Azure DevOps is one of the most in–demand skills in the IT industry today. As businesses move to the cloud, the need for DevOps engineers grows. According to Indeed.com, the average salary for an Azure DevOps engineer is $116,941 per year. Companies are increasingly looking for professionals with these skills to help them develop high-quality applications faster and more efficiently. If you are looking for a career in Azure DevOps, then go ahead and take advantage of all the new job openings with this article which lists down the most important Azure DevOps Interview Questions and Answers.
Now to make it easy for you, the Azure DevOps interview questions and answers are divided into four categories:
Basic Azure DevOps Interview Questions and Answers
Intermediate Azure DevOps Interview Questions and Answers
Advanced Azure DevOps Interview Questions and Answers
Frequently asked Azure DevOps Interview Questions and Answers
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Now let’s begin.
Basic Azure DevOps Interview Questions and Answers:
Q1. What is DevOps?
DevOps is a methodology meant to improve work throughout the software development lifecycle. You can visualize a DevOps process as an infinite loop, comprising communication, collaboration, and integration. It combines software development (dev) and operations (ops). It is defined as a software engineering methodology that aims to integrate the work of software development and IT teams to enable a faster and more efficient software delivery process. It is a set of practices, tools, and a cultural philosophy that automates and integrates the functions between software development and IT teams. DevOps is a compound of development (Dev) and operations (Ops), and it is designed to enhance the process of software delivery by focusing on communication, collaboration, and integration.
Q2. Why use DevOps?
DevOps is essential because it enables shorter development cycles, faster innovation, reduced deployment failures, improved communication and collaboration, and easier maintenance of applications. DevOps teams use tools to automate and accelerate processes, which helps to increase reliability and improve deployment frequency. The primary objective of adopting a DevOps methodology is to fully carry out the software development process internally, as well as to make procedures faster, more efficient, and more secure. Benefits of DevOps include continuous delivery of software, better collaboration between teams, easy deployment, better efficiency and scalability, and improve application security.
Q3. How does DevOps work?
DevOps is a set of practices, tools, and a cultural philosophy that automates and integrates the processes between software development and IT teams. It emphasizes team empowerment, cross-team communication and collaboration, and technology automation. Sometimes, these two teams merge into a single team where the engineers work across the entire application lifecycle — from development and test to deployment and operations — and have a range of multidisciplinary skills. DevOps teams use tools to automate and accelerate processes, which helps to increase reliability. A DevOps toolchain helps teams tackle important DevOps fundamentals including continuous integration, continuous delivery, automation, and collaboration. DevOps values are sometimes applied to teams other than development. When security teams adopt a DevOps approach, security is an active and integrated part of the development process. This is called DevSecOps.
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Q4. What is Azure DevOps?
Azure DevOps is a service offered by Microsoft based on the Azure cloud computing platform that provides a complete set of tools to manage the entire software development life cycle. It offers integrated features that can be accessed using a web browser or IDE client, and provides support for Agile methods, source control, builds and releases services, and application insights.
Q5. What are the benefits of DevOps?
The benefits of DevOps include faster delivery of features, more stable operating environments, improved communication and collaboration, more time to innovate, collaboration, speed, innovation, customer satisfaction, agility, quality and reliability, security, and competitive advantage. Additionally, DevOps maximizes efficiency with automation, optimizes the entire business, improves the speed and stability of software development and deployment, and renews focus on the customers.
Q6. Name a few DevOps tools.
Some of the popular DevOps tools are GitHub, Bitbucket, GitLab, Docker, Kubernetes, Mesos, Prometheus, Dynatrace, AppDynamics, Splunk, and Datadog.
Q7. What are the popular DevOps tools for Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment?
The popular DevOps tools for Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment are Jenkins, TeamCity, GoCD, Bamboo, GitLab CI, CircleCI, Travis CI, Codeship, DeployBot, AWS CodeDeploy, Octopus Deploy, Buddy, and Apache Gump. These tools are used to automate the development and deployment workflow, provide support to scale out to a large number of nodes and distribute the workload equally among them. They also offer easy installation, fast deployments, and support for all popular languages, frameworks, and task managers.
Q8. What are Azure Boards?
Azure Boards is a service for managing the work for your software projects. It is an interface or a service of DevOps through which teams can manage their projects throughout the entire development lifecycle. It allows you to track tasks, bugs, and features within your software project and provides a wide range of features such as Kanban implementation, customizable dashboards, sprint planning, and integrated reporting.
Q9. What is Azure Repos?
Azure Repos is a set of version control tools that we can use to manage our code. It provides two flavors of source control, Git and Azure DevOps version control. It is a hosting service for Git Remotes and can be used with Microsoft hosting. It supports Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC), webhooks and API integration, pull requests, code search, and semantic code search.
Q10. What are containers?
