40 DevOps Interview Questions Focused on Ansible

Basic Concepts (10 Questions)

1. What is Ansible, and what makes it different from other configuration management tools like Chef or Puppet?
2. What are the key benefits of using Ansible in DevOps practices?
3. Explain the concept of modules in Ansible and their role in automation tasks.
4. What are playbooks in Ansible, and how do they structure automation workflows?
5. What is the difference between inventory and inventory files in Ansible?
6. Explain the difference between agent-based and agentless configuration management tools.
7. What are Ansible facts, and how are they used in playbooks?
8. Describe the role of Jinja2 templating in Ansible and its benefits.
9. How can you leverage Ansible Vault for secure storage of sensitive information?
10. What are some common Ansible modules you’ve used or come across?

Inventory Management (6 Questions)

1. Describe various methods for managing server inventories in Ansible (e.g., static, dynamic, cloud-based).
2. How can you use groups and variables to organize and customize your inventory in Ansible?
3. What are some best practices for securing your inventory files and access control?
4. Explain how you would integrate Ansible with cloud platforms like AWS or Azure for managing inventories.
5. How can you utilize dynamic inventory sources like DNS or REST APIs to manage evolving infrastructure?
6. Describe your approach to version control and maintaining changes to your Ansible inventories.

Playbook Execution and Troubleshooting (8 Questions)

1. Explain the different ways to run Ansible playbooks (e.g., manually, scheduled, triggered).
2. How do you handle conditional tasks and branching logic within playbooks?
3. Describe common troubleshooting techniques for identifying and resolving errors during playbook execution.
4. What tools or resources are available for debugging and monitoring Ansible playbooks?
5. What are the different verbosity levels available in Ansible, and how do they aid in debugging?
6. How would you go about debugging a complex playbook with multiple tasks and conditionals?
7. Explain the purpose and usage of Ansible tags for playbook execution control.
8. What are some strategies for handling failures and retries during playbook execution?

Modules and Variables (8 Questions)

1. How do you find information about available Ansible modules and their usage details?
2. Explain the use of variables in Ansible playbooks and their benefits in reusability and flexibility.
3. How can you create custom modules to extend Ansible’s functionality for specific needs?
4. What are best practices for managing sensitive data and secrets within Ansible variables?
5. Describe the use of filters in Ansible variables for data manipulation.
6. How can you create complex data structures like nested dictionaries or lists using Ansible variables?
7. Explain the concept of conditional facts and their application in playbooks.
8. Compare and contrast different approaches to managing variables across environments (e.g., group vars, host vars).

Advanced Concepts (8 Questions)

1. How can you leverage roles in Ansible to modularize and share automation tasks across projects?
2. Explain the integration of Ansible with CI/CD pipelines for continuous delivery.
3. What are some security considerations when using Ansible in production environments?
4. Describe your understanding of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and its connection to Ansible.
5. How can you utilize Ansible Galaxy for sharing and discovering reusable roles and modules?
6. Explain the concept of Ansible collections and their advantages.
7. Describe your understanding of the Ansible Control Machine and its purpose.
8. How can you integrate Ansible with monitoring tools for gathering insights into infrastructure health?

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