20 Infrastructure Monitoring Interview Questions and Answers

If you’re interviewing for a position that involves infrastructure monitoring, you can expect to be asked questions about your experience and technical knowledge. Being prepared for these questions will help you showcase your skills and land the job. In this article, we’ll cover some of the most common infrastructure monitoring interview questions and provide tips on how to answer them.

Infrastructure Monitoring Interview Questions and Answers

Here are 20 commonly asked Infrastructure Monitoring interview questions and answers to prepare you for your interview:

1. What is Infrastructure Monitoring?

Infrastructure Monitoring is the process of monitoring the physical and virtual components of an IT infrastructure for performance and availability. This can include monitoring the performance of servers, storage, networking, and other infrastructure components, as well as monitoring the applications running on top of the infrastructure.

2. Can you explain what the difference between Infrastructure as Code and Infrastructure Monitoring is?

Infrastructure as Code is the process of managing and provisioning computer data centers through machine-readable definition files, rather than physical hardware configuration. Infrastructure Monitoring, on the other hand, is the practice of monitoring the performance and availability of an organization’s IT infrastructure. This can include everything from monitoring the performance of individual servers to monitoring the overall health of the network.

3. How do I measure the success of an infrastructure monitoring deployment?

There are a few key indicators that you can look at to measure the success of an infrastructure monitoring deployment. First, you should see a reduction in the number of incidents and outages. Second, you should see a reduction in the mean time to repair (MTTR) for incidents and outages. Finally, you should see an increase in the overall uptime of your infrastructure.

4. What are some examples of infrastructural components that can be monitored with tools like Nagios and Zabbix?

Some examples of infrastructural components that can be monitored with tools like Nagios and Zabbix include: servers, routers, switches, firewalls, storage devices, and applications.

5. What are some common methods used for infrastructure monitoring?

Some common methods used for infrastructure monitoring include pinging devices to check connectivity, using SNMP to gather data on devices, and using a syslog server to collect log data from devices.

6. Can you explain how to set up a basic monitor in Nagios Core?

In Nagios Core, you will need to first set up a host object that represents the machine you want to monitor. This is done by defining the host’s IP address, hostname, and any other relevant information. Once the host object is created, you will need to create a service object for each service you want to monitor on that host. This is done by specifying the service name, the check command to use for monitoring, and any other relevant information. Finally, you will need to create a command object for each check command you want to use. This is done by specifying the command name and the command line to use.

7. Can you give me some examples of plugins used in Nagios?

Some of the more popular plugins used in Nagios include check_http, check_ftp, check_ssh, and check_disk. These plugins are used to monitor various aspects of your server infrastructure, such as the web server, FTP server, SSH server, and disk usage.

8. What is the difference between passive and active checks? Which one would you recommend, given two hosts on which only one could run active checks?

Passive checks are those in which the monitoring system simply waits for some kind of response from the host being monitored, while active checks are those in which the monitoring system actively sends requests to the host being monitored. In general, passive checks are preferable, since they put less strain on the host being monitored. However, if you only have one host that can run active checks, then you will need to use active checks on that host in order to get accurate monitoring data.

9. What is the importance of SNMP traps?

SNMP traps are important for infrastructure monitoring because they allow network administrators to receive notifications in real-time when something goes wrong. This way, they can take action immediately to fix the problem, rather than waiting for a scheduled check or manual intervention.

10. What’s the best way to secure access to Nagios?

The best way to secure access to Nagios is to use a combination of authentication and authorization methods. For authentication, you can use methods like LDAP or Active Directory. For authorization, you can use role-based access control or access control lists.

11. What are the different types of notifications supported by Nagios?

Nagios supports four different types of notifications: email, pager, short message service (SMS), and execution of a user-defined command.

12. Is it possible to change notification settings for individual hosts or services? If yes, then how?

Yes, it is possible to change notification settings for individual hosts or services. You can do this by going into the Nagios web interface, selecting the host or service in question, and then clicking on the “Edit” button. From there, you will be able to change the notification settings for that host or service.

13. Can you explain some of the disadvantages of using Nagios?

Some potential disadvantages of using Nagios include its high learning curve and its lack of certain features that may be found in other monitoring tools. Additionally, Nagios can be difficult to scale, so it may not be the best choice for large organizations.

14. Can you explain what distributed monitoring is? When should it be used?

Distributed monitoring is a method of monitoring in which data is gathered from multiple locations and then centralized for analysis. This can be useful for organizations with multiple sites or for monitoring large, distributed systems.

15. What is log monitoring? Why is it important?

Log monitoring is the process of collecting, analyzing, and storing log data from a variety of sources in order to track and troubleshoot issues within an IT infrastructure. Log data can provide valuable insights into system performance, security threats, and other potential problems. By monitoring logs, administrators can proactively identify and resolve issues before they cause major disruptions.

16. What is ITIL? How does it relate to Infrastructure Monitoring?

ITIL is the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, and it is a set of best practices for managing IT infrastructure. Infrastructure monitoring is one of the areas covered by ITIL, and it includes practices for monitoring the performance and availability of IT systems.

17. Why is Infrastructure Monitoring important during disaster recovery operations?

Infrastructure Monitoring is critical during disaster recovery operations in order to ensure that all systems and components are functioning properly and that no issues have arisen that could impact the success of the recovery process. By monitoring the infrastructure, recovery teams can identify and resolve any potential problems before they cause major disruptions.

18. What are some open-source alternatives to Nagios?

Some open-source alternatives to Nagios include Icinga, Zabbix, and Sensu.

19. Can you give me some examples of real-world problems that can be solved with Infrastructure Monitoring?

Yes. Infrastructure Monitoring can be used to solve problems such as:

– Determining if a server is down
– Determining if a service is down
– Determining if a network is down
– Determining if a database is down
– Determining if a website is down

20. Where does Infrastructure Monitoring fit into the DevOps pipeline?

Infrastructure Monitoring is a critical part of the DevOps pipeline, as it helps to ensure that the infrastructure is functioning properly and is able to meet the demands of the applications running on it. By monitoring the infrastructure, DevOps teams can identify and fix problems before they cause outages or performance issues.