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DevOps Interview Questions in Kolkata

36 practice questions with answers for DevOps interviews in Kolkata.

DevOps jobs in Kolkata

Kolkata has a steady IT-services and BFSI technology job market around Salt Lake Sector V and New Town. Many openings are with service companies and their delivery centres, with a focus on strong fundamentals.

Below are 36 questions that match the mix of service, product and domain employers hiring junior devops engineers in Kolkata.

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01

Write Terraform code to create an AWS EC2 instance.

Infrastructure as Code (Terraform and Ansible)Medium
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terraform { required_providers { aws = { source = "hashicorp/aws", version = "~> 5.0" } } } provider "aws" { region = "ap-south-1" } resource "aws_instance" "web" { ami = var.ami_id instance_type = "t3.micro" subnet_id = var.subnet_id tags = { Name = "web-server" Env = "dev" } } Run terraform init, plan and apply. ap-south-1 is the Mumbai region.
02

The on-call team gets dozens of alerts every night and is burning out. How do you fix it?

Monitoring, Logging and SREMedium
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Collect alert data for a few weeks: which fired, how often, and whether anyone acted. Delete or downgrade non-actionable alerts, tune thresholds and add for durations, and group duplicates in Alertmanager. Fix the recurring root causes behind the top alerts and automate common fixes. Move to SLO-based alerts and make sure rotations are fair with follow-up time after bad nights.
03

How do you create a Secret and use it as an environment variable in a pod?

KubernetesMedium
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kubectl create secret generic db-creds \ --from-literal=DB_USER=app --from-literal=DB_PASS='S3cret!' -n shop # in the container spec env: - name: DB_PASS valueFrom: secretKeyRef: name: db-creds key: DB_PASS # or load all keys envFrom: - secretRef: name: db-creds Pods do not pick up changed env values until restarted; mounted secret files update automatically.
04

What is load average in Linux and how do you read it?

Linux and Shell ScriptingMedium
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Load average is the average number of processes running or waiting for CPU (and uninterruptible I/O) over 1, 5 and 15 minutes, shown by uptime or top. Compare it with the number of CPU cores: a load of 4 on a 4-core machine means full use, while 12 means work is queuing. A high load with low CPU use often points to disk or network I/O waits.
05

Explain the basic Terraform workflow.

Infrastructure as Code (Terraform and Ansible)Easy
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terraform init downloads providers and modules and configures the backend. terraform fmt and validate check style and syntax. terraform plan shows what will be created, changed or destroyed without making changes. terraform apply executes the plan after confirmation. terraform destroy removes all managed resources. In CI, save the plan with -out and apply that exact plan after review.
06

A pod is in CrashLoopBackOff. How do you troubleshoot it?

KubernetesMedium
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The container starts and keeps crashing, and Kubernetes waits longer between restarts. Run kubectl describe pod to see events and exit codes, and kubectl logs <pod> --previous for the crashed container's output. Common causes are missing environment variables or secrets, bad config, failing database connections, a wrong command, an aggressive liveness probe, or exit code 137 meaning OOM kill.
07

Explain the main components of an AWS VPC.

AWS Cloud for DevOpsMedium
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A VPC is your private network with a CIDR range like 10.0.0.0/16. It is split into subnets in each Availability Zone. Public subnets have a route to an Internet Gateway; private subnets reach the internet only through a NAT Gateway in a public subnet. Route tables control traffic, security groups and NACLs filter it, and VPC endpoints give private access to services like S3.
08

How do you configure an S3 remote backend with locking?

Infrastructure as Code (Terraform and Ansible)Medium
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terraform { backend "s3" { bucket = "acme-terraform-state" key = "prod/network/terraform.tfstate" region = "ap-south-1" encrypt = true use_lockfile = true } } Then run terraform init (add -migrate-state if moving local state). Enable versioning on the bucket. Older setups use dynamodb_table = "tf-locks" instead of use_lockfile for locking.
09

Two containers on the same host cannot talk to each other. What do you check?

Docker and ContainersMedium
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Check that both are on the same user-defined network with docker network inspect; the default bridge does not resolve container names. Use the service or container name and the container's internal port, not localhost and not the published host port. Confirm the app listens on 0.0.0.0 rather than 127.0.0.1. Then test with curl or nc from inside one container.
10

What is the difference between monitoring and observability?

