EX294 Practice Test 22 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Match each Linux file system path to its typical content.

Accepted Answer

/etc: Configuration files for the system and applications. In Red Hat Enterprise Linux, standard directories follow the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS). /etc holds configuration files, /home stores user home directories, and /boot contains boot loader files and kernel images. Common confusions include mixing /var (variable data like logs) with /tmp (temporary files) and associating log files incorrectly with /tmp.

Answer

/var: Temporary files

Answer

/tmp: Log files

Question 2

Refer to the exhibit. A user runs a playbook that creates hosts and then attempts to use a constructed inventory plugin. However, the constructed inventory does not group hosts by OS distribution. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The constructed inventory runs before add_host tasks, so the hosts are not yet created.. The constructed inventory plugin processes inventory sources and applies Jinja2 conditions to group hosts based on variables. However, when used in a playbook alongside the `add_host` module, the constructed inventory is evaluated at the start of the play, before any tasks (including `add_host`) run. Therefore, hosts added dynamically via `add_host` do not exist when the constructed plugin attempts to group them, causing the groups to be empty. Option C correctly identifies this ordering issue.

Answer

The constructed plugin cannot be used with the add_host module.

Answer

The 'strict: false' setting ignores missing variables, causing the group to be empty.

Answer

The variable ansible_distribution is not defined because gather_facts is set to no.

Question 3

A team is migrating from static inventory to dynamic inventory using a custom script. The script returns JSON with a group 'webservers' containing hosts. However, the playbook targeting 'webservers' fails with 'no hosts matched'. Which filter or plugin issue is most likely?

Accepted Answer

The script output is missing the '_meta' key with 'hostvars'.. Dynamic inventory scripts must include a `_meta` key with `hostvars` in their JSON output for Ansible to properly resolve host variables and match hosts to groups. Without `_meta`, Ansible cannot associate host-specific variables (like `ansible_host`) with the hosts listed under `webservers`, causing the playbook to see no matched hosts even though the group exists.

Answer

The playbook uses 'hosts: all' but should use 'hosts: webservers'.

Answer

The script is not executable.

Answer

The 'ansible_host' variable is not set in hostvars.

Question 4

A playbook uses an Ansible collection that includes a custom module. The module's documentation is missing. What is the best way to locate the module's source code?

Accepted Answer

Navigate to the collection's plugin directory on the control node.. The source code for custom modules in an Ansible collection is located in the collection's plugin directory on the control node. Option A is not the best choice because `ansible-doc` relies on documentation strings; if the module's documentation is missing, it may not provide useful information. Option B is incorrect because the Ansible Galaxy website hosts collections but does not necessarily provide direct access to source code without documentation. Option D is wrong because the roles directory contains roles, not module plugins.

Answer

Run ansible-doc <module name>.

Answer

Search the Ansible Galaxy website.

Answer

Look in the roles directory.

Question 5

An organization is designing a high-availability Automation Platform deployment. Which TWO practices are essential for achieving high availability?

Accepted Answer

Deploy multiple automation controllers behind a load balancer.. Deploying multiple automation controllers behind a load balancer distributes workload and provides failover: if one controller fails, the load balancer redirects traffic to healthy nodes, ensuring continuous job execution and API availability. This is a core high-availability pattern for Ansible Automation Platform, as the controllers are stateless and can share the same database and project storage.

Answer

Use a single instance of PostgreSQL on the controller node.

Answer

Installation on a single powerful node.

Answer

Store all secrets in the Automation Platform vault.

Question 6

Refer to the exhibit. Which of the following is the most likely cause of this error?

Accepted Answer

The 'ask_become_pass' is set to 'false' and no become password is provided.. The error message indicates that Ansible is unable to authenticate with the remote host, which occurs when `ask_become_pass` is set to `false` (or defaults to `false` in some configurations) and no become password is provided via `--ask-become-pass` or an `ansible_become_password` variable. Without a password, the privilege escalation attempt fails, resulting in a permission denied error.

Answer

The playbook is running without '--become' flag.

Answer

The 'become_method' is set to 'su' instead of 'sudo'.

Answer

The 'ansible_become_password' was provided but incorrect.

Answer

The remote user is not in the sudoers file.

Question 7

An execution environment fails to start because the container image is missing the ansible-runner package. Which step in the build process should have included it?

