RHEL Linux - Red Hat System Administration Practice Exam

Which type of service will not be started automatically at boot or by other unit files, but can be started manually?

1. Enabled

2. Disabled

3. Masked

4. Background

The correct answer is: Disabled

The correct answer indicates a service that is configured to not start automatically at boot or by other unit files. A disabled service is one that the system administrator has explicitly set not to launch automatically. Although it can be started manually by an administrator using system management commands, it will not run on its own without that manual intervention. In contrast, an enabled service is set to start automatically at boot time, making it the opposite of what is being asked in this question. A masked service is one that has been symlinked to /dev/null, rendering it completely inoperative and preventing it from being started, not even manually. The term "background" typically refers to processes that run without user intervention but does not specifically pertain to the mechanism of how services are started. Thus, a disabled service correctly describes a state in which it does not automatically start and requires a manual command to be initiated, aligning perfectly with the requirements of the question.