@wdegard
While @ARoumiantsev has rightly pointed you in the direction of the issue, I’d like to take a moment to emphasize an important takeaway here that is worth noting for your own growth.
As system administrators — whether in the lab, in the exam hall, or in production — it’s not uncommon to feel that a task has been completed successfully, only to be met with a grading error or unexpected result. This is precisely the moment where your sysadmin instincts must kick in.
When grading fails or throws an error, it’s not just a sign of failure — it's an invitation to investigate. The immediate steps you should take are:
- Revisit the task instructions carefully.
- Cross-check your implementation against what was explicitly asked.
- Compare the actual output with the expected outcome.
In many of these labs, names and steps are deliberately made confusing — a pedagogical trick designed to challenge your attention to detail and your ability to stay calm under ambiguity. This is by design, and mastering it is part of the journey.
Take the hard link task for example — don’t rush to the solution or hint or help. Instead, approach it with the mindset: “If I didn’t have a grading tool, how would I validate this myself?” That is exactly how it works in the real world — there is no auto-grader in production, only logs, outputs, and consequences. Same will help you in exam as well.
Right now, you have the luxury of a feedback loop — the grader, peers, and instructors — and it’s completely fine to use those. But your long-term goal should be to cultivate the ability to troubleshoot and validate your work independently and confidently.
So, take this as a learning opportunity. Re-attempt the task, fix the issue on your own, revalidate or reverify and then grade — not just to pass the lab, but to build confidence that you can pass any such task in the field or in a certification exam.
Keep hacking away — you’re doing well, and this kind of reflection is what truly shapes a skilled engineer.
Happy learning!
