EX294 Manage automation security and operations Practice Question
An organization uses automation controller and has multiple teams. They want to create an inventory that automatically includes all hosts from a cloud provider that belong to the 'production' tag, and this inventory should be accessible only to the SRE team. What is the correct way to achieve this?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse smart inventories with static groups or assume that playbook-level conditions can replace inventory-level RBAC, but automation controller enforces access control strictly at the inventory object level, not within playbook logic or group membership.
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 a smart inventory with a filter for tag 'production' and assign the SRE team the 'read' role on that inventory.
A smart inventory in automation controller allows you to dynamically filter hosts from an existing source (like a cloud provider) based on criteria such as tags. By creating a smart inventory with a filter for the 'production' tag, you automatically include all matching hosts. Assigning the SRE team the 'read' role on that inventory restricts access to only that team, meeting both requirements without manual updates.
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 a smart inventory with a filter for tag 'production' and assign the SRE team the 'read' role on that inventory.
Why this is correct
A smart inventory applies a host filter against the existing inventory source, dynamically including only hosts tagged 'production' without manual maintenance. Assigning the SRE team the 'read' role on that inventory object enforces the access constraint, since automation controller RBAC grants visibility per inventory rather than globally.
- ✗
Create a static inventory file and restrict access via a custom script.
Why it's wrong here
A static inventory file cannot query a cloud provider's API to discover hosts tagged 'production', so the automatic inclusion requirement fails regardless of script-based access restriction. It is tempting because static inventories are simple and scriptable, and they would be correct for a fixed, manually maintained set of hosts.
- ✗
Use groups in the inventory and assign all production hosts to a group, then restrict access to that group.
Why it's wrong here
Assigning hosts to a group still requires those hosts to be listed in the inventory; grouping does not query the cloud provider's API, so tagged hosts are never discovered automatically. It is tempting because groups do control team access, and they would be correct once a dynamic source has already populated the inventory.
- ✗
Create a dynamic inventory plugin in each playbook and include a condition to check team membership.
Why it's wrong here
Embedding a dynamic inventory plugin inside each playbook bypasses automation controller's inventory management, so credentials, caching and SRE-only access cannot be enforced centrally. It is tempting because plugins do query cloud APIs, and they would be correct when running Ansible directly from the command line without a controller.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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