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Linux Scenario

The document provides 20 scenario-based Linux interview questions and answers covering various topics such as user management, file permissions, process management, and troubleshooting techniques. Each scenario outlines a problem and offers step-by-step solutions to address the issues effectively. The content is aimed at helping candidates prepare for technical interviews related to Linux system administration.

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raheelfareed007
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28 views7 pages

Linux Scenario

The document provides 20 scenario-based Linux interview questions and answers covering various topics such as user management, file permissions, process management, and troubleshooting techniques. Each scenario outlines a problem and offers step-by-step solutions to address the issues effectively. The content is aimed at helping candidates prepare for technical interviews related to Linux system administration.

Uploaded by

raheelfareed007
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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20 Scenario-Based Linux Interview

Questions & Answers


1. User Management: A user complains they cannot log in. How will you troubleshoot?

1. Check if the user exists:

cat /etc/passwd | grep username

2. Verify the account is not locked:

sudo passwd -S username

3. Check failed login attempts:

sudo faillog -u username

4. Ensure correct permissions for the home directory:

ls -ld /home/username

2. File Permissions: A script is executable by one user but not another. How do you resolve this?

1. Check the script permissions:

ls -l script.sh

2. Add execute permission if missing:

chmod +x script.sh

3. Check file ownership:

chown user:user script.sh

3. Process Management: A service is consuming 100% CPU. How will you find and fix it?

1. Identify the process:

top or htop

2. Get detailed information:

ps aux --sort=-%cpu

3. Kill or restart the process:

kill -9 PID or systemctl restart service

4. SSH Issues: You cannot SSH into a remote machine. How do you debug?

1. Verify SSH service is running:

sudo systemctl status sshd


2. Check firewall rules:

sudo iptables -L

3. Ensure correct permissions for ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

4. Look for errors in logs:

sudo journalctl -u sshd --since '5 minutes ago'

5. Disk Space Full: / partition is full. How do you find and delete large files safely?

1. Find large files:

sudo du -ah / | sort -rh | head -20

2. Delete safely:

sudo rm -rf /path/to/large/file

3. Check open deleted files:

sudo lsof | grep deleted

6. File Corruption: A log file is showing junk characters. How will you check and recover it?

1. Check encoding:

file log.txt

2. View non-printable characters:

cat -v log.txt

3. Try opening with vi or nano:

vi log.txt

7. Crontab Not Running: A scheduled job is not executing. How do you debug?

1. Verify crontab entries:

crontab -l

2. Check logs:

sudo journalctl -u cron --since '5 minutes ago'

3. Ensure correct permissions:

chmod +x script.sh
8. Package Installation Failing: yum or apt is failing. How will you resolve it?

1. Clean package manager cache:

sudo apt clean or sudo yum clean all

2. Check network connection:

ping google.com

3. Update package lists:

sudo apt update or sudo yum update

9. How do you extend a partition without unmounting it?

1. Identify the partition:

lsblk

2. Resize the filesystem (ext4 example):

sudo resize2fs /dev/sdX

3. If using LVM:

sudo lvextend -r -L +10G /dev/mapper/vg-lv

10. What steps are needed to add a new disk to a Linux server?

1. Identify the new disk:

lsblk

2. Create a partition:

sudo fdisk /dev/sdX

3. Format it:

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdX1

4. Mount it:

sudo mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt

11. How to check which processes are writing to a file in real time?

sudo lsof +f -- /path/to/file


12. How to recover a deleted file in Linux?

1. If the file is still open by a process:

lsof | grep deleted

2. Recover using extundelete (if on ext4):

sudo extundelete /dev/sdX --restore-all

13. How to check disk I/O performance in Linux?

1. Check disk activity:

iostat -x 1

2. Monitor real-time disk usage:

iotop

14. A directory is taking too much space. How do you analyze it?

du -sh /path/to/directory/*

15. How do you remount a filesystem in read-write mode without rebooting?

sudo mount -o remount,rw /mnt

16. What happens when a file is deleted but is still in use by a process?

The space is not freed until the process releases it.

Identify the process and restart it:

lsof | grep deleted

17. How do you create and mount a swap file?

1. Create a swap file:

sudo fallocate -l 2G /swapfile

2. Secure permissions:

sudo chmod 600 /swapfile

3. Set up swap:
sudo mkswap /swapfile

4. Enable swap:

sudo swapon /swapfile

5. Make it permanent:

echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

18. How do you find large unused files across multiple partitions?

sudo find / -type f -size +1G -atime +30 -exec ls -lh {} +

19. How do you fix a corrupted file system using fsck?

1. Unmount the filesystem:

sudo umount /dev/sdX

2. Run fsck:

sudo fsck -y /dev/sdX

20. What is inode exhaustion, and how do you resolve it?

1. Check inode usage:

df -i

2. If inodes are full, delete small unused files.

21. You need to copy a huge file across servers. What's the fastest way?

1. Use rsync:

rsync -avz --progress file user@remote:/destination

2. Or scp with compression:

scp -C file user@remote:/destination

22. Your df -h and du -sh show different disk usage. Why?

Likely due to deleted files still held by a process.

Check with:
lsof | grep deleted

23. How do you find out which directory is consuming the most in /var?

du -sh /var/* | sort -rh | head -10

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