305-300 LPIC-3: Virtualization and Containerization - Exam 305, version 3.0 Free Practice Exam Questions (2026 Updated)

The purpose of a .dockerignore file is to specify files that Docker does not submit to the Docker daemon when building a Docker image. A .dockerignore file is a text file that contains a list of files or directories that should be excluded from the build context, which is the set of files and folders that are available for use in a Dockerfile. By using a .dockerignore file, you can avoid sending files or directories that are large, contain sensitive information, or are irrelevant to the Docker image to the daemon, which can improve the efficiency and security of the build process. The other options are incorrect because they do not describe the function of a .dockerignore file. Option A is wrong because a .dockerignore file does not affect the files existing in a Docker image, but only the files sent to the daemon during the build. Option C is wrong because a .dockerignore file does not exist in the root file system of containers, but in the same directory as the Dockerfile. Option D is wrong because a .dockerignore file does not affect the volumes that Docker attaches to a container, but only the files included in the build context. Option E is wrong because a .dockerignore file does not affect the parts of a Dockerfile that are executed, but only the files available for use in a Dockerfile. References:

What are .dockerignore files, and why you should use them?

Dockerfile reference | Docker Docs

How to use .dockerignore and its importance - Shisho Cloud

Sysprep is a tool that removes all your personal account and security information, and then prepares the machine to be used as an image. It is supported by Windows and some Linux distributions. It can also remove drivers and other machine-specific settings. Sysprep is required when creating a managed image outside of a gallery in Azure

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/generalize

The ENTRYPOINT instruction in a Dockerfile specifies the default command to run when a container is started from the image. The ENTRYPOINT instruction can be written in two forms: exec form and shell form. The exec form uses a JSON array to specify the command and its arguments, such as [ “executable”, “param1”, “param2” ]. The shell form uses a single string to specify the command and its arguments, such as “executable param1 param2”. The shell form is converted to the exec form by adding /bin/sh -c to the beginning of the command. Therefore, the following statements in a Dockerfile are equivalent and will lead to a container that outputs hello world:

ENTRYPOINT [ “echo hello world” ] ENTRYPOINT [ “/bin/sh”, “-c”, “echo hello world” ] ENTRYPOINT “echo hello world” ENTRYPOINT [ “echo”, “hello”, “world” ] ENTRYPOINT [ “/bin/sh”, “-c”, “echo”, “hello”, “world” ] ENTRYPOINT “echo hello world”

The other statements in the question are invalid or incorrect. The statement A. ENTRYPOINT “echo Hello World” is invalid because it uses double quotes to enclose the entire command, which is not allowed in the shell form. The statement D. ENTRYPOINT echo Hello World is incorrect because it does not use quotes to enclose the command, which is required in the shell form. The statement E. ENTRYPOINT “echo”, “Hello”, “World” is invalid because it uses double quotes to separate the command and its arguments, which is not allowed in the exec form. References:

Dockerfile reference | Docker Docs

Using the Dockerfile ENTRYPOINT and CMD Instructions - ATA Learning

Difference Between run, cmd and entrypoint in a Dockerfile

LXC implements system containers, which are a type of operating-system-level virtualization. System containers allow running multiple isolated Linux systems on a single Linux control host, using a single Linux kernel. System containers share the same kernel with the host and each other, but have their own file system, libraries, andprocesses. System containers are different from application containers, which are designed to run a single application or service in an isolated environment. Application containers are usually smaller and more portable than system containers, but also more dependent on the host kernel and libraries. Hardware containers, CPU emulation, and paravirtualization are not related to LXC, as they are different kinds of virtualization methods that involve hardware abstraction, instruction translation, or modification of the guest operating system. References:

