Top 30 Linux System Admin Interview Questions & Answers

by Pradeep Kumar · Published April 5, 2014 · Updated August 4, 2017

In this article we will discuss top 30 linux system admin interview questions with the answers for experience professionals. Below mentioned

questions may help the readers to clear Linux interviews. If you like these questions , please don’t hesitate to share on Facebook, google+ and

Twitter.

Q:1 Why LVM is required ?

Ans: LVM stands for Logical Volume Manager , to resize filesystem’s size online we required LVM partition in Linux. Size of LVM partition

can be extended and reduced using the lvextend & lvreduce commands respectively.

Q:2 How To check Memory stats and CPU stats ?

Ans: Using ‘free’ & ‘vmstat’ command we can display the physical and virtual memory statistics respectively.With the help of ‘sar’ command

we see the CPU utilization & other stats.

Q:3 What does Sar provides and at which location Sar logs are stored ?

Ans: Sar Collect, report, or save system activity information. The default version of the sar command (CPU utilization report) might be one of the

first facilities the user runs to begin system activity investigation, because it monitors major system resources. If CPU utilization is near 100

percent (user + nice + system), the workload sampled is CPU-bound.

By default log files of Sar command is located at /var/log/sa/sadd file, where the dd parameter indicates the current day.

Q:4 How to increase the size of LVM partition ?

Ans: Below are the Logical Steps :

– Use the lvextend command (lvextend -L +100M /dev/<Name of the LVM Partition> , in this example we are extending the size by 100MB.

– resize2fs /dev/<Name of the LVM Partition>

– check the size of partition using ‘df -h’ command

Q:5 How to reduce or shrink the size of LVM partition ?

Ans: Below are the logical Steps to reduce size of LVM partition :

-Umount the filesystem using umount command,

-use resize2fs command , e.g resiz2fs /dev/mapper/myvg-mylv 10G

-Now use the lvreduce command , e.g lvreduce -L 10G /dev/mapper/myvg-mylv

Above Command will shrink the size & will make the filesystem size 10GB.

Q:6 How to create partition from the raw disk ?

Ans: Using fdisk utility we can create partitions from the raw disk.Below are the steps to create partition from the raw dsik :

– fdisk /dev/hd* (IDE) or /dev/sd* (SCSI)

– Type n to create a new partition

– After creating partition , type w command to write the changes to the partition table.

Q:7 Where the kernel modules are located ?

Ans: The ‘/lib/modules/kernel-version/’ directory stores all kernel modules or compiled drivers in Linux operating system. Also with ‘lsmod’

command we can see all the installed kernel modules.

Q:8 What is umask ?

Ans: umask stands for ‘User file creation mask’, which determines the settings of a mask that controls which file permissions are set for files and

directories when they are created.

Q:9 How to set the umask permanently for a user?

Ans: To set this value permanently for a user, it has to be put in the appropriate profile file which depends on the default shell of the user.

Q:10 How to change the default run level in linux ?

Ans: To change the run level we have to edit the file “/etc/inittab” and change initdefault entry ( id:5:initdefault:). Using ‘init’ command we

change the run level temporary like ‘init 3’ , this command will move the system in runlevl 3.

Q:11 How to share a directory using nfs ?

Ans: To share a directory using nfs , first edit the configuration file ‘/etc/exportfs’ , add a entry like

‘/<directory-name> <ip or Network>(Options)’ and then restart the nfs service.

Q:12 How to check and mount nfs share ?

Ans: Using ‘showmount’ command we can see what directories are shared via nfs e.g ‘showmount -e <ip address of nfs server>’.Using mount

command we can mount the nfs share on linux machine.

Q:13 What are the default ports used for SMTP,DNS,FTP,DHCP,SSH and squid ?

Ans: Service Port

SMTP 25

DNS 53

FTP 20 (data transfer) , 21 ( Connection established)

DHCP 67/UDP(dhcp server) , 68/UDP(dhcp client)

SSH 22

Squid 3128

Q:14 What is Network Bonding ?

Ans: Network bonding is the aggregation of multiple Lan cards into a single bonded interface to provide fault tolerance and high performance.

Network bonding is also known as NIC Teaming.

Q:15 What are the different modes of Network bonding in Linux ?

