EX294 Practice Test 23 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A role contains a handler. The playbook includes the role and also defines a task that notifies the same handler. When the playbook runs, the handler executes only once. Which of the following best explains this behavior?

Accepted Answer

handlers are deduplicated by name; multiple notifications trigger the handler only once per play. Option A is correct because Ansible deduplicates notifications by handler name. Option B is false (handler runs once regardless). Options C and D are incorrect.

Answer

the handler was already triggered by the role and is skipped for the play task

Answer

the role's handler uses 'listen' which overrides notifications

Answer

the playbook's task notifies a different handler with the same name

Question 2

Refer to the exhibit. An Ansible playbook targeting 'production' hosts fails with 'deploy_user is undefined'. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

the variable 'deploy_user' is not defined in any group or host vars. Option A is correct because 'deploy_user' is not defined anywhere in the inventory shown. Options B, C, D are plausible but not directly supported by the exhibit.

Answer

the playbook uses a different group name in the play

Answer

the inventory file is missing the host entries

Answer

the variable is defined but overridden by a higher precedence variable

Question 3

Which TWO statements about Ansible roles are correct?

Accepted Answer

Ansible roles follow a predefined directory structure.. Options A and C are correct. A: Roles can be shared via Ansible Galaxy. C: The directory structure is defined by Ansible. B is wrong because roles do not enforce a specific order; tasks run in order of main.yml. D is wrong because roles can have dependencies defined in meta. E is wrong because roles can be used multiple times in a play.

Answer

Roles enforce an execution order for tasks based on file naming.

Answer

A role can only be included once in a playbook.

Answer

Roles cannot have dependencies on other roles.

Question 4

A playbook uses serial: 2 and sets any_errors_fatal: true. The first batch of 2 hosts both fail. What happens?

Accepted Answer

The playbook aborts and no further batches run.. Option A is correct because any_errors_fatal causes the play to abort on any failure when serial is used. Option B is wrong because fatal errors halt execution. Option C is wrong because there is no automatic retry. Option D is wrong because it marks as unreachable but still aborts.

Answer

The playbook continues with the next batch.

Answer

The playbook marks the batch as unreachable and continues.

Answer

The playbook retries the failed hosts.

Question 5

An administrator needs to apply a set of firewall rules to multiple servers. They have created a playbook that uses the firewalld module. When running the playbook, they receive 'ERROR! module not found: firewalld'. The control node has the module available locally. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The ansible.posix collection is not installed on the control node.. Option D is correct because firewalld is part of the ansible.posix collection, which must be installed. Option A is not the cause because modules run on the control node. Option B is plausible but less likely if the collection is missing. Option C is wrong because the module name is correct.

Answer

The playbook uses the wrong module name.

Answer

The ansible.cfg has a wrong module path.

Answer

The module is not installed on the target nodes.

Question 6

An Ansible playbook uses the 'constructed' inventory plugin with 'keyed_groups' to create groups based on 'ansible_distribution'. Despite correct configuration, hosts are not assigned to the expected groups. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

the 'strict' option is set to 'yes' and the required facts are not gathered. Option C is correct because 'strict: yes' causes plugin to fail on undefined variables; if facts are not gathered, 'ansible_distribution' is undefined. Options A, B, D are plausible but less likely.

Answer

the 'keyed_groups' syntax uses invalid Jinja2 expressions

Answer

the inventory file is incorrectly formatted

Answer

the plugin is not enabled in ansible.cfg

Question 7

An Ansible playbook uses the lineinfile module to ensure a specific line is present in a configuration file. However, after running the playbook multiple times, the line is duplicated each time. Which option best explains this behavior?

Accepted Answer

The lineinfile module is missing the regexp parameter, so it adds the line every run.. Option B is correct because without specifying a regexp, lineinfile adds the line every time, causing duplicates. Option A is wrong because backup does not affect duplication. Option C is wrong because state=present is the default and doesn't prevent duplicates. Option D is wrong because the insertafter parameter would place line after first match, but without regexp it still adds each run.

Answer

The state parameter is set to 'append' instead of 'present'.

