TF-004 Practice Test 1 — 10 Questions

Question 1

A large enterprise uses Terraform Cloud with remote execution mode to manage infrastructure across multiple AWS accounts. Each environment (dev, staging, prod) has a separate workspace. The security team requires that all changes to production must be approved by a senior engineer before applying. Additionally, developers should be able to plan changes in production to preview the impact, but not apply them. The current setup uses the same Terraform Cloud team membership for all workspaces. When a developer runs a plan in production, the plan succeeds but they are unable to apply. However, the security team notices that the developer can accidentally apply if they quickly approve their own plan via the UI because the workspace is configured with 'Auto Apply' enabled. The security team wants to enforce the approval process without removing the developer's ability to plan. Which combination of changes should be made? (Select only one option.)

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Disable 'Auto Apply' on the production workspace and configure team permissions so that developers have 'plan' role and the infrastructure lead has 'write' role.. Disabling 'Auto Apply' on the production workspace ensures that no apply occurs without explicit approval. Configuring team permissions so that developers have the 'plan' role (which allows running plans but not applying) and the infrastructure lead has the 'write' role (which allows applying) enforces the required approval process while preserving the developer's ability to preview changes via plan.

Answer

Keep 'Auto Apply' enabled but restrict the production workspace to only the infrastructure lead's Terraform Cloud account.

Answer

Use run triggers to promote runs from dev to staging to production, and only the lead can promote to production.

Answer

Use VCS branch restrictions to only allow applies from the 'main' branch, and have developers plan from feature branches.

Question 2

A large organization uses Terraform to manage infrastructure across multiple AWS accounts. They have a shared module for VPC stored in a private Git repository (git::https://github.com/org/terraform-aws-vpc.git?ref=v1.0.0). After updating the module source to ref=v1.2.0, they run terraform init and then terraform plan. The plan still shows the old module's resources and behavior. They confirm the new tag exists and the module code has changed. The root module source line is correct. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

Terraform cached the previous module version and did not download the new one.. Terraform caches modules in the `.terraform/modules` directory after `terraform init`. When the module source version is updated (e.g., from `ref=v1.0.0` to `ref=v1.2.0`), Terraform does not automatically re-download the module unless the lock file changes or `terraform init -upgrade` is used. Running `terraform init` without the `-upgrade` flag will not overwrite the cached module, so the plan still reflects the old version's resources and behavior.

Answer

They forgot to run terraform get.

Answer

The module source URL is incorrect.

Answer

The module's outputs changed and they need to update the root module.

Question 3

Refer to the exhibit. What does this output indicate?

Accepted Answer

A resource will be modified. The output shows a Terraform plan with a tilde (~) prefix next to a resource attribute, which indicates an in-place update. This means Terraform will modify the existing resource without destroying and recreating it, confirming that option A is correct.

Answer

A resource will be destroyed

Answer

No changes

Answer

A resource will be created

Question 4

A team uses an S3 backend with DynamoDB for state locking. They notice that sometimes terraform plan fails because the state is locked. What is the best practice to handle this in an automated pipeline?

Accepted Answer

Serialize pipeline runs to avoid concurrent execution. Serializing pipeline runs is the best practice to prevent concurrent Terraform operations from competing for the same state lock. When multiple pipeline jobs attempt to run `terraform plan` or `terraform apply` simultaneously, DynamoDB-based state locking ensures only one operation holds the lock at a time, causing the others to fail. By enforcing sequential execution (e.g., via CI/CD stage dependencies or a mutex), you avoid lock contention entirely without risking data corruption or bypassing safety mechanisms.

Answer

Use force-unlock before each plan

Answer

Increase the lock timeout

Answer

Use -lock=false in the pipeline

Question 5

A junior DevOps engineer is learning about Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and asks why Terraform is preferred over manual configuration in cloud consoles. Which of the following is the primary benefit of using Terraform for infrastructure management?

Accepted Answer

It enables version-controlled, repeatable, and automated infrastructure provisioning.. Terraform's core value proposition is enabling infrastructure as code (IaC), which allows teams to define infrastructure in declarative configuration files, version control them with Git, and provision consistently across environments. This repeatability and automation eliminate the drift and manual errors inherent in clicking through cloud consoles, making infrastructure management auditable, collaborative, and scalable.

