100+ Free LPIC-2 201-450 Practice Questions

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Question 1

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An administrator notices a server is paging heavily during peak hours. Which sar option shows the historical paging activity?

sar -B

sar -W

sar -r

sar -P

to track

2026 Statistics

Key Facts: LPIC-2 201-450 Exam

Exam Questions

LPI

500/800

Passing Score (scaled)

LPI

90 min

Exam Duration

LPI

$200

Exam Fee (USD)

LPI Marketplace

LPIC-1

Prerequisite

Required for LPIC-2 award

5 years

Validity

Recertification required

LPIC-2 Exam 201-450 has 60 questions in 90 minutes with a 500-of-800 scaled passing score. Active LPIC-1 is required. Topic weights: Capacity Planning (8), Linux Kernel (9), System Startup (9), Filesystem and Devices (9), Advanced Storage Device Administration (8), Networking Configuration (11), and System Maintenance (6). Scenario-style items dominate: forecasting resource bottlenecks with sar/vmstat/iostat, building a custom kernel with make menuconfig, repairing GRUB2 from rescue media, configuring mdadm RAID-5, growing an LVM logical volume, troubleshooting routing with ip/ss/tcpdump. Exam fee $200 USD. Combined with 202-450 to earn LPIC-2, valid 5 years.

Sample LPIC-2 201-450 Practice Questions

Try these sample questions to test your LPIC-2 201-450 exam readiness. Each question includes a detailed explanation. Start the interactive quiz above for the full 100+ question experience with AI tutoring.

1An administrator notices a server is paging heavily during peak hours. Which sar option shows the historical paging activity?

A.sar -B

B.sar -W

C.sar -r

D.sar -P

Explanation: sar -B reports paging statistics (pgpgin/s, pgpgout/s, fault/s, majflt/s, pgfree/s, pgscank/s, pgscand/s, pgsteal/s, %vmeff). sar -W reports swapping (pswpin/s, pswpout/s). sar -r reports memory utilization. sar -P reports per-CPU stats. sar reads /var/log/sa/saDD files written by sysstat.

2A web server is showing high CPU iowait. Which iostat option displays per-device disk utilization including %util and await?

A.iostat -x

B.iostat -k

C.iostat -m

D.iostat -d 1

Explanation: iostat -x shows extended statistics: r/s, w/s, rkB/s, wkB/s, avgrq-sz, avgqu-sz, await, svctm, %util — the full picture for diagnosing storage bottlenecks. -k and -m change units (KB/MB). -d 1 reports per-device every 1 second but without extended fields.

3Which vmstat column shows the number of processes blocked waiting for I/O?

A.b

B.r

C.wa

D.id

Explanation: vmstat column 'b' is the count of processes in uninterruptible sleep (blocked waiting for I/O). 'r' is the run queue length (CPU-runnable). 'wa' under cpu% is the percentage of CPU time spent waiting on I/O. 'id' is the idle CPU percent.

4Which top keystroke sorts the process list by memory usage (RSS) in descending order?

A.M (Shift+m)

B.P (Shift+p)

C.T (Shift+t)

D.N (Shift+n)

Explanation: In top, capital M sorts by %MEM. P sorts by %CPU (also the default). T sorts by accumulated CPU time. N sorts by PID. Press 'h' for help. Use 'V' to toggle forest (process tree) view.

5An admin wants to record system performance data on a continuing schedule. Which package provides sar, iostat, and the cron-driven sa1/sa2 collection?

A.sysstat

B.procps

C.psmisc

D.util-linux

Explanation: The sysstat package provides sar, iostat, mpstat, pidstat, sadf, plus the sa1 and sa2 cron helpers. /etc/cron.d/sysstat and the /etc/sysconfig/sysstat (RHEL) or /etc/default/sysstat (Debian) control collection frequency. procps gives ps/top/free; psmisc gives killall/pstree.

6Which mpstat option shows per-CPU utilization breaking down user, system, iowait, and idle?

A.mpstat -P ALL

B.mpstat -A

C.Both A and B (different focuses)

D.mpstat -V

Explanation: mpstat -P ALL prints stats for every CPU. mpstat -A includes interrupt counts as well. -P ALL 1 5 prints per-CPU stats every second, 5 times. -V prints version. Useful for spotting one hot CPU among many idle cores.

7Which command shows the current Linux kernel version and release of the running system?

A.uname -r

B.uname -a

C.Both A and B include the release

D.kernel-version

Explanation: uname -r prints just the kernel release (e.g., '5.15.0-89-generic'). uname -a prints kernel, hostname, release, version, machine, OS. /proc/version contains the same info plus the gcc version used to build it. 'kernel-version' is not a real command.