Monitoring, Logging and SREEasy
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Monitoring tracks known metrics and alerts when they cross thresholds, answering whether something is wrong. Observability is the ability to understand any internal state from outside data, answering why, even for problems you did not predict. It rests on three pillars: metrics for trends, logs for detailed events and traces for following one request across services. Good systems need both.
11

An application logs 'Too many open files'. How do you fix it?

Linux and Shell ScriptingHard
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The process has hit its file descriptor limit. Check usage with ls /proc/<pid>/fd | wc -l and the limit in /proc/<pid>/limits. Raise it through LimitNOFILE in the systemd unit or /etc/security/limits.conf, then restart. But also look for a leak: sockets or files not closed in code keep growing and will hit any limit. Raising the limit alone only buys time.
12

What is git stash and when do you use it?

Git and Version ControlEasy
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git stash saves your uncommitted changes and cleans the working directory, so you can switch branches for an urgent fix. git stash list shows saved entries, git stash pop reapplies the latest and removes it, and git stash apply keeps it. Use git stash -u to include untracked files. It is a short-term tool; for longer work, commit on a branch.
13

How do you use stored credentials inside a Jenkins pipeline?

CI/CD PipelinesMedium
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pipeline { agent any environment { SONAR_TOKEN = credentials('sonar-token') } stages { stage('Push') { steps { withCredentials([usernamePassword(credentialsId: 'docker-hub', usernameVariable: 'USER', passwordVariable: 'PASS')]) { sh 'echo $PASS | docker login -u $USER --password-stdin' } } } } } Jenkins masks these values in console output. Use single quotes in sh so Groovy does not interpolate the secret.
14

You get an alert that the company website is down. What are your first steps?

Monitoring, Logging and SREEasy
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Acknowledge the alert so others know you are on it. Check whether it is really down from outside with curl or an uptime checker, and whether it is all users or one region. Look at recent deployments or changes, then load balancer health, application logs and the database. If a recent change caused it, roll back first. Inform the team and escalate if you cannot fix it quickly.
15

Explain liveness, readiness and startup probes.

KubernetesMedium
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A liveness probe checks whether the container is healthy; if it fails, the kubelet restarts it. A readiness probe checks whether it can serve traffic; if it fails, the pod is removed from service endpoints but not restarted. A startup probe gives slow-starting apps time to boot and holds off the other probes until it succeeds. Wrong liveness probes can cause restart loops.
16

Tell me about a time you automated a repetitive manual task.

Linux and Shell ScriptingMedium
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Situation: our team manually cleaned old build artefacts on shared servers every week, which took two hours and sometimes deleted the wrong files. Task: I offered to automate it. Action: I wrote a bash script with dry-run mode, logging and a retention rule, tested it on staging and scheduled it with cron. Result: zero manual effort and no more full-disk alerts for six months.
17

Write a Docker Compose file for a web app with a PostgreSQL database.

Docker and ContainersMedium
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services: web: build: . ports: - "8000:8000" environment: DATABASE_URL: postgres://app:secret@db:5432/appdb depends_on: db: condition: service_healthy db: image: postgres:16 environment: POSTGRES_USER: app POSTGRES_PASSWORD: secret POSTGRES_DB: appdb volumes: - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data healthcheck: test: ["CMD", "pg_isready", "-U", "app"] interval: 5s volumes: pgdata:
18

Tell me about a blameless post-mortem you were part of.

Monitoring, Logging and SREMedium
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Situation: a certificate expired and our API was down for 40 minutes. Task: I wrote the post-mortem. Action: I built a timeline from logs and chat, and we focused on why the system allowed it rather than who forgot: renewal was manual and nothing alerted. Result: we automated renewal with cert-manager, added expiry alerts 21 days ahead, and tracked actions to closure.
19

How do you create an EKS cluster with eksctl and connect kubectl to it?

