IBM Linuxone Interview Questions and Answers

Q1. What is IBM Linux One?

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IBM LinuxONE is an enterprise-grade Linux® server with a unique architecture designed to meet the needs of mission-critical workloads for regulated industries. It brings together IBM's experience in building secure, resilient and scalable systems with the openness of the Linux operating system.

Q2. What are the 2 variants of the IBM Linux One offerings?

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Q3. Why does IBM use Linux?

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IBM's commitment to Linux stems from the belief that Linux is not only a world-class operating system, but that it also provides flexibility, choice, and an attractive total cost of ownership that can benefit IBM customers.

Q4. What type of computer is IBM LinuxONE Rockhopper?

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LinuxONE Rockhopper is an entry-level mainframe. It's designed for clients and emerging markets seeking mainframe speed, security and availability but for a smaller price-tag. The z13 mainframe series can hold up to 10 TBs of memory. Its 8-core z13 CPU can run up to 5GHz.

Q5. How many cryptographic co processors are on each Linuxone Rockhopper II unit PU chip?

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With up to 30 configurable cores, Rockhopper II has performance and scaling advantages over the previous Rockhopper system which had only 20 cores available.

Q6. Is LinuxONE a mainframe?

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LinuxONE is a mainframe series that runs on Linux created by IBM as a way of competing with cloud computing solutions. The systems are named after penguins as a nod to the Linux mascot. The flagship large enterprise series of mainframes is called Emperor and their mid-sized business series is called Rockhopper.

Q7. Which compute service allows you to run virtual servers on IBM LinuxONE?

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IBM z/VM virtualization software

It supports Linux®, z/OS®, z/VSE® and z/TPF, and Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform (link resides outside of ibm.com) based on Red Hat CoreOS on IBM Z® and LinuxONE servers. IBM z/VM can host up to thousands of virtual servers on a single system.

Q8. IBM z/VM virtualization software

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Linux is a Unix-like operating system kernel. zLinux is a port of Linux to IBM mainframe hardware. zLinux is for zSeries hardware (IBM mainframes). If the WIkipedia article is correct, it's a generic name for several different implementations of Linux on z machines, not a specific program product.

Q9. What version of Linux does IBM use?

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Q10. What is the difference between Linux and zLinux?

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Linux is a Unix-like operating system kernel. zLinux is a port of Linux to IBM mainframe hardware. zLinux is for zSeries hardware (IBM mainframes). If the WIkipedia article is correct, it's a generic name for several different implementations of Linux on z machines, not a specific program product.

Q11. What is BASH?

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Bash is a Unix shell and command processor written by Brian Fox for the GNU project. It is free software and acts as a replacement for Bourne Shell. It is an interpreted and not compiled process which can also be run in the terminal window.

This allows users to write commands and cause actions. Bash is capable of reading commands from shell scripts.

Q12. What is LILO?

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LILO means Linux Loader is a boot loader that is used for the Linux operating system. Most of the Linux Operating systems use LILO, to boot the operating system into main memory to start the operations.

Q13. What is CLI?

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CLI means Command language Interpreter. It interacts with the computer program, where the user issues command in the form of text lines. It Interacts with the computer terminals also, the interface accepts the text lines and converts them as a command to the operating system. 

Q14. What is the advantage of Open Source?

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Linux was one of the first open-source technologies, many programmers added software that completely open to the users, which means you can download the file and change the code as you like. It has a wide range of options for users and increased security.

Q15. What is the disadvantage of Open Source?

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Disadvantages of Open Source Operating System mentioned below

• Difficulty of use 
• Compatibility Issues
• Liabilities and warranties
• Hidden costs

Q16. How many types of Shells are there in Linux? 

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They are five Shells in Linux:

• C Shell (csh): It is like C syntax and provides spelling checking and job control.
• Korn Shell (ksh): This is a high-level programming language shell.
• Z Shell (Zsh): It provides some unique nature like it observes login/logout watching, file name generating, startup files, closing comments. 
• Bourne Again Shell (bash): It is the default to Linux distributions.
• Friendly Interactive Shell (Fish): It provides web-based configuration,  auto-suggestions, etc. 

Q17. What are the basic components of Linux?

