Ansible Automation Ansible Testing with Molecule 3

Question 1

What Python package must be installed to use Molecule with the Docker driver in modern versions?

Accepted Answer

molecule-plugins[docker] (the molecule-docker package from the molecule-plugins collection)

Answer

Since Molecule 4.0, drivers were moved to the 'molecule-plugins' package. The Docker driver requires 'molecule-plugins[docker]'.

Question 2

How do you configure Molecule to test a role on a container that uses systemd as its init system?

Accepted Answer

Use a systemd-enabled container image (e.g., geerlingguy/docker-centos8-ansible) and set privileged: true with /sys/fs/cgroup volume mount

Answer

Systemd requires privileged containers with proper cgroup access, and pre-built systemd-ready images (like geerlingguy's Ansible test images) simplify this setup.

Question 3

What does 'ansible-lint' do in the context of Molecule testing?

Accepted Answer

It statically analyzes Ansible playbooks and roles for best practice violations, style issues, and potential bugs before running tests

Answer

ansible-lint checks Ansible code quality against community best practices, catching issues like missing task names, deprecated module usage, and style violations.

Question 4

How do you pass variables to the role under test in a Molecule converge.yml?

Accepted Answer

Define variables in the 'vars' section of the play in converge.yml, or use a separate molecule/default/group_vars/ directory

Answer

converge.yml is a regular Ansible playbook where you can set variables via 'vars', 'vars_files', or group_vars/host_vars to control role behavior during testing.

Question 5

What is the 'verify' phase in Molecule and what are the two main verifier options?

Accepted Answer

The verify phase runs post-role assertions to confirm correct configuration; main verifiers are 'ansible' (using Ansible tasks) and 'testinfra' (using Python pytest)

Answer

The verify phase tests that the role achieved its intended outcome using either Ansible assertions or Python-based Testinfra tests.

Ansible Automation Practice Test

Ansible Automation Practice Test

Ansible Automation Ansible Testing with Molecule 3