TestOut Linux Pro Practice Test 2025 - Free Linux Pro Practice Questions and Study Guide

To create a swap area on a partition, the appropriate command is `mkswap /dev/sda2`. This command is specifically designed to set up a swap space on the specified partition, in this case, `/dev/sda2`. The `mkswap` command initializes the partition by preparing it to be used as swap, which is essential for managing memory in a Linux environment.

Once a swap area is created with `mkswap`, it can then be activated using the `swapon` command, allowing the system to begin utilizing that space for swap memory. This is an important operation in Linux system memory management, particularly when the physical RAM is fully utilized.

The other options are not correct for creating a swap area:

- Using `swapon /dev/sdb1` is meant for activating an already configured swap space rather than creating one.

- The `mount /dev/sdb3 /mnt/swap` command serves to mount filesystems, not to set up swap space.

- A hypothetical `format /dev/sdb2` command is not standard in Linux, as Linux uses specific commands like `mkswap` for swap and `mkfs` for filesystem creation, indicating a misunderstanding of the necessary actions