UNIX Operating System - Complete Exam Answers

Question No. 1

a) UNIX Architecture
UNIX follows a layered architecture with four main components:

1. Hardware Layer

Physical components: CPU, memory, disk drives, terminals

Foundation of the entire system

2. Kernel

Core of UNIX operating system

Manages system resources (CPU, memory, I/O devices)

Provides system calls interface

Handles process management, file system, device drivers

Runs in privileged mode

3. Shell

Command interpreter and user interface

Acts as intermediary between user and kernel

Provides command-line interface

Executes user commands and programs

4. Applications/Utilities

User programs and system utilities

Text editors, compilers, system administration tools
User-written applications

b) Features of UNIX Operating System

1. Multi-user System

Multiple users can work simultaneously

Each user has separate workspace and permissions

2. Multi-tasking

Can execute multiple processes concurrently

 Time-sharing implementation

3. Portability

Written in C language
Can run on different hardware platforms

4. Hierarchical File System

Tree-like directory structure

Root directory (/) at the top

5. Shell Programming

Command interpreter with programming capabilities

Script automation possible

6. Pipes and Filters

Output of one command can be input to another

Powerful text processing capabilities

7. Security

User authentication and file permissions

Access control mechanisms

8. Utilities

Rich set of built-in commands and utilities

Question No. 2

a) Process Creation in UNIX

Process Creation Steps:

1. fork() System Call

Creates exact copy of parent process

Returns PID of child to parent, 0 to child

 c

pid_t pid = fork();

if (pid == 0) {
// Child process
} else if (pid > 0) {
// Parent process
}

2. exec() System Call

Replaces current process image with new program

Various forms: execl(), execv(), execp()

3. Process States
Ready: Waiting for CPU

Running: Currently executing

Blocked: Waiting for I/O or event

Zombie: Terminated but not cleaned up

b) Shell Creation in UNIX

Shell Creation Process:

1. System Initialization
init process (PID 1) starts

Reads /etc/inittab for configuration

2. Login Process
getty process waits for login
Prompts for username/password

3. Authentication
login program verifies credentials

Checks /etc/passwd file

4. Shell Startup
exec() system call loads shell program

Shell inherits user environment

Reads initialization files (.profile, .bashrc)

Question No. 3

a) Hard Link and Soft Link

Hard Link:

Direct reference to inode

Same inode number as original file

Cannot cross file systems

Cannot link to directories

File exists until all hard links removed

bash

ln file1 hardlink1

Soft Link (Symbolic Link):

Pointer to filename/path

Different inode number

Can cross file systems

Can link to directories

Broken if original file deleted

bash

ln -s file1 softlink1

b) Functions of System Administrator

1. User Management

Create/delete user accounts

Manage passwords and permissions

User group administration

2. System Maintenance

System updates and patches

Performance monitoring

Backup and recovery

3. Security Management

Access control implementation

Security policy enforcement

 Audit trail monitoring

4. File System Management

Disk space monitoring

File system creation/mounting

Permission management

5. Process Management

Monitor system processes

Kill runaway processes

Resource allocation

Question No. 4

a) Different Types of Files in UNIX

1. Regular Files (-)

Text files, binary files, executable files

Store data and programs

2. Directory Files (d)

Special files containing file lists

Organize file system structure

3. Character Device Files (c)

Provide unbuffered access to hardware

Examples: terminals, printers

4. Block Device Files (b)

Provide buffered access to hardware

Examples: hard disks, CD-ROMs

5. Named Pipes (p)

FIFO (First In, First Out) files

Inter-process communication

6. Socket Files (s)

Network communication endpoints

7. Symbolic Links (l)

Pointers to other files

b) Different File Systems in UNIX

1. UFS (UNIX File System)

Traditional UNIX file system

Hierarchical structure with inodes

2. NFS (Network File System)

Distributed file system

Remote file access over network

3. ext2/ext3/ext4

Extended file systems for Linux

Journaling capabilities in ext3/ext4

4. ZFS (Zettabyte File System)

Advanced file system with built-in volume management

Data integrity and compression features

5. XFS

High-performance journaling file system

Scalable for large files and file systems

c) Environment Variables in UNIX

Common Environment Variables:

1. HOME - User's home directory path

2. PATH - Command search path

3. SHELL - Current shell program

4. USER/USERNAME - Current user name

5. PWD - Present working directory

6. OLDPWD - Previous working directory

7. PS1 - Primary shell prompt

8. TERM - Terminal type

9. LANG - Language and locale settings

10. LD_LIBRARY_PATH - Library search path

bash

# View environment variables

env
echo $HOME
export MYVAR="value"

