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TM129: Operating systems > Topic 17 – Booting and configuration > Flashcards

Topic 17 – Booting and configuration Flashcards

1
Q

this linux directory is used to hold various log files

A

describe the linux directory

/var/log

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2
Q

describe the linux file

/var/log/auth.log

A

contains system authorisation information

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3
Q

describe the linux file

/etc/adduser.conf

A

this holds configuration information for any new users that are added using the adduser command.

One such setting is the shell that the user should use

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4
Q

the process for this is:

  1. firmware is ran - BIOS or UEFI locates, loads and executes the operating system bootloader
  2. kernel loaded - The bootloader locates the linux kernel image and passes control to the kernel
  3. Decompress the kernel - the kernel image (file named vmlinuz) contains a compressed kernel as well as utilities that can decompress and initialize the kernel. If applicable a RAM disk will be loaded into memory as well and decompressed so that the linux kernel has a temporary file system
  4. Initialisation - the kernel now takes control of setting up the system:
    1. Check system hardware
    2. Load modules for device drivers
    3. Mount the proper root file system in place of the RAM disk
  5. First user space program ran - linux will load a program named init or systemmd which will be the first process to run on the system and the last. All other processes are child processes of init or systemmd. init or systemd are in charge of:
    1. starting daemons
    2. loading the UI
    3. logging in the user.
A

describe the

linux boot process

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5
Q

this holds the message of the day banner that can be seen when a remote login is made to the OS

A

describe the linux file

/etc/motd

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6
Q

describe the linux file

/etc/group

A

this file holds a list of all groups on the system

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7
Q

this includes:

  • was used from the mid 1970s onwards
  • was originally stored on read only memory (ROM) but later moved to flash memory so that it could be updated
A

describe some

history of Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)

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8
Q

name 3 advantages of

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)

A

advantgaes of this include:

  1. This usually uses the GPT partitioning scheme in place of MBR and because of this it can support disk that are over 2TiB
  2. More powerfull pre operating system environment such as basic networking capabilities
  3. secure boot
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9
Q

name 3

essential services that firmware will provide

A

this will:

  1. it runs a power-on self-test (POST) program to check for hardware problems
  2. it provides basic operation of some I/O devices, in particular the keyboard, screen and disk drives
  3. it starts a program to load the operating system from a disk.
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10
Q

some history of this includes:

  • 1998 - intell develops an early version of this called EFI
  • 2005 - Other vendors saw the value in EFI and came together to form UEFI as a result on this year the first release of UEFI was released.
A

for the following dates describe the

history of Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)

  • 1998
  • 2005
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11
Q

contains system authorisation information

A

describe the linux file

/var/log/auth.log

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12
Q

describe the process that

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)

takes to load an operating system

A

the process for this is:

  1. this firmware will reference its ‘boot manager’
  2. the boot manager contains a reference of the location of the ESP (EFI system partition)
  3. within the ESP will be the bootlader necessary to load and execute the operating system
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13
Q

contains information logged by various background daemons.

A

describe the linux file

/var/log/daemon.log

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14
Q

these are two types of firmware that are able to boot a system and locate a bootloader that will load an operating system

A

breifly describe

Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)

and

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)

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15
Q

describe the linux file

/var/log/boot.log

A

contains information that is logged when the system boots up

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16
Q

this holds configuration information for any new users that are added using the adduser command.

One such setting is the shell that the user should use

A

describe the linux file

/etc/adduser.conf

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17
Q

this process is:

  1. locate the bootsector
    1. if the disk is not partitioned then this will be stored in the first sectort with the MBR
    2. if the disk is partitioned then this firmware will reference the MBR to find out which partition should be booted (NOTE: each partition will have its own boot sector at the begginning of the partition)
  2. once the bootsector has been found the bootloader within it is loaded and ran and control is passed to the bootloader
  3. the bootloader loads and executes the OS and then passes control to the OS
A

describe the process that

basic input output system (BIOS)

takes to load an operating system

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18
Q

this is software that is stored on non volatile chips and is the first software to run when a system is powered up. This in some sense can be thought of as the boundary between hardware and software

A

describe

firmware

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19
Q

describe the linux file

/etc/shadow

A

this file holds the encrypted passwords for each user on the system

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20
Q

describe the linux directory

/var/log

A

this linux directory is used to hold various log files

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21
Q

this holds file system information such as which file systems should be mounted on boot

