EX294 Practice Test 12 — 15 Questions

Question 1

When building an execution environment with ansible-builder, a developer notices that the build process fails with an error about missing dependencies. The developer wants to ensure all required Python packages are installed in the execution environment. Which file should be used to specify additional Python packages?

Accepted Answer

requirements.txt. In Ansible Builder, the `requirements.txt` file is used to specify additional Python packages that should be installed in the execution environment. When building an execution environment, Ansible Builder reads this file and installs the listed packages via pip, ensuring all required Python dependencies are present.

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meta/runtime.yml

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galaxy.yml

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bindep.txt

Question 2

A user wants to run a playbook that uses a module from 'myorg.mycollection'. The playbook is located in /home/user/projects. Which of the following is true about the collection discovery?

Accepted Answer

Ansible will automatically find the collection in the default search path.. Option D is correct because Ansible automatically searches for collections in the default search path, which includes the collections directory adjacent to the playbook. Since the playbook is located in /home/user/projects, Ansible will look in /home/user/projects/collections/ansible_collections/myorg/mycollection, among other default paths, without requiring any environment variable or manual configuration.

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The user must set the ANSIBLE_COLLECTIONS_PATH environment variable.

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The collection is not installed, so the playbook will fail.

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Ansible will look only in /usr/share/ansible/collections.

Question 3

A playbook needs to set a fact 'total_memory' by summing the 'memory_mb' values from a list of servers. Which filter should be used?

Accepted Answer

{{ servers | map(attribute='memory_mb') | sum }}. Option A is correct because it uses the `map` filter with the `attribute` parameter to extract the `memory_mb` value from each dictionary in the list, then pipes the resulting list of integers into the `sum` filter to compute the total. This is the standard Ansible idiom for summing a specific attribute across a list of dictionaries.

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Question 4

The debug output shows 'changed' even when the firewall rule already existed. Which filter issue could cause this?

Accepted Answer

The task should use 'immediate: yes' to reload the firewall, otherwise the module always reports changed.. C is correct because the `firewalld` module in Ansible, by default, operates in 'offline' mode (immediate: no), meaning it only modifies the permanent configuration without applying changes to the running runtime firewall. Even if a rule already exists in the permanent configuration, the module will report 'changed' because it still attempts to add the rule to the runtime zone unless `immediate: yes` is explicitly set to reload the firewall and synchronize the runtime state. This behavior is specific to how `firewalld` separates permanent and runtime rule sets.

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The 'changed' key is misspelled as 'change' in the filter.

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The variable 'fw_result' is undefined because the task failed.

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The filter 'if' condition is incorrectly evaluating 'fw_result.changed' as a string.

Question 5

An organization uses custom Ansible plugins stored in a collection. A junior admin reports that after updating the collection to version 2.0.0, a playbook that uses a custom filter plugin fails with 'undefined filter'. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The filter plugin was placed in the wrong directory inside the collection.. In Ansible collections, filter plugins must reside in the `plugins/filter/` directory within the collection structure. If the plugin is placed in the wrong directory (e.g., `plugins/modules/` or `plugins/lookup/`), Ansible will not load it as a filter, resulting in an 'undefined filter' error. The collection update to version 2.0.0 likely reorganized the directory structure, causing the filter to be misplaced.

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The playbook uses an outdated syntax that is incompatible with the new collection.

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The playbook does not use the fully qualified collection name (FQCN) for the filter.

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The collection's metadata file galaxy.yml is missing a dependency declaration.

Question 6

A system administrator is managing Ansible Tower and wants to use an Azure Resource Manager credential to provision virtual machines. However, the credential fails authentication with the error '401 Unauthorized'. Which action should the administrator take to resolve the issue?

Accepted Answer

Verify the client secret in the credential matches the one configured in Azure Active Directory.. The 401 Unauthorized error when using an Azure Resource Manager credential in Ansible Tower indicates that the authentication token or secret used to authenticate with Azure Active Directory is invalid or mismatched. Option B is correct because verifying that the client secret stored in the Tower credential exactly matches the one configured in Azure Active Directory resolves the authentication failure, as Azure AD uses OAuth 2.0 client credentials flow where the client secret is required for token acquisition.

Answer

Regenerate the SSH key pair and update the credential.

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Add the credential as a playbook-level variable instead of a Tower credential.

Answer

Generate a new API token from Azure and paste it into the credential.

Question 7

A playbook uses the 'debug' module to print a variable 'my_var' but the output is 'VARIABLE IS UNDEFINED'. The variable is defined in group_vars/all.yml. Which filter could be used to provide a default value and avoid this error?

Accepted Answer

{{ my_var | default('fallback') }}. Option B is correct because the `default` filter in Ansible provides a fallback value when a variable is undefined, preventing the 'VARIABLE IS UNDEFINED' error. Using `{{ my_var | default('fallback') }}` ensures that if `my_var` is not defined in group_vars/all.yml or any other precedence level, the string 'fallback' is used instead of causing a failure.

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Question 8

A team is writing an Ansible role to configure a web server. They want to include default variables that can be easily overridden by playbook variables. Which directory and file should they use to define these variables?

