Free Practice Questions for HashiCorp Terraform-Associate-004 Exam

It lets you version, reuse, and share infrastructure configuration as code files, which can be stored in a source control system and integrated with your CI/CD pipeline.

It reduces risk of operator error by automating repetitive tasks and ensuring consistency across environments. IaC does not necessarily provision resources at a lower cost, secure your credentials, or prevent manual modifications to your resources - these depend on other factors such as your cloud provider, your security practices, and your access policies.

Rationale for Correct Answer (B):

The file() function reads a file from disk and returns its content as a string. This is commonly used for public keys (.pub files).

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

A. fileset(): Returns a set of filenames matching a pattern, not file contents.

C. filebase64(): Reads file and returns Base64 encoded string — unnecessary for .pub.

D. templatefile(): Used for rendering templates with variables, not raw file contents.

Key Concept:

Terraform’s file() function is used for injecting file content directly.

The purpose of state in Terraform is to keep track of the real-world resources managed by Terraform, mapping them to the configuration. The state file contains metadata about these resources, such as resource IDs and other important attributes, which Terraform uses to plan and manage infrastructure changes. The state enables Terraform to know what resources are managed by which configurations and helps in maintaining the desired state of the infrastructure.References = This role of state in Terraform is outlined in Terraform's official documentation, emphasizing its function in mapping configuration to real-world resources and storing vital metadata .

terraform validateonlychecks the configuration’s syntax and internal consistency—itdoes notinteract with provider APIs or check if the infrastructure settings are correct.

It ensures that the Terraform code is syntactically correct and follows proper HCL structure.

However, it doesnotverify if resources are valid according to the provider API or if the credentials are correct.

To verify actual infrastructure settings, use terraform plan, which interacts with the provider APIs.

Official Terraform Documentation Reference:

terraform validate - HashiCorp Documentation

The correct way to reference an attribute from the vsphere_datacenter data source for use with the datacenter_id argument within the vsphere_folder resource in the following configuration is data.vsphere_datacenter.dc.id. This follows the syntax for accessing data source attributes, which is data.TYPE.NAME.ATTRIBUTE. In this case, the data source type is vsphere_datacenter, the data source name is dc, and the attribute we want to access is id. The other options are incorrect becausethey either use the wrong syntax, the wrong punctuation, or the wrong case. References = [Data Source: vsphere_datacenter], [Data Source: vsphere_folder], [Expressions: Data Source References]

The terraform state file is locked when a Terraform operation that could write state is in progress. This prevents concurrent state operations that could corrupt the state. The forbidden actions when the state file is locked are those that could write state, such as terraform apply, terraform destroy, terraform refresh, terraform taint, terraform untaint, terraform import, and terraform state *. The terraform validate command is also forbidden, because it requires an initialized working directory with the state file. The allowed actions when the state file is locked are those that only read state, such as terraform plan, terraform show, terraform output, and terraform console. References = [State Locking] and [Command: validate]

Rationale for Correct Answer (C):

Credentials should not be hardcoded in Terraform files. Best practice is to configure them via environment variables or secret managers.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

A: Shared servers introduce risk and drift.

B: Storing secrets in config/version control is insecure.

D: Incorrect since option C is valid.

Key Concept:

Separation of credentials from code is a Terraform security best practice.

The terraform taint command marks a resource as tainted, which means it will be destroyed and recreated on the next apply. This way, you can replace the VM instance without affecting the database or other resources. References = [Terraform Taint]

terraform apply can runwithout explicitly running terraform plan first.

Running terraform plan before apply isrecommendedbutnot mandatory.

If no plan file is provided, terraform applyautomatically creates and executes a planbefore applying changes.

Official Terraform Documentation Reference:

terraform apply - HashiCorp Documentation

Terraform state files are not automatically encrypted by default. Sensitive values are stored in plaintext within the state file. However, you can protect the state file by using remote backends that support encryption, such as AWS S3 with server-side encryption enabled or Terraform Cloud, which offers encrypted state storage.