Infrastructure as Code and Configuration Management Tools DSE Practice Questions (Page 7)

Questions 31–35

1. 31application · medium

   A startup is growing rapidly and needs to spin up identical staging environments for each feature branch. They want to automate the creation of these environments to save time and reduce errors. Which practice is the most aligned with the principles of Infrastructure as Code?

   • AUse a configuration management tool like Ansible to create the cloud resources and configure them in the same playbook.
   • BManually create a new environment by copying the configuration from a previous one.
   • CDefine the environment in a version-controlled Terraform configuration and use it to provision each new environment.
   • DWrite a script that uses cloud provider APIs to create resources, but only document the steps in a wiki.
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2. 32expert · hard

   A security team wants to ensure that all servers in a fleet have the same security patches applied. They have a maintenance window where they can apply patches, but they want to avoid downtime. They are considering using a configuration management tool to automate patch management. Which tool and approach should they use?

   • AUse Terraform to update the server images and redeploy all servers at once.
   • BUse a manual process where each server is patched individually during the maintenance window.
   • CUse Puppet to apply patches to all servers simultaneously, causing a brief downtime.
   • DUse Ansible with a playbook that applies patches and reboots servers one by one, using rolling updates.
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4. 33foundation · easy

   Which tool is specifically designed for infrastructure provisioning and is cloud-agnostic?

   • AAnsible
   • BChef
   • CPuppet
   • DTerraform
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5. 34application · medium

   A DevOps team manages a fleet of 200 Ubuntu servers that host a mix of stateless web applications and stateful databases. They currently use a shell script that installs packages and copies configuration files, but they have noticed that servers frequently drift from the desired state after manual troubleshooting by senior admins. The team wants to adopt a tool that will continuously enforce the exact same package versions and file contents across all servers, while also allowing them to define the desired state in a version-controlled file. Which approach best meets their requirement?

   • AUse Terraform to define the entire server configuration, including packages and files, and run terraform apply on a schedule.
   • BUse Ansible with a playbook that declares the desired package versions and file contents, and run it via a cron job or a CI pipeline on a regular basis.
   • CUse CloudFormation to manage the servers as a stack and update the user-data script to reinstall packages on every boot.
   • DUse a custom Python script that checks each server's package list and file hashes, and only reports differences without making changes.
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6. 35foundation · easy

   What is a common way to enforce compliance using configuration management in a DevSecOps pipeline?

   • ABy using IaC to provision servers without any security groups
   • BBy using configuration management to continuously enforce security baselines on servers
   • CBy manually reviewing server configurations on a quarterly basis
   • DBy disabling configuration management after initial deployment
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