Recognize the capabilities of configuration management mechanisms such as Ansible and Terraform.

Objective 6.6 sits in Automation and Programmability, which carries 10% of the CCNA exam. The questions below are original, written from the official objective title above, and each explanation cites the Cisco page it rests on.

Objective title verbatim from the official objectives. Cisco exam page ↗

A worked example

Shown solved, with the whole explanation open: this is what every question here carries.

6-6Automation and ProgrammabilityModerate

A playbook with this task runs against fifty routers every night.

YAML

- name: Ensure the syslog package is present  ansible.builtin.package:    name: rsyslog    state: present

What does the task do on a host that already has rsyslog installed?

Reinstalls the package and reports a change on every runstate: latest would query the repository on every run. present only asks that the package exist, so an installed host is left alone.

Fails the play and drops the host from the rotationA failed task removes that host from the rotation for the rest of the playbook. Nothing here gives the module a reason to fail.

Checks the state, reports no change and makes no modificationCorrect · your answerCorrect. Nothing happens on a host that already matches.

Removes and reinstalls the package to match the declared stateRemoving and reinstalling on each pass is what an unconditional shell script does. A module built around desired state avoids it.

Correct.

Checked against docs.ansible.com, August 2026

Concept

Configuration management declares an end condition instead of a procedure. A module that inspects the target first and acts only where reality differs can be applied repeatedly with the same outcome, which is what makes a nightly run safe.

Why C

The package module reads the current state of the host before it acts. rsyslog is already present, so the desired final state has been reached and the module exits without doing anything, reporting ok rather than changed. Running the play once or fifty times leaves the same result.

Source

Most Ansible modules check whether the desired final state has already been achieved and exit without performing any actions if that state has been achieved. Repeating the task does not change the final state. Modules that behave this way are 'idempotent'.

Ansible: Ansible playbooks, checked August 2026

#ansible#idempotency#configuration-management

Now you: objective 6.6 questions

No account needed. The explanation opens when you answer.

Sample question 1 of 3

6-6Automation and ProgrammabilityEasy

A team keeps a Terraform configuration in source control and applies it to build identical development, test and production environments. What do those configuration files describe?

Sample question 2 of 3

6-6Automation and ProgrammabilityEasy

A team manages resources across two cloud providers with one workflow and handles cross-cloud dependencies. Which tool's use case is that?

Sample question 3 of 3

6-6Automation and ProgrammabilityModerate

Terraform must manage a platform it has never seen before, which exposes an API. What makes that possible?

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Read the sources

These are the official pages the questions above cite. Reading them is studying the objective from the primary source, which is what the explanations point you toward anyway.

A worked example

Now you: objective 6.6 questions

Read the sources

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