Passed EX407 Ansible Automation

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Going from no Ansible experience to passing the exam in two months.

EX407 Exam Experience

I took an individual exam that was based on Ansible 2.7. I had no problems with the laptop, its performance or networking.

The exam is fair. It’s not easy, but not as challenging as the Puppet one. I say that for two reasons: Ansible documentation is awesome if you know how to use it, and you have 4 hours to complete all tasks. Compared to Puppet where you are limited to 3 hours only, an extra hour for Ansible gives you some breathing space.

The exam score came back 300/300.

I didn’t expect this to be honest, as I was almost certain that I dropped points in two places. I had one WTF? moment that caught me off guard. And then there was a task that I thought was ambiguous to some degree. Chances are I was simply overthinking it.

To put my exam preparation in numbers, I spent over 50 hours studying (an hour a day for the past couple of months), and at least the same amount of time homelabbing. I didn’t know Ansible before, so it took me some time to get into it.

What’s Next?

I’m glad that I’m done with Ansible, at least for now. Writing playbooks day in, day out takes a toll on you.

I’m going back to the comfort zone for my next exam, which will be EX403 Satellite 6.

47 thoughts on “Passed EX407 Ansible Automation”

    • Thank you. When I planned my RHCA studies back in 2018, I put down 40 hours for studies, and 40 hours for homelabbing for each RHCA exam.

      This way it’s realistic to do one RHCA exam a month while spending 2 hours a day studying.

  3. Hello, my congratulations! What material was used?
    With the update of the RHCE exams, do you think it is worth to take the EX407 or wait for the new exams?

    Reply

    • Hey, thank you! I used official Red Hat training as well as Ansible documentation from https://docs.ansible.com/.

      With regards to RHCE, it depends. If you have RHCE already, then go for EX407. If you don’t have RHCE and plan on getting one soon (the next couple of months), then I’d say go for RHEL7 version, and then do EX407.

      If you plan on getting RHCE later this year, then it makes sense to wait for the RHEL 8 version.

  4. hi i have some doubts respect to exam in version 2.7, about generate report could you give me a trick?

    Reply

  7. Hi Tomas, thanks for the great site. I feel I am going to have to try and reach RHCE under RHEL8, learn a lot about automation, then go back and spend plenty of time learning the advanced RHEL 7 advanced stuff which will no longer be available under the EX 300 exam. I wish Redhat would have left the path to RHCE under RHEL7 open for much longer – Ansible is not used in many places, the underlying knowledge and skills with RHEL 7 are still required. RHEL 7 will be around for ages, shame the RHCE exam isn’t

    Reply

  8. Hi Tomas,
    Congratulations for your successful passing of EX407. Can you answer my doubt ?
    1. I started preparing ansible and planning to write EX407 soon. Do I need to must have RHCE or any other certifications as prerequisite to do so? or Can I directly eligible to write EX407 ?
    Thanks in advance.

    Best regards,
    Raju Shikha

    Reply

  9. Hi Tomas.

    Congratulations, I’ve been watching your RHCA journey it is very inspirational.

    I am planning to take this Ansible exam, but in my RHLS I do not have the EX407 version listed available for the country where I live (in Europe). I can only see these two available as a Kiosk exam:
    EX407K = RHEL 7.3 + Ansible 2.3
    EX407V27K = RHEL 7.3 + Ansible 2.7

    According to RH official web page EX407 is based on RHEL 7.5 + Ansible 2.7
    Did you take EX407 classroom exam or Kiosk exam?

    Thank you
    p.s. I opened the ticket with RH support and it’s been wandering between different support teams for 3 weeks with no answer.

    Reply

    • Thanks very much. Yes, EX407 is based on Ansible 2.7, however, you can still take the exam on Ansible 2.3 if you wish to.

      EX407K means that it will be a Kiosk exam on Ansible 2.3 and RHEL 7.3.
      EX407V27K means that it will be a Kiosk exam on Ansible 2.7 and RHEL 7.5.

      I took the Kiosk exam.

  10. Thank you, it makes sense.

    In my RHLS it shows that EX407V27K exam is based on Ansible 2.7 and RHEL 7.3 though, not RHEL 7.5
    Probably they have not updated the info yet.

