LINUX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Crack Your Next Interview with Confidence!

Author: Umar Shahzad

1. Filesystem Basics

1.​ What is the command to create an empty file?​

● touch filename
2.​ How do you create a new directory?​
● mkdir directory_name
3.​ How do you list all files in a directory?​
● ls
4.​ How do you list all files, including hidden ones?​
● ls -a
5.​ How do you display the current working directory?​
● pwd
6.​ How do you move or rename a file?​
● mv source_file destination_file
7.​ How do you copy a file?​
● cp source_file destination_file
8.​ What command is used to delete a file?​
● rm filename
9.​ How do you delete a directory and its contents?​
● rm -r directory_name
10.​How do you display the contents of a file?​
● cat filename
11.​How do you display the first 10 lines of a file?​
● head filename
12.​How do you display the last 10 lines of a file?​
● tail filename
13.​How do you check free disk space?​
● df -h
14.​How do you display disk usage of a directory?​
● du -sh directory_name
15.​How do you search for a file by name in a directory?​
● find /path/to/directory -name filename
16.​How do you compress a file using gzip?​
● gzip filename
17.​How do you decompress a gzip file?​
● gunzip filename.gz
18.​How do you archive multiple files using tar?​
● tar -czvf archive.tar.gz files
19.​How do you extract a tar.gz archive?​
● tar -xzvf archive.tar.gz
20.​How do you mount a filesystem?​
● mount device_name mount_point
21.​How do you unmount a filesystem?​
● umount mount_point
22.​How do you create a symbolic link?​
● ln -s target_file link_name
23.​How do you view file types in a directory?​
● file filename
24.​How do you remove an empty directory?​
● rmdir directory_name
25.​How do you check for file existence?​
● test -f filename

2. File Permissions and Ownership

26.​How do you change file permissions?​

● chmod permissions filename
27.​How do you change file ownership?​
● chown user:group filename
28.​How do you view file permissions in a directory?​
● ls -l
29.​How do you recursively change permissions for a directory?​
● chmod -R permissions directory_name
30.​What does the chmod 777 command do?​
● Grants read, write, and execute permissions to everyone
31.​How do you view a file's access control list (ACL)?​
● getfacl filename
32.​How do you set a default ACL for a directory?​
● setfacl -d -m u:user:permissions directory_name
33.​How do you set permissions for a script to be executable?​
● chmod +x script.sh
34.​What is the significance of the sticky bit in Linux?​
● It restricts file deletion in shared directories like /tmp.
35.​How do you add the sticky bit to a directory?​
● chmod +t directory_name

3. Process Management

36.​How do you view running processes?​

● ps -aux
37.​How do you kill a process by PID?​
● kill PID
38.​How do you find the PID of a running process by name?​
● pgrep process_name
39.​How do you display processes in real-time?​
● top or htop
40.​How do you stop a process gracefully?​
● kill -15 PID
41.​How do you stop a process forcefully?​
● kill -9 PID
42.​How do you start a background process?​
● command &
43.​How do you bring a background job to the foreground?​
● fg %job_id
44.​How do you monitor resource usage by a process?​
● pidstat
45.​How do you view system logs for a process?​
● journalctl -u service_name
46.​How do you create a custom alias for a command?​
● alias alias_name='command'
47.​How do you remove an alias?​
● unalias alias_name
48.​How do you run a command as another user?​
● sudo -u username command
49.​How do you list all environment variables?​
● printenv or env
50.​How do you export a variable in Linux?​
● export VAR=value

4. Networking

51.​How do you find the IP address of your system?​

● ip addr or ifconfig
52.​How do you check active network connections?​
● ss -tuln or netstat -tuln
53.​How do you ping a host to check connectivity?​
● ping host
54.​How do you test port connectivity?​
● telnet hostname port
55.​How do you display routing information?​
● route
56.​How do you check open ports on your system?​
● lsof -i
57.​How do you download files from the internet?​
● wget URL
58.​How do you transfer files between systems using SCP?​
● scp source_file user@remote_host:/destination_path
59.​How do you use SSH to connect to a remote server?​
● ssh user@remote_host
60.​How do you set up a static IP address?​
● Edit the network configuration file (e.g., /etc/network/interfaces)
5. User Management

61.​How do you create a new user in Linux?​

● adduser username
62.​How do you delete a user?​
● userdel username
63.​How do you lock a user account?​
● passwd -l username
64.​How do you unlock a user account?​
● passwd -u username
65.​How do you switch to another user?​
● su - username
66.​How do you view currently logged-in users?​
● who or w
67.​How do you check user account information?​
● id username
68.​How do you list all users on the system?​
● cat /etc/passwd
69.​How do you create a group in Linux?​
● groupadd group_name
70.​How do you add a user to a group?​
● usermod -aG group_name username
71.​How do you change a user’s default shell?​
● chsh -s /bin/bash username
72.​How do you change a user’s home directory?​
● usermod -d /new/home/dir username
73.​How do you create a system user without a home directory?​
● adduser --system --no-create-home username
74.​How do you set or reset a user’s password?​
● passwd username
75.​How do you check group memberships of a user?​
● groups username