Question No. 5 - Short Notes

GREP Command
Purpose: Global Regular Expression Print

Function: Search text patterns in files

Syntax: grep [options] pattern file(s)

Examples:

bash

grep "error" logfile.txt

grep -i "Error" file.txt # case insensitive
grep -v "debug" file.txt # invert match
grep -n "pattern" file.txt # show line numbers

VI Editor
Purpose: Visual text editor
Modes:
Command mode: Navigation and commands

Insert mode: Text editing

Ex mode: File operations

Basic Commands:
i - Insert mode

ESC - Command mode

:w - Save file

:q - Quit

:wq - Save and quit

dd - Delete line

yy - Copy line
LS Command

Purpose: List directory contents

Common Options:

bash

ls # basic listing
ls -l # long format with details
ls -a # show hidden files
ls -la # long format with hidden files
ls -lt # sort by modification time
ls -lh # human readable file sizes

Question No. 6

Filters in UNIX
Definition: Programs that read input, transform it, and write output.

Common Filter Commands:

1. grep - Pattern searching

2. sort - Sort lines of text

3. uniq - Remove duplicate lines

4. cut - Extract columns

5. tr - Translate characters
6. sed - Stream editor

7. awk - Pattern scanning and processing

8. head - Display first lines

9. tail - Display last lines

10. wc - Word, line, character count

Job Control in UNIX

Background Jobs:

bash

command & # Run in background

jobs # List active jobs
fg %1 # Bring job 1 to foreground
bg %1 # Send job 1 to background
kill %1 # Kill job 1
Job Control Commands:

Ctrl+Z - Suspend current job

Ctrl+C - Terminate current job

nohup - Run command immune to hangups

Purpose of & and NOHUP

& (Ampersand):

Runs command in background

Allows shell prompt to return immediately

Job continues while you work on other tasks

NOHUP:

"No hang up" - process continues after logout

Redirects output to nohup.out file
Immune to SIGHUP signal

bash

nohup long_running_script.sh &

Question No. 7

Relative and Absolute Permissions using CHMOD

Absolute (Octal) Method:

bash

chmod 755 file # rwxr-xr-x

chmod 644 file # rw-r--r--
chmod 600 file # rw-------

Permission Values:

Read (r) = 4
Write (w) = 2

Execute (x) = 1

Relative (Symbolic) Method:

 bash

chmod u+x file # Add execute for user

chmod g-w file # Remove write for group
chmod o=r file # Set others to read only
chmod a+r file # Add read for all

Symbols:

u = user (owner)

g = group

o = others

a = all

Command Purposes with Examples

CD (Change Directory):

bash

cd /home/user # Absolute path

cd Documents # Relative path
cd .. # Parent directory
cd ~ # Home directory
cd - # Previous directory

MKDIR (Make Directory):

bash

mkdir newdir # Create single directory

mkdir -p dir1/dir2/dir3 # Create nested directories
mkdir dir1 dir2 dir3 # Create multiple directories

RM (Remove):

bash

rm file.txt # Remove file

rm -i file.txt # Interactive removal
rm -r directory # Remove directory recursively
rm -f file.txt # Force removal

CP (Copy):
 bash

cp file1 file2 # Copy file

cp file1 /path/ # Copy to directory
cp -r dir1 dir2 # Copy directory recursively
cp -i file1 file2 # Interactive copy

Question No. 8 - Command List

Directory Operation Commands:

1. Display pathname of current directory:

bash

pwd

2. Changing current directory:

bash

cd /path/to/directory

3. Create directory:

bash

mkdir directory_name

4. Remove directory:

bash

rmdir empty_directory # Remove empty directory

rm -r directory # Remove directory with contents

5. Listing directory including hidden files:

bash

ls -a

6. List files with inode numbers:

bash

ls -i

7. Change to home directory:

 bash

cd ~
cd $HOME
cd

8. Move to parent directory:

bash

cd ..