    Fingers crossed for your remaining exam(s)!
    (if it is still on the table)

    Reply

    • You can spin up the RHLS lab environment and check the RHEL version in there, I’m sure it was RHEL 7.5.

      Thanks, I’ll be taking OpenShift next, it’s different compared to any other Red Hat exam that I’ve done, so it will be fun.

    • Hello Tomas.

      You were correct, EX407V27K is/(was) based on Ansible 2.7 and RHEL 7.5, they did not have RHLS updated.

      Unpleasant thing was, that for 5 full days before my exam this Ansible 2.7 course was not available in RHLS (after they updated RHLS) but I got 272/300 so I did not go full “Karen” mode. Despite not getting 100% I find ex407 easier than ex300.

      Anyway, thank you for putting Ansible Sample Exam together I checked that as well, when my course was not available.

      How’s your OpenShift preparation going? Is it still your next exam? I checked the objectives and it will not be the easiest exam (for me) if I decide to go for it..

      All the best,
      K.

    • Thanks! OpenShift will be my next exam, I’ve booked the date already. There is a lot of material to cover, and it’s rather new to me as well, however, I’m getting there. I’m using my homelab with Minishift as a training ground, and it’s quite interesting. We’re migrating to microservices at work therefore I’m familiar with Kubernetes.

  12. Can you please suggest a good book for DO407. I just stat studying ansible. I am on chapter 2 right now.

    Reply

    • I used RHLS material and official Ansible docs, I didn’t use any books I’m afraid, therefore it’s difficult to suggest something.

  14. Tomas ,
    I study with the Linux Academy course and your sample exam, because I trying to get the RHCA too.

    Do you think thats enough ? I will schedule my exam next moth.

    Thanks! Your site is amazing !

    Reply

    • Hello Tomas,
      First of all congrats for your great work!
      I am preparing for my exam and came across this comment of yours saying ansible doc will be provided. Just to make sure is that an official doc which got all the modules and the usage of it? The reason is, there are loads of modules and I am not sure if I need to invest time on remembering all of them. You are comment will be really helpful. Thanks.

    • You’re welcome! Yes, Ansible docs will be provided. I can’t be any more specific than that to avoid disclosing what’s on the exam.

      The more time you invest in preparing, the easier the exam will be.

    • No, the exam is Ansible. You need to know how to install and configure Ansible on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, but there is no advanced Linux knowledge required.

  18. Hi Tomas,

    Exam: EX-407 – Ansible
    Does Red Hat offer one free retake exam if I didn’t clear it in the first attempt?
    Can we access the official documentation during the exam for syntax and other things?

    Reply

    • Hi Ray, as far as I am aware, Red Hat do not offer free retakes. You have to pay every time you sit the exam.

      With regards to official documentation, yes, it is provided with all Red Hat exams, Ansible included.

  19. Hi Tomas,

    Reg accessing the official documentation during exams – could you help to provide any official Red Hat links which mentions the links which can be accessed during the exam.

    Reply

    • I’m not aware of any Red Hat links that would go into details with regards to material that is available during the exam.

  20. Hello Tomas Congrats for you certification , i’m looking for an ansible certification and i don’t know which one to choose : EX294 or EX407 . Difference between the two is the linux release the first goes with RHLE8 and the second with RHEL7 .
    Is there any other difference ? Does the EX294 cover more topics than the EX407 ?

    I don’t have the RHCSA certification and from what i understood it is mandatory to obtain the RHCE . Do you think we can pass the EX407 without a solid RHCSA knowledge ? Does EX407 require advanced red hat administration skills ?
    Thank you

    Reply

    • Hi Tarek, thank you!

      EX294 was derived from EX407, both exams share more or less the same objectives. The last time I checked, they also shared approximatelly 95% of the same study material. You are right, the exams are on different versions of RHEL as well as slightly different versions of Ansible (2.8 vs 2.7), but I don’t think it matters much.

      If you are not an RHCSA, then you will not get your RHCE until you pass the RHCSA exam. In such case I’d advise you to take EX407. You do not need advanced RHEL administration skills for it, but I’d say that having RHCSA knowledge is advantageous.

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