LPIC-3 High Availability and Storage Clusters (Exam 306) Free Sample Questions

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306-300 Sample Questions

  1. Question 1

    A system administrator manages a three-node Pacemaker cluster hosting a critical database. The cluster uses a 'shared-nothing' architecture with DRBD replication. The administrator needs to configure a constraint to ensure the database service only starts on the node that is currently the DRBD Primary. Which specific constraint type and configuration logic should be applied?

    Answer and explanation

    Correct answer: B

    DRBD is managed in Pacemaker as a promotable clone of the ocf:linbit:drbd agent (older documentation calls this multi-state or master/slave; "promiscuous clone" is not a Pacemaker term). A colocation constraint of the database with the Promoted (Master) role of that clone, e.g. pcs constraint colocation add Database with Promoted DRBD-clone or in crmsh colocation db_on_drbd inf: Database ms_drbd:Master, allows the database to run only on the node where DRBD is currently Primary. Colocation affects placement only, so it is normally paired with an order constraint (promote DRBD-clone then start Database) to make the database start after the promotion. A location constraint cannot point at another resource's role, promoting DRBD after the database has started is the wrong order, and symmetric-cluster=false only turns the cluster into an opt-in cluster.

  2. Question 2

    You are configuring a high-availability load balancer using HAProxy and Keepalived. The requirement is to ensure that if the HAProxy service fails on the MASTER node, the Virtual IP (VIP) is immediately released so the BACKUP node can take over. Which configuration directive in keepalived.conf achieves this monitoring?

    Answer and explanation

    Correct answer: A

    HAProxy is monitored with a vrrp_script block (for example script "killall -0 haproxy") that the vrrp_instance references with track_script. After fall consecutive failures, an instance tracking a script with the default weight 0 transitions to FAULT state and releases the VIP; with a negative weight the value is subtracted from its priority, so a BACKUP with a higher priority wins the election and takes over the VIP. lb_algo selects the LVS scheduler, notify_master only runs a script after a transition to MASTER, and persistence_timeout sets LVS client persistence.

  3. Question 3

    During a routine audit of a Corosync 3.x configuration on a 4-node cluster, you notice that the totem section sets transport: knet. A colleague proposes switching to transport: udp (multicast) to simplify the network setup. According to the Corosync 3.x corosync.conf(5) documentation, which consequence of this change must be evaluated before applying it?

    Answer and explanation

    Correct answer: A

    Corosync 3.x corosync.conf(5): "The default is knet. The transport type can also be set to udpu or udp. Only knet allows crypto or multiple interfaces per node." The crypto_cipher and crypto_hash entries add that "Encrypted transmission is only supported for the knet transport", and the maximum number of interface directives is 8 for knet but 1 for other transports. The Corosync 3.0 release notes confirm that UDP/UDPU "supports only single ring (RRP is gone in favor of Knet) and doesn't support encryption" and list "Higher throughput and lower latency" among the knet features, so moving to udp is not a performance optimization. The token default (3000 ms in current 3.x releases) does not depend on the transport, and rrp_mode exists only in Corosync 2.x.

  4. Question 4

    A two-node Pacemaker cluster has experienced a split-brain situation. You have confirmed that Node A has the latest data and Node B is stale. Which command sequence correctly forces Node A to become the authoritative source and resets the cluster state?

    Answer and explanation

    Correct answer: C

    First stop the cluster stack on the stale node B (pcs cluster stop without a node name stops the local node). Node A then holds only one of the two votes and, unless two_node is enabled, is inquorate, so lower the expected votes on the survivor: pcs quorum expected-votes 1 changes expected votes in the live cluster only (the corosync.conf value returns on reload). Red Hat documents this under "Running inquorate clusters": "This allows the cluster to continue operation when it does not have quorum" (the corosync-level equivalent is corosync-quorumtool -e 1); use it with extreme caution and only when the other node is really stopped. After verifying node A (pcs status, corosync-quorumtool -s), start node B so it rejoins the running cluster. corosync-cmapctl -s needs a key name, a type and a value, and no runtime.votequorum.expected_votes key is documented. Stopping all nodes and starting B would bring up the stale node, crm_node --force --remove plus pcs cluster setup rebuilds the cluster membership, and pcs resource cleanup does not address quorum.

  5. Question 5

    You are configuring a 'Shared-Disk' cluster architecture using GFS2. Which cluster component must be running and functional to strictly manage concurrent access to the shared storage blocks to prevent data corruption?

    Answer and explanation

    Correct answer: A

    GFS2 relies on the Distributed Lock Manager (DLM) to coordinate file locking across the cluster nodes. Without DLM, nodes would overwrite each other's data on the shared block device.

  6. Question 6

    Which of the following Pacemaker commands effectively prevents a specific resource named WebSite from ever running on node3, regardless of load or failure conditions?

    Answer and explanation

    Correct answer: A

    pcs constraint location WebSite avoids node3 creates a location constraint with the default score INFINITY, i.e. a -INFINITY preference for node3; Red Hat: "A value of INFINITY for score in a pcs constraint location rsc avoids command indicates that the resource will never run on that node, even if no other node is available." pcs resource ban has no --temporary option (time-limited bans use lifetime=), crm_resource --move --node node3 creates a constraint that moves WebSite TO node3, and pcs order constraints take resources (not nodes) and accept kind/symmetrical options rather than a score.

  7. Question 7

    A system administrator is reviewing the mdadm configuration for a RAID 6 array. One drive, /dev/sdc1, has failed. After replacing the physical drive, which command sequence is required to restore full redundancy?

    Answer and explanation

    Correct answer: A

    First, the failed logical partition must be removed from the array configuration. Then, the new partition (assuming it has been partitioned correctly) is added back. The array will then begin the rebuild process.

  8. Question 8

    In a Ceph cluster, you need to remove an OSD node osd.5 permanently. Which step must be performed FIRST to ensure data is safely rebalanced to other OSDs before you stop the daemon?

    Answer and explanation

    Correct answer: A

    Marking the OSD as 'out' instructs the CRUSH algorithm to re-map the Placement Groups (PGs) residing on that OSD to other OSDs. The cluster will begin backfilling data. Once the cluster is healthy (active+clean), the OSD can be safely stopped and removed.

  9. Question 9

    You are implementing a Linux Virtual Server (LVS) with Keepalived. The backend servers are on a different subnet than the load balancer, and you cannot modify their default gateway. Which LVS forwarding method is the ONLY valid choice for this topology?

    Answer and explanation

    Correct answer: A

    LVS-TUN encapsulates the IP packet within another IP packet (IPIP). This allows the real servers to be on different networks or even across the internet, as long as they can decapsulate the packet and reply directly to the client (or via a gateway). LVS-NAT requires the load balancer to be the gateway. LVS-DR requires the load balancer and real servers to be on the same L2 segment.

  10. Question 10

    Which GlusterFS volume type should be selected to optimize for high read performance and data redundancy across 4 servers, where each server contributes one brick?

    Answer and explanation

    Correct answer: A

    A Replicated volume copies files to multiple bricks. With 4 servers and a replica count of 4 (or 2x2 distributed-replicated), read performance improves because clients can read from any copy. It provides redundancy.

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