RH294 (8.4) Lab 3.7 errors

[wdrvx]

Hey there,

I am going through RH294 v8.4 and came across two issues with the chapter 3 end lab. First of which is lack of port 443 (lab requires that connection is requested over https) in the supplied httpd.conf which results in an error where connection is being refused and the play fails subsequently:

After adding the additional port play is able to finish without issues, but the grading script claims that the server is unreachable.

Could you please look into this and apply a fix? 

Thanks.

A.

[Chetan_Tiwary_]

@wdrvx you are using an old version of the course. The fix is already applied in the latest version of the course. So, if you will switch to the latest v9 of the course , this issue wont be there :

[wdrvx]

Hi @Chetan_Tiwary_, thanks for your prompt response. 

Yes, I am using previous version of the course (I said I'm doing so in my original post) on purpose. I first wanted to proceed with v9, but it's based entirely on ansible-navigator which I don't like, and prefer to run ansible the oldschool way. After all, using ansible-navigator is not required during the exam and only the outcome is graded, right?

I understand your point, but since v8.4 is still being offered as an alternative, I really believe it should contain no errors, so that each participant can complete labs without problems. 

Best regards.

A.

[Chetan_Tiwary_]

@wdrvx I got your point, and if you want to focus for your exam on the v8.4 course - it is perfectly fine. However, that is a legacy course now ( was released 3+ years ago ) and soon it will be removed from the course / exam catalogue ( No ETA yet ). That is why the errors are fixed in the latest release v9. For the time being, you can use the workaround you applied.

Things have moved to AAP in v9 courses which uses Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.2, and also includes Ansible Core 2.13. This version of Ansible Automation Platform is roughly similar to the community Ansible 6 distribution, although Ansible Automation Platform includes different Ansible Content Collections and additional tools and components.

The course teaches you how to write and run Ansible automation code, and the skills you learn here help you with community Ansible as well.

[Travis · Accepted solution]

@wdrvx -

I would like to also recommend some caution here moving forward ... your assumption is mostly correct, however, the RHEL 9.x version of the EX294 exam does require knowledge of collections and Ansible Navigator.

Run playbooks with Automation content navigator

• Know how to run playbooks with Automation content navigator
• Use Automation content navigator to find new modules in available Ansible Content Collections and use them
• Use Automation content navigator to create inventories and configure the Ansible environment

https://www.redhat.com/en/services/training/ex294-red-hat-certified-engineer-rhce-exam-red-hat-enter...

Unfortunately, I don't have the older link to objectives for RHEL 8.x version of the RHCE course. I used to have an older copy of the RHCE exam objectives in this repo, but it is gone now (I think).

https://github.com/tmichett/RH294 

I believe that the older EX294 exam is still available, but if you are scheduling, you need to ensure that you are using the RHEL8 (older) version of the exam otherwise, the use of ansible-navigator is absolutely one of the objectives.

[Chetan_Tiwary_]

@Travis here it is :

EX294V84K  objectives :

Be able to perform all tasks expected of a Red Hat Certified System Administrator
○Understand and use essential tools
○Operate running systems
○Configure local storage
○Create and configure file systems
○Deploy, configure, and maintain systems
○Manage users and groups
○Manage security

Understand core components of Ansible
○Inventories
○Modules
○Variables
○Facts
○Plays
○Playbooks
○Configuration files


Install and configure an Ansible control node
○Install required packages
○Create a static host inventory file
○Create a configuration file

Configure Ansible managed nodes
○Create and distribute SSH keys to managed nodes
○Configure privilege escalation on managed nodes
○Validate a working configuration using ad hoc Ansible commands

Script administration tasks
○Create simple shell scripts
○Create simple shell scripts that run ad hoc Ansible commands

Create and use static inventories to define groups of hosts

Create Ansible plays and playbooks
○Know how to work with commonly used Ansible modules
○Use variables to retrieve the results of running a command
○Use conditionals to control play execution
○Configure error handling
○Create playbooks to configure systems to a specified state

Use Ansible modules for system administration tasks that work with:
○Software packages and repositories
○Services
○Firewall rules
○File systems
○Storage devices
○File content
○Archiving
○Scheduled tasks
○Security
○Users and groups

Create and use templates to create customized configuration files

Work with Ansible variables and facts

Create and work with roles

Download roles from an Ansible Galaxy and use them

Use Ansible Vault in playbooks to protect sensitive data

Use provided documentation to look up specific information about Ansible modules and commands

[wdrvx]

Hi @Chetan_Tiwary_ I decided to give v9 course a shot, and I must admit that this is very upsetting to see these errors have been transferred over to the latest version:

- files/httpd.conf still does not contain the setting to make httpd listen on port 443
- once port 443 is manually added, PB gives the following error, while curl authentication works without issues:

Can you please fix it? This is an expensive course, yet quality of the labs is poor.

Thanks.

A.

[Chetan_Tiwary_]

Hello @wdrvx , sure let me check it !

[Chetan_Tiwary_]

@wdrvx As I replied earlier also with a screenshot, I am unable to reproduce the issue in course v9.0 :

I am not sure what is causing this issue for you - may be switching in between versions of the course is causing this ? or may be you need to recreate a fresh lab and recheck this. Or else please raise a support case so that our backend support can help you on this.

[wdrvx]

Thanks for your input guys, much appreciated.

My exam is already scheduled and it is v9. I am well aware of the fact that Ansible now has thousands of different collections, which I think is a good thing considering its popularity.

I do also have some limited knowledge regarding ansible-navigator, although like I previously said, I'm not a big fan of it

I might take v9 course after I'm done with 8.4 just to make sure I don't miss out on anything and come well prepared for my exam. In fact I've already gone through some materials from Mr. Van Vugt which helped me greatly. He was also saying that knowledge of ansible-navigator isn't that important, and I must admit @Travis that your post got me a bit worried

Anyways, thanks for clearing this up. I'll better get back to my course.

Cheers.

A.