A

describe the linux file

/etc/fstab

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22
Q

what happens once the operating system has been loaded and executed by the bootloader

A

when this occurs:

  • full control is given to the operating system
  • any device drivers that were implemented by the firmware (i.e BIOS or UEFI) will be switched with the device drivers that have been configured within the operating system
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23
Q

this is typically stored inside the bootsector which is located on the first sector of the disk so that it is always accessible

however if there are multiple partitions then the bootsector is stored at the start of every partition and the master boot record is referenced in order to find out which partition is bootable

A

where is the

bootloader stored

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24
Q

describe the linux file

/etc/motd

A

this holds the message of the day banner that can be seen when a remote login is made to the OS

How well did you know this?
1
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2
3
4
5
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25
Q

describe the process that

basic input output system (BIOS)

takes to load an operating system

A

this process is:

  1. locate the bootsector
    1. if the disk is not partitioned then this will be stored in the first sectort with the MBR
    2. if the disk is partitioned then this firmware will reference the MBR to find out which partition should be booted (NOTE: each partition will have its own boot sector at the begginning of the partition)
  2. once the bootsector has been found the bootloader within it is loaded and ran and control is passed to the bootloader
  3. the bootloader loads and executes the OS and then passes control to the OS
26
Q

what is a

bootloader

A

This is a program that is executed by firmware and is then able to load and run the full operating system

27
Q

this is a partition that UEFI firmware will be able to locate

it contains the bootloader necessary to load and execute the operating system

A

what is the

EFI system partition (ESP)

28
Q

name 3

disadvantages of Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)

A

these include:

  • limitations due to using master boot record (MBR)
    • could not utilise disk drives with more than 2 TiB of storage
    • drives were limited to four partitions
  • the boot process was slow due to initialising hardware components one at a time
29
Q

this file holds all of the users on the system

A

describe the linux file

/etc/passwd

30
Q

describe the linux file

/var/log/daemon.log

A

contains information logged by various background daemons.

31
Q

the process for this is:

  1. this firmware will reference its ‘boot manager’
  2. the boot manager contains a reference of the location of the ESP (EFI system partition)
  3. within the ESP will be the bootlader necessary to load and execute the operating system
A

describe the process that

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)

takes to load an operating system

32
Q

this holds a list of scheduled tasks and can be edited via the crontab command

A

describe the linux file

/etc/crontab

33
Q

describe the linux file

/etc/passwd

A

this file holds all of the users on the system

34
Q

when this occurs:

  • full control is given to the operating system
  • any device drivers that were implemented by the firmware (i.e BIOS or UEFI) will be switched with the device drivers that have been configured within the operating system
A

what happens once the operating system has been loaded and executed by the bootloader

35
Q

windows takes this approach by using the registry which can hold a number of keys that hold data

A

what is the unique method that windows takes to store configurations

36
Q

this will:

  1. it runs a power-on self-test (POST) program to check for hardware problems
  2. it provides basic operation of some I/O devices, in particular the keyboard, screen and disk drives
  3. it starts a program to load the operating system from a disk.
A

name 3

essential services that firmware will provide

37
Q

describe

firmware

A

this is software that is stored on non volatile chips and is the first software to run when a system is powered up. This in some sense can be thought of as the boundary between hardware and software

38
Q

this holds a list of MIME types and the associated file extension(s) programs can use this file to map file extensions to a MIME type

A

describe the linux file

/etc/mime.types

39
Q

this file holds the encrypted passwords for each user on the system

A

describe the linux file

/etc/shadow

40
Q

this file holds a list of all groups on the system

A

describe the linux file

/etc/group

41
Q

contains information that is logged when the system boots up

A

describe the linux file

/var/log/boot.log

42
Q

name 3

initialisation/configuration types

A

these include:

  • .ini - a plain text initialisiation file used within msdos and windows
  • .conf - typically found within unix or linux is an ASCII (plain text) file used to store configuration data
  • .cfg - a configuration file typically used within windows (may not be plain text but can hold plain text data)
43
Q

for the following dates describe the

history of Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)

  • 1998
  • 2005
A

some history of this includes:

