Question

Difficulty: HardmacOS and Linux Operating System Features and Tools

A system administrator is managing a remote macOS workstation over an SSH connection. The administrator needs to perform two tasks from the terminal: initiate an immediate system backup using the built-in macOS backup framework and search for specific configuration files by querying the system's Spotlight metadata index. Which of the following native command-line utilities should the administrator execute? (Select TWO.)

  1. Use the tmutil command to control and initiate Time Machine backups.Answer
  2. Use the mdfind command to search files using the native Spotlight metadata index.Answer
  3. C
    Use the dd command to invoke native Time Machine backup snapshots.
  4. D
    Use the grep command to query the live Spotlight metadata index.

Answer

The administrator should use the tmutil utility to initiate Time Machine backups and the mdfind utility to search the Spotlight metadata index from the command line.
The tmutil utility is the native macOS command-line utility used to trigger and manage Time Machine backups over a shell session. The mdfind command is the native CLI utility that queries the macOS Spotlight search engine metadata index to locate files quickly without searching the full file system linearly.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the command-line utility for managing macOS Time Machine features.
Determine that tmutil is the native CLI tool for Time Machine.
macOS includes the tmutil command-line tool to allow administrators to start backups, examine snapshots, and adjust backup settings over remote terminal sessions.
2
Identify the command-line interface for querying Spotlight metadata.
Determine that mdfind is the native CLI search tool for Spotlight.
The mdfind utility queries the Spotlight index database directly from the terminal prompt to locate files matching specified metadata criteria.

Key Concept

macOS Native Command-Line Features and Utilities (tmutil and mdfind)
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