EX294 Manage inventories and credentials Practice Question
A Red Hat Certified Engineer is managing an Ansible inventory that includes a mix of Linux and network devices. The network devices are running Cisco IOS and require the network_cli connection plugin. The engineer needs to specify the username and password for these devices in the inventory. Which inventory variables should be used to provide the credentials for the network devices?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that network devices require special variables like ansible_network_user, when in fact they use the standard ansible_user and ansible_password.
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
✓
ansible_user and ansible_password
The network_cli connection plugin relies on ansible_user and ansible_password for authentication. These variables are set in the inventory or group_vars and are used by the plugin to establish connections to network devices, ensuring proper credential management.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
ansible_winrm_user and ansible_winrm_password
Why it's wrong here
ansible_winrm_user and ansible_winrm_password are used for Windows hosts with the winrm connection plugin. They are not applicable to network devices using network_cli. Using these would not provide credentials for Cisco IOS devices and would cause connection failures.
- ✓
ansible_user and ansible_password
Why this is correct
For network devices using the network_cli connection plugin, Ansible uses the standard ansible_user and ansible_password variables to authenticate. These can be set in the inventory file, group_vars, or host_vars. This allows the engineer to define credentials for the network devices without modifying the playbook.
- ✗
ansible_ssh_user and ansible_ssh_pass
Why it's wrong here
ansible_ssh_user and ansible_ssh_pass are specific to the SSH connection plugin. While network_cli may use SSH under the hood, it does not read these variables. Instead, it uses ansible_user and ansible_password. Using the SSH-specific variables would result in authentication failures for network devices.
- ✗
ansible_network_user and ansible_network_password
Why it's wrong here
ansible_network_user and ansible_network_password are not valid Ansible variables. There is no such naming convention for network credentials. Ansible uses generic connection variables like ansible_user and ansible_password regardless of the connection plugin, so these would be ignored.
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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 Red Hat exam blueprint
This EX294 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Red Hat 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 EX294 exam.