8An administrator wants to compile a custom kernel from /usr/src/linux. After running 'make menuconfig' to configure, which command builds the kernel image and modules?

A.make all (or just 'make')

B.make bzImage

C.make modules

D.make all is shorthand for bzImage + modules

Explanation: 'make all' (the default target) compiles the kernel image AND all modules. 'make bzImage' builds only the bootable image, 'make modules' builds only loadable modules. 'make modules_install' (as root) installs to /lib/modules/<ver>/. 'make install' copies vmlinuz and runs depmod.

9Which file holds the kernel configuration used to build the running kernel?

A./proc/config.gz (if CONFIG_IKCONFIG is set)

B./boot/config-$(uname -r)

C.Both A and B can hold the config

D./etc/kernel.conf

Explanation: /proc/config.gz is the live config built into the kernel (only present if compiled with CONFIG_IKCONFIG and CONFIG_IKCONFIG_PROC). /boot/config-<version> is shipped by most distributions when installing kernel packages. Both contain identical content. /etc/kernel.conf is not standard.

10Which command displays detailed information about a single kernel module, including its parameters?

A.modinfo <module>

B.modprobe -i <module>

C.lsmod | grep <module>

D.modlist <module>

Explanation: modinfo shows the .modinfo section: filename, license, description, author, depends, alias, parameters with descriptions and types. lsmod just lists loaded modules and ref counts. modprobe -i is not the right flag. modlist is not real.

About the LPIC-2 201-450 Exam

Exam 201-450 is the first of two exams for the LPIC-2 Linux Engineer certification. Requires active LPIC-1. It validates advanced administration skills: capacity planning, kernel components and compilation, system startup with systemd/SysV/GRUB2, filesystem and device management, RAID/LVM/iSCSI storage, advanced networking, and system maintenance.

Questions

60 scored questions

Time Limit

90 minutes

Passing Score

500 / 800 (scaled)

Exam Fee

$200 (Linux Professional Institute (Pearson VUE / OnVUE online proctored))

LPIC-2 201-450 Exam Content Outline

18%

Networking Configuration (Topic 205)

Weight 11/60 — largest topic. Basic networking configuration (ip, ifconfig, route, arp, /etc/network/interfaces, /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts, NetworkManager, nmcli); advanced network configuration (routing tables, policy routing with ip rule, bonding, bridging, VLANs with vconfig/ip link, network namespaces); troubleshooting network issues (ip, ss, netstat, lsof, ping/ping6, nc, tcpdump, nmap, mtr, traceroute, /var/log).

15%

Linux Kernel (Topic 201)

Weight 9/60. Kernel components (uname -r, /boot/vmlinuz-*, /boot/initrd-*, /lib/modules, /proc/version, mainline vs longterm); compiling a Linux kernel (make menuconfig/oldconfig/defconfig, .config, make all, make modules_install, make install, dkms); kernel runtime management and troubleshooting (lsmod, modinfo, modprobe, insmod, rmmod, depmod, /etc/modprobe.d/*.conf, /etc/modules-load.d/, dmesg, /proc/sys, sysctl, /etc/sysctl.conf, /etc/sysctl.d/, udev — udevadm).

15%

System Startup (Topic 202)

Weight 9/60. Customising the SysVinit system startup (/etc/inittab, /etc/init.d, runlevels 0-6, telinit, chkconfig, update-rc.d); System recovery (recovery shell, init=/bin/bash, single user mode, systemctl rescue/emergency, fsck, GRUB rescue, chroot from live media); alternate bootloaders (GRUB Legacy, GRUB 2 — /etc/default/grub, /boot/grub/grub.cfg, grub-mkconfig, grub-install, awareness of SYSLINUX, ISOLINUX, PXELINUX, U-Boot).

15%

Filesystem and Devices (Topic 203)

Weight 9/60. Operating the Linux filesystem (mount, umount, /etc/fstab, /etc/mtab, /proc/mounts, sync, swapon, swapoff, mkswap); maintaining a Linux filesystem (fsck — e2fsck, xfs_repair, btrfs check; tune2fs, dumpe2fs, debugfs, mkfs.ext2/3/4, mkfs.xfs, mkfs.btrfs, xfs_info); creating and configuring filesystem options (autofs, /etc/auto.master, /etc/auto.misc, encrypted filesystems via cryptsetup/LUKS, /etc/crypttab).

