Ansible Advanced Quiz

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Test your deep expertise on custom plugins, optimization, and complex automation scenarios.

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Which strategy plugin drastically improves execution speed by using persistent SSH connections?

mitogen (linear strategy is default, free is fast but unsafe order. Mitogen is the famous 3^rd party optimization)

fast

accelerate

turbo

Mitogen for Ansible replaces the default Ansible execution engine to provide significant speedups.

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How can you avoid the overhead of module transfer and Python startup on every task?

Enable SSH Pipelining

Use Telnet

Use FTP

Computes hashes

Pipelining reduces the number of SSH operations required to execute a module.

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What is the best way to handle different package names (e.g., httpd vs apache2) across OS families?

Load variables from OS-specific files (e.g., vars/Debian.yml) based on ansible_os_family.

Use if/else logic in every task.

Write separate playbooks.

Use ignore_errors.

Separating data from logic using OS-specific variable files is the cleanest pattern.

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What does check_mode: yes do?

It runs the task in "Dry Run" mode, reporting changes without applying them.

It checks syntax.

It validates the variable types.

It runs the task twice.

Modules supporting check mode will report what would have changed.

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Which feature allows you to query external data sources (like DNS, Consul, or Vault) dynamically?

Lookup Plugins

Filter Plugins

Action Plugins

Connection Plugins

Lookups allow retrieving data from outside blocks (variables, loops) via {{ lookup(...) }}.

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How do you execute a playbook on local infrastructure (pull mode) instead of push mode?

ansible-pull

ansible-local

ansible-client

ansible-fetch

ansible-pull checks out a repo and runs the playbook locally, reversing the standard push architecture.

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Which callback plugin can be used to profile task execution time to find bottlenecks?

profile_tasks / timer

time_track

debug

slow_log

profile_tasks lists the slowest tasks and the total time consumed.

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What is a "Fact Cache"?

A mechanism to store gathered facts (e.g., in Redis or JSON) to avoid gathering them in subsequent runs.

A local temp directory.

A cache of yum packages.

A backup of the inventory.

Fact caching improves performance by reducing the need to run the setup module repeatedly.

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How do you write a custom filter plugin?

By writing a Python function and registering it in a class that inherits from FilterModule.

By writing a Bash script.

By writing a Jinja2 template.

By defining a YAML list.

Filter plugins extend Jinja2 capabilities using Python code.

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What is the changed_when directive used for?

To manually define when a task is considered "changed" (e.g., for command module).

To trigger a handler.

To stop execution.

To wait for a change.

It overrides the default change detection, often used with command or shell modules which always return changed by default.

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What is the purpose of meta: refresh_inventory?

To reload the inventory during playbook execution (e.g., after creating new instances).

To clear the screen.

To delete the inventory.

To sort the inventory.

It allows the playbook to become aware of newly created hosts in a dynamic inventory.

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How do you pass a variable reference (not value) to a role?

You cannot; Ansible passes by value. However, you can pass the name of the variable and use hostvars[inventory_hostname][var_name].

Use pointers.

Use &variable.

Use ref(variable).

Ansible variables are generally passed by value / templated early. Indirect reference requires looking up the value using the name.

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Which testing framework is the standard for testing Ansible Roles using containers?

Molecule

Junit

PyTest

AnsibleTest

Molecule automates the creation, convergence, and verification of roles in isolated environments.

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What is an "Execution Environment" (EE)?

A container image acting as the Ansible control node, bundling Core, Collections, and dependencies.

A virtual machine.

A python virtual environment.

A cloud region.

EEs solve the "dependency hell" problem by packaging the execution context.

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How do you handle a task that must run on the control node but use the variables of the remote host?

delegate_to: localhost

connection: local

run_once: yes

local: true

delegate_to: localhost runs the command locally while preserving the inventory_hostname context of the loop item.

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What is the precise difference between ignore_errors: yes and failed_when: false?

ignore_errors marks the task as failed (red) but continues; failed_when marks it as success (green/ok).

They are identical.

ignore_errors is deprecated.

failed_when stops execution.

If you expect a non-zero exit code and want to treat it as success, use failed_when: false.

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How can you limit the execution of a playbook to a specific "batch" of hosts at a time to prevent downtime?

serial

throttle

limit

batch

serial: 30% ensures only 30% of hosts are updated at once.

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Which module allows you to make API calls directly from a playbook?

uri

http

api

curl

The uri module is a powerful HTTP client for interacting with REST APIs.

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What is ansible-builder used for?

To automate the creation of Execution Environments (container images).

To build playbooks.

To compile python code.

To build inventory files.

It builds the container images used by Automation Controller (AAP).

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How do you perform a "Linear" strategy execution with a "Free" strategy for a specific play?

Set strategy: free at the Play level.

Set strategy: free in ansible.cfg only.

Use async: 0.

Use forks: 100.

Strategies can be defined per-play.

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