1: LXC - Wikipedia

2: Linux Virtualization : Linux Containers (lxc) - GeeksforGeeks

3: Features - Proxmox Virtual Environment

The default path to the Docker daemon configuration file on Linux is /etc/docker/daemon.json. This file is a JSON file that contains the settings and options for the Docker daemon, which is the service that runs on the host operating system and manages the containers, images, networks, and other Docker resources. The /etc/docker/daemon.json file does not exist by default, but it can be created by the user to customize the Docker daemon behavior. The file can also be specified by using the --config-file flag when starting the Docker daemon. The file must be a valid JSON object and follow the syntax and structure of the dockerd reference docs12. References:

Docker daemon configuration file - Medium3

Docker daemon configuration overview | Docker Docs4

docker daemon | Docker Docs5

Libvirt uses XML files to store configuration data for objects in the libvirt API, such as domains, networks, storage, etc. This allows for ease of extension in future releases and validation of documents prior to usage. Libvirt does not use any of the other file formats listed in the question. References:

libvirt: XML Format

LPIC-3 Virtualization and Containerization: Topic 305.1: Virtualization Concepts and Theory

The command virsh pool-create-as vms dir --target /vms creates and starts a transient storage pool named vms of type dir with the target directory /vms12. This command resolves the issue of the storage pool not found error, as it makes the existing directory /vms visible to libvirt as a storage pool. The other commands are invalid because:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/vms bs=1 count=0 flags=name:vms is not a valid command syntax. The dd command does not take a flags argument, and the output file /vms should be a regular file, not a directory3.

libvirt-poolctl new --name=/vms --type=dir --path=/vms is not a valid command name. There is no such command as libvirt-poolctl in the libvirt package4.

qemu-img pool vms:/vms is not a valid command syntax. The qemu-img command does not have a pool subcommand, and the vms:/vms argument is not a valid image specification5.

touch /vms/.libvirtpool is not a valid command to create a storage pool. The touch command only creates an empty file, and the .libvirtpool file is not recognized by libvirt as a storage pool configuration file6.

References:

1: virsh - difference between pool-define-as and pool-create-as - Stack Overflow

2: dd(1) - Linux manual page - man7.org

3: 12.3.3. Creating a Directory-based Storage Pool with virsh - Red Hat Customer Portal

4: libvirt - Linux Man Pages (3)

5: qemu-img(1) - Linux manual page - man7.org

6: touch(1) - Linux manual page - man7.org

Cloud-init is a tool that allows users to customize the configuration and behavior of cloud instances during the boot process. Cloud-init can process different kinds of data that are passed to the instance via user-data, which is a mechanism provided by various cloud providers to inject data into the instance. Among the kinds of data that cloud-init can process directly from user-data are:

Shell scripts to execute: Cloud-init can execute user-data that is formatted as a shell script, starting with the #!/bin/sh or #!/bin/bash shebang. The script can contain any commands that are valid in the shell environment of the instance. The script is executed as the root user during the boot process12.

Lists of URLs to import: Cloud-init can import user-data that is formatted as a list of URLs, separated by newlines. The URLs can point to any valid data source that cloud-init supports, such as shell scripts, cloud-config files, or include files. The URLs are fetched and processed by cloud-init in the order they appear in the list13.

cloud-config declarations in YAML: Cloud-init can process user-data that is formatted as a cloud-config file, which is a YAML document that contains declarations for various cloud-init modules. The cloud-config file can specify various aspects of the instance configuration, such as hostname, users, packages, commands, services, and more. The cloud-config file must start with the #cloud-config header14.

The other kinds of data listed in the question are not directly processed by cloud-init from user-data. They are either not supported, not recommended, or require additional steps to be processed. These kinds of data are:

ISO images to boot from: Cloud-init does not support booting from ISO images that are passed as user-data. ISO images are typically used to install an operating system on a physical or virtual machine, not to customize an existing cloud instance. To boot from an ISO image, the user would need to attach it as a secondary disk to the instance and configure the boot order accordingly5.

Base64-encoded binary files to execute: Cloud-init does not recommend passing binary files as user-data, as they may not be compatible with the instance’s architecture or operating system. Base64-encoding does not change this fact, as it only converts the binary data into ASCII characters. To execute a binary file, the user would need to decode it and make it executable on the instance6.

