EX294 Deploy Ansible Automation Platform Practice Question
An organization is designing a high-availability Automation Platform deployment. Which TWO practices are essential for achieving high availability?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse 'high availability' with 'performance scaling' or 'security hardening', leading them to select a single powerful node (Option B) or vault storage (Option D) instead of recognizing that redundancy of both controllers and the database is required.
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
✓
Deploy multiple automation controllers behind a load balancer.
Option C is correct because deploying multiple automation controllers behind a load balancer eliminates a single point of failure for the control plane, allowing traffic to be redistributed if one controller node becomes unavailable, which is fundamental to high availability. Option E is correct because using an external PostgreSQL database with replication ensures the shared data layer (job history, credentials metadata, inventories, etc.) remains available even if a database node fails, and externalizing it also decouples database lifecycle from controller nodes. Option A is incorrect because a single PostgreSQL instance on the controller node creates a single point of failure and couples the database to that node, undermining HA. Option B is incorrect because consolidating everything on one powerful node still leaves a single point of failure regardless of performance. Option D is incorrect because storing secrets in the Automation Platform vault is a security best practice for credential management, not a high-availability mechanism.
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 a single instance of PostgreSQL on the controller node.
Why it's wrong here
One PostgreSQL instance on the controller node cannot fail over, so a database or node outage takes the whole platform down. A single local database suits standalone development installs, whereas high availability needs an external, replicated PostgreSQL cluster shared by multiple controllers.
- ✗
Installation on a single powerful node.
Why it's wrong here
A single node is a single point of failure: any hardware or service fault halts the entire Automation Platform with no failover target. One powerful node suits lab, test or small non-critical deployments where uptime guarantees are absent.
- ✓
Deploy multiple automation controllers behind a load balancer.
Why this is correct
Running multiple automation controllers behind a load balancer removes the single point of failure, distributing API and job traffic across nodes so one controller outage does not halt automation. This directly satisfies the high-availability design constraint.
- ✗
Store all secrets in the Automation Platform vault.
Why it's wrong here
Vault secret storage protects credentials at rest; it does nothing to keep automation services running when a controller or database node fails. Vault is the right control for centralised secret management and rotation, but high availability requires redundant controller and database nodes instead.
- ✓
Use an external PostgreSQL database with replication.
Why this is correct
An external PostgreSQL database with replication removes the database as a single point of failure, allowing the Automation Controller cluster to survive database node loss, which is essential for a genuinely highly available Automation Platform deployment.
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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.