EX294 Practice Test 34 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Which THREE plugins are used for data transformation in Ansible?

Accepted Answer

lookup. Lookup plugins (B) are used to access external data sources (e.g., files, databases, environment variables) and bring that data into Ansible for transformation or use in tasks. Filter plugins (C) are specifically designed to manipulate and transform data within a playbook, such as converting strings, formatting JSON, or performing mathematical operations. Cache plugins (E) store and retrieve cached data (e.g., facts) to improve performance, which involves data transformation for serialization/deserialization.

Answer

connection

Answer

callback

Question 2

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 }}. 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.

Answer

Answer

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Question 3

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

Accepted Answer

Using the 'when' conditional. 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.

Answer

Using 'register' to store task output

Answer

Using the 'with_items' loop

Question 4

Refer to the exhibit. The administrator runs the playbook with the 'deploy' tag, but all tasks are skipped. What is the most likely reason?

Accepted Answer

The --tags option filters tasks; only tasks with the 'deploy' tag run, but none of the role tasks have that tag.. The playbook site.yml sets tags: ['deploy'] at the play level. When running with --tags 'deploy', only tasks that have the 'deploy' tag (or no tags) would run. However, all tasks in the role have specific tags (packages, service, database), and none have the 'deploy' tag. Tasks with tags that do not match the specified tag are skipped. To fix, either remove tags from the play or add the 'deploy' tag to the roles tasks.

Answer

The role 'database' is not found in the roles_path.

Answer

The inventory host db1.example.com is not in the dbservers group.

Answer

The tags in the role tasks conflict with the play tags, causing a syntax error.

Question 5

A playbook includes a long-running task that should not block the rest of the playbook. The administrator wants to start the task and later check its status. Which method should be used?

Accepted Answer

Use the 'async' keyword with 'poll: 0' and then use async_status module.. Setting `poll: 0` with the `async` keyword launches the task in the background without waiting for it to complete, and the `async_status` module can then be used later to check the task's status by referencing its job ID. This allows the playbook to continue executing other tasks while the long-running task runs asynchronously.

Answer

Use 'delegate_to: localhost' and 'run_once'.

Answer

Use a separate playbook invoked with 'ansible-playbook' via command module.

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Use 'throttle' to limit execution.

Question 6

Given `{{ ['1', '2', '3'] | map('int') | list }}`, what is the result?

Accepted Answer

`[1, 2, 3]`. The `map('int')` filter in Ansible/Jinja2 converts each string element in the list to an integer. The `list` filter then materializes the generator into a list, resulting in `[1, 2, 3]`. Option B is correct because this is the standard behavior of the `map` filter with the `int` function.

Answer

An error because 'int' is not a valid filter name.

Answer

`['1', '2', '3']` as integers, but stored as strings.

Answer

`['1', '2', '3']`

Question 7

Given the inventory above, which user will Ansible use when connecting to 'web2'?

Accepted Answer

deploy. The group vars for webservers set ansible_user=deploy. Option A is wrong because host vars are not set. Option B is wrong because root is default only if not set. Option D is wrong because dbadmin is for dbservers.

Answer

dbadmin

Answer

The system default user from ansible.cfg.

Answer

root

Question 8

An Ansible Engineer is planning a rolling update for a web application deployed across 10 nodes. The playbook uses the 'delegate_to' directive to manage load balancer health checks. Which of the following best describes the recommended approach to minimize downtime?

Accepted Answer

Use 'serial: 1' and delegate load balancer disable/enable tasks to localhost, ensuring each node is taken out of rotation before updating.. Using 'serial: 1' ensures that only one node is updated at a time, and delegating load balancer disable/enable tasks to localhost (or the Ansible control node) allows the playbook to interact with the load balancer API to remove the node from the pool before the update and re-add it after. This minimizes downtime by ensuring traffic is not sent to a node being updated, while other nodes continue serving requests.

Answer

Run the update playbook with 'serial: 10' to update all nodes at once, then run a separate playbook to update the load balancer.

Answer

Run the update on each node manually using 'ansible-playbook --limit' and skip load balancer management to save time.

Answer

Use 'strategy: free' to allow nodes to update independently without controlling the load balancer.

Question 9

A playbook needs to generate a default value for a variable if it is undefined or empty. Which filter with a default value should be used?

Accepted Answer

my_var | default('fallback'). The `default` filter in Ansible is specifically designed to provide a fallback value when a variable is undefined or evaluates to an empty string (with the `omit` parameter). It is the idiomatic way to handle missing or empty variables in Jinja2 templates within Ansible playbooks, ensuring idempotency and avoiding undefined variable errors.