AWS Cloud for DevOpsMedium
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eksctl create cluster \ --name shop-dev \ --region ap-south-1 \ --nodegroup-name workers \ --node-type t3.medium \ --nodes 2 --nodes-min 2 --nodes-max 5 \ --managed aws eks update-kubeconfig --name shop-dev --region ap-south-1 kubectl get nodes eksctl builds CloudFormation stacks for the VPC, control plane and node group. In production, teams usually manage EKS with Terraform modules instead.
20

What is a DaemonSet and when is it used?

KubernetesEasy
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A DaemonSet makes sure one copy of a pod runs on every node, or on a selected group of nodes. When a node joins the cluster, the pod is added automatically. It is used for node-level agents such as log collectors like Fluent Bit, monitoring agents like the Prometheus node exporter, and CNI or storage plugins.
21

What does idempotency mean in Ansible?

Infrastructure as Code (Terraform and Ansible)Medium
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Idempotency means running the same playbook many times gives the same result without unwanted changes. Modules check current state first: the apt module installs a package only if missing and reports ok instead of changed. The shell and command modules are not idempotent by default, so use creates, removes or changed_when conditions, or prefer a dedicated module.
22

What is the difference between a process and a thread in Linux?

Linux and Shell ScriptingEasy
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A process is a running program with its own address space, file descriptors and PID. A thread is a unit of execution inside a process that shares the same memory and open files with other threads. Creating threads is cheaper and they communicate easily, but a bug in one thread can crash the whole process, while separate processes are isolated from each other.
23

A pod is stuck in Pending state. What could be the reasons?

KubernetesMedium
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Pending means it has not been scheduled or its volumes are not ready. kubectl describe pod shows the scheduler's reason. Common causes are insufficient CPU or memory on nodes for the requests, node selectors, affinity or taints that no node satisfies, a PersistentVolumeClaim that cannot bind, or a resource quota being exceeded. Fix the spec or add nodes with the cluster autoscaler.
24

You need to bring existing manually created cloud resources under Terraform. How?

Infrastructure as Code (Terraform and Ansible)Medium
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Write the resource blocks in code, then import the real resources into state. Since Terraform 1.5 you can declare import blocks with the resource ID and run plan; terraform plan -generate-config-out can even draft the configuration. Older versions use the terraform import CLI command. Run plan until it shows no changes, which proves code matches reality.
25

What makes a good alert, and how do you avoid alert fatigue?

Monitoring, Logging and SREHard
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A good alert is actionable, urgent and tied to user impact, such as an SLO burn rate, not just high CPU. Each page should have a runbook link and a clear owner. Reduce noise by removing alerts nobody acts on, using severity levels so non-urgent issues create tickets, grouping related alerts, and using for durations to ignore short spikes. Review alerts after each on-call week.
26

When would you choose ECS, EKS or Lambda?

AWS Cloud for DevOpsMedium
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Lambda runs functions without servers, billed per request and duration, ideal for event-driven tasks with short runtimes up to 15 minutes. ECS is AWS's simpler container orchestrator, good when you want containers without Kubernetes complexity, often with Fargate. EKS is managed Kubernetes, chosen for portability, a rich ecosystem and existing Kubernetes skills, but it needs more operational knowledge.
27

Write a Deployment manifest with 3 replicas, resource limits and a readiness probe.

KubernetesMedium
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apiVersion: apps/v1 kind: Deployment metadata: name: api spec: replicas: 3 selector: matchLabels: app: api template: metadata: labels: app: api spec: containers: - name: api image: registry.example.com/api:1.4.2 ports: - containerPort: 8080 resources: requests: {cpu: 250m, memory: 256Mi} limits: {cpu: 500m, memory: 512Mi} readinessProbe: httpGet: {path: /health, port: 8080} periodSeconds: 5
28

What are the S3 storage classes and lifecycle policies?

AWS Cloud for DevOpsEasy
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S3 Standard is for frequently accessed data. Standard-IA and One Zone-IA are cheaper for infrequent access but charge retrieval fees. Intelligent-Tiering moves objects automatically based on access. Glacier Instant, Flexible Retrieval and Deep Archive are for archives with slower, cheaper access. Lifecycle rules move objects between classes after a set age and delete old versions or logs automatically.
29

What is the difference between git fetch and git pull?

