AT0-001 Sample Questions & Answers
Source control alongside infrastructure as code, applied through automation coding, carry the heaviest weight, alongside configuration management and interacting with RESTful systems, CI workflow and environmental factors, and continuous-delivery techniques.
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- Question 1Beginner
Automation Coding Concepts · Version control with Git
According to Semantic Versioning (SemVer) principles, an update to an automation module that introduces backwards-incompatible API changes requires incrementing the MINOR version number.
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Correct answer: A
False. Semantic Versioning uses a MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH format. Backwards-incompatible changes require incrementing the MAJOR version. The MINOR version is incremented when functionality is added in a backwards-compatible manner.
- Question 2Advanced
Automation Coding Concepts · Version control with Git
A large enterprise uses a strict Git branching strategy for their infrastructure automation code. The team maintains a
mainbranch representing production and adevelopbranch for integration.During a weekend deployment, a critical bug is discovered in production that is causing automated database backups to fail. The development team is currently midway through building several new features in the
developbranch.Which workflow represents the correct strategy to address this issue while adhering to standard GitFlow principles?
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Correct answer: D
In GitFlow, a
hotfixbranch is created directly frommainto address critical production bugs immediately. Once fixed, the hotfix must be merged back intomain(and tagged with an updated version) and also merged intodevelopto ensure the fix is included in future releases without pulling unfinished features into production.flowchart LR Main((main)) --> Hotfix([hotfix]) Hotfix -->|Merge| Main Hotfix -->|Merge| Develop((develop)) - Question 3Intermediate
Automation Coding Concepts · Version control with Git
An automation team prefers a linear, clean commit history without 'merge commits' cluttering the repository. When a developer pulls changes from the remote tracking branch into their local feature branch, which Git command should they use to place their local commits on top of the remote commits?
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Correct answer: D
The
git pull --rebasecommand fetches the remote changes and rebases the local branch's commits on top of them. This rewrites the commit history to be linear, avoiding the creation of an extraneous merge commit. - Question 4Intermediate
Automation Coding Concepts · IaC principles
A cloud architect is explaining the benefits of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) to a new team member. The architect highlights that running the same deployment script multiple times will yield the exact same environment state without creating duplicate resources or causing errors on subsequent runs. Which IaC principle is the architect describing?
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Correct answer: D
Idempotency in IaC means that applying a configuration multiple times results in the same outcome as applying it once. The tool checks the current state and only makes changes necessary to achieve the desired state, preventing duplicate resource creation.
- Question 5Advanced
Automation Coding Concepts · IaC principles
An organization mandates that server instances must never be modified in-place after they are provisioned. If an operating system patch is required, the automation pipeline must destroy the existing instances and deploy entirely new instances from an updated image. Which Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principle does this strictly enforce?
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Correct answer: D
Immutability dictates that infrastructure components are never modified after they are deployed. Instead of updating existing servers (mutable infrastructure), changes are made by replacing the old components entirely with new ones. This eliminates configuration drift.
- Question 6IntermediateSelect 2
Automation Coding Concepts · IaC principles
A platform engineering team is using Terraform to deploy infrastructure across three different environments (Dev, Staging, Prod). They want to adhere to the IaC principle of 'Reusability' to minimize code duplication. Which TWO of the following strategies best achieve this goal? (Select TWO)
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Correct answers: A, E
Input variables allow the same underlying IaC code to be deployed across different environments by simply passing in different variable values (e.g.,
environment = "prod"), which is core to reusability.Terraform modules allow you to encapsulate a group of resources into a single logical unit that can be called multiple times with different inputs, heavily promoting reusability.
- Question 7Beginner
Automation Coding Concepts · IaC principles
Before Terraform can execute a plan or apply configuration, it must download necessary provider plugins (e.g., AWS, Azure) based on the configurations defined in the directory. Which command accomplishes this? Select the correct command to fill in the blank.
terraform ________
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Correct answer: A
The
terraform initcommand initializes a working directory containing Terraform configuration files. This is the first command that should be run after writing a new Terraform configuration, as it downloads provider plugins and sets up the backend. - Question 8Intermediate
Automation Coding Concepts · Code life cycle troubleshooting
A systems administrator attempts to run a Bash script named
backup.sh. The script immediately fails with the following output:./backup.sh: line 14: syntax error: unexpected end of fileUpon inspecting the script, the administrator sees an
ifstatement at line 10. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of this error?Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
An 'unexpected end of file' syntax error in Bash usually occurs when a control structure (like an
ifstatement,forloop, orwhileloop) is opened but never properly closed. An unclosedifstatement lacking thefikeyword will cause the interpreter to reach the end of the file looking for it. - Question 9Intermediate
Automation Coding Concepts · Code life cycle troubleshooting
During a Git merge of a feature branch into the main branch, a conflict occurs in
deploy.yml. The developer opens the file and sees the following conflict markers:<<<<<<< HEAD
replicas: 3replicas: 5
>>>>>>> feature-scalingThe developer determines that the application needs 5 replicas to handle recent traffic spikes. What is the correct way to resolve this merge conflict before committing?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
To manually resolve a Git merge conflict, the developer must edit the file to the desired final state by removing the conflict markers injected by Git (
>>>>>>) and deleting the incorrect code block. Once saved, staging the file withgit addmarks the conflict as resolved.flowchart TD Conflict[Conflict Detected] --> Edit[Edit File Manually] Edit --> Remove[Remove Git Markers] Remove --> Save["Keep Desired Code (replicas: 5)"] Save --> Add[git add deploy.yml] Add --> Commit[git commit] - Question 10Intermediate
Automation Coding Concepts · Code life cycle troubleshooting
A Python script processes a list of servers passed as a JSON array. During execution in the production environment, the script crashes with a
TypeError: 'NoneType' object is not iterableerror. The script ran perfectly in the development environment. What classification of error is this, and what is the likely cause?Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
This is a Runtime Error. The syntax of the script is correct (otherwise it wouldn't have executed), but an unexpected state occurred during execution. Specifically, an object that was expected to be an iterable (like a list or array) was actually
None(null), causing theforloop or iteration logic to crash.
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