20 Configuration Management Interview Questions and Answers

Configuration management is the process of tracking and controlling changes to a system. It is important for employers to understand your experience and knowledge in this area in order to gauge your ability to manage complex systems. In this article, we will review some common configuration management questions that you may encounter during your job interview. By preparing your answers in advance, you can increase your chances of impressing the hiring manager and landing the job.

Configuration Management Interview Questions and Answers

Here are 20 commonly asked Configuration Management interview questions and answers to prepare you for your interview:

1. What is configuration management?

Configuration management is the process of handling changes to a system in a controlled and consistent manner. This includes tracking changes, maintaining system integrity, and ensuring that changes are made in a consistent and predictable manner.

2. What are some common terms used in the context of configuration management?

Some common terms used in configuration management include change management, release management, and version control. Change management is the process of tracking and managing changes to a system. Release management is the process of managing the creation and deployment of software releases. Version control is the process of tracking and managing changes to a software program.

3. Can you give me an example of a system developed using configuration management?

One example of a system that uses configuration management is the Apache Subversion software. This software is used to manage changes to files and directories, and it uses a configuration management system to keep track of all the different versions of the files and directories.

4. What do you understand by version control? How does it relate to configuration management?

Version control is a system that allows you to track changes to a file or set of files over time. This is useful for configuration management because it allows you to track changes to your configurations and revert back to previous versions if necessary.

5. Can you explain what a change request is?

A change request is a formal proposal to change something within the scope of a project. Change requests are typically submitted by project stakeholders who have identified a need for change. The change request is then reviewed by the project team to determine if the proposed change is feasible and if it is, the team will implement the change.

6. What are some of the tools that are available for supporting configuration management activities?

Some of the tools that are available for supporting configuration management activities include revision control tools, issue tracking tools, and configuration management databases.

7. What’s the difference between vertical and horizontal scaling?

Vertical scaling is the process of adding more resources to a single server to increase its capacity. This is usually done by adding more CPU, memory, or storage to the server. Horizontal scaling is the process of adding more servers to a system to increase its capacity. This is usually done by adding more servers to a load balancer.

8. What do you understand about submodules in Git?

Submodules are a way of including one Git repository inside of another. This can be useful if you have a project that relies on code from another project, and you want to be able to keep those two projects separate but still be able to track changes to both of them together. To add a submodule to a Git repository, you first need to add the submodule’s URL as a remote, and then you can add it as a submodule.

9. When would you use continuous integration or continuous deployment in your projects?

Continuous integration is a development practice in which developers regularly merge their code changes into a shared repository, and then automated builds and tests are run to verify the changes. Continuous deployment takes this one step further by automatically deploying the code changes to a production environment after they have been verified. This can be used to provide rapid feedback to developers and to ensure that code changes are always deployed in a timely manner.

10. What are two-factor authentication, multi-factor authentication, and single sign on?

Two-factor authentication is an authentication method that requires two pieces of evidence to verify the identity of a user. Multi-factor authentication is an authentication method that requires more than two pieces of evidence to verify the identity of a user. Single sign on is an authentication method that allows a user to access multiple applications with a single set of credentials.

11. What is the purpose of build servers?

Build servers are used to automatically compile and build software projects. This can be useful for ensuring that all code changes result in a working software project, and can also help to speed up the software development process by automating repetitive tasks.

12. What do you know about AWS CodeBuild, Jenkins, or Bamboo?

CodeBuild is a fully managed build service that compiles source code, runs tests, and produces software packages that are ready for deployment. Jenkins is a self-contained, open source automation server which can be used to automate all sorts of tasks related to building, testing, and deploying software. Bamboo is a continuous integration and delivery server from Atlassian that can be used to automate the build, test, and release process.

13. What is a chatbot? Have you ever built one?

A chatbot is a computer program that is designed to simulate a conversation with a human user. I have not built one before, but I am familiar with the concept.

14. What do you understand by disaster recovery planning?

Disaster recovery planning is the process of creating a plan for how to recover from a disaster. This plan typically includes steps for how to restore data, how to get critical systems up and running again, and how to communicate with employees and customers during and after a disaster.

15. What do you think the best way to improve security in the cloud is?

One way to improve security in the cloud is to use a configuration management tool. This tool can help you to automate the process of configuring and managing your cloud environment. By using a configuration management tool, you can help to ensure that all of your cloud resources are properly configured and that they remain secure.

16. What do you understand about hybrid clouds?

A hybrid cloud is a cloud computing environment that uses a mix of on-premises, private cloud, and public cloud services with orchestration and integration between the two platforms.

17. What are the differences between DevOps and Agile Development?

DevOps is a set of practices that automates the processes between software development and IT operations. Agile Development is an iterative approach to software development that emphasizes collaboration, customer feedback, and flexibility.

18. What do you understand about Docker containers?

Docker containers are a type of virtualization technology that allows you to package an application with all of its dependencies and ship it as a single unit. This makes it easy to deploy and run your application on any environment, without having to worry about dependencies or configuration.

19. What are the main components of a typical CI/CD pipeline?

The main components of a typical CI/CD pipeline are a source code repository, a build server, a testing server, and a production server. The source code repository is where the code for the project is stored. The build server is responsible for taking the code from the repository and building it into a software package. The testing server is where the package is deployed and tested. The production server is where the software is finally deployed for users to access.

20. What are the main concepts behind infrastructure as code?

Infrastructure as code is the concept of managing and provisioning computer data centers through machine-readable definition files, rather than physical hardware configuration. This approach treats infrastructure as a software product, allowing it to be versioned, audited, and reviewed like any other codebase.