EX180 Objectives: persist configurations after reboot

[Ronald_Wouters]

Hi all

on the objectives page for the EX180 exam it says :

"As with all Red Hat performance-based exams, configurations must persist after reboot without intervention"

What kind of configurations are meant here ?  
Should I try to reboot the test machine, during the exam, to verify these configurations are still there ?
What is the definition of "persist" in this context ?
What is meant by "without intervention" ?

Where can I find more specific information on this ?  A link to a docs page somewhere ?

Regards,
Ronald Wouters

[dnaspliceoflife]

I can't speak specifically about open shift but in general the idea can be understaood by thinking about mounting a drive.

You can mount a drive immediately and dynamically by using the command :

mount /dev/sdb2 /sample_dir

that storage partition gets mounted to that directory.

BUT if that machine were rebooted, that mount would not persist. To make it persistent you would need to add an entry in the /etc/fstab file that specifies the /dev/sdb2 partition, where to mount it and what filesystem to expect etc.

That is a file that is read automatically during the boot process and without the user having to do anything. It just happens.

That is how I would interpret those objectives.

[Tracy_Baker · Accepted solution]

Q: What kind of configurations are meant here ?
A: Any and all configurations you are asked to do within the published objectives for the exam.

Q: Should I try to reboot the test machine, during the exam, to verify these configurations are still there ?
A: Yes, you should. How else are you going to know they've worked? You should always verify / validate your own work. This something you should be doing in your studies and in real life if the situation so warrants. See next question.

Q: What is the definition of "persist" in this context ?
A: It means that any configuration changes you've made are still in place after the system is rebooted. @dnaspliceoflife gives a good example. Another might be if you were to asked to make a firewalld rule change. Since a change can be run-time (only operational during the current session) or persistent (will remain operational after a reboot).

Q: What is meant by "without intervention" ?
A: It means that Red Hat, when grading your test, will not intervene; that is, they will not make any changes to the system to make your configuration changes persistent.

[Ronald_Wouters]

Thank you for this very clear and complete answer.

I must admit, rebooting the test machine, during the exam, certainly given the limited time available, kind of scares me.  I agree that I should do the reboot but it kind of feels like a "waste" of precious minutes of available exam time.
Maybe I can do it just once near the end of the exam, let's say with ten minutes left or so.

Regards,
Ronald.

[Juan3]

I believe this is a blanket statement on all exams and and very important on exams that require your scripts that configure an object to be able to configure that required object after a reboot.