Accepted Answer

defaults/main.yml. In Ansible roles, default variables are defined in the `defaults/main.yml` file. These variables have the lowest precedence, meaning they can be easily overridden by playbook variables, inventory variables, or any other variable source with higher precedence. This design allows role authors to provide sensible defaults while giving users the flexibility to customize behavior without modifying the role itself.

Answer

vars/defaults.yml

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default_vars/main.yml

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vars/main.yml

Question 9

Which TWO statements are true regarding the deployment of Ansible Automation Platform in a highly available configuration?

Accepted Answer

The automation controller requires a PostgreSQL database that must be configured with replication for high availability.. Option C is correct because the automation controller in Ansible Automation Platform requires a PostgreSQL database, and for high availability (HA), that database must be configured with replication (e.g., streaming replication or Patroni) to ensure failover and data durability. Without database replication, a single database instance becomes a single point of failure, defeating the purpose of an HA deployment.

Answer

The automation hub requires an external PostgreSQL database to store collections and execution environments.

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Execution nodes must have direct network access to the automation controller database.

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The automation controller can use an embedded SQLite database for production deployments.

Question 10

Which THREE are valid methods to control task execution in Ansible?

Accepted Answer

Using the 'when' conditional. Option A is correct because the 'when' conditional in Ansible allows you to control whether a task runs based on the evaluation of a condition, such as a variable, fact, or the result of a previous task. This is a primary method for conditional execution, enabling tasks to be skipped when the condition is false, directly controlling task execution flow.

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Using 'register' to store task output

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Using the 'with_items' loop

Question 11

Which TWO statements about machine credentials in Ansible Tower are correct? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Machine credentials can specify a 'become_method' for privilege escalation.. Option A is correct because Ansible Tower machine credentials include a 'Become Method' field that allows you to specify privilege escalation methods such as 'sudo', 'su', 'pbrun', or 'pfexec'. This setting is used by Ansible to escalate privileges on the target machine after the initial SSH connection is established, enabling tasks that require higher-level permissions.

Answer

The SSH private key file automatically includes privilege escalation settings.

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The username field is optional when using an SSH key.

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SSH key credentials require a password field to be filled in.

Question 12

During a playbook execution, a task that uses the 'ansible.builtin.copy' module fails with 'Permission denied' on a remote host. The playbook runs as user 'ansible' which is a sudoer without password. Which of the following is the most likely cause and solution?

Accepted Answer

The task lacks 'become: yes' but has 'become_user: root'. Add 'become: yes' to the task.. The 'Permission denied' error occurs because the task attempts to copy a file to a location that requires root privileges, but the playbook does not use privilege escalation. The user 'ansible' is a passwordless sudoer, so adding 'become: yes' to the task enables sudo, granting the necessary permissions to write to the destination. Option C correctly identifies this missing directive.

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The remote path does not exist. Use 'remote_src: yes' to copy from remote.

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The local source file is not readable by the user running ansible-playbook. Change permissions on the source file.

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The remote file is owned by root and the destination directory is not writable by ansible. Use 'become: yes' and set 'owner: ansible'.

Question 13

Which best practice should be followed when using Ansible to manage task execution across multiple hosts?

Accepted Answer

Ensure tasks are idempotent so they can be run multiple times without changing the system state beyond the desired state.. Option B is correct because idempotency is a core principle of Ansible: running the same playbook multiple times should produce the same desired state without unintended side effects. This ensures predictable, safe task execution across multiple hosts, as Ansible modules are designed to check the current state before making changes.

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Use 'ignore_errors: yes' on all tasks to prevent playbook failures.

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Always use serial execution to avoid race conditions.

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Write tasks that rely on the previous task's output to ensure correct order.

Question 14

An Ansible playbook needs to ensure a service is enabled and running on boot. Which combination of parameters should be used with the 'systemd' module?

Accepted Answer

enabled: yes, state: started. Option B is correct because the 'systemd' module in Ansible requires both 'enabled: yes' to set the service to start on boot and 'state: started' to ensure the service is currently running. This combination directly fulfills the requirement of ensuring a service is enabled and running on boot.

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enabled: yes, state: reloaded

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enabled: yes, daemon_reload: yes

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enabled: yes, state: restarted

Question 15

An Ansible playbook retrieves a list of dictionaries from an API. Each dictionary has keys 'name', 'status', and 'zone'. The playbook needs to filter out entries where 'status' is 'inactive' and then extract only the 'name' values. Which THREE of the following combinations of filters and loops would achieve this?

Accepted Answer

{{ data | rejectattr('status', 'equalto', 'inactive') | map(attribute='name') | list }}. Option A is correct because `rejectattr` filters out items where `status` equals 'inactive', and then `map(attribute='name')` extracts the `name` values from the remaining dictionaries. The `| list` filter converts the result into a list. This is a standard Jinja2 filter chain in Ansible for filtering and transforming data.

Answer

{{ data | rejectattr('status', 'equalto', 'inactive') | extract('name') | list }}

Answer

{{ data | selectattr('status != inactive') | map(attribute='name') | list }}