9. Get detailed directory information:

bash

ls -l # Long format
ls -la # Long format with hidden files
stat directory_name # Detailed file statistics

Question No. 11

a) Mounting and Unmounting

Mounting:

Process of making file system accessible

Attaches file system to directory tree

bash

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/usb # Mount device

mount -t ext4 /dev/sda1 /mnt # Specify file system type
mount -o ro /dev/cdrom /mnt # Mount read-only

Unmounting:

Detaching file system from directory tree

Ensures data integrity

bash

umount /mnt/usb # Unmount by mount point

umount /dev/sda1 # Unmount by device

b) Zombie and Daemon Processes

Zombie Process:
 Terminated process with entry in process table
Parent hasn't read exit status

Takes minimal system resources

Cleaned up when parent reads exit status

Daemon Process:

Background process running continuously

No controlling terminal

Provides system services

Examples: httpd, sshd, cron

Quoting and Escaping

Single Quotes (''):

Preserve literal value of all characters

No variable expansion

Double Quotes (""):

Allow variable expansion

Preserve most special characters

Backslash ():

Escape single character

Remove special meaning

bash

echo 'The $HOME directory' # Literal $HOME

echo "The $HOME directory" # Expands $HOME
echo The \$HOME directory # Escaped $HOME

Question No. 12

a) Regular Expressions
Basic Regular Expressions (BRE):

Used by grep, sed, vi

Metacharacters: . * ^ $ [ ] \

Extended Regular Expressions (ERE):

 Used by egrep, awk

Additional metacharacters: + ? | ( ) { }

Common Patterns:

bash

^pattern # Beginning of line

pattern$ # End of line
. # Any single character
* # Zero or more of preceding
+ # One or more of preceding (ERE)
? # Zero or one of preceding (ERE)
[abc] # Character class
[^abc] # Negated character class

b) Inode Structure
Inode (Index Node):

Data structure storing file metadata

Contains file attributes, not filename

Inode Contents:

File type and permissions

Number of hard links

Owner UID and GID

File size

Timestamps (access, modify, change)

Pointers to data blocks

Block count

c) Standard I/O
Standard Input (stdin) - File descriptor 0:

Default input source (keyboard)

Can be redirected with <

Standard Output (stdout) - File descriptor 1:

Default output destination (screen)

Can be redirected with >
Standard Error (stderr) - File descriptor 2:

Error message output (screen)

Can be redirected with 2>

bash

command < input.txt # Redirect input

command > output.txt # Redirect output
command 2> error.txt # Redirect errors
command > out.txt 2>&1 # Redirect both

Question No. 13

AT and BATCH Commands

AT Command:

Schedule job for specific time

One-time execution

bash

at 15:30 # Schedule for 3:30 PM

at now + 1 hour # Schedule for 1 hour later
at midnight # Schedule for midnight

BATCH Command:

Schedule job when system load is low

Executes when load average drops

bash

batch # Schedule batch job

TEST Command
Purpose: Evaluate conditional expressions in shell scripts

Syntax: test expression or [ expression ]

Examples:
 bash

test -f file.txt # Check if file exists

[ -d directory ] # Check if directory exists
test $a -eq $b # Compare numbers
[ "$str1" = "$str2" ] # Compare strings

UNIX Run Levels

Run Levels: 0. Halt/Shutdown

1. Single-user mode

2. Multi-user mode without networking

3. Multi-user mode with networking

4. Unused/User-defined
5. Multi-user mode with GUI

6. Reboot

Question No. 14 - Shell Scripts

A) Prime Numbers Between 1 to N

bash

#!/bin/bash
echo "Enter a number:"
read n
echo "Prime numbers between 1 and $n:"
for ((i=2; i<=n; i++))
do
flag=1
for ((j=2; j<=i/2; j++))
do
if [ $((i % j)) -eq 0 ]
then
flag=0
break
fi
done
if [ $flag -eq 1 ]
then
echo $i
fi
done
B) Fibonacci Series

bash

#!/bin/bash
echo "Enter number of terms:"
read n
a=0
b=1
echo "Fibonacci Series:"
echo $a
echo $b
for ((i=2; i<n; i++))
do
c=$((a + b))
echo $c
a=$b
b=$c
done

C) Armstrong Number

bash

#!/bin/bash
echo "Enter a number:"
read num
temp=$num
sum=0
while [ $temp -gt 0 ]
do
digit=$((temp % 10))
sum=$((sum + digit * digit * digit))
temp=$((temp / 10))
done

if [ $sum -eq $num ]

then
echo "$num is an Armstrong number"
else
echo "$num is not an Armstrong number"
fi

