RHCE 8 EX294 Exam Practice Questions

 

The Red Hat Certified Engineer, or EX 294, exam is one of the most highly-regarded exams in the Linux world. The skills learned while preparing for the exam will not only get you ready to pass the exam itself, but also give you a chance to perform real-world activities in a real production environment. Instead of a multiple-choice test, the exam takes place in a real environment. This makes the RHCE an extremely desirable certification. This hands-on lab will walk you through similar scenarios to those you may find on the exam and will provide insight to the preparations you need to make to pass the exam. This practice exam should not necessarily be used as a study guide, but as a readiness indicator.

This lab is similar to the one you’ll face in the actual RHCE exam. While the tasks here are not identical, many of the skills practiced here will be used in that exam. This final review will launch 4 servers: Host, WebServer1, DBServer1, and AdminServer1. As there’s no DNS in this environment, /etc/hosts has been configured for you. References to “all servers” don’t include the Ansible host. The ansible user's password is the same as the one for cloud_user.

Below are the tasks you'll need to complete in order to prepare for the exam:

1. Set up an Ansible inventory.
2. Set up SSH keys.
3. Set up sudoers.
4. Write a playbook to install httpd only on WebServer1. Make sure the service is started and enabled.
5. Use an ad-hoc command to install tcpdump on AdminServer1
6. Use the LVM module in a playbook to set up the disk attached to DBServer1 (/dev/xvdg), then make sure it's formatted with XFS and mounted persistently on /mnt/dbdata. The disk's size should be 10G.
7. Create the users adam, john, sara, and sam on all servers.
8. Write a Bash script that queries each server for its Ansible facts, and outputs that information to a file in /tmp; there should be one file for each server name.
9. Using the ssh.tmpl sample file in /root on the Ansible Host to write a template and playbook that will deploy the file on all hosts in the environment. It should turn off Password Authentication on all servers, and ensure X11 forwarding is on for administrative servers only.
10. Create two custom roles: web and database.
11. In the database role, create a password file that will be copied into the dba user's home directory. Encrypt the file. Ensure the database role is deployed correctly.
12. For the web role, ensure that /var/www/html/index.html contains the Ansible hostname of the server and all IP addresses connected to that server. Ensure that httpd is running and enabled, and that the role deploys correctly.

1. Set up up an Ansible inventory

Edit /etc/ansible/hosts with Vim or whatever editor is handy and comfortable. We'll use Vim here:

[root@server1 ]# vi /etc/ansible/hosts

Your inventory file should look something like this when you're done:

[dbservers]

dbserver1

[webservers]

webserver1

[admins]

adminserver1

2. Set up SSH Keys

The first step in setting SSH key up is generating a key:

[root@server1 ]# ssh-keygen

Then you can copy it over to webserver1 with the command:

[root@server1 ]# ssh-copy-id ansible@dbserver1

Repeat this with the other two servers, using the cloud_user password for the ansible user:

[root@server1 ]# ssh-copy-id ansible@webserver1

[root@server1 ]# ssh-copy-id ansible@adminserver1

Test by logging into one of the servers:

[root@server1 ]# ssh ansible@dbserver1

3. Set up Sudeors

Log into webserver1 as cloud_user:

[root@server1 ]# cloud_user@webserver1

Now gain root privileges:

[cloud_user@webserver1 ]$ sudo -i

Run visudo and add the following line to the end of the file:

ansible ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

Run logout to get out of this server, so that we're back in server1, and then repeat the process for dbserver1 and adminserver1.

Once that's done, test (from server1 with:

[root@server1 ]# ssh ansible@webserver1

Once you're in, try a sudo command:

4. Write a Playbook to Install httpd, but Only on Web Servers

Write your playbook . When we're done writing the playbook, it should look something like this:

[root@server1 ]# vi httpd.yml [root@server1 ]# cat httpd.yml --- - name: Install httpd on webservers   hosts: webservers   # This encompasses everything in the webservers group.   # We can also just have a single host name here, like webserver1.   become: yes     tasks:    - yum:       name: httpd       state: present      - service:       name: httpd       state: started       enabled: yes

Now run it:

[root@server1 ]# ansible-playbook httpd.yml

Run it again, just to make sure nothing changes. Refer the below Video for better understand 

5 .Use an Ad Hoc Command to Install tcpdump on Adminserver1

The simplest ad hoc command here would be:

[root@server1 ]# ansible -m yum -a "name=tcpdump state=present" adminserver1 --become

6 . Use the LVM module in a playbook to set up the disk attached to DBServer1 (/dev/xvdg), then make sure it's formatted with XFS and mounted persistently on /mnt/dbdata. The disk's size should be 10G.

