CV0-004 Deployment Practice Question
A DevOps team uses Ansible to automate cloud resource provisioning. Which of the following best describes Ansible's architecture?
⚠ Common exam trap
CV0-004 often tests the distinction between agentless tools (Ansible) and agent-based tools (Puppet, Chef, SaltStack) — candidates confuse Ansible's YAML declarative syntax with Terraform's declarative IaC model.
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
✓
It is agentless and uses SSH or WinRM to execute tasks.
Ansible is agentless and uses SSH (for Linux/Unix) or WinRM (for Windows) to execute tasks on managed nodes. The control node pushes modules to target hosts over these standard protocols, executes them, and removes them — no persistent agent or daemon is required on managed nodes.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
It uses a declarative language similar to Terraform.
Why it's wrong here
Ansible is procedural/imperative, not declarative like Terraform.
- ✗
It uses a master-server architecture with a central controller.
Why it's wrong here
Ansible runs agentless from any control node over SSH, with no central master or persistent controller daemon. The master-server description tempts because configuration management platforms such as Puppet and Chef use that model, but Ansible pushes modules on demand and keeps no server-side registry of managed nodes.
- ✗
It requires an agent installed on each managed node.
Why it's wrong here
Ansible is agentless: it connects over SSH or WinRM and pushes modules at runtime, so no software is installed on managed nodes. Requiring agents tempts because Puppet and Chef do install agents, but Ansible's agentless push design is precisely what distinguishes it from those architectures.
- ✓
It is agentless and uses SSH or WinRM to execute tasks.
Why this is correct
Ansible pushes modules over SSH on Linux and WinRM on Windows, so managed hosts need no installed agent or persistent daemon. This agentless push model is the architectural axis distinguishing it from agent-based configuration tools such as Puppet or Chef.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 834 original CV0-004 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
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.