Containers are a form of operating system virtualization. A single container might be used to run anything from a small microservice or software process to a larger application. Inside a container are all the necessary executables, binary code, libraries, and configuration files. Compared to server or machine virtualization approaches, however, containers do not contain operating system images. This makes them more lightweight and portable, with significantly less overhead. In larger application deployments, multiple containers may be deployed as one or more container clusters. Such clusters might be managed by a container orchestrator such as Kubernetes.
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Q11. What containers does Azure DevOps support?
Azure DevOps supports Docker, Azure Kubernetes services, Asp.Net with containers, and Azure Service Fabric applications with Docker support. With containers, you can package your software code, its dependencies, and configurations into one isolated unit, making it easier to manage and deploy. Containers are also useful for setting up a CI/CD pipeline to automate building and deploying container applications.
Q12. What are Azure Pipelines?
Azure Pipelines is a cloud-based solution by Microsoft that automatically builds and tests code projects. It supports all major languages and project types. It has capabilities such as continuous integration and continuous delivery to regularly and consistently test and builds our code and ship to any target. It also offers version control systems, language and application types, and deployment targets.
Q13. List some benefits of Azure pipelines.
Azure Pipelines is a service provided by Microsoft’s Azure DevOps platform that allows users to automate their software build, test, and deployment processes. Some benefits of using Azure Pipelines include
- Cross-platform support: Azure Pipelines supports a wide variety of platforms and languages, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, as well as popular programming languages such as Java, C#, Python, and JavaScript.
- Continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD): Azure Pipelines can be configured to automatically build, test, and deploy code changes as soon as they are committed to the source code repository, which helps ensure that changes are shipped to production quickly and safely.
- Advanced testing capabilities: Azure Pipelines provides built-in support for running automated tests, including unit tests, integration tests, and acceptance tests, as well as support for popular test frameworks such as JUnit, NUnit, and xUnit.
- Deployment to multiple environments: Azure Pipelines can be configured to deploy to a variety of environments such as on-premises, Azure, AWS, and other cloud providers.
- Extensibility: Azure Pipelines can be easily extended with custom tasks and plugins, which allows users to customize their CI/CD process to meet their specific needs.
- Secure and compliant: Azure Pipelines provides built-in security features and compliance with various industry standards, such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001.
- Collaboration and reporting: Azure Pipelines allows teams to collaborate and track progress through Azure Boards and provides reporting capabilities through Azure Metrics.
- Pricing model: Azure Pipelines provides a flexible pricing model, including a free tier for open-source projects and the ability to pay for what you use, with no upfront costs or long-term commitments.
Q14. What do you mean by Azure artifacts?
Azure Artifacts is a service provided by Microsoft’s Azure DevOps platform that allows users to manage, create, and share software packages, such as libraries, modules, and frameworks, within their organization. It provides a centralized location for storing and sharing packages and makes it easy for developers to access and consume the packages they need for their projects.
Some key features of Azure Artifacts include
- Package management: Azure Artifacts supports a wide variety of package formats, including NuGet, npm, Maven, and Python, and provides a web interface for browsing, searching, and downloading packages.
- Package feeds: Azure Artifacts allows users to create custom package feeds for different teams, projects, or environments, which makes it easy to share packages within an organization.
- Versioning: Azure Artifacts automatically manages package versions, making it easy to manage and track changes to packages over time.
- Dependency management: Azure Artifacts allows users to manage and track dependencies between packages, which helps ensure that all the packages required for a project are available and up-to-date.
- Authentication and access control: Azure Artifacts provides built-in support for authentication and access control, which allows users to control who can access and consume packages.
- Integration: Azure Artifacts integrates with Azure DevOps and other tools, such as Visual Studio and Azure DevOps Server, which allows users to manage packages directly from within their development environment.
To use Azure Artifacts, you will need to create an Azure DevOps organization, and then create a new project within the organization. Once the project is set up, you can then create and configure a package feed, upload packages to the feed, and share them with your team.
Q15. What is the use of Selenium in DevOps?
Selenium is a widely used browser automation tool that is used in DevOps pipelines to help with web application testing. It is a portable open-source software-testing framework that can operate on almost every operating system. Selenium enables rapid and repeatable web app testing, which allows developers to ship new releases faster and with more confidence. It also has a user-friendly interface that helps create and execute tests.
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Now that we have seen the basics, let us move ahead with some intermediate Azure DevOps interview questions and answers.
Intermediate Azure DevOps Interview Questions and Answers:
Q1. What are Azure Test Plans?
Azure Test Plans is a service provided by Microsoft’s Azure DevOps platform that allows users to plan, track, and manage tests for their software projects. It includes features such as manual and exploratory testing, continuous testing, and test case management, as well as integration with other Azure DevOps services such as Azure Boards and Azure Repos. Azure Test Plans is designed to help teams improve their testing processes and increase the quality of their software.
Q2. What are some important features of Memcached?
Memcached is a popular, open-source, in-memory caching system that is used to speed up dynamic web applications by reducing the amount of time required to access data from a database. Some important features of Memcached include
- In-memory storage: Memcached stores data in RAM, which allows for very fast access to cached data.