We're going to create a new yml file,  Your playbook, disk.yml, should look similar to the following:

[root@server1 ]# vim disk.yml --- - name: Review Task 6   hosts: dbserver1   become: yes     tasks:    - name: LVG create      lvg:       vg: RHCE       pvs: /dev/xvdg      - name: Logical Volume Setup      lvol:       lv: AppDB2       vg: RHCE       size: 10G       pvs: /dev/xvdg       state: present      - name: Format the disk      filesystem:       dev: /dev/RHCE/AppDB2       fstype: xfs      - name: Mount the disk      mount:       fstype: xfs       src: /dev/RHCE/AppDB2       state: mounted       path: /mnt/dbdata

Save it and quit, then run it:

[root@server1 ]# ansible-playbook disk.yml

7 . Create Multiple Users on All Servers

Write your playbook . When we're done writing the playbook, it should look something like this:

[root@server1 ]# vim users.yml [root@server1 ]# cat users.yml  --- - name: Review Task 7   hosts: all   become: yes     tasks:    - name: Create users      user:       name: "{{ item }}"      with_items:       - john       - sara       - adam       - sam

Save it and quit, then run it:

[root@server1 ]# ansible-playbook users.yml

8 . Write a Bash script that queries each server for its Ansible facts, and outputs that information to a file in /tmp; there should be one file for each server name.

We want to get each host's Ansible facts and dump the information into respective text files. So you've got to write a script, facts.sh, that will query each one and put its relevant info into a text file. Create the script:

[root@server1 ]# vim facts.sh [root@server1 ]# cat facts.sh #!/bin/bash for i in webserver1 dbserver1 adminserver1 do         ansible -m setup $1 > /tmp/$i\_facts done [root@server1 ]#

Make the script executable:

[root@server1 ]# chmod +x facts.sh

Now and run it:

[root@server1 ]# ./facts.sh

Now, to check, run ls /tmp, which should show a file that corresponds to each of those three hosts (dbserver1_facts, adminserver1_facts, and webserver1_facts).

9 . Create an SSH Configuration File and Distribute It

Currently, there is a file sitting in /root called ssh.tmpl. Open that for editing:

[root@server1 ]# vim ssh.tmpl

We need to alter two lines (starting with PasswordAuthentication and X11Forwarding). There are a few lines separating them. They should look similar to these:

PasswordAuthentication {{ PAanswer }}

...

...

X11Forwarding {{ X11Answer }}

Now we need to write a playbook to deploy all that. Create the file:

[root@server1 ]# vim ssh.yml

To apply the template, the playbook needs to look like this:

---

- name: Review Task 9

  hosts: all:!admins

  become: yes

  vars:

   PAanswer: "no"

   X11Answer: "no"

 

  tasks:

   - name: Apply Template

     template:

      src: /root/ssh.tmpl

      dest: /etc/ssh/sshd_config

      validate: /sbin/sshd -t -f %s

 

   - name: Restart SSHD

     service:

      name: sshd

      state: restarted

 

- name: Review Task 9b

  hosts: admins

  become: yes

  vars:

   PAanswer: "no"

   X11Answer: "yes"

 

  tasks:

   - name: Apply template

     template:

      src: /root/ssh.tmpl

      dest: /etc/ssh/sshd_config

      validate: /sbin/sshd -t -f %s

 

   - name: Restart SSHD

     service:

      name: sshd

      state: restarted

Now run it:

[root@server1 ]# ansible-playbook ssh.yml

10. Create the Two Roles

The commands to create custom roles are:

[root@server1 ]# ansible-galaxy init web

[root@server1 ]# ansible-galaxy init database

Just to check, run ls on each of the directories that just got created (ansible and database).

11. Configure the database Role and Encrypt the Password File

First, get into the files subdirectory of the database directory:

[root@server1 ]# cd database/files

Create a password file:

[root@server1 ]# vim password

Put something like this in there:

This is a password

Encrypt it with this:

[root@server1 ]# ansible-vault encrypt password

Enter a password that you won't forget. To check your work, run cat password and make sure that the file is in fact encrypted.

Now get into the tasks directory:

[root@server1 ]# cd ../tasks

Edit main.yml:

[root@server1 ]# vim main.yml

It should look like this when you're done:

---

# tasks file for database

- name: Ensure user is created

  user:

   name: dba

 

- name: Copy password file

  copy:

   src: password

   dest: /home/dba

Now go back to your home directory:

[root@server1 ]# cd

Now create db.yml

[root@server1 ]# vim db.yml

It should look like this when you're done:

---

- hosts: dbservers

  roles:

    - database

Now run the playbook:

[root@server1 ]# ansible-playbook db.yml --become --ask-vault-pass`

Enter the password you set in the ansible-vault encrypt password command you ran earlier, and this should work.

12. Configure the Web Role and Ensure It Deploys Correctly

Get into the web directory:

[root@server1 ]# cd web

Now open the main.yml file in the tasks directory:

[root@server1 ]# vim tasks/main.yml

In the file, paste the following:

---

# tasks file for web

#

- name: Populate index.html

  lineinfile:

   path: /var/www/html/index.html

   create: yes

   line: "{{ inventory_hostname }} {{ansible_facts['all_ipv4_addresses'] }}"

 

- name: Install httpd

  yum:

   name: httpd

   state: present

 

- name: Start httpd

  service:

   name: httpd

   state: started

   enabled: yes

Now go back to your home directory:

[root@server1 ]# cd

Here, let's write a new and write a quick role deployment routine. Create the file:

[root@server1 ]# vim web.yml

It should look like this:

---

- hosts: webservers

  roles:

   - web

Run the playbook:

[root@server1 ]# ansible-playbook web.yml --become