Answer

It can only manage infrastructure on major cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and GCP.

Answer

It automatically rolls back any failed infrastructure changes.

Answer

It uses an imperative approach where you specify exact commands to execute.

Question 6

Refer to the exhibit. What is the purpose of this output block?

Accepted Answer

To display the public IP address of the instance after apply.. The output block shown in the exhibit is a Terraform output value, which is defined using the `output` block in a configuration file. Its purpose is to display the public IP address of the instance in the terminal after `terraform apply` completes, providing a quick reference for the user. Option D correctly identifies this behavior, as outputs are designed to surface resource attributes to the user without storing them or creating external records.

Answer

To store the public IP in a local file.

Answer

To set the public IP as a variable for use in other configurations.

Answer

To create a DNS record with the public IP.

Question 7

Refer to the exhibit. What is the purpose of the data source?

Accepted Answer

To fetch an existing AMI ID. In Terraform, a data source allows you to fetch or compute information from external sources that is not defined within the current configuration. The correct answer is B because the data source in the exhibit (e.g., `aws_ami`) is used to query and retrieve the ID of an existing AMI that matches specified filters, such as name, owner, or tag, without creating a new AMI. This enables dynamic referencing of pre-existing resources in your infrastructure.

Answer

To create a new AMI

Answer

To define a variable

Answer

To output the AMI name

Question 8

A team uses Terraform with remote state in Azure Storage. They have a CI/CD pipeline that runs terraform plan and apply. Recently, a team member ran terraform apply manually from their local machine and the process crashed due to a network interruption. Now, the pipeline's next run fails with an error: "Error: Error acquiring the state lock". The team is unsure who holds the lock. They need to proceed with the pipeline as soon as possible. What should they do?

Accepted Answer

Use terraform force-unlock with the lock ID to break the lock.. The correct action is to use `terraform force-unlock` with the lock ID to break the stale lock. When a Terraform process crashes while holding a state lock (stored in Azure Blob Storage via the `azurerm` backend), the lock remains in place, blocking all subsequent operations. The `force-unlock` command is the designed mechanism to manually release such locks, and the lock ID can be obtained from the error message or by querying the Azure Storage blob's lease state.

Answer

Wait for the lock to expire automatically.

Answer

Re-run terraform apply with -lock=false to skip locking.

Answer

Delete the .terraform folder and reinitialize.

Question 9

An organization manages multiple environments (dev, staging, prod) using Terraform. They want to minimize code duplication while allowing environment-specific variable values. Which approach best achieves this goal?

Accepted Answer

Organize the repository with a shared modules directory and separate subdirectories for each environment that call the same modules with environment-specific .tfvars files.. It leverages Terraform's module system to define reusable infrastructure components in a shared directory, while each environment (dev, staging, prod) has its own subdirectory with a root configuration that calls those modules and passes environment-specific `.tfvars` files. This minimizes code duplication by keeping the module logic in one place, and allows per-environment variable values without mixing concerns. It follows the recommended pattern for multi-environment management in Terraform, avoiding the pitfalls of branches, workspaces, or conditional logic that can lead to complexity or state corruption.

Answer

Use a separate Git branch for each environment, each with its own Terraform configuration.

Answer

Write a single Terraform configuration that uses count and conditional expressions to create resources based on environment variable.

Answer

Use Terraform workspaces with a single configuration and define all variable values in one .tfvars file.

Question 10

In Terraform, the `terraform plan` command compares the current state with the configuration. This is an example of which IaC principle?

Accepted Answer

Desired state enforcement. The `terraform plan` command compares the current state (what is deployed) with the configuration (what is declared) and computes the changes needed to align the real-world infrastructure with the declared configuration. This is the essence of desired state enforcement: the tool continuously reconciles the actual state toward the user-defined desired state, rather than executing imperative steps. Option D is correct because Terraform's core loop—plan, apply, refresh—is built around this declarative, state-driven model.

Answer

Version control integration

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Continuous delivery

Answer

Modular architecture