13%

Capacity Planning (Topic 200)

Weight 8/60. Measure and troubleshoot resource usage (top, htop, iotop, atop, vmstat, free, uptime, sar, iostat, ps, pstree, w, lsof, mpstat); predict future resource needs (collectd, /var/log/sa/, capacity trends, RRDtool basics, Nagios/Munin/Cacti awareness, monitoring methodology).

13%

Advanced Storage Device Administration (Topic 204)

Weight 8/60. Configuring RAID (mdadm — --create, --assemble, --detail, --fail, --remove, --add; /proc/mdstat, /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf, RAID levels 0/1/5/6/10); adjusting storage device access (hdparm, sdparm, fdisk, parted, gdisk, iSCSI initiator — iscsiadm, /etc/iscsi/, multipath); Logical Volume Manager (pvcreate, pvdisplay, vgcreate, vgextend, vgreduce, lvcreate, lvextend, lvreduce, lvremove, lvdisplay, snapshots with lvcreate -s, thin pools).

10%

System Maintenance (Topic 206)

Weight 6/60. Make and install programs from source (./configure, make, make install, tar -xzf, gzip/bzip2/xz, gcc basics, dependency management, /usr/local hierarchy); backup operations (rsync, dd, cpio, tar, dump/restore, awareness of Amanda, Bacula, BackupPC, snapshot-based backups via LVM); notify users on system-related issues (/etc/issue, /etc/issue.net, /etc/motd, wall, shutdown -k for warnings).

How to Pass the LPIC-2 201-450 Exam

What You Need to Know

Passing score: 500 / 800 (scaled)
Exam length: 60 questions
Time limit: 90 minutes
Exam fee: $200

Keys to Passing

Complete 500+ practice questions
Score 80%+ consistently before scheduling
Focus on highest-weighted sections
Use our AI tutor for tough concepts

LPIC-2 201-450 Study Tips from Top Performers

1Build a real RAID-5 from three loop devices on a VM: mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=5 --raid-devices=3 ... — practice fail/remove/add

2Practice the LVM stack end-to-end: pvcreate → vgcreate → lvcreate → mkfs → mount → lvextend → resize2fs/xfs_growfs

3Compile a kernel from source on a VM at least once: make menuconfig, make -j, make modules_install, make install, update-grub

4Memorize sar/vmstat/iostat output columns — %user %system %iowait %idle, swap si/so, tps await %util

5Drill GRUB2 rescue: ls (hd0,gpt2)/, set root, set prefix, insmod normal, normal — these recovery commands matter on the exam

6Network namespaces: ip netns add/del/exec, ip link set veth pair, mounting /proc and /sys inside a netns

7Know systemd vs SysV equivalents: systemctl start vs service/init.d, systemctl enable vs chkconfig/update-rc.d, systemctl isolate vs telinit

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the LPIC-2 201-450 exam?

Exam 201-450 is Part 1 of 2 for the LPIC-2 Linux Engineer certification. It validates advanced Linux administration: capacity planning, kernel internals and compiling, system startup, filesystem/storage administration including RAID/LVM, networking configuration, and system maintenance. You must hold an active LPIC-1 to be awarded LPIC-2.

Do I need LPIC-1 to take Exam 201?

You can sit the 201-450 exam without LPIC-1, and your pass result is recorded. However, the LPIC-2 credential is only awarded once you hold an active LPIC-1 and have passed both 201-450 and 202-450. Most candidates earn LPIC-1 first.

How is Exam 201-450 structured?

60 questions in 90 minutes, mix of multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank. Scaled scoring 200-800 with 500 to pass. Fill-ins demand exact command names, paths, and option flags — e.g., 'mdadm --create', '/etc/fstab', '-l raid5'.

What are the largest topics on 201-450?

Networking Configuration (weight 11), then Linux Kernel, System Startup, and Filesystem and Devices (each 9). Capacity Planning and Advanced Storage Administration are 8 each, and System Maintenance is 6. Total weight 60 across 60 questions.

How much does Exam 201-450 cost?

$200 USD per attempt at standard pricing. LPI offers reduced regional pricing of $165 or $132 in some regions. Each attempt requires its own voucher; the fee does not include retakes.

Where can I take Exam 201-450?

Pearson VUE testing centers worldwide, or via LPI OnVUE online proctored from your home or office. OnVUE requires a webcam, microphone, government-issued photo ID, and a clean uninterrupted environment.

How long is LPIC-2 valid?

LPIC-2 is valid for 5 years from the date you pass the second exam. To maintain it, retake the current versions of both LPIC-2 exams or pass an LPIC-3 exam (300, 303, 305, or 306) before expiration.