hardMultiple Choice
200-901 Practice Question: A DevOps team is automating network configuration…
A DevOps team is automating network configuration using Ansible. They want to push a new VLAN configuration to a switch but ensure that only one switch is updated at a time to avoid network disruption. Which Ansible strategy or feature should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse `forks` (which controls task-level parallelism) with `serial` (which controls host-level batching), or mistakenly think `throttle` or `strategy: free` can achieve the same serialization effect.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Set 'serial: 1' in the playbook.
Setting `serial: 1` in an Ansible playbook forces the play to execute against only one host at a time, even if the play targets multiple switches. This ensures that VLAN configuration is pushed to exactly one switch before moving to the next, preventing network disruption from simultaneous changes.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use 'strategy: free' to manage execution order.
Why it's wrong here
The free strategy lets each host proceed independently as tasks finish, so switches update in unpredictable order. It is tempting because it speeds execution; that would be correct for maximising throughput on independent hosts, not for enforcing sequential single-switch updates.
- ✗
Set 'forks: 1' in the playbook.
Why it's wrong here
Forks controls parallel process count, not task batching per host, so all switches still receive the VLAN change concurrently. It is tempting because it limits concurrency generally; that would be correct for reducing overall parallelism, not for serialising updates across hosts.
- ✗
Use 'throttle: 1' on each task.
Why it's wrong here
Throttle limits concurrent task executions across all hosts, but does not guarantee one switch completes before the next begins. It is tempting because it caps parallelism; that would be correct for rate-limiting task concurrency, not for strictly serialising host-by-host rollout.
- ✓
Set 'serial: 1' in the playbook.
Why this is correct
The serial keyword controls how many hosts Ansible executes per play iteration. Setting serial: 1 runs the play against one switch at a time, completing each before starting the next, which prevents simultaneous VLAN changes from disrupting the network.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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