You cloned a running Linux virtual machine from a template image and booted the copy on the same network alongside the original. Both machines keep their own virtual disks. Which TWO host-specific identifiers should be regenerated on the clone so that the two running systems do not conflict with each other on the network?
LPIC-1 Exam 101-500, objective 102. Linux installation and package management hard
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How these questions are written — where each question comes from, what the verification ledger records, and what happens when one is found wrong.
The options
Choose 2.
Not correct The contents of /etc/passwd
Wrong. Local user accounts are configuration, not a network-unique identifier, and two machines sharing account definitions causes no conflict.
Correct The D-Bus machine ID (/etc/machine-id, with /var/lib/dbus/machine-id often linked to it)
Correct. The machine ID is meant to be unique per installation; duplicating it across clones confuses systemd, D-Bus and anything keying on it, such as journald or DHCP clients that derive an identifier from it.
Not correct The kernel version installed on the clone
Wrong. Running the same kernel as the template is normal and conflicts with nothing.
Correct The SSH host keys in /etc/ssh
Correct. Two hosts presenting the same host key defeats the point of host-key verification and produces client warnings; they should be deleted and regenerated on the clone.
Not correct The UUIDs listed in /etc/fstab
Wrong here. The clone does duplicate its filesystem UUIDs, but each VM sees only its own virtual disks, so nothing conflicts. Duplicate UUIDs become a problem only if both disk images are attached to the same running system.
Why
Cloning an installed system duplicates everything that was supposed to be unique to one installation. The two that reliably bite you are the D-Bus/systemd machine ID and the SSH host keys; a template is normally prepared by clearing both (plus persistent network interface rules and any static addresses) so they are regenerated on first boot. Tools like cloud-init automate exactly this instance-specific initialization.
Where this comes from
- Cited
- LPI exam objective 102.6
- What it says
- Understand what has to be changed when cloning a virtual machine or creating a template, including D-Bus machine id and SSH host keys.
Practise this
Reading one question is not practice. The trainer will draw a short set from objective 102 and space the ones you get wrong.
More questions on this objective
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