Ans: Below are list of modes used in Network Bonding :

balance-rr or 0 – round-robin mode for fault tolerance and load balancing.

active-backup or 1 – Sets active-backup mode for fault tolerance.

balance-xor or 2 – Sets an XOR (exclusive-or) mode for fault tolerance and load balancing.

broadcast or 3 – Sets a broadcast mode for fault tolerance. All transmissions are sent on all slave interfaces.

802.3ad or 4 – Sets an IEEE 802.3ad dynamic link aggregation mode. Creates aggregation groups that share the same speed & duplex settings.

balance-tlb or 5 – Sets a Transmit Load Balancing (TLB) mode for fault tolerance & load balancing.

balance-alb or 6 – Sets an Active Load Balancing (ALB) mode for fault tolerance & load balancing.

Q:16 How to check and verify the status the bond interface.

Ans: Using the command ‘cat /proc/net/bonding/bond0’ , we can check which mode is enabled and what lan cards are used in this bond. In this

example we have one only one bond interface but we can have multiple bond interface like bond1,bond2 and so on.

Q:17 How to check default route and routing table ?

Ans: Using the Commands ‘netstat -nr’ and ‘route -n’ we can see the default route and routing tables.

Q:18 How to check which ports are listening in my Linux Server ?

Ans: Use the Command ‘netstat –listen’ and ‘lsof -i’

Q:19 List the services that are enabled at a particular run level in linux server ?

Ans: With the help of command ‘chkconfig –list | grep 5:on’ we can list all the service that are enabled in run level5. For other run levels just

replace 5 with the respective run level.

Q:20 How to enable a service at a particular run level ?

Ans: We can enable a service using the Command ‘chkconfig <Service-Name> on –level 3’

Q:21 How to upgrade Kernel in Linux ?

Ans: We should never upgrade Linux Kernel , always install the new New kernel using rpm command because upgrading a kenel can make your

linux box in a unbootable state.

Q:22 How To scan newly asssigned luns on linux box without rebooting ?

Ans: There are two ways to scan newly assigned luns :

Method:1 if sg3 rpm is installed , then run the command ‘rescan-scsi-bus.sh’

Method:2 Run the Command , echo ” – – – ” > /sys/class/scsi_host/hostX/scan

Q:23 How to find WWN numbers of HBA cards in Linux Server ?

Ans: We can find the WWN numbers of HBA cards using the command ‘systool -c fc_host -v | grep port_name’

Q:24 How to add & change the Kernel parameters ?

Ans: To Set the kernel parameters in linux , first edit the file ‘/etc/sysctl.conf’ after making the changes save the file and run the command ‘sysctl

-p’ , this command will make the changes permanently without rebooting the machine.

Q:25 What is Puppet Server ?

Ans: Puppet is an open-source & enterprise software for configuration management toll in UNIX like operating system. Puppet is a IT

automation software used to push configuration to its clients (puppet agents) using code. Puppet code can do a variety of tasks from installing

new software, to check file permissions, or updating user accounts & lots of other tasks.

Q:26 What are manifests in Puppet ?

Ans: Manifests in Puppet are the files in which the client configuration is specified.

Q:27 Which Command is used to sign requested certificates in Puppet Server ?

Ans: ‘puppetca –sign hostname-of-agent’ in (2.X) & ‘puppet ca sign hostname-of-agent’ in (3.X)

Q:28 At which location Puppet Master Stores Certificates ?

Ans: /var/lib/puppet/ssl/ca/signed

Q:29 How to find all the regular files in a directory ?

Ans: using the command ‘find /<directory -type f’.

Q:30 What is load average in Linux ?

Ans: Load Average is defined as the average sum of the number of process waiting in the run queue and number of process currently executing

over the period of 1,5 and 15 minutes. Using the ‘top’ and ‘uptime’ command we find the load average of a Linux sever.

