EX294 Manage inventories and credentials Practice Test 5 — 15 Questions

Question 1

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' setting (e.g., sudo, su, pbrun, pfexec) that defines how privilege escalation is performed on the managed host. Option B is correct because machine credentials support SSH private key authentication, allowing Tower to connect to managed nodes without a password by supplying the key material. Option C is wrong because privilege escalation settings are configured as separate fields on the credential, not embedded in the SSH private key file itself. Option D is wrong because the username field is required for machine credentials, even when an SSH key is used, so Tower knows which remote user to authenticate as. Option E is wrong because SSH key credentials do not require a password field; the password can be left blank when using key-based authentication.

Answer

The SSH private key file automatically includes privilege escalation settings.

Answer

The username field is optional when using an SSH key.

Answer

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

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 company manages its infrastructure using Ansible Tower. There are two teams: Team Alpha manages web servers in the 'webservers' group, and Team Beta manages database servers in the 'dbservers' group. Both teams need to use the same SSH credential to connect to their respective servers. The credential is stored in Tower as 'shared_ssh_key'. Team Alpha reports that they can launch jobs against the 'webservers' group, but Team Beta gets an error when trying to launch jobs against the 'dbservers' group: 'You do not have permission to use this credential.' Both teams are members of the same organization. The inventory is a single inventory source with separate groups. The credential has been assigned to the organization. What is the most likely cause of Team Beta's issue, and what is the correct solution?

Accepted Answer

Grant Team Beta the 'Use' role on the credential 'shared_ssh_key'.. In Ansible Tower, credentials are assigned to an organization, but users or teams must be explicitly granted the 'Use' role on a credential to be able to use it in a job template. Team Alpha can use the credential because they likely have the 'Use' role, while Team Beta does not. Granting Team Beta the 'Use' role on 'shared_ssh_key' resolves the permission error.

Answer

Create a new credential with the same SSH key and assign it to Team Beta.

Answer

Assign the credential to the dbservers group in the inventory.

Answer

Move the credential from the organization to the project level.

Question 4

Drag and drop the steps to configure a systemd service to start automatically at boot in the correct order.

Accepted Answer

Create unit file, Reload systemd, Enable service, Start service, Verify status. The correct sequence for configuring a systemd service to start at boot is: first create the unit file, then reload systemd to load the new unit, next enable the service to create the necessary symlinks for automatic start, then start the service immediately, and finally verify its status. Common mistakes include omitting the reload step, enabling after starting, or performing the reload too late.

Answer

Create unit file, Enable service, Start service, Verify status

Answer

Create unit file, Reload systemd, Start service, Enable service, Verify status

Answer

Create unit file, Start service, Enable service, Reload systemd, Verify status

Question 5

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 6

Match each storage concept to its description.

Accepted Answer

LVM: Allows flexible disk management with volume groups and logical volumes. The correct matches are: LVM for flexible disk management with VGs and LVs, RAID for combining disks for redundancy/performance, Stratis for pool-based snapshots and thin provisioning, and VDO for block-level deduplication/compression. Common confusions include swapping LVM with VDO and RAID with Stratis.

Answer

LVM: Deduplicates and compresses data at the block level

Answer

RAID: Provides thin provisioning and snapshots using a pool-based model

Question 7

A systems administrator needs to use a different SSH private key for a group of hosts in an Ansible inventory. Which inventory variable should be set at the group level?

Accepted Answer

ansible_ssh_private_key_file. `ansible_ssh_private_key_file` is the Ansible inventory variable that specifies the path to the SSH private key file for a host or group. When set at the group level, it applies to all hosts in that group, allowing the administrator to use a different key for authentication without modifying individual host definitions.

Answer

ansible_ssh_key

Answer

ansible_ssh_key_file

Answer

ansible_private_key

Question 8

An Ansible administrator wants to use an encrypted vault file to store sensitive variables. Which command creates a new vault file and prompts for a password?

Accepted Answer

ansible-vault create secrets.yml. `ansible-vault create secrets.yml` creates a new encrypted vault file and immediately prompts the user to set a password, which is then used to encrypt the file. This command is specifically designed for initial creation of vault files, unlike `edit` which requires an existing file, `view` which only displays content, or `encrypt` which encrypts an existing plaintext file.

Answer

ansible-vault edit secrets.yml

Answer

ansible-vault view secrets.yml

Answer

ansible-vault encrypt secrets.yml

Question 9

A junior admin wants to remove a credential from Ansible Tower. Which role-based access control permission is required to delete a credential?

