CV0-004 Deployment Practice Question
A cloud engineer is writing a Terraform configuration to deploy an AWS EC2 instance. The engineer wants to pass the AMI ID and instance type into the configuration at runtime without hardcoding them. Which Terraform feature should be used?
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
✓
Variables
Variables in Terraform allow you to define parameters that can be supplied at runtime, making configurations reusable and flexible.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Locals
Why it's wrong here
Locals only assign names to expressions evaluated within the module, so runtime values supplied by the operator cannot flow in without editing the code. They suit computed intermediate values, such as a derived naming prefix, not externally supplied AMI IDs or instance types.
- ✗
Outputs
Why it's wrong here
Outputs expose values after apply, such as the instance ID, and cannot supply inputs to resources. They tempt for sharing results between configurations, but runtime parameterisation of the AMI ID and instance type requires input variables declared with variable blocks.
- ✓
Variables
Why this is correct
Input variables let the configuration accept the AMI ID and instance type at runtime via CLI flags, variable files, or environment variables, rather than hardcoding values. This satisfies the requirement to pass values in without editing the configuration.
- ✗
Data sources
Why it's wrong here
Data sources query existing provider resources, such as the latest Amazon Linux AMI, rather than accepting operator-supplied values at runtime. They fit dynamic lookups of infrastructure state, not passing arbitrary AMI IDs and instance types chosen per deployment.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This CV0-004 question is part of Courseiva's 834-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CV0-004 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CV0-004 exam.