TF-004 Practice Test 16 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Which TWO are benefits of Terraform's immutable infrastructure approach?

Accepted Answer

Easier rollbacks. Terraform's immutable infrastructure approach replaces entire resources rather than modifying them in-place. This means the previous version of the infrastructure is preserved as a state snapshot, allowing you to roll back by simply reapplying the prior configuration from your version control system. This eliminates the complexity of tracking incremental changes and ensures a clean, predictable rollback process.

Answer

Better performance

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Faster provisioning

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Lower cost

Question 2

A Terraform user wants to visualize the execution order of resources before applying changes. Which command provides a dependency graph view?

Accepted Answer

terraform graph. The `terraform graph` command generates a visual representation of the dependency graph for Terraform resources, showing the execution order based on implicit and explicit dependencies. This allows users to see which resources will be created, updated, or destroyed in sequence before applying changes. It outputs DOT format, which can be rendered with tools like Graphviz.

Answer

terraform show

Answer

terraform plan

Answer

terraform output

Question 3

Drag and drop the steps to use Terraform workspaces for environment separation in the correct order.

Accepted Answer

Create workspace, then Select workspace, then Set environment-specific variables, then Run terraform plan and apply. The correct sequence for using Terraform workspaces is: first create the workspace (if it doesn't exist) to isolate state, then select it to switch to that workspace's state, then set environment-specific variables (e.g., via .tfvars files) to tailor configuration, and finally run terraform plan and apply to manage resources. Workspaces are essential for environment separation, ensuring state isolation and preventing cross-environment interference.

Answer

Select workspace, then Create workspace, then Set environment-specific variables, then Run terraform plan and apply

Answer

Set environment-specific variables, then Create workspace, then Select workspace, then Run terraform plan and apply

Answer

Create workspace, then Set environment-specific variables, then Select workspace, then Run terraform plan and apply

Question 4

An organization wants to use Terraform to manage infrastructure in multiple environments (dev, staging, prod) with the same configuration but different variable values. Which approach should they use?

Accepted Answer

Use Terraform workspaces and separate variable files. Terraform workspaces allow you to manage multiple distinct sets of infrastructure resources within the same configuration by maintaining separate state files. By combining workspaces with separate variable definition files (e.g., `dev.tfvars`, `prod.tfvars`), you can reuse the same configuration code while applying environment-specific variable values, avoiding duplication and ensuring consistency across environments.

Answer

Create separate directories with duplicated configurations

Answer

Use a single state file with environment variables

Answer

Use different versions of Terraform for each environment

Question 5

A team uses Terraform to manage multiple AWS EC2 instances with a 'count' meta-argument. They need to reference the ID of the third instance in another resource's configuration. Which expression should they use?

Accepted Answer

aws_instance.example[2].id. In Terraform, the 'count' meta-argument creates a list of resources indexed starting from 0. To reference the third instance, you use index 2 (0, 1, 2). Option B correctly uses `aws_instance.example[2].id` to access the ID of the third EC2 instance.

Answer

aws_instance.example[1].id

Answer

element(aws_instance.example.*.id, 3)

Answer

aws_instance.example[3].id

Question 6

A team is migrating from using local state to a remote backend for collaboration. They want to ensure that team members cannot overwrite each other's changes. Which feature should they enable?

Accepted Answer

State locking (e.g., DynamoDB). State locking prevents concurrent modifications by ensuring that only one operation can modify the Terraform state at a time. When using a remote backend like S3 with DynamoDB, Terraform acquires a lock before writing to the state file and releases it after completion, preventing race conditions and state corruption.

Answer

S3 bucket versioning

Answer

Force unlock command

Answer

Workspace isolation

Question 7

After running `terraform plan`, a developer sees the following line in the output: `Plan: 1 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.` What does this indicate?

Accepted Answer

One resource will be created.. The output `Plan: 1 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy` directly indicates that Terraform will create one new resource, with no modifications or removals. The 'add' count in a Terraform plan corresponds to resources that exist in the configuration but not in the current state file, meaning they will be provisioned during the apply phase.

Answer

One resource will be destroyed.

Answer

No changes will be made.

Answer

One resource will be changed.

Question 8

Which command can be used to see the current state of a specific resource in the Terraform state?