References:

User-Data Formats — cloud-init 22.1 documentation

User-Data Scripts

Include File

Cloud Config

How to Boot From ISO Image File Directly in Windows

How to run a binary file as a command in the terminal?.

Sparse images are a type of virtual disk images that grow in size as data is written to them, but do not shrink when data is deleted from them. Sparse images may consume an amount of space different from their nominal size, which is the maximum size that the image can grow to. For example, a sparse image with a nominal size of 100 GB may only take up 20 GB of physical storage if only 20 GB of data is written to it. Sparse images allocate backend storage at the first usage of a block, which means that the physical storage is only used when the virtual machine actually writes data to a block. This can save storage space and improve performance, as the image does not need to be pre-allocated or zeroed out.

Sparse images are not automatically shrunk when files within the image are deleted, because the virtual machine does not inform the host system about the freed blocks. To reclaim the unused space, a special tool such as virt-sparsify1 or qemu-img2 must be used to compact the image. Sparse images can be used with both full virtualization and paravirtualization, as the type of virtualization does not affect the format of the disk image. Sparse images are not automatically resized when their maximum capacity is about to be exceeded, because this would require changing the partition table and the filesystem of the image, which is not a trivial task. To resize a sparse image, a tool such as virt-resize3 or qemu-img2 must be used to increase the nominal size and the filesystem size of the image. References: 1 (search for “virt-sparsify”), 2 (search for “qemu-img”), 3 (search for “virt-resize”).

The firmware attribute of the element in a libvirt domain definition specifies the type of firmware used to boot the virtual machine. The valid values for this attribute are efi and bios, which correspond to the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) and the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) respectively. EFI is a newer standard that supports more features and security than BIOS, such as Secure Boot and faster boot times. BIOS is an older standard that is widely compatible and supported by most hypervisors and operating systems. The other values, scsi, virtio, and pcie, are not related to firmware, but to different types of devices or drivers that can be used in a virtual machine. References: 1 (search for firmware enum)

The correct command to boot a QEMU virtual machine using hardware virtualization extensions is qemu -accel kvm -drive file-debian.img -cdrom debian.iso -m 1024 -boot d. This command uses the -accel option to specify the hardware accelerator to use, which in this case is kvm. KVM is a full virtualization solution for Linux on x86 hardware containing virtualization extensions (Intel VT or AMD-V)1. The -drive option specifies the disk image file to use, which in this case is debian.img. The -cdrom option specifies the ISO image file to use as a CD-ROM, which in this case is debian.iso. The -m option specifies the amount of memory to allocate to the virtualmachine, which in this case is 1024 MB. The -boot option specifies the boot order, which in this case is d, meaning to boot from the CD-ROM first. References:

https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/7/html/virtualization_deployment_and_administration_guide/sect-troubleshooting-enabling_intel_vt_x_and_amd_v_virtualization_hardware_extensions_in_bios

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Virtualization

The unshare command is used to run a process in a new Linux namespace12. It takes one or more flags to specify which namespaces to create or unshare from the parent process1. For example, to run a shell in a new mount, network, and PID namespace, one can use:

unshare -mnp /bin/bash

References:

1: unshare(1) - Linux manual page - man7.org

2: A gentle introduction to namespaces in Linux - Packagecloud

The command lxc-attach is used to execute a command in a running LXC container. It allows the user to start a process inside the container and attach to its standard input, output, and error streams1. For example, the command lxc-attach -n mycontainer -- ls -lh /home will list all the files and directories in the /home directory of the container named mycontainer1. The other options are not valid LXC commands. The command lxc-batch does not exist. The command lxc-run is an alias for lxc-start, which is used to start a container, not to execute a command in it2. The command lxc-enter is also an alias for lxc-attach, but it is deprecated and should not be used3. The command lxc-eval is also not a valid LXC command. References:

1: Executing a command inside a running LXC - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange.

2: lxc-start: start a container. - SysTutorials.