6. Package Management

76.​How do you install a package on Debian-based systems?​

● apt install package_name
77.​How do you update all packages on a Debian-based system?​
● apt update && apt upgrade
 78.​How do you remove a package on Debian-based systems?​
● apt remove package_name
79.​How do you install a package on RHEL-based systems?​
● yum install package_name or dnf install package_name
80.​How do you remove a package on RHEL-based systems?​
● yum remove package_name or dnf remove package_name
81.​How do you search for a package in Debian repositories?​
● apt search package_name
82.​How do you list all installed packages?​
● dpkg -l (Debian) or rpm -qa (RHEL)
83.​How do you check which package a file belongs to?​
● dpkg -S filename (Debian) or rpm -qf filename (RHEL)
84.​How do you clean up cached packages on Debian-based systems?​
● apt clean
85.​How do you enable or disable a repository in RHEL-based systems?​
● yum-config-manager --enable repo_name or --disable repo_name

7. System Monitoring and Performance

86.​How do you check system uptime?​

● uptime
87.​How do you display memory usage?​
● free -h
88.​How do you monitor disk I/O in real-time?​
● iostat
89.​How do you check CPU usage?​
● top or htop
90.​How do you check running services?​
● systemctl list-units --type=service
91.​How do you enable a service to start on boot?​
● systemctl enable service_name
92.​How do you check system load averages?​
● uptime or cat /proc/loadavg
93.​How do you monitor network traffic in real-time?​
● iftop or nload
94.​How do you list hardware information?​
● lshw
95.​How do you check kernel version?​
● uname -r
 96.​How do you check currently mounted filesystems?​
● mount or df -h
97.​How do you list active cron jobs?​
● crontab -l
98.​How do you check log files?​
● tail -f /var/log/syslog or journalctl
99.​How do you analyze disk usage by directories?​
● du -h --max-depth=1

10. Advanced Networking

100.​ How do you configure a network interface?​

● ip addr add IP_ADDRESS dev interface
101.​ How do you bring an interface up or down?​
● ip link set interface up or ip link set interface down
102.​ How do you test DNS resolution?​
● nslookup domain_name
103.​ How do you display ARP table entries?​
● arp -a
104.​ How do you configure a firewall using iptables?​
● iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport port -j ACCEPT
105.​ How do you save iptables rules?​
● iptables-save > /etc/iptables/rules.v4
106.​ How do you check open ports on a system?​
● ss -tuln
107.​ How do you trace the route to a host?​
● traceroute hostname
108.​ How do you monitor packet flow?​
● tcpdump
109.​ How do you edit the hosts file?​
● nano /etc/hosts

11. Scripting and Automation

110.​ How do you create a simple shell script?​

● #!/bin/bash
111.​ How do you make a script executable?​
● chmod +x script_name
112.​ How do you run a script?​
● ./script_name
 113.​ How do you use variables in a shell script?​
● variable=value and use with $variable
114.​ How do you accept input in a script?​
● read variable_name
115.​ How do you pass arguments to a script?​
● Use $1, $2, etc., for positional arguments
116.​ How do you write an if-else condition in a script?​
●​
bash if [ condition ]; then commands else commands fi
117.​ How do you write a for loop in a script?​
●​
bash for i in {1..5}; do echo $i done
118.​ How do you schedule a script using cron?​
● crontab -e and add the schedule entry
119.​ How do you debug a script?​
● bash -x script_name

12. Advanced Topics

120.​ What is SELinux?​

● Security-Enhanced Linux for access control
121.​ How do you check SELinux status?​
● sestatus
122.​ How do you change SELinux mode?​
● setenforce 0 (permissive) or setenforce 1 (enforcing)
123.​ How do you view running containers in Docker?​
● docker ps
124.​ How do you stop a running Docker container?​
● docker stop container_id
125.​ How do you create an SSH key pair?​
● ssh-keygen
126.​ How do you use rsync for file transfer?​
● rsync -avz source destination
127.​ How do you check the default gateway?​
● ip route
128.​ How do you monitor file changes in real-time?​
● inotifywait
129.​ How do you create a virtual environment in Python?​
● python3 -m venv env_name
13. Disk Management

130.​ How do you check swap usage?​

● swapon --show or free -h
131.​ How do you list disk partitions?​
● lsblk
132.​ How do you format a disk to ext4?​
● mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdX
133.​ How do you create a swap partition?​
● mkswap /dev/sdX
134.​ How do you check disk usage?​
● df -h
135.​ How do you check inodes usage?​
● df -i
136.​ How do you mount a disk?​
● mount /dev/sdX /mount_point
137.​ How do you unmount a disk?​
● umount /mount_point
138.​ How do you resize a partition?​
● Use resize2fs and fdisk
139.​ How do you check SMART status of a disk?​
● smartctl -a /dev/sdX