Answer

my_var | fail('fallback')

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my_var | ternary('fallback', my_var)

Answer

my_var | coalesce('fallback')

Question 10

You manage an Ansible Tower instance that has multiple inventories synced from different sources (static, dynamic cloud, and satellite). Recently, a job template that uses an inventory synced from Red Hat Satellite fails with 'No hosts matched' even though hosts exist in Satellite. The inventory sync job runs successfully and shows hosts populated in Tower. The job template uses a limit field set to '*' and there are no tags or other filters. The playbook is simple: 'hosts: all'. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The inventory source is configured to use 'scraped from project' instead of 'satellite'.. If the inventory source is configured to use 'scraped from project' instead of 'satellite', the inventory will not contain hosts from Satellite. Although the sync runs successfully, it imports hosts from a project file, not from Satellite. Consequently, the job template's playbook with 'hosts: all' will find no hosts from Satellite, resulting in 'No hosts matched'. To resolve, configure the inventory source to 'Red Hat Satellite' with the correct credential and organization.

Answer

The inventory sync job is not scheduled to run before the job template.

Answer

The groups imported from Satellite are nested and the job template's limit does not include the parent group.

Answer

The credential used for Satellite sync is expired.

Question 11

A team is automating server configuration using Ansible. They have a custom role 'security' that updates firewall and SSH settings. They notice that when they apply the role to multiple hosts, the SSH configuration changes sometimes fail because the firewall blocks the SSH port before the SSH configuration is updated. They need to ensure that SSH configuration is updated first, then firewall rules are applied. They have defined both tasks in the same role. What should they do?

Accepted Answer

Split the role into two separate roles and use role dependencies to enforce order.. Role dependencies allow you to define that one role must be executed before another. By splitting the 'security' role into separate roles for SSH and firewall, and setting the firewall role to depend on the SSH role, Ansible will always execute the SSH role first, ensuring the SSH configuration is updated before firewall rules are applied. This enforces order at the role level, which is the correct approach when tasks within a single role cannot be reordered independently.

Answer

Use tags to control the sequence of tasks.

Answer

Use pre_tasks for SSH and post_tasks for firewall in the playbook.

Answer

Use the 'order' directive in the playbook to specify task order within the role.

Question 12

Which TWO statements about Ansible content collections are correct?

Accepted Answer

Collections can be distributed via Automation Hub or Galaxy.. Ansible content collections can be distributed via either Red Hat Automation Hub (for certified collections) or Ansible Galaxy (for community collections). This dual distribution model allows organizations to use curated, supported content from Automation Hub while also leveraging community-contributed collections from Galaxy.

Answer

Collections can be installed only from Galaxy.

Answer

The collection name must be a single word without namespace.

Answer

A collection can contain only roles and playbooks.

Question 13

Refer to the exhibit. An Ansible playbook task fails with 'Missing sudo password'. The playbook runs against a server where the remote user 'admin' has sudo privileges but requires a password. Which configuration change would resolve this issue?

Accepted Answer

Set ansible_become_password or use the -K flag when running the playbook.. The error 'Missing sudo password' occurs because Ansible needs the sudo password for the remote user. Option A provides the password either by setting ansible_become_password in inventory or using the -K flag to prompt for it. Option B is incorrect because switching to su does not solve the password issue and is unnecessary. Option C is incorrect because removing become_user doesn't address the password requirement. Option D is incorrect because changing become_user to root doesn't provide the needed password.

Answer

Change become_method to su to avoid password prompts.

Answer

Remove the become_user line and rely on default root.

Answer

Change become_user to root.

Question 14

A playbook uses the 'uri' module to query an API and registers the result. The API returns a JSON with a nested field 'data.users[0].name'. Which expression correctly extracts that name?

Accepted Answer

{{ result | json_query("data.users[0].name") }}. Options B and D are both correct because the `json_query` filter accepts JMESPath queries quoted with either single or double quotes. Both `'data.users[0].name'` and `"data.users[0].name"` are syntactically valid in Ansible Jinja2 expressions. The `uri` module parses JSON response into a dictionary, so `result` is the top-level object, and the JMESPath query correctly extracts the nested field. Option C is incorrect because it uses native Jinja2 dot notation, which would only work if `result` were already a deeply nested dictionary, but the registered object may still contain headers and other HTTP metadata. Option A is incorrect because JMESPath uses zero-based index without the dot notation, i.e., `users[0]`, not `users.0`.

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Question 15

A developer wrote a custom filter plugin in a Python file `my_filters.py` and placed it in the directory `./filter_plugins/`. The playbook fails with 'ERROR! no filter named 'my_custom_filter''. The playbook is located in `/home/user/project/playbook.yml`. The `ansible.cfg` file in the same directory does not set `filter_plugins`. Which is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The plugin file must be a Python module with a class named `FilterModule` and the filter function must be listed in the `filters` method. Ansible requires custom filter plugins to be Python modules that define a class named `FilterModule` with a `filters()` method returning a dictionary mapping filter names to their implementing functions. Without this structure, Ansible cannot discover or register the filter, causing the 'no filter named' error.

Answer

The filter file must be named `__init__.py`

Answer

The filter function must be imported in the playbook via `filter_plugins: my_filters`

Answer

The filter function name does not match the class name in the plugin