3: lxc-attach: start a process inside a running container. - SysTutorials.

 The Linux kernel module that must be loaded in order to use QEMU with hardware virtualization extensions is KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine). KVM is a full virtualization solution that allows a user space program (such as QEMU) to utilize the hardware virtualization features of various processors (such as Intel VT or AMD-V). KVM consists of a loadable kernel module, kvm.ko, that provides the core virtualization infrastructure and a processor specific module, kvm-intel.ko or kvm-amd.ko. KVM must be loaded into the kernel of the host system in order to use the virtualization extensions of the host system’s CPU. This enables QEMU to run multiple virtual machines with unmodified Linux or Windows images, each with private virtualized hardware. KVM is integrated with QEMU, so there is no need to load it into the kernel of each virtual machine or the first virtual machine. KVM also does not require paravirtualization, which is a technique that modifies the guest operating system to communicate directly with the hypervisor, bypassing the emulation layer. References:

Features/KVM - QEMU

Kernel-based Virtual Machine

KVM virtualization on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (2023)

The purpose of the kubelet service in Kubernetes is to run containers on the worker nodes according to the Kubernetes configuration. The kubelet is an agent or program that runs on each node and communicates with the Kubernetes control plane. It receives a set of PodSpecs that describe the desired state of the pods that should be running on the node, and ensures that the containers described in those PodSpecs are running and healthy. The kubelet also reports the status of the node and the pods back to the control plane. The kubelet does not manage containers that were not created by Kubernetes. References:

Kubernetes Docs - kubelet

Learn Steps - What is kubelet and what it does: Basics on Kubernetes

Containerd is an industry-standard container runtime that uses Runc (a low-level container runtime) by default, but can be configured to use others as well1. Containerd manages the complete container lifecycle of its host system, from image transfer and storage to containerexecution and supervision1. It supports the standards established by the Open Container Initiative (OCI)1. Containerd does not require the Docker engine and Docker CLI to be installed, as it can be used independently or with other container platforms2. Containerd is not a text file format, nor does it run in each Docker container or provide DHCP client functionality. Containerd is not the initial process run at the start of any Docker container, as that is the role of the container runtime, such as Runc3. References: 1 (search for “containerd”), 2 (search for “Containerd is an open source”), 3 (search for “It uses rune to start containers”).

The command lxc-checkpoint is used to checkpoint and restore containers. Checkpointing a container means saving the state of the container, including its memory, processes, file descriptors, and network connections, to a file or a directory. Restoring a container means resuming the container from the saved state, as if it was never stopped. Checkpointing and restoring containers can be useful for various purposes, such as live migration, backup, debugging, or snapshotting. The command lxc-checkpoint has the following syntax:

lxc-checkpoint {-n name} {-D path} [-r] [-s] [-v] [-d] [-F]

The options are:

-n name: Specify the name of the container to checkpoint or restore.

-D path: Specify the path to the file or directory where the checkpoint data is dumped or restored.

-r, --restore: Restore the checkpoint for the container, instead of dumping it. This option is incompatible with -s.

-s, --stop: Optionally stop the container after dumping. This option is incompatible with -r.

-v, --verbose: Enable verbose criu logging. Only available when providing -r.

-d, --daemon: Restore the container in the background (this is the default). Only available when providing -r.

-F, --foreground: Restore the container in the foreground. Only available when providing -r.

The command lxc-checkpoint uses the CRIU (Checkpoint/Restore In Userspace) tool to perform the checkpoint and restore operations. CRIU is a software that can freeze a running application (or part of it) and checkpoint it to a hard drive as a collection of files. It can then use the files to restore and run the application from the point it was frozen at1.

The other statements about the command lxc-checkpoint are not correct. It does not create a clone or an image of a container, nor does it double the memory consumptionof the container. It can work on both running and stopped containers, depending on the options provided. References:

Linux Containers - LXC - Manpages - lxc-checkpoint.12

lxc-checkpoint(1) - Linux manual page - man7.org3

CRIU4