Accepted Answer

Admin. In Ansible Tower, the Admin role is the only role that grants full management permissions, including the ability to delete credentials. Lower-level roles like Read, Use, and Execute only allow viewing or using credentials, not modifying or deleting them. This aligns with Tower's RBAC hierarchy where Admin is required for destructive actions on any resource.

Answer

Read

Answer

Use

Answer

Execute

Question 10

An Ansible Tower administrator needs to create a custom credential type that uses an SSH private key and a username. Which THREE components should be defined in the credential type's configuration?

Accepted Answer

"fields": [{"id": "ssh_key_data", "type": "string", "label": "SSH Private Key", "multiline": true, "secret": true}]. The SSH private key must be defined as a field with `"type": "string"`, `"multiline": true` (since SSH keys are multi-line), and `"secret": true` (to encrypt the value in the database). This matches the standard Ansible Tower custom credential type schema for storing sensitive key material.

Answer

"fields": [{"id": "password", "type": "string", "label": "Password"}]

Answer

"fields": [{"id": "key_type", "type": "string", "label": "Key Type"}]

Question 11

Refer to the exhibit. A playbook includes this vars file and runs `systemctl restart httpd`. The playbook fails because it cannot decrypt the vault. Which of the following is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The vault password is not provided.. The error 'cannot decrypt the vault' indicates that Ansible is unable to decrypt the vault-encrypted variable file. This occurs when the vault password is not provided via `--ask-vault-pass`, `--vault-password-file`, or the `ANSIBLE_VAULT_PASSWORD_FILE` environment variable. Without the correct password, Ansible cannot decrypt the vault, causing the playbook to fail.

Answer

The vault ID is missing.

Answer

The variable db_password is not used in the playbook.

Answer

The vault file is corrupted.

Question 12

Ansible Tower is configured with a dynamic inventory source from VMware vCenter. The playbook needs to limit execution to hosts with a specific custom attribute. How should this be achieved?

Accepted Answer

Use a smart inventory filter.. Smart inventories in Ansible Tower allow you to apply a filter (using Jinja2-style syntax) against an existing inventory source, such as a dynamic VMware vCenter source, to limit execution to hosts matching specific criteria like a custom attribute. This approach avoids modifying the source script or creating duplicate inventory sources, preserving the dynamic nature of the inventory while enabling targeted host selection.

Answer

Modify the VMware inventory script to filter hosts.

Answer

Add the required hosts manually.

Answer

Create a new inventory source with a filter.

Question 13

An organization uses multiple Satellite servers for inventory. They want to combine data from all satellites into one unified inventory in Ansible Tower. Which approach is best?

Accepted Answer

Create one inventory with multiple inventory sources, each pointing to a different Satellite.. Ansible Tower allows you to create a single inventory with multiple inventory sources, each configured to sync from a different Satellite server. This approach consolidates all host data into one unified inventory without custom scripting or requiring a central aggregator, leveraging Tower's native multi-source inventory capabilities.

Answer

Use a custom script to fetch and merge data from all Satellites into a single inventory source.

Answer

Create a smart inventory that includes all satellites.

Answer

Use a single Satellite server that aggregates data from all other Satellites.

Question 14

Which THREE considerations are important when using dynamic inventories in Ansible Tower?

Accepted Answer

Dynamic inventory groups can be nested under static groups.. Ansible Tower allows dynamic inventory groups to be nested under static groups, enabling a hybrid inventory structure where cloud-sourced hosts can be organized within manually defined static groups for more flexible automation targeting. This is supported by the Tower inventory model, which merges static and dynamic sources into a unified group hierarchy.

Answer

Each inventory source can be assigned to multiple inventories.

Answer

Custom inventory scripts must be placed in the Tower home directory.

Question 15

A sysadmin receives an error when running a job template: 'ERROR! the role 'common' was not found in the specified roles path'. The role exists in a source control repository referenced in the project. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The project's source control sync failed, so the roles directory is empty. The error indicates that Ansible cannot find the 'common' role in the specified roles path. Since the role exists in the source control repository referenced by the project, the most likely cause is that the project's source control sync failed, leaving the roles directory empty or incomplete. Without a successful sync, the role files are not present on the Ansible control node, causing the job template execution to fail.

Answer

The inventory does not include the target hosts

Answer

The job template is configured with an incorrect schedule

Answer

The credential used does not have access to the source control repository