  • 1998 - intell develops an early version of this called EFI
  • 2005 - Other vendors saw the value in EFI and came together to form UEFI as a result on this year the first release of UEFI was released.
44
Q

describe some

history of Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)

A

this includes:

  • was used from the mid 1970s onwards
  • was originally stored on read only memory (ROM) but later moved to flash memory so that it could be updated
45
Q

breifly describe

Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)

and

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)

A

these are two types of firmware that are able to boot a system and locate a bootloader that will load an operating system

46
Q

This is a program that is executed by firmware and is then able to load and run the full operating system

A

what is a

bootloader

47
Q

these include:

  • .ini - a plain text initialisiation file used within msdos and windows
  • .conf - typically found within unix or linux is an ASCII (plain text) file used to store configuration data
  • .cfg - a configuration file typically used within windows (may not be plain text but can hold plain text data)
A

name 3

initialisation/configuration types

48
Q

this means that this was desighned so that vendors can add functionality to it as long as it includes and does not conflict with the original specification

A

what does the extensible in

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)

mean

49
Q

This is the replacement firmware for BIOS and can be found in most personal computers today

it performs common tasks such as:

  • power on self test (POST)
  • basic hardware initialisation such as mouse keyborad and display
  • loading a bootloader
A

briefly describe

unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI)

50
Q

advantgaes of this include:

  1. This usually uses the GPT partitioning scheme in place of MBR and because of this it can support disk that are over 2TiB
  2. More powerfull pre operating system environment such as basic networking capabilities
  3. secure boot
A

name 3 advantages of

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)

51
Q

describe the

linux boot process

A

the process for this is:

  1. firmware is ran - BIOS or UEFI locates, loads and executes the operating system bootloader
  2. kernel loaded - The bootloader locates the linux kernel image and passes control to the kernel
  3. Decompress the kernel - the kernel image (file named vmlinuz) contains a compressed kernel as well as utilities that can decompress and initialize the kernel. If applicable a RAM disk will be loaded into memory as well and decompressed so that the linux kernel has a temporary file system
  4. Initialisation - the kernel now takes control of setting up the system:
    1. Check system hardware
    2. Load modules for device drivers
    3. Mount the proper root file system in place of the RAM disk
  5. First user space program ran - linux will load a program named init or systemmd which will be the first process to run on the system and the last. All other processes are child processes of init or systemmd. init or systemd are in charge of:
    1. starting daemons
    2. loading the UI
    3. logging in the user.
52
Q

describe the linux file

/etc/fstab

A

this holds file system information such as which file systems should be mounted on boot

53
Q

briefly describe

unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI)

A

This is the replacement firmware for BIOS and can be found in most personal computers today

it performs common tasks such as:

  • power on self test (POST)
  • basic hardware initialisation such as mouse keyborad and display
  • loading a bootloader
54
Q

what is the unique method that windows takes to store configurations

A

windows takes this approach by using the registry which can hold a number of keys that hold data

55
Q

what is the

EFI system partition (ESP)

A

this is a partition that UEFI firmware will be able to locate

it contains the bootloader necessary to load and execute the operating system

56
Q

describe the linux file

/var/log/messages

A

contains all kernel-related information

57
Q

these include:

  • limitations due to using master boot record (MBR)
    • could not utilise disk drives with more than 2 TiB of storage
    • drives were limited to four partitions
  • the boot process was slow due to initialising hardware components one at a time
A

name 3

disadvantages of Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)

58
Q

contains all kernel-related information

A

describe the linux file

/var/log/messages

59
Q

describe the linux file

/etc/mime.types

A

this holds a list of MIME types and the associated file extension(s) programs can use this file to map file extensions to a MIME type

60
Q

describe the linux file

/etc/crontab

A

this holds a list of scheduled tasks and can be edited via the crontab command

61
Q

where is the

bootloader stored

A

this is typically stored inside the bootsector which is located on the first sector of the disk so that it is always accessible

however if there are multiple partitions then the bootsector is stored at the start of every partition and the master boot record is referenced in order to find out which partition is bootable

62
Q

what does the extensible in

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)

mean

A

this means that this was desighned so that vendors can add functionality to it as long as it includes and does not conflict with the original specification

TM129: Operating systems (19 decks)

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