What Do Chef and Ansible Have in Common?
What do Chef and Ansible have in common?
Community Votes
100% of anonymous learners picked answer B. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.
Community Insight
The exam tests your understanding of configuration management paradigms, specifically the common trap of confusing Ansible's declarative-looking YAML syntax with a truly declarative approach—Ansible is fundamentally procedural in execution.
Chef and Ansible are both configuration management tools that rely on a procedural approach to infrastructure automation. Community consensus strongly supports that both tools use procedural methodologies, making B the correct answer.
Many candidates choose C (declarative approach) because Ansible uses YAML playbooks that appear declarative, but Ansible executes tasks sequentially and procedurally, just like Chef's Ruby-based recipes.
Community Discussion (9 comments)
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Expert Analysis
Why the Answer Is Correct
Both Chef and Ansible follow a procedural approach to configuration management, meaning they execute tasks in a defined sequential order. Chef uses Ruby-based recipes that describe step-by-step procedures, while Ansible uses playbooks with tasks that run in sequence from top to bottom. This procedural nature is a key differentiator from purely declarative tools like Terraform, which focus on desired end-state rather than execution steps.Why the Other Options Are Wrong
Option A is incorrect because only Ansible uses YAML as its primary syntax; Chef uses Ruby. Option C is a common trap—while Ansible's YAML format may appear declarative, its execution model is procedural, and Chef is clearly procedural with Ruby recipes. Option D is wrong because Chef requires an agent (client) installed on managed nodes, so it is not clientless, unlike Ansible which is agentless.Community Comment Notes
The community overwhelmingly voted for B (100% of votes), with multiple comments confirming that both Ansible and Chef are procedural. Comment [1] helpfully notes that Ansible is sometimes considered hybrid but is fundamentally procedural in execution. Comment [2] references a Gruntwork blog comparison table that supports this classification. A few dissenting comments suggested C, but these were quickly corrected by the community.Official Reference
Exam Strategy
When comparing configuration management tools on the 350-401 exam, focus on their execution model rather than their syntax. Remember that Ansible's YAML playbooks may look declarative, but tasks execute procedurally in order—always look past the surface-level syntax to the underlying paradigm.
Related Analysis
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