EX294 Manage task execution and roles Practice Test 2 — 15 Questions

Question 1

An Ansible playbook includes multiple roles. The administrator wants to ensure that a specific role's tasks are executed before any other roles, even if the roles are listed in a different order in the playbook. Which approach should be used?

Accepted Answer

Use the 'pre_tasks' section in the playbook to call the role.. Option B is correct because pre_tasks run before any roles, ensuring ordering. Option A (any_errors_fatal) is for error handling, not ordering. Option C (role dependencies) can enforce order but not as straightforward as pre_tasks. Option D is not a valid parameter.

Answer

Use the 'any_errors_fatal' setting.

Answer

Use role dependencies with 'allow_duplicates: no'.

Answer

Set the 'order' parameter in the role definition.

Question 2

A developer wants to reuse a set of tasks that conditionally include other task files based on variables defined per host. Which method should be used to ensure the included tasks are evaluated per host at runtime?

Accepted Answer

include_tasks. Option C (include_tasks) is correct because it is dynamic and evaluated per host at runtime. Option A (import_tasks) is static and evaluated at parse time. Options B and D are also static imports for roles.

Answer

include_role

Answer

import_role

Answer

import_tasks

Question 3

In an Ansible playbook, the 'strategy' parameter is set to 'free'. What behavior does this strategy produce?

Accepted Answer

Each host runs through the playbook independently of other hosts.. Option A is correct. The 'free' strategy allows each host to run through the playbook independently without waiting for other hosts. Option B (linear) is the default where hosts wait at each task. Option C (serial) batches hosts. Option D is not a valid strategy.

Answer

Playbook runs tasks on hosts in batches of 1.

Answer

Strategy is deprecated and replaced by 'linear'.

Answer

All hosts run the same task at the same time, then move to the next task.

Question 4

A playbook uses roles with default variables. The administrator needs to override a default variable for a specific role only when that role is used. Which method should be used?

Accepted Answer

Pass the variable as a parameter to the role in the playbook.. Option D (role parameters) is correct because they are passed directly to the role in the playbook and override defaults. Option A (role vars) have higher priority but are static. Option B (playbook vars) apply to all roles. Option C (inventory vars) apply to all hosts/roles.

Answer

Set the variable in the inventory host_vars.

Answer

Set the variable in the role's vars/main.yml.

Answer

Set the variable in the playbook's vars section.

Question 5

An Ansible playbook fails intermittently due to a service not starting in time. The administrator wants to configure a task to retry until the service confirms it is running. Which Ansible feature should be used?

Accepted Answer

Until loop with retries and delay.. Option D (until loop with retries and delay) is correct. Option A (failed_when) only sets failure conditions, not retries. Option B (block/rescue) handles errors but doesn't retry. Option C (async) starts a task and polls later but doesn't inherently retry on failure.

Answer

Failed_when with conditional retry.

Answer

Block and rescue to catch failure.

Answer

Async with poll interval.

Question 6

Which directive in an Ansible playbook ensures that a task runs only on the first host in a batch, and results are applied to all hosts?

Accepted Answer

run_once. Option C (run_once) is correct. Option A (delegate_to) changes the host but runs on all hosts. Option B (any_errors_fatal) stops on error. Option D (throttle) limits concurrency.

Answer

any_errors_fatal

Answer

throttle

Answer

delegate_to: localhost

Question 7

An administrator wants to use an Ansible role from Ansible Galaxy but the role has a dependency on another role that is already installed. What should be done to avoid conflicts?

Accepted Answer

Set 'allow_duplicates: false' in the parent role's meta/main.yml.. Option A (set allow_duplicates: false) is correct to prevent the dependency from running twice. Option B (force install) overwrites but doesn't prevent duplicate execution. Option C (collection) is a different concept. Option D (no action) would cause the role to run twice by default.

Answer

Define the dependency as a collection.

Answer

Use 'galaxy install --force' to overwrite.

Answer

No action needed; Ansible handles duplicates automatically.

Question 8

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.. Option D (async with poll=0 and then async_status) is correct. Option A (delegate_to) runs on a different host but still blocks. Option B (separate playbook) is inefficient. Option C (throttle) limits concurrency but doesn't background.

Answer

Use 'delegate_to: localhost' and 'run_once'.

Answer

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

Answer

Use 'throttle' to limit execution.

Question 9

Which ansible.cfg setting controls the number of parallel forks for task execution?

Accepted Answer

forks. Option A (forks) is correct. Option B (parallel), Option C (max_parallel), Option D (threads) are not valid settings.

Answer

parallel

Answer

max_parallel

Answer

threads

Question 10

Which two statements are true regarding Ansible roles? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

A role can have a meta/main.yml file to define dependencies.. Options A and B are correct. Option C is false because role vars (vars/main.yml) have higher priority than playbook vars. Option D is false because roles can be used via include_role or import_role in tasks. Option E is false because handlers are scoped per role and not shared.

Answer

Role handlers are shared across all roles in the play.

Answer

Role variables in vars/main.yml can be overridden by playbook vars.

Answer

Roles can only be used in a playbook's roles section.

Question 11

An administrator is debugging a playbook that uses multiple roles and wants to limit execution to a specific set of tasks. Which three methods can be used to filter task execution? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Use the '--tags' command-line option.. Options A, B, and C are correct. Option D (--step) prompts after each task but doesn't filter. Option E (--check) performs a dry run without filtering.

Answer

Use the '--check' command-line option.

Answer

Use the '--step' command-line option.

Question 12

An Ansible playbook uses the 'block' and 'rescue' directives. Which two statements are true about this construct? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

A rescue section executes only if the block tasks fail.. Options A and C are correct. Option B is false because only one rescue section per block is allowed. Option D is false because rescue runs only on hosts where the block failed. Option E is false because blocks can be nested.

Answer

Rescue tasks are executed on all hosts in the play.

Answer

Blocks cannot be nested.

Answer

A block can have multiple rescue sections.

Question 13

Refer to the exhibit. The playbook fails with an error. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

import_tasks cannot be used with a loop.. Option A is correct. import_tasks is static and cannot be used with a loop; include_tasks should be used for dynamic inclusion.

Answer

import_tasks must be placed in a role.

Answer

The loop variable should be referenced as '{{ item }}' without quotes.

Answer

The file names must be literal without templates.

Question 14

Refer to the exhibit. The administrator observes the output and is concerned because the 'Check on async job' task shows 'finished: 0'. What does this indicate?

Accepted Answer

The async job is still running.. Option B is correct. finished: 0 means the job is still running. finished: 1 would indicate completion.

Answer

The async job was not started.

Answer

The async job failed.

Answer

The async job has completed successfully.

Question 15

Refer to the exhibit. A playbook already includes the 'common' role in its roles list. The current role depends on 'common' with 'allow_duplicates: false'. How many times will the 'common' role run?

Accepted Answer

Once.. Option A is correct. With allow_duplicates: false, the dependency will not run again if the role is already listed in the playbook.

Answer

Not at all.

Answer

Depends on the order of roles.

Answer

Twice.