EX294 Manage inventories and credentials Practice Question
A team uses Ansible Automation Controller with multiple organizations. Each organization has its own set of machines that require different SSH keys. The administrator wants to ensure that users from one organization cannot use credentials from another organization. What is the best way to achieve this isolation?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse team-based access control with organization-level isolation, assuming that restricting credentials to a team within an organization provides cross-organization security, but teams do not span organizations and cannot prevent access from users in other organizations.
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
✓
Create credentials within each organization and assign organization-level access
In Ansible Automation Controller, credentials are scoped to organizations. By creating credentials within each organization and assigning organization-level access, the administrator ensures that credentials are only visible and usable by members of that organization. This leverages the built-in role-based access control (RBAC) that isolates resources by organization, preventing cross-organization credential access.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Create credentials within each organization and assign organization-level access
Why this is correct
Credentials scoped to an organisation are only visible to members of that organisation, so users cannot select or reference another organisation's SSH keys. This satisfies the stem's isolation constraint, since Ansible Automation Controller enforces credential ownership boundaries at the organisation level rather than through playbook logic or host grouping.
- ✗
Store credentials in separate projects and restrict project access
Why it's wrong here
Storing credentials in projects does not isolate them: projects hold playbooks and roles, not credential objects, so organisation-scoped credential separation is never enforced. It tempts because project-level role-based access control genuinely restricts who may run which content — the right control when the requirement is limiting playbook execution, not segregating SSH keys between organisations.
- ✗
Set 'Use' permission on credentials only for specific users
Why it's wrong here
Setting 'Use' permissions per user does not create organisation boundaries; credentials remain visible within the shared Controller instance, so cross-organisation assignment is still possible. It suits restricting a single credential to named individuals inside one organisation. The requirement is organisation-scoped credential isolation, which Ansible Automation Controller enforces by assigning credentials to organisations and their teams.
- ✗
Place users in different teams and restrict credential access by team
Why it's wrong here
Team membership alone does not isolate credentials; Automation Controller scopes credentials to organisations, and cross-organisation access is prevented by assigning credentials at the organisation level, not by teams. It is tempting because teams group users for role-based access, and would be correct for delegating job permissions within one organisation.
Quick reference
Access Control Model Comparison
| Model | Acronym | Who Controls Access? | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discretionary Access Control | DAC | Resource owner | Small teams, file shares |
| Mandatory Access Control | MAC | System / security labels | Classified govt / military |
| Role-Based Access Control | RBAC | Administrator (via roles) | Enterprise environments |
| Attribute-Based Access Control | ABAC | Policy engine (user + resource attributes) | Fine-grained, dynamic policies |
| Rule-Based Access Control | RuBAC | System rules / ACLs | Firewall rules, network ACLs |
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.