EX294 Practice Questions

Question 1

You are building an execution environment for a large enterprise that requires several collections from both Red Hat Automation Hub and an internal GitLab repository. Your execution-environment.yml file includes both sources. However, the build process consistently fails during the 'adding collections' step with an error indicating that a specific collection from the internal Git repository cannot be found. You have confirmed that the Git repository URL and branch are correct, and that the repository is accessible from the build host. The collection's galaxy.yml file exists and is valid. What is the most likely reason for the failure?

Accepted Answer

The ansible-builder process does not have the necessary Git credentials configured.. The ansible-builder process requires Git credentials to clone collections from private Git repositories. Even if the URL and branch are correct and the repository is accessible from the build host, the builder itself may not have the necessary SSH keys or HTTPS credentials configured. This is a common oversight when using internal GitLab repositories, as the builder runs in a containerized environment that does not inherit the host's credentials by default.

Answer

The base image does not have Git installed.

Answer

The collection's Galaxy namespace conflicts with a collection from Automation Hub.

Answer

The 'requirements.yml' file for the internal collection is missing.

Question 2

Which TWO options are valid methods for including collections in an execution environment?

Accepted Answer

List collections under 'collections' in execution-environment.yml.. The `execution-environment.yml` file is the primary configuration file for building an Ansible execution environment, and it supports a `collections` key where you can list collections to be included. This is the standard method for specifying collections that should be installed during the build process, ensuring they are available in the final execution environment.

Answer

Use ansible-galaxy collection install command in a pre-build script.

Answer

Use a 'galaxy.yml' file in the build context.

Answer

Include collections in the base image directly.

Question 3

What is the most likely cause of the failure?

Accepted Answer

The credential type is incorrect; it should be a Source Control credential, not Machine.. The credential type must match the service. A Machine credential is used for SSH/WinRM access, not for source control authentication. When using an SCM project to source inventory, the credential should be a Source Control credential (e.g., for Git) to authenticate to the repository. Option A is incorrect because inventory type 'scm' is valid for sourcing from a project; the failure is credential-related, not inventory type. Option B is incorrect because source_path can point to either a file or a directory within the project. Option C is incorrect because source_project can accept either the project name or ID. Option D is incorrect because update_cache_timeout=0 is a valid value that disables caching.

Answer

The inventory must be of type 'file' rather than 'scm'.

Answer

The source_path is incorrect because it should be a directory, not a file.

Answer

The source_project should reference the project ID, not name.

Answer

The update_cache_timeout should be a positive integer.

Question 4

An Ansible rolling update playbook includes 'max_fail_percentage: 20'. If more than 20% of hosts fail during any batch, what happens?

Accepted Answer

The play aborts immediately. The `max_fail_percentage` parameter in Ansible's rolling update strategy defines the maximum percentage of hosts that can fail in a single batch before the playbook aborts entirely. When the failure rate exceeds this threshold, Ansible stops execution immediately to prevent cascading failures or inconsistent state across the remaining hosts.

Answer

The play pauses and waits for user input

Answer

The failed hosts are removed from inventory

Answer

The play retries failed hosts

Answer

The play continues with remaining hosts

Question 5

A systems administrator is installing Ansible Automation Platform on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 server. They download the installer tarball and run `./setup.sh`. The installation fails with an error indicating that the database password is incorrect. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The `bootstrap.yml` file has an incorrect value for `pg_password`.. The `pg_password` variable in the `bootstrap.yml` inventory file (or equivalent) sets the PostgreSQL database password. If this value is incorrect or mismatched with the actual database password, the installer will fail during the database connection check with a 'database password is incorrect' error.

Answer

The `admin_password` variable in the inventory file does not match the PostgreSQL password.

Answer

The PostgreSQL server is not listening on the expected port.

Answer

The license file has not been placed in the installer directory.

Question 6

A senior engineer needs to debug an Ansible playbook that uses lookups. Which TWO plugins can be used to retrieve data from a file on the control node? (Select exactly two.)

Accepted Answer

file. The `file` lookup plugin reads the content of a file from the control node's filesystem and returns it as a string. This is the standard way to retrieve file data directly from the Ansible control node without transferring the file to the managed host.

Answer

ini

Answer

password

Answer

csvfile

Question 7

An admin attempts to run this playbook as a job template in AAP. The job fails with 'ERROR! 'now' is not a valid attribute for a task'. What is the issue?

Accepted Answer

The 'now' attribute does not exist; it may be a typo for 'notify' or should be removed.. The error message 'ERROR! 'now' is not a valid attribute for a task' indicates that Ansible does not recognize 'now' as a valid task attribute. The 'now' keyword is not a standard Ansible directive; it is likely a typo for 'notify' (used with handlers) or should be removed entirely. Ansible validates task attributes against a strict schema, and any unknown attribute causes a parsing failure.

Answer

The template task is missing quotes around the file paths.

Answer

The playbook has an incorrect indentation in the tasks block.