Accepted Answer

The base image selection in execution-environment.yml. The base image specified in the `execution-environment.yml` file determines the foundational operating system and packages for the execution environment. If the base image lacks `ansible-runner`, the environment will fail to start, as `ansible-runner` is essential for orchestrating playbook execution. The base image selection is the first step in the build process where this dependency must be satisfied.

Answer

The ansible-runner role in the builder definition

Answer

The requirement to install ansible-runner via pip in the containerfile

Answer

The additional_dependencies section in execution-environment.yml

Question 8

An administrator wants to run a playbook that executes tasks in parallel across multiple hosts but wants to limit the number of simultaneous hosts to 5. Which directive should be set?

Accepted Answer

serial. The `serial` directive in Ansible controls the number of hosts that execute a play at a time, allowing you to limit concurrency. Setting `serial: 5` ensures that only 5 hosts run tasks simultaneously, with the playbook completing in batches of 5 until all hosts are processed.

Answer

poll

Answer

throttle

Answer

forks

Question 9

Refer to the exhibit. When the playbook runs on target1, which value will nginx_port have in the role?

Accepted Answer

9090 (from host vars). Ansible variable precedence dictates that host variables (in this case, from host_vars) override role defaults, role vars, and playbook vars. Since nginx_port is defined in host_vars for target1 with value 9090, that value takes highest precedence among the listed sources, so the role will use 9090.

Answer

443 (from playbook vars)

Answer

8080 (from vars/main.yml)

Answer

80 (from defaults/main.yml)

Question 10

Which two conditions could prevent an automation controller job from starting? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

The project sync is pending. Options B and C are correct. A pending project sync means the project source is not yet synchronized, so the job template cannot access the required project files, preventing the job from starting. A disabled job template explicitly prevents it from being launched. Option A is incorrect: an empty inventory source does not block job start; the job will start and then fail due to no hosts. Option D is incorrect: a system auditor can still launch jobs if they have the appropriate permissions. Option E is incorrect: using the 'latest' image tag is allowed and does not prevent the job from starting.

Answer

The inventory source is empty

Answer

The user is a system auditor

Answer

The execution environment image tag is 'latest'

Question 11

An Ansible playbook needs to extract the domain name from a list of email addresses stored in variable `emails`. The domain appears after the '@' symbol. Which filter should be used?

Accepted Answer

regex_replace. The `regex_replace` filter can extract the domain by matching the pattern `.*@(.*)` and replacing with `\1`, isolating the part after '@'. This is the correct approach because Ansible's Jinja2 filters include `regex_replace` for pattern-based string extraction, while `split` would require additional steps to isolate the domain.

Answer

split

Answer

urldecode

Answer

base64

Question 12

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.. 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.

Answer

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

Answer

Always use serial execution to avoid race conditions.

Answer

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

Question 13

A team is configuring an inventory to manage Windows hosts via Ansible. Which TWO inventory variables must be defined for each host?

Accepted Answer

ansible_host. `ansible_host` defines the IP address or FQDN that Ansible uses to connect to the managed host. For Windows hosts, this is essential because Ansible cannot rely on the inventory hostname alone (which may be a short name or not resolvable). Option E is correct because `ansible_connection` must be set to `winrm` for Windows hosts; without it, Ansible defaults to SSH, which will fail against Windows targets.

Answer

ansible_shell_type

Answer

ansible_user

Answer

ansible_winrm_server_cert_validation

Question 14

Which TWO of the following are advantages of using 'ansible-pull' over 'ansible-playbook'?

Accepted Answer

It can be used in environments where a central control node is not desired.. Ansible-pull operates in a pull-based model where each managed node independently retrieves and executes playbooks from a central repository (e.g., a Git server). This eliminates the need for a persistent central control node, making it ideal for environments where a dedicated Ansible control node is not desired or feasible, such as in large-scale or decentralized deployments.

Answer

It eliminates the need for an inventory file.

Answer

It supports a different syntax for playbooks that is more efficient.

Answer

It reduces load on the control node because it runs locally on each node.

Question 15

An automation team wants to securely store SSH private keys for use in playbooks. Which Ansible feature should they use?

Accepted Answer

Ansible Vault. Ansible Vault is the correct feature for securely storing SSH private keys because it encrypts sensitive data at rest using AES-256, allowing keys to be decrypted at runtime when a vault password or key is provided. This enables playbooks to reference encrypted SSH key files without exposing plaintext credentials in version control or on disk.

Answer

Ansible Collections

Answer

Ansible Fact Cache

Answer

Ansible Galaxy