D) Check if Number is Palindrome

 bash

#!/bin/bash
echo "Enter a number:"
read num
temp=$num
rev=0
while [ $temp -gt 0 ]
do
digit=$((temp % 10))
rev=$((rev * 10 + digit))
temp=$((temp / 10))
done

if [ $rev -eq $num ]

then
echo "$num is a palindrome"
else
echo "$num is not a palindrome"
fi

E) Reverse of a Number

bash

#!/bin/bash
echo "Enter a number:"
read num
rev=0
while [ $num -gt 0 ]
do
digit=$((num % 10))
rev=$((rev * 10 + digit))
num=$((num / 10))
done
echo "Reversed number: $rev"

F) Check File Permissions

 bash

#!/bin/bash
echo "Enter filename:"
read filename
if [ -r "$filename" ]
then
echo "File is readable"
else
echo "File is not readable"
fi

if [ -w "$filename" ]
then
echo "File is writable"
else
echo "File is not writable"
fi

if [ -x "$filename" ]
then
echo "File is executable"
else
echo "File is not executable"
fi

Question No. 15

A) Different Blocks of UNIX

1. Boot Block:

First block of file system

Contains bootstrap program

Loads operating system

2. Super Block:

Contains file system metadata

File system size, free blocks

Inode table information

3. Inode Table:

Array of inodes

File metadata storage

 Fixed size per file system

4. Data Blocks:

Actual file content storage

Directory entries
User data

B) Home Directory
Definition: Default directory assigned to user at login

Characteristics:

Personal workspace for user

Contains user files and subdirectories

Path stored in $HOME variable

Usually /home/username or /Users/username

C) Root Directory
Definition: Top-level directory in UNIX file system hierarchy

Characteristics:

Represented by forward slash (/)

Parent of all directories

Contains system directories like /bin, /etc, /usr

Root user's home directory often /root

SU and SU Commands
SU (Switch User):

bash

su # Switch to root user

su username # Switch to specific user
su - # Switch with environment reset

SU ROMEO:

bash

su romeo # Switch to user 'romeo'

Question No. 16

MAN and CAT Commands

MAN Command:

Manual pages for commands

Documentation system

bash

man ls # Manual for ls command

man 5 passwd # Section 5 of passwd manual
man -k keyword # Search manual pages

CAT Command:

Display file contents

Concatenate files

bash

cat file.txt # Display file

cat file1 file2 # Concatenate files
cat > newfile.txt # Create new file

PID and PPID

PID (Process ID):

Unique identifier for each process

Assigned by kernel when process created

PPID (Parent Process ID):

PID of parent process

Shows process hierarchy

bash

ps -ef # Show PID and PPID

echo $$ # Current shell PID

Absolute and Relative Pathname

Absolute Pathname:
 Complete path from root directory
Starts with forward slash (/)

Example: /home/user/documents/file.txt

Relative Pathname:

Path relative to current directory

Does not start with /
Example: documents/file.txt, ../parent_dir

Different Types of Shells

1. Bourne Shell (sh):

Original UNIX shell

Basic scripting capabilities

2. C Shell (csh):

C-like syntax

Command history and aliases

3. Korn Shell (ksh):

Enhanced Bourne shell

Command line editing

4. Bash (Bourne Again Shell):

GNU enhancement of Bourne shell

Popular on Linux systems

5. Zsh (Z Shell):

Extended features

Advanced completion

Question No. 17

Difference between ls commands

(i) ls -l vs ls -lt:

ls -l:

Long format listing

 Shows permissions, links, owner, group, size, date

Default alphabetical order by filename

ls -lt:

Long format listing sorted by modification time

Most recently modified files first

Same information as ls -l but different order

(ii) ls -lu vs ls -lut:

ls -lu:

Long format with access time instead of modification time

Shows when files were last accessed

Alphabetical order by filename

ls -lut:

Long format with access time

Sorted by access time (most recently accessed first)

Combines -u (access time) and -t (time sort)

Question No. 18

EGREP and GREP -E

EGREP:

Extended grep
Supports Extended Regular Expressions (ERE)
Same as grep -E

GREP -E:

Enables extended regular expressions in grep

Supports additional metacharacters: +, ?, |, (), {}

Examples:
 bash

egrep "pattern1|pattern2" file.txt # OR operation

grep -E "pattern1|pattern2" file.txt # Same as above
egrep "colou?r" file.txt # Optional 'u'
grep -E "[0-9]+" file.txt # One or more digits

Extended Features:

+ : One or more occurrences

? : Zero or one occurrence

| : Alternation (OR)

() : Grouping

{} : Specific repetition counts