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Basic components of Linux

• Kernel: It is the core component of Linux, it acts as an interface between software and hardware.  
• Shell: It acts as an interface between the user and the Kernel.
• GUI:  It stands for Graphic User Interface, which is another way for the user to interact with the system. But it is unlike images, buttons, text boxes for interaction.
• System Utilities: These are the software functions that allow users to manage the computer.
• Application Programs: Set of functions designed to perform a set of tasks.

Q18. What are the Process states in Linux?

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Five process states in Linux. They are

• New/ Ready: A new process is created and ready to run.
• Running: The process is being executed.
• Blocked/ Wait: The process is waiting for input from the user. 
• Terminated/ Completed: The process completed the execution or terminated by the operating system. 
• Zombie: The process is deleted, but still the information regarding the process exists in the process table.

Q19. Explain Process Management System Calls in Linux?

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The process management system calls in Linux:

• fork(): Used to create a new process.
• exec(): Execute new process.
• wait(): wait until process execution.
• exit(): exit from the process.

System calls to get the Process id :

• getpid(): to find the unique process id. 
• getppid(): to find the unique parent process id.

Q20. Explain File Permission groups in Linux?

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There are three user-based permission groups for each file and directory.

They are:

• Owner: Owners only will have to access the file or directory, they will not impact the actions of other users.
• Group: These permissions apply only to the group, that has been assigned to the file or directory. They will not impact the actions of other users.
• All Users: These permissions are applied to all users on the system.

Q21. What Is a File system in Linux?

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Linux file system stores and handles the data. Without a file system, it cannot know where the file starts from and where the file ends.

Q22. Explain different file system types in Linux?

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In Linux, there are many file systems:

Ext, Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, JFS, XFS, btrfs, ufs, autofs, devpts, ntfs and swap.

Q23. Differentiate between BASH and DOS?

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Difference between Bash and Dos

Q24. What is meant by internal commands and external commands?

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• Internal Commands: Commands directly run by the shell are known as internal commands and there is no separate process to run the commands. 
• External Commands: Commands which are run by the kernel are known as external commands and every single command has its own unique process id.

Q25. What is meant by PIPE in Linux?

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It is a form of redirection that is used in Linux, it is used to combine more than two commands and the output of one command can take as input to the next command. 

Syntax:

command_1 | command_2 | command_3 | .... | command_N

Q26. What is Zombie Process?

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It is a process whose execution is completed but even the information exists in the process table. It occurs for the child process because the parent process needs to read the child process status. Once it is completed using the wait system call, then the zombie process is removed from the process table. This is known as Zombie Process.

Q27. What is the top Command in Linux?

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top command displays and updates sorted process information. Use this top command to determine which processes are running and how much memory and CPU they are consuming.

Q28. What is the netstat command in Linux?

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netstat command in Linux shows the network status. This netstat command shows network ports in use and their incoming connections.

Q29. What is the lsof command in Linux?

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ls of command lists the open files associated with your application.

Q30. What is the df command in Linux?

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Users can use the df command to troubleshoot disk space issues. Here df stands for display free disk space.

df Command Example:

df -h

Q31. What is a du command in Linux?

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du command in Linux is used to retrieve more detailed information about which files use the disk space in a directory.

du Command Example:

$ du -sh /var/log/*
1.8M  /var/log/anaconda
384K  /var/log/audit
4.0K  /var/log/boot.log
0 /var/log/chrony
4.0K  /var/log/cron
4.0K  /var/log/maillog
64K /var/log/messages

Q32. What is the iptables command in Linux?

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iptables command blocks or allows traffic on a Linux host, similar to a network firewall. This iptables command may prevent certain applications from receiving or transmitting requests.

Q33. What is the difference between Linux and Windows?

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Q34. What is a Stateless Linux Server?

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It is a centralized server that does not have any exists states on the working station. It may have scenarios when a state of a particular system takes a snapshot then, the user wants all other machines to be in that particular state.

Q35. Explain the features of Stateless Linux Server?

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Features of Stateless Linux Server

1. Stores the prototype of every system.
2. Stores the snapshot was taken. 
3. Stores the home directories.
4. Uses LDAP, which contains the information about which snapshot should run on which system.