Quiz: Python Automation

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4 questions

L0 (1 questions)

1. Why would you choose Python over Bash for an infrastructure automation script?

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Python is better when you need: proper error handling (try/except), data structures (dicts, lists), API integration (requests, boto3), parallel execution, testing, or the script exceeds ~100 lines. Bash is fine for simple file operations and command chaining.

L1 (1 questions)

1. When using boto3 to list all S3 objects in a bucket with millions of objects, why must you use a paginator instead of calling list_objects_v2 directly?

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list_objects_v2 returns a maximum of 1000 objects per call. Without pagination, you only see the first 1000 and silently miss the rest. Use s3.get_paginator('list_objects_v2') to iterate through all pages automatically. *Common mistake:* A common mistake is assuming the API returns everything in one call and not checking IsTruncated.

L2 (1 questions)

1. You are writing a Python script that restarts services across 200 servers via SSH. How do you handle parallelism and error isolation?

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Use concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor (or ProcessPoolExecutor) with a bounded pool (e.g., 20 workers). Wrap each server call in try/except so one failure does not abort the batch. Collect results with futures and report successes/failures at the end. Consider using paramiko or fabric for SSH.

L3 (1 questions)

1. You need to write a Python tool that safely performs rolling restarts of a Kubernetes deployment, waiting for each pod to be ready before proceeding. What approach and libraries do you use?

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Use the kubernetes Python client. Get the deployment's pod list, then for each pod: delete it, wait for the replacement to reach Ready condition (poll pod status with a timeout), then proceed to the next. Respect PodDisruptionBudgets by checking allowed disruptions first. Add --dry-run, progress output, and a configurable timeout.