RHEL Linux Red Hat System Administration 2025 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

The command used to back up data in the Linux environment is the tar command. This utility is widely utilized for its ability to create archive files, which can bundle multiple files and directories into a single file, making them easier to store, manage, and transfer. The tar command stands for "tape archive," reflecting its historical use for backing up data onto tape drives.

When using tar, you can create backups in various file formats while also allowing for compression, which helps save space on storage media. For example, the command can be used with options to create an archive (using the -c option) and specify compression (using options like -z for gzip or -j for bzip2). Thus, it serves not only as a means to back up but also to efficiently manage storage.

The other commands listed have different purposes or are not native Linux commands specifically aimed at backup. While zip can compress files and is sometimes used for similar tasks, it generally focuses on individual files rather than creating comprehensive backup archives like tar. Additionally, cpbackup is not a standard Linux command, and 'backup' does not exist as a command in the Linux environment. Therefore, tar stands out as the most suitable and widely recognized command for backing up data.