory. Answer a is incorrect,
because the rm command without any specific flags will not delete a directory, it will only delete
files. Answers d and e point to a non-existent command.
Which partitioning tool is available in all distributions?

A) Disk Druid
B) fdisk
C) Partition Magic
D) FAT32
E) System Commander
Answer(s): B - The fdisk partitioning tool is available in all Linux distributions. Answers a, c,
and e all handle partitioning, but do not come with all distributions. Disk Druid is made by Red
Hat and used in its distribution along with some derivatives. Partition Magic and System
Commander are tools made by third-party companies. Answer d is not a tool, but a file system
type. Specifically, FAT32 is the file system type used in Windows 98.
Which partitions might you create on the mail server's hard drive(s) other than the root,
swap, and boot partitions?
[Choose all correct answers]
A) /var/spool
B) /tmp
C) /proc
D) /bin
E) /home
Answer(s): A, B, E - Separating /var/spool onto its own partition helps to ensure that if
something goes wrong with the mail server or spool, the output cannot overrun the file system.
Putting /tmp on its own partition prevents either software or user items in the /tmp directory from
overrunning the file system. Placing /home off on its own is mostly useful for system re-installs
or upgrades, allowing you to not have to wipe the /home hierarchy along with other areas.
Answers c and d are not possible, as the /proc portion of the file system is virtual-held in RAM-
not placed on the hard drives, and the /bin hierarchy is necessary for basic system functionality
and, therefore, not one that you can place on a different partition.
When planning your backup strategy you need to consider how often you will perform a
backup, how much time the backup takes and what media you will use. What other factor
must you consider when planning your backup strategy? _________
what to backup
Choosing which files to backup is the first step in planning your backup strategy.
What utility can you use to automate rotation of logs?

Answer: logrotate
The logrotate command can be used to automate the rotation of various logs.
In order to display the last five commands you have entered using the history command,
you would type ___________ .
Answer: history 5
The history command displays the commands you have previously entered. By passing it an
argument of 5, only the last five commands will be displayed.
What command can you use to review boot messages?

Answer: dmesg
The dmesg command displays the system messages contained in the kernel ring buffer. By using
this command immediately after booting your computer, you will see the boot messages.
What is the minimum number of partitions you need to install Linux?

Answer: 2
Linux can be installed on two partitions, one as / which will contain all files and a swap partition.
What is the name and path of the main system log?

Answer: /var/log/messages
By default, the main system log is /var/log/messages.
Of the following technologies, which is considered a client-side script?

A) JavaScript
B) Java
C) ASP
D) C++
Answer: A - JavaScript is the only client-side script listed. Java and C++ are complete
programming languages. Active Server Pages are parsed on the server with the results being sent
to the client in HTML

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Linux Interview Questions and Answers

What’s your goal for your talk at FOSDEM?

If We Send You an Invoice, Then Will You Pay Us?

What do you see happening in educational technology in the next 2,

What are MySQL transactions?

Can ROM be used as stack?

Which processor structure is pipelined?

Differentiate between RAM and ROM?

Which transistor is used in each cell of EPROM?

What is called .Scratch pad of computer.?

What is cache memory?

Difference between static and dynamic RAM?

What is the difference between primary & secondary storage device?

Why does microprocessor contain ROM chips?

What is meant by LATCH?

What is the difference between microprocessor and microcontroller?

What is the disadvantage of microprocessor?

Is the data bus is Bi-directional?

What is 1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th generation processor?

3. Why 8085 processor is called an 8 bit processor?

Give examples for 8 / 16 / 32 bit Microprocessor?

What command would you use to create an empty file without

Which of the following commands can you use to cleanly restart a

Which command do you use to change run levels?

Which two commands can you use to delete directories ?

Who owns the data dictionary?

What is difference between AT and CRON?

What is difference between user right and user permission?

What is the real mean of DHCP?

You are debugging a new application that is crashing. You want to

Which of the following tasks cannot be accomplished with the touch

You want to copy the user’s home directories to a new location.

You read an article that lists the following command: dd if=/dev/fd0

You attempt to delete a file called sales.mem using the rm command

After copying a file to a floppy disk, what should you do before

However, when Bob attempts to open the file he is unsuccessful.

What is meant by sticky bit?

Your default umask is 002. What does this mean?

What would be the result of the command paste -s dog cat ?

What would be the result of issuing the command cat phonenos?

Which first-level segment of the file system contains a majority of

What command allows you to set a processor-intensive job to use

Which of the following commands can be used to get information

Of the following technologies, which is considered a client-side

What type of server is used to remotely assign IP addresses to

Which password package should you install to ensure that the

What happens to your ipchains settings when you reboot a machine?

Which package provides secure remote login sessions, such as

Which package can you use to regulate which network traffic is

What type of server is used to remotely assign IP addresses to

Which file do you edit to set partitions to mount at boot time?

Which first-level segment of the file system contains a majority of

Which file do you edit to set partitions to mount at boot time?

What command would you use to create an empty file without

Which command do you use to change run levels?

Who owns the data dictionary ?

What is difference between user right and user permission?

What is the real mean of DHCP?

What is difference between user right and user permission?

Describe the boot process of your favorite Linux in as much detail as

What is the minimum number of partitions you need to install Linux?

How to install 8139 realtek drivers in rhel5.0? Please help me out?

What does Security-enhanced Linux give me that standard Linux