14. Process Management

140.​ How do you list all running processes?​

● ps aux
141.​ How do you kill a process by PID?​
● kill PID
142.​ How do you kill a process by name?​
● pkill process_name
143.​ How do you stop a process?​
● kill -STOP PID
144.​ How do you continue a stopped process?​
● kill -CONT PID
145.​ How do you view running processes in real-time?​
● top or htop
 146.​ How do you check process memory usage?​
● ps aux --sort=-%mem
147.​ How do you check process CPU usage?​
● ps aux --sort=-%cpu
148.​ How do you check process status?​
● ps -o stat= -p PID
149.​ How do you find a process by name?​
● pgrep process_name
150.​ How do you check the number of processes running?​
● ps aux | wc -l

15. System Monitoring

151.​ How do you monitor CPU usage?​

● top or htop
152.​ How do you check system load?​
● uptime
153.​ How do you monitor disk space?​
● df -h
154.​ How do you monitor memory usage?​
● free -h
155.​ How do you monitor swap usage?​
● swapon --show or free -h
156.​ How do you check network usage?​
● ifstat
157.​ How do you monitor network interfaces?​
● ip -s link
158.​ How do you monitor real-time log files?​
● tail -f /var/log/syslog
159.​ How do you check system uptime?​
● uptime
160.​ How do you check system resource utilization?​
● vmstat

16. Cloud and Automation Tools

161.​ How do you install AWS CLI?​

● pip install awscli
 162.​ How do you configure AWS CLI?​
● aws configure
163.​ How do you create an S3 bucket using CLI?​
● aws s3 mb s3://bucket_name
164.​ How do you list running EC2 instances?​
● aws ec2 describe-instances
165.​ How do you create an EC2 instance?​
● aws ec2 run-instances --image-id ami_id --count 1
--instance-type t2.micro
166.​ How do you deploy an application using Ansible?​
● Write a playbook and run ansible-playbook playbook.yml
167.​ How do you configure Ansible inventory?​
● Edit /etc/ansible/hosts
168.​ How do you use Terraform to create infrastructure?​
● Write a .tf file and run terraform apply
169.​ How do you start a Kubernetes cluster?​
● Use kubeadm init
170.​ How do you install Docker on a system?​
● Use apt-get install docker.io or yum install docker

17. Advanced File Handling

171.​ How do you copy a directory recursively?​

● cp -r source_directory destination_directory
172.​ How do you move or rename a file?​
● mv old_name new_name
173.​ How do you remove a file?​
● rm filename
174.​ How do you remove a directory recursively?​
● rm -r directory_name
175.​ How do you find files by name?​
● find / -name "filename"
176.​ How do you search for text within files?​
● grep "text" file_name
177.​ How do you replace text in files?​
● sed -i 's/old_text/new_text/g' file_name
178.​ How do you concatenate two files?​
● cat file1 file2 > new_file
179.​ How do you compress a file?​
● tar -czf file_name.tar.gz directory_name
 180.​ How do you decompress a file?​
● tar -xzf file_name.tar.gz

18. Backup and Recovery

181.​ How do you create a backup of a directory?​

● tar -cvf backup_name.tar.gz directory_name
182.​ How do you restore a backup?​
● tar -xvf backup_name.tar.gz
183.​ How do you use rsync for incremental backups? ​
● rsync -avz source destination
184.​ How do you schedule backups with cron?​
● crontab -e and add a backup command
185.​ How do you check backup logs?​
● cat /var/log/backup.log
186.​ How do you create a full system backup with dd?​
● dd if=/dev/sda of=backup.img
187.​ How do you restore a system from dd backup?​
● dd if=backup.img of=/dev/sda
188.​ How do you create an incremental backup with rsnapshot?​
● Configure /etc/rsnapshot.conf and run rsnapshot daily
189.​ How do you mount a backup disk?​
● mount /dev/sdX /mount_point
190.​ How do you unmount a backup disk?​
● umount /mount_point

19. Security and Permissions

191.​ How do you change file permissions in Linux?​

● chmod permissions file_name
192.​ How do you change file ownership in Linux?​
● chown user:group file_name
193.​ How do you create a new user in Linux?​
● useradd username
194.​ How do you set a password for a user?​
● passwd username
195.​ How do you delete a user in Linux?​
● userdel username
 196.​ How do you add a user to a group?​
● usermod -aG group_name username
197.​ How do you list groups in Linux?​
● cat /etc/group
198.​ How do you secure SSH access?​
● Disable root login by setting PermitRootLogin no in
/etc/ssh/sshd_config
199.​ How do you configure SSH key-based authentication?​
● Copy the public key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the remote machine
200.​ How do you view system logs in Linux?​
● journalctl or cat /var/log/syslog

Tips for Cracking the Interview

●​ Be practical: Demonstrate how to solve real-world issues.

●​ Explain clearly: Don’t just list commands; explain the reasoning behind them.
●​ Share scenarios: Mention situations where you applied these skills, like
troubleshooting, securing systems, or optimizing performance.

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