117-201 · Question #305
What should be done after updating the configuration file for syslogd in order to make the changes become effective? (Choose TWO correct answers.)
The correct answer is B. Send the HUP signal to the syslogd process. C. Restart the syslogd service. See the full explanation below for the reasoning.
Question
Options
- ANo action is required, syslogd will notice the updated configuration file after a few minutes.
- BSend the HUP signal to the syslogd process.
- CRestart the syslogd service.
- DRun the command syslogd -u.
How the community answered
(31 responses)- A16% (5)
- B77% (24)
- D6% (2)
Community Discussion
6
Imani T.Jun 27, 2026B and C are your two correct answers. Sending a HUP signal to the syslogd process tells it to reload its configuration without a full restart, and restarting the service outright achieves the same result through a harder reset, so both methods force syslogd to actually read the updated config file since it does not auto-detect changes on its own.
Toby R.Jun 27, 2026Solid on both counts, though worth noting that on systemd-based distros you might be using rsyslog or syslog-ng instead of classic syslogd, so the HUP behavior is the same but the service name you restart will differ.
Yusuf A.Jun 22, 2026Pretty sure A is right, my senior said syslogd polls for changes on its own.
Imani T.Jun 24, 2026Respectfully, your senior may be thinking of a different daemon, because syslogd does not poll on its own, it has to be explicitly signaled (SIGHUP) to reread its config, which is why B and C are the correct answers here. That distinction shows up on the exam pretty regularly so it is worth locking in now.
Toby R.Jun 18, 2026I went with B and D on this one and felt pretty good about it walking out. The HUP signal thing is classic Linux daemon behavior so B felt obvious, but D stood out to me because syslogd -u is how you actually tell the daemon to re-read in a way that applies to user-level logging contexts, which is exactly what the config change is touching. A makes no sense because daemons do not poll their config files on a timer, that is just not how it works. C is overkill and you lose any buffered messages in flight when you do a full restart, so that felt wrong for a production scenario the exam was probably describing. I drilled this one pretty hard in my lab and syslogd -u came up specifically in the context of applying config without nuking the process entirely.
Imani T.Jun 19, 2026Toby, B is right but the partner is C, not D, because a full service restart is a legitimate and widely tested method for applying syslogd config changes, and the -u flag on syslogd is not a reload mechanism, it controls UDP socket behavior depending on the implementation so it would not reliably apply your config edits at all.