20 Monitoring Tool Interview Questions and Answers

When interviewing for a position that involves monitoring tools, you will likely be asked questions about your experience and knowledge of these tools. It is important to be prepared to answer these questions in order to demonstrate your qualifications for the role. In this article, we review some common questions that you may be asked about monitoring tools during a job interview.

Monitoring Tool Interview Questions and Answers

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

1. What is a monitoring tool?

A monitoring tool is a software application that is used to monitor the performance of computer systems, networks, and other infrastructure. Monitoring tools can be used to track various metrics, such as CPU usage, memory usage, network traffic, and more.

2. Can you explain what Nagios is?

Nagios is a monitoring tool that can be used to monitor systems, networks, and infrastructure. It is often used to monitor servers, and can be used to monitor things like CPU usage, memory usage, disk usage, and network traffic.

3. How do you use Nagios to monitor the status of critical services on your server?

Nagios is a monitoring tool that can be used to monitor the status of critical services on a server. In order to use Nagios to monitor the status of critical services on your server, you will need to install the Nagios server and client on your server. Once Nagios is installed, you will need to configure it to monitor the services that you want it to monitor.

4. Why do organizations use monitoring tools like Nagios instead of relying on manual checks by the operations team?

Monitoring tools like Nagios help organizations automate the process of monitoring their systems and infrastructure. This can free up the time of the operations team so that they can focus on other tasks, and it can also help to ensure that potential problems are caught more quickly.

5. How can you configure Nagios so that it will send out an alert if something goes wrong with one of your servers?

You can configure Nagios to send out an alert by setting up a notification command. This command will be executed whenever a problem is detected on one of your servers. You can also set up a notification schedule so that you will only receive alerts during certain times of the day.

6. How does Nagios help improve uptime for an organization?

Nagios is a monitoring tool that helps organizations improve uptime by monitoring the status of critical systems and infrastructure. By monitoring for potential problems, Nagios can help prevent outages before they happen.

7. What are some common components of a typical monitoring system?

A typical monitoring system will have some combination of the following components:

– A data collection agent that gathers information from the system being monitored
– A data storage component that stores the collected information
– A data analysis component that interprets the collected information and produces reports or alerts
– A user interface that allows users to interact with the system and view the reports or alerts

8. What happens when you run an “alert profile” in Nagios?

When you run an alert profile in Nagios, it will send out an alert to the designated contacts for that profile if any of the conditions in the profile are met. The alert will contain information about the condition that was met, as well as any other relevant information that the profile specifies.

9. When should a warning threshold be configured and why?

A warning threshold should be configured when you want to be alerted to a potential issue with your system but the issue is not yet critical. By configuring a warning threshold, you can be proactive in addressing potential problems before they cause major issues.

10. What’s the best way to get Nagios up and running quickly?

The best way to get Nagios up and running quickly is to use a pre-configured virtual machine or to install it on a server that already has a web server and PHP installed.

11. What is the difference between passive checks and active checks?

Passive checks are performed by the Nagios server, and they rely on information that is already being gathered by the server. Active checks are performed by the Nagios server, but they require an agent to be installed on the host being monitored. The agent will then gather the necessary information and report it back to the server.

12. Which version of Ubuntu Linux supports Nagios Core 4?

The latest version of Ubuntu Linux, 16.04, supports Nagios Core 4.

13. How do you enable automatic service notifications in Nagios?

You can enable automatic service notifications in Nagios by setting up a contact group and adding contacts to that group. You can then assign the contact group to the services that you want to be notified about.

14. What types of alerts can be sent out using Nagios?

Nagios can send out alerts via email, pager, or text message. It can also send out SNMP traps to a network management system.

15. What is the main configuration file used by Nagios?

The main configuration file used by Nagios is the nagios.cfg file. This file contains all of the global settings for the Nagios monitoring system.

16. What are NRPE agents used for?

NRPE agents are used for monitoring remote hosts. They allow you to execute commands on a remote host and return the results to the Nagios server. This allows you to monitor things like disk usage, CPU load, and memory usage on remote hosts.

17. What are plugins used for in Nagios?

Plugins are used to extend the functionality of Nagios. They can be used to add new features or to modify existing ones. For example, a plugin could be used to add support for a new operating system or to add a new check to an existing service.

18. What’s the importance of the check_http plugin?

The check_http plugin is used to check the status of a web server. This is important because it can help to ensure that the server is up and running and that it is accessible to users.

19. What port numbers does Nagios use to communicate?

Nagios uses port 80 for HTTP and port 443 for HTTPS.

20. What are dependencies and how are they used in Nagios?

In Nagios, dependencies are used to identify which services are dependent on other services. This is important for monitoring, because if one service goes down, it may impact the other services that depend on it. By identifying dependencies, you can ensure that all services are monitored and that any issues are quickly identified and resolved.