#linux

6 linux interview questions, asked at Google, Meta, Modal and 2 more companies. Last asked Sep 2026.

Troubleshoot a crashed or unresponsive Linux serverCodingA single web server has gone down, or it is up but requests hang. Walk through how you find the cause step by step and name the exact commands you would run at each step: checking…
Last asked Sep 2026
Diagnose a slow Linux server: CPU, disk, network and logsCodingA troubleshooting round in several scenarios. For each, say which tools you reach for, what the numbers tell you and how you get from the host down to the cause. 1. CPU looks…
Last asked Sep 2026
Debug processes that crash at random while being created on Linux hostsCodingWorkloads run on a cluster of Linux servers, and some of their processes crash at random while they are being created. The interviewer has one hidden cause in mind and acts as the…
Last asked Sep 2026
Explain and harden two shell commandsCodingYou are shown two shell commands. Explain exactly what each one does, step by step, then say how it can go wrong and rewrite it to be safer and more robust.
Last asked Jul 2026
What happens when you run lsCodingWalk through what happens, from the shell down to the kernel, when you type ls in a terminal and press Enter: how the shell finds and starts the program, the system calls…
Last asked Feb 2026
Troubleshoot high CPU, slow responses and DNS failuresCodingA production service shows high CPU, rising latency, and some requests failing on name resolution. Explain step by step how you investigate each: the tools and commands you would…
Last asked Sep 2025