Accepted Answer

`terraform state show `. The `terraform state show ` command is specifically designed to display the attributes and current state of a single resource as recorded in the Terraform state file. This allows you to inspect the exact values Terraform is tracking for that resource, which is essential for debugging drift or understanding the current infrastructure representation.

Answer

`terraform output`

Answer

`terraform state list`

Answer

`terraform show`

Question 9

Drag and drop the steps to create and apply a Terraform plan in the correct order.

Accepted Answer

1. Terraform init, 2. Terraform plan, 3. Terraform apply. The correct sequence is: Terraform init (initialize the working directory and download providers/modules), Terraform plan (review the changes Terraform will make), and Terraform apply (execute the planned changes). This order ensures the environment is ready, changes are reviewed, and then safely applied.

Answer

1. Terraform plan, 2. Terraform init, 3. Terraform apply

Answer

1. Terraform init, 2. Terraform apply, 3. Terraform plan

Answer

1. Terraform plan, 2. Terraform apply, 3. Terraform init

Question 10

Which TWO commands are part of the core Terraform workflow? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

terraform init. `terraform init`, is correct because it initializes a working directory containing Terraform configuration files, downloading and installing the required providers and modules. This is the first command in the core Terraform workflow, which follows the sequence: init, plan, apply. Without `init`, subsequent commands like `plan` or `apply` will fail due to missing provider plugins and backend configuration.

Answer

terraform fmt

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terraform console

Answer

terraform get

Question 11

Refer to the exhibit. A Terraform plan fails with the error shown. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

Another Terraform run is currently in progress.. The error message indicates that Terraform cannot acquire a state lock. This typically occurs when another Terraform run is already in progress and holds the lock on the state file. Terraform uses a locking mechanism (often via DynamoDB) to prevent concurrent modifications; if a lock is already held, subsequent runs will fail with this error until the lock is released or expires.

Answer

The S3 bucket does not have versioning enabled.

Answer

The DynamoDB table is not configured correctly.

Answer

The state file is corrupted.

Question 12

A user wants to inspect the current attributes of a specific resource in the Terraform state. Which command should they use?

Accepted Answer

terraform state show . The `terraform state show ` command is specifically designed to inspect the current attributes of a single resource within the Terraform state file. It reads the state directly and outputs the resource's attributes in a human-readable format, making it the correct tool for this task.

Answer

terraform state list <resource>

Answer

terraform output

Answer

terraform plan

Answer

terraform show

Question 13

Which three practices help maintain consistency and reduce configuration drift in IaC? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Storing state files remotely and locking them. Storing state files remotely (e.g., in an S3 bucket with DynamoDB locking) prevents concurrent modifications and ensures that the state file reflects the true infrastructure state. This practice eliminates the risk of conflicting changes and configuration drift caused by local or stale state files.

Answer

Using manual changes to fix minor issues

Answer

Allowing multiple team members to run apply simultaneously

Question 14

A user receives the error shown in the exhibit when running `terraform init`. The user is behind a corporate proxy. Which environment variable should be set to resolve this issue?

Accepted Answer

HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy:8080. Terraform uses the standard `HTTP_PROXY` environment variable to route HTTP/HTTPS requests through a corporate proxy when downloading providers and modules. Setting `HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy:8080` instructs Terraform's underlying HTTP client to connect via the specified proxy, resolving the connectivity error during `terraform init`.

Answer

TF_VAR_proxy=http://proxy:8080

Answer

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID

Answer

TF_LOG=DEBUG

Question 15

Refer to the exhibit. A team deploys this configuration. They run 'terraform apply' once and the instance is created. Later, they modify the instance type and run 'terraform apply' again. They notice the provisioner does not run on the second apply. Why?

Accepted Answer

Provisioners run only when the resource is created, not on subsequent updates.. Provisioners in Terraform are designed to run only during resource creation, not during subsequent updates. When the instance type is modified and 'terraform apply' is run again, Terraform updates the existing resource in place without triggering the provisioner again. This behavior is intentional because provisioners are typically used for initial setup tasks like bootstrapping, not for ongoing configuration changes.

Answer

Provisioners run only when the resource is destroyed.

Answer

The provisioner should be 'remote-exec' to run on updates.

Answer

The command syntax is incorrect.