Answer

The 'become' directive is placed incorrectly at the play level.

Question 8

After rotating the Ansible Vault password in the automation controller, several job templates that use vault credentials start failing with 'decryption failed'. The vault credential has been updated with the new password. What is the most likely cause of the failure?

Accepted Answer

The vault file in the project repository still uses the old vault password and needs to be re-encrypted with the new password.. The vault file itself is encrypted with a specific password. When the vault password is rotated in the automation controller, the vault file stored in the project repository is still encrypted with the old password. The job template uses the vault credential to decrypt the file, but since the credential now holds the new password, decryption fails. The vault file must be re-encrypted with the new password using `ansible-vault rekey` or by decrypting and re-encrypting it.

Answer

The automation controller needs a restart to apply the new vault credential.

Answer

The vault credential is not linked to the job template correctly.

Answer

The vault credential type requires the old password to be stored separately.

Question 9

What is the purpose of the 'vars' keyword under the httpd role inclusion?

Accepted Answer

Override default variables for that role. The 'vars' keyword under a role inclusion in Ansible allows you to override the default variables defined within that specific role. This is done at the point of inclusion, providing role-specific variable overrides without affecting other roles or the playbook's global variable scope.

Answer

Set variables for the common role

Answer

Define new variables for the playbook

Answer

Set variables for all roles in the play

Question 10

Which directive in an Ansible playbook ensures that a task runs only on the first host in a batch, and results are applied to all hosts?

Accepted Answer

run_once. Option A (run_once) is correct. The `run_once` directive ensures that a task is executed only once for the entire batch, typically on the first host, and the results are then applied to all hosts in the play. Option B (any_errors_fatal) is incorrect; it causes the play to abort if any task fails on any host, unrelated to running a task once. Option C (throttle) is incorrect; it limits the number of hosts that execute the task concurrently but does not ensure single execution. Option D (delegate_to: localhost) is incorrect; it delegates execution to the localhost but still runs on every host in the batch unless combined with `run_once`.

Answer

any_errors_fatal

Answer

throttle

Answer

delegate_to: localhost

Question 11

A playbook uses a loop to create multiple users. The administrator notices that if one user creation fails, the entire playbook stops. Which directive should be used to continue executing remaining iterations?

Accepted Answer

ignore_errors. `ignore_errors` is a directive that, when set to `yes` on a task, allows Ansible to continue executing subsequent iterations of a loop even if that specific task fails. This ensures that a failure in creating one user does not halt the entire playbook, as Ansible will record the failure but proceed with the remaining items in the loop.

Answer

max_fail_percentage

Answer

any_errors_fatal

Answer

failed_when

Question 12

Given the command and error above, what is the most likely cause of the failure?

Accepted Answer

The --vault-id syntax is incorrect; 'vault@prompt' should be a label and password source, not a vault file.. The `--vault-id` option expects a label and a password source (e.g., `vault@prompt` means the label is 'vault' and the password is prompted interactively). The error indicates that Ansible is interpreting the entire string as a vault file path, which fails because no file named 'vault@prompt' exists. Option C correctly identifies that the syntax is being misapplied.

Answer

The vault file 'vault@prompt' does not exist.

Answer

The vault password file must be encrypted with ansible-vault.

Answer

The --check flag is incompatible with vault encryption.

Question 13

A new technician runs a playbook that uses the yum module to install packages. The playbook fails with 'No package matching' for a custom package. The package is available on a third-party repository. Which step should the technician take?

Accepted Answer

Add the repository using the yum_repository module.. The yum module requires that the repository providing the package is already configured on the target system. Since the custom package is on a third-party repository, the technician must first add that repository using the yum_repository module. This module creates the necessary .repo file in /etc/yum.repos.d/, making the package available for installation via the yum module.

Answer

Use the rpm_key module to import the GPG key.

Answer

Use command: yum install directly.

Answer

Update the package cache using yum update.

Question 14

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?

Accepted Answer

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

Create a static inventory file and restrict access via a custom script.

Answer

Use groups in the inventory and assign all production hosts to a group, then restrict access to that group.

Answer

Create a dynamic inventory plugin in each playbook and include a condition to check team membership.

Question 15

An administrator has a requirements.yml file specifying roles from multiple sources: a public Galaxy server, a private Git repository, and a local path. They want to install all roles into the roles directory of the current project. Which command will achieve this?

Accepted Answer

ansible-galaxy install -r requirements.yml --roles-path ./roles. `ansible-galaxy install -r requirements.yml --roles-path ./roles` reads the requirements file and specifies the target directory for role installation. Option A is incorrect because it uses `collection install`, which installs collections, not roles. Option C is incorrect because `-p .` installs roles into the current directory, not the `roles` subdirectory. Option D is incorrect because while it installs roles, the `--force` flag is unnecessary and may overwrite existing roles without need.

Answer

ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yml

Answer

ansible-galaxy install -r requirements.yml -p .

Answer

ansible-galaxy role install --force -r requirements.yml

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