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Linux+ 5.2.1: Boot, kernel and driver problems

A service that won't start, a driver that won't load, the GRUB menu, and the kernels to fall back to.

Before you start

The lab installs nginx and enables it, but its configuration is broken, so it doesn't start. Something on this VM also stops the dummy network driver from loading. Write answers to the files in /root/lab-answers/. Task 3 needs the VM's console, and a root password for rescue mode.

Tasks

  1. nginx failed to start. Find out why from its status, the journal and nginx's own test, and write the file and line number of the error (as FILE:LINE) to /root/lab-answers/1. Fix it so nginx runs.
  2. modprobe dummy fails. Find what blocks it, write the path of that file to /root/lab-answers/2, and fix it so the driver loads.
  3. Practice the GRUB menu: boot once into rescue.target by editing the kernel line, look around with systemctl list-units --type=target, then systemctl default. Rescue mode needs a root password: if root is locked, set one first, and lock it again afterward. Not graded.
  4. List the kernels you could fall back to, and write their versions, one per line, to /root/lab-answers/4.

Hints

  • systemctl --failed, systemctl status, journalctl -u nginx -n 5, nginx -t.
  • modprobe -v, grep -r dummy /etc/modprobe.d/, modprobe -c.
  • e at the GRUB menu (on Ubuntu, Esc or Shift to show it), systemd.unit=rescue.target, Ctrl+X.
  • grubby --info=ALL | grep ^kernel (RHEL family) or ls /boot/vmlinuz-*.