Answer

The backup parameter is not set, causing file corruption.

Answer

The insertafter parameter is incorrectly set to EOF, causing multiple adds.

Question 8

Which TWO conditions are necessary for the 'local_action' directive to work as intended?

Accepted Answer

The task must be executed on the Ansible control node.. Options B and D are correct. B: The task must be run on the control node, so delegation is implied. D: local_action uses the local connection plugin, which typically uses the 'local' connection, not SSH. A is wrong because local_action does not require become. C is wrong because inventory is not required for local_action. E is wrong because there is no 'local' module; it's a directive.

Answer

The inventory must contain an entry for the control node.

Answer

The task must have privilege escalation (become) enabled.

Answer

The 'local_action' module must be used instead of 'action'.

Question 9

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.. Option D is correct because the source code is in the collection's plugin directory on the control node. Option A may not find it if it's local. Option B may not show source without docs. Option C is wrong because roles are separate.

Answer

Run ansible-doc <module name>.

Answer

Search the Ansible Galaxy website.

Answer

Look in the roles directory.

Question 10

A playbook must execute cleanup tasks after a block of tasks, both on success and failure. Which two of the following should be used within the block to achieve this?

Accepted Answer

always. The block + always pattern ensures that a set of tasks is always executed regardless of the success or failure of tasks in the block. The block keyword groups tasks, and the always keyword defines tasks that run unconditionally. Rescue is for error handling but not required for cleanup. Ignore_errors prevents failure but does not guarantee cleanup. Failed_when customizes failure conditions.

Answer

ignore_errors

Answer

rescue

Answer

failed_when

Question 11

An Ansible playbook uses a 'block' to group multiple tasks and includes a 'rescue' section. If a task inside the block fails, what will happen?

Accepted Answer

the rescue section runs, and the playbook continues with tasks after the block. Option D is correct because 'rescue' handles failures within the block. Option A is false (block does not run on remote). Options B and C are incorrect.

Answer

the rescue section runs and then the playbook resumes with the next task after the block

Answer

the block is re-executed from the beginning

Answer

the playbook stops immediately

Question 12

An automation engineer wants to run a playbook only on hosts that belong to both the 'webservers' group and the 'production' group. Which inventory grouping method achieves this?

Accepted Answer

webservers:&production. Option C is correct because ansible supports intersecting group patterns with ':&'. Option A is wrong because it would union the groups. Option B is wrong because it would exclude. Option D is wrong because it is invalid syntax.

Answer

webservers:production

Answer

webservers:!production

Answer

webservers+,production

Question 13

Which THREE factors are essential for achieving idempotent behavior in Ansible plays?

Accepted Answer

Task execution order should not affect the final state.. Options A, C, and D are correct. A: Modules should check current state before making changes. C: Tasks should not rely on the order of execution across hosts. D: Avoid using 'ignore_errors' carelessly as it can mask failures and prevent idempotency. B is wrong because loops can be idempotent if designed correctly. E is wrong because register variables can be used idempotently.

Answer

Variables registered from previous tasks should be avoided.

Answer

Loops must be avoided because they always cause changes.

Question 14

An administrator wants to run a playbook with a different user for a specific host. Which variable should be set?

Accepted Answer

ansible_user. Option A is correct because ansible_user sets the SSH user for a host. Option B is a deprecated synonym. Option C is for user ID on target. Option D is a deprecated alternative.

Answer

ansible_user_id

Answer

ansible_ssh_user

Answer

ansible_remote_user

Question 15

An Ansible playbook sets a variable with a dictionary value in the play's vars and also in group_vars/all. When the play runs, the dictionary in group_vars completely replaces the one in play vars. What is the most likely reason?

Accepted Answer

Ansible's default variable precedence uses replacement, not merging, for dictionaries. Option A is correct because Ansible does not merge dictionaries by default; a variable assignment overwrites entirely. Option B is false (hash_behaviour default is replace). Options C and D are incorrect.

Answer

the playbook uses 'set_fact' which overrides all other vars

Answer

the play vars dictionary is defined with incorrect YAML syntax

Answer

the group_vars file uses a different variable name