- Distributed caching: Memcached can be distributed across multiple servers, which allows for horizontal scaling and increased capacity.
- Simple API: Memcached has a simple, easy-to-use API that makes it easy to integrate with web applications.
- High performance: Memcached is designed to handle a high volume of requests and can support millions of requests per second.
- LRU eviction: Memcached uses a Least Recently Used (LRU) algorithm to evict items from the cache when memory is full.
- Pluggable storage: Memcached allows to use of different storage engines like Memory, File, SQLite, Redis, etc.
- Support for multiple programming languages: Memcached has libraries available for many popular programming languages, such as C, C++, Java, Python, Ruby, and PHP.
Q3. What do you mean by Multi-stage pipeline?
A multi-stage pipeline is a type of pipeline in a continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) process that is split into multiple stages. Each stage represents a different step in the pipeline, such as building, testing, and deploying the application. The pipeline will typically start with the build stage, where the application is compiled and packaged. Then, it will move to the test stage, where automated tests are run to ensure the application is working as expected. Once the tests pass, the pipeline will move to the deploy stage, where the application is deployed to a staging or production environment.
Each stage in the pipeline typically runs sequentially, meaning that the pipeline will only move to the next stage if the current stage completes successfully. This allows teams to catch errors early in the process and fix them before they make it to production. Multi-stage pipeline can also be used to deploy the same app to multiple environments like development, staging, and production. It typically makes use of different tools like Jenkins, Azure DevOps, Travis etc. depending on the organization’s needs and infrastructure.
Q4. What is meant by the pull requests in Azure DevOps Repos?
A pull request (PR) in Azure DevOps Repos is a feature that allows developers to submit changes they have made to a branch in a Git repository for review and merge into the main branch (often called ‘master’ or ‘main’). When a developer creates a pull request, they are proposing changes to the codebase. Other members of the team can then review the changes and provide feedback. If the changes are approved, the developer can then merge the changes into the main branch.
Pull requests provide a way for teams to collaborate on code changes, review changes for potential issues, and ensure that changes are consistent with the project’s coding standards. They also provide a way for teams to track and manage changes to the codebase and allow for better communication among team members. In Azure DevOps, the pull request feature is integrated with the Azure DevOps Repos, which allows teams to review code, discuss changes, and collaborate on code development. It also provides a way to track and manage code changes and allows teams to automate code review and merge workflows.
Q5. Explain Forks in Azure DevOps.
A fork in Azure DevOps is a copy of a Git repository that allows a developer to make changes to the codebase without affecting the original repository. Forking is useful for situations when you want to make changes to a repository that you don’t have write access to, or when you want to experiment with changes without affecting the main repository. It also allows multiple developers to work on the same codebase simultaneously without interfering with each other’s work. In Azure DevOps, the fork feature is integrated with Azure DevOps Repos, which allows developers to easily create a fork of a repository and submit pull requests for review and merge. It also allows teams to track and manage code changes, and collaborate on code development.
Q6. What is the Dogpile effect and how can you prevent it?
The Dogpile effect is a phenomenon that can occur in caching systems when multiple requests for the same resource arrive at the same time, and the cache for that resource has expired. This can cause all of the requests to hit the origin server at the same time, resulting in a spike in traffic and a potential overload of the origin server.
The Dogpile effect can be prevented by using a technique called “cache stampede protection” or “cache key lock”. This technique uses a lock on the cache key to ensure that only one request is allowed to regenerate the cache at a time, while the other requests wait for the lock to be released.
Q7. What is Jenkins, and how can it be integrated with Azure Pipelines?
Jenkins is an open-source automation tool that allows you to automate the building, testing, and deployment of software projects. It can be integrated with Azure Pipelines, a cloud-based service that allows you to manage and automate the build, test, and deployment of your software projects. To integrate Jenkins with Azure Pipelines, you can use the Azure DevOps plugin for Jenkins, which allows you to trigger builds, deployments, and other actions in Azure Pipelines from Jenkins. Additionally, you can use the Jenkins Pipeline plugin to create Jenkins pipelines that are triggered by Azure Pipelines, and use Azure Pipelines tasks to run Jenkins jobs.
You can also use the Jenkins REST API to create a Jenkins job that consumes an Azure DevOps REST API to build the Jenkins job using an Azure DevOps pipeline.
Overall, the integration between Jenkins and Azure Pipelines allows you to take advantage of the strengths of both tools to manage the entire software development and deployment process.
Q8. What are some of the useful plugins in Jenkins?
Jenkins has a large number of plugins available, which can be used to extend its functionality. Some useful plugins include:
- Pipeline Plugin: This plugin allows you to create Jenkins pipelines, which are a way to define and automate the entire software delivery process, from building and testing to deploying and releasing.
- Git Plugin: This plugin allows Jenkins to interact with Git repositories, which is useful for triggering builds when changes are pushed to the repository.
- JUnit Plugin: This plugin allows Jenkins to parse JUnit-formatted test results, which makes it easy to view test results and failