Self Test

The following questions will help you measure your understanding of the material presented in this chapter. As no multiple choice questions appear on the Red Hat exams, no multiple choice questions appear in this book. These questions exclusively test your understanding of the chapter. While the topics in this chapter are "prerequisites," it is okay if you have another way of performing a task. Getting results, not memorizing trivia, is what counts on the Red Hat exams. There may be more than one answer to many of these questions.

The BIOS Initialization Sequence

1. 

If you want to boot from the CD/DVD drive, what two ways might you work with the BIOS?

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Answers

1. 

There are two basic ways to boot directly from a CD/DVD. First, you can change the boot order within the BIOS menu. Second, in many cases, you can access a boot order menu directly with a key command such as pressing ESC or DEL, which may be shown onscreen as the computer starts up. Not all computers have a boot order menu, but if the one you're using on the Red Hat exam has such a menu, using it can save you a bit of time.

The GRUB Boot Loader

2.	When you see the GRUB configuration menu, what command would you use to modify the kernel arguments? Assume a regular (non-Xen) kernel and that GRUB is not password protected. ______________________________
3.	If you've run the proper commands at the grub> command line, what command would you use to start booting Linux? ______________________________

Answers

2.	By default, you need to press any key within 5 seconds before the default operating system is booted. When you do, you'll see the GRUB configuration menu. Press a to see the kernel command line; you can then modify the line adding commands. As described in this chapter, you can use this line to supersede the default runlevel.
3.	The proper commands at the grub> command line specify the /boot directory, the kernel, the partition with the top-level root directory, and the initial RAM disk. Once executed, you can start Linux with the boot command.

Kernel Initialization and the First Process

4.	What file contains the kernel initialization messages? ___________________
5.	What one-word command can you use to read the kernel initialization messages? ____________________________

Answers

4.	The file with the kernel initialization messages is /var/log/dmesg.
5.	The one-word command that you can use to read the kernel initialization messages is dmesg.

The First Process and /etc/inittab

6.	What configuration file is associated with the First Process? ____________________________
7.	What is normally the default runlevel for RHEL 5? ____________________________

Answers

6.	The configuration file associated with the First Process is /etc/inittab.
7.	The default runlevel for RHEL 5 is 5.

Runlevels

8.	If you can't boot into the GUI, what runlevel should you try first from the GRUB menu? ___________
9.	What alternatives are available from the GRUB menu to runlevel 1 if you want to boot directly into the root account? ________________

Answers

8.	If you can't boot into the GUI, the first runlevel you should run from the GRUB menu is 3, which is the standard command line runlevel with all standard services except the GUI.
9.	The alternatives to runlevel 1 from the GRUB menu are s for single-user mode and emergency for a boot without any mounted directories or services.

Controlling Services

10.	The FTP server is vsFTPd. If you want to make sure it starts the next time you boot into a standard runlevel, what command should you run? ___________________________________________
11.	What command would you use to open the console-based Service Configuration tool in runlevels 3 and 5? ___________________________________________

Answers

10.	If you want to make sure the vsftpd service starts the next time you boot into a standard runlevel, run the chkconfig vsftpd on command. The chkconfig --level 35 vsftpd on command also works.
11.	If you want to open the console-based service configuration tool in runlevels 3 and 5, run the ntsysv --level 35 command.

System Configuration Files

12. 

What directory contains most Red Hat system configuration files?

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Answers

12. 

The directory that contains most Red Hat system configuration files is /etc/sysconfig.