Git and Version ControlEasy
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git fetch downloads new commits and branches from the remote into remote-tracking branches like origin/main without touching your working files. git pull is fetch followed by merge (or rebase if configured) into your current branch. Fetch is safer when you want to inspect incoming changes first with git log main..origin/main before integrating them.
30

Builds fail randomly because of flaky tests. How do you handle it?

CI/CD PipelinesMedium
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First identify flaky tests by tracking which tests fail and pass on the same commit. Quarantine them into a separate non-blocking job so the main pipeline stays trustworthy, and raise tickets with owners. Common causes are timing assumptions, shared test data, order dependence and external services. Blind automatic retries hide real bugs, so use them only briefly while fixing the root cause.
31

How do you perform a rolling update and roll back a Deployment?

KubernetesMedium
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# update the image kubectl set image deployment/api api=registry.example.com/api:1.5.0 kubectl rollout status deployment/api # history and rollback kubectl rollout history deployment/api kubectl rollout undo deployment/api kubectl rollout undo deployment/api --to-revision=3 # pause or restart kubectl rollout pause deployment/api kubectl rollout restart deployment/api In GitOps setups, you change the image tag in Git instead and let Argo CD apply it.
32

Tell me about a time you disagreed with a code review comment.

Git and Version ControlMedium
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Situation: a reviewer asked me to replace a simple retry loop in our deploy script with a heavy external library. Task: I felt it added risk. Action: I explained my reasoning, shared a small benchmark and failure tests, and asked what concern they had; it was about backoff. Result: I added exponential backoff to my version, they approved, and we documented the pattern.
33

What are the typical stages of a CI/CD pipeline?

CI/CD PipelinesEasy
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A common pipeline is checkout, build or compile, unit tests, static analysis and security scans, packaging into an artefact or container image, pushing to a registry, deploying to a test or staging environment, running integration or smoke tests, an approval gate, and production deployment with monitoring. Fast checks run first so developers get feedback within minutes and slow tests run later.
34

Explain Ansible architecture: inventory, modules and playbooks.

Infrastructure as Code (Terraform and Ansible)Easy
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Ansible runs from a control node and connects to managed hosts over SSH, or WinRM for Windows, with no agent needed. The inventory lists hosts and groups. Modules are units of work like apt, copy or service. Playbooks are YAML files containing plays that map host groups to ordered tasks. Variables, templates with Jinja2 and roles organise larger automation.
35

What is a detached HEAD state in Git?

Git and Version ControlMedium
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HEAD normally points to a branch name. In detached HEAD, it points directly to a commit, for example after git checkout <hash> or checking out a tag. You can look around and even commit, but new commits belong to no branch and can be lost when you switch away. To keep them, create a branch with git switch -c new-branch.
36

Tell me about a mistake you made in infrastructure work and what you learned.

Infrastructure as Code (Terraform and Ansible)Medium
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Situation: I applied a Terraform change that renamed a security group, which forced replacement and briefly cut access to a staging database. Task: fix it and prevent repeats. Action: I restored access quickly, explained it openly to my lead, and then added plan review in pull requests plus lifecycle create_before_destroy rules. Result: no similar outage since, and I now read every destroy line in a plan.

Companies with offices in Kolkata (3)

IT services

Wipro

DevOps interview questions

  • 30 questions
  • 4 rounds

Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune +2

View questions
IT services

Cognizant

DevOps interview questions

  • 30 questions
  • 4 rounds

Chennai, Bengaluru, Pune +2

View questions
IT services

IBM

DevOps interview questions

  • 30 questions
  • 4 rounds

Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad +2

View questions

Frequently asked questions

Which companies hire DevOps professionals in Kolkata?

Companies with large offices in Kolkata include Wipro, Cognizant, IBM. Use their company pages below to practise employer-specific sets.

Are DevOps interviews in Kolkata different from other cities?

The questions depend more on the company than the city. Kolkata's mix of employers decides the style: Many openings are with service companies and their delivery centres, with a focus on strong fundamentals

How do I find DevOps jobs in Kolkata?

Shortlist companies with Kolkata offices, keep your CV focused on DevOps projects, apply on company career pages and job portals with the Kolkata filter, and practise the questions on this page before each interview.

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