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38 RESPONSES

 Comments38
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1. manish meshram
May 13, 2014 at 4:50 pm
I like your Linux interview questions you put some more question on this site
Reply

o admin
May 18, 2014 at 6:23 am
Thanks Manish , In Coming Future we will posting lot of interview questions on different
categories.
Reply

2. praveen
November 22, 2014 at 6:55 pm
hi admin i will be much happy if you post some of real time roles and responsiblity of linux
admin for freshers:-)
in fact there is not doubt in your articles they are really helpful
Reply

3. Hemant Singh
December 27, 2014 at 3:01 pm
Thanks for providing such type of collective tutorials
Reply

4. LinuxPune Online Linux Training and placement

December 28, 2014 at 1:42 pm
Great !! Thanks admin for sharing the details
 Reply

5. lokesh karri
January 26, 2015 at 5:36 pm
Great..! If possible please post real time scenario based questions….,
Reply

6. P.V.Satheesh
February 3, 2015 at 12:17 pm
Well Explained !!!
Reply

7. Raghavendra
March 7, 2015 at 9:52 am
Very Good and unique questions as like Real time…. Great Job!! keep doing
— Raghavendra Gujjar
Reply

8. anno
March 24, 2015 at 1:48 pm
Very good Linux Admin question.
Really very good knowledge sharing.
Reply

9. sreenu
March 29, 2015 at 3:53 am
these question are very good but please add some more question
Reply

10. stephane
April 28, 2015 at 12:15 pm
tanks very much for the linux questions.
Reply

11. noor ahmed

May 15, 2015 at 2:39 pm
hi admin its really good to study this article please keep moving live this ..
& please post real time scenario .. i have few questions to ask
1.if we what to mount a directory permanently in # /etc/fstab at last what it means “defaults 0 0”
 2. if i want to kill 20 or 30 process id [PID] at a time? what would be the cmd ? is that possible to
like that
3. i have created a user ‘hare’ and i have added to vi /etc/sudoers for giving root privileges, now
can i able to acess /root home directory?? i want to read /root/projetc file? and i have added the
file to a group “hello” & added a “hare”user to that group
Reply

12. Pradeep Kumar

May 18, 2015 at 2:52 am
Hi Ahmed ,
Please find the answer of your queries below :
1. Meaning of ‘defaults’ the fstab file : it will mount the file system with default mounting option
like rw, suid, dev, exec, auto, nouser & async. First zero (0) after defaults is dump frequency ,if
it is set to zero then the file system wouldn’t be dumped.
Second Zero (0) after defaults shows fsck frequency , if it is set to 0 , then fsck will not check the
file system for errors after corruption or improper shutdown.
2. To kill a process of pid 20 or 30 , use the kill command like : # kill -9 20 ; kill -9 30
3. To give root privileges to a user via sudoers , you need to add the user to group like sudo or
wheel. After that user have to use sudo in front of every command to perform all the
administrative task.
Reply

13. surya
June 4, 2015 at 12:32 pm
hi sir.. very useful interview questions.. no site is providing topic-wise interview questions .. so if
u can provide them topic wise it will be very helpful for all.
Reply

14. shailendra
June 19, 2015 at 3:27 pm
I like your Linux interview questions..
i have que.. if any one can help on this .
1. i have schedule 1000 jobs at same time with cron, need to know if all will run at same time or
they run one by one ..
thanks you
Reply

o Mohi Gupta
September 29, 2015 at 6:35 am
They all will be executed at the same time.
 Reply

15. Anil
July 29, 2015 at 5:09 am
good job …. really useful information
Reply

16. Solomon
August 4, 2015 at 5:49 pm
Good stuff,
Q11>>>Little error: the configuration file for NFS; /etc/exports not /etc/exportfs. the command
to populate it is: exportfs
Q19>>>chkconfig –list not chkconfig -list

Overall: well presented. Keep sharing

Reply

o Karn
August 10, 2015 at 4:48 pm
@Noor ahmed : there is no such single command to Kill 20-30 PID’s . You can either manually
kill them or setup a small script..as below..
lets suppose you have PID’s to Kill with you:
$ for i in `cat`;do kill $i;done
12
13
101
99
….etc…
Ctrl+d
or if you want to kill all the process related to a particular service , like have an example of ssh
service..you can do as below…
$ pgrep sshd | while read p;do kill $p;done (it will kill all the process related to sshd in one go)
Reply

17. nagaraju marella

August 13, 2015 at 2:26 pm
good questions and answers admin but we need more Real time questions.
Reply
18. sandeep
September 29, 2015 at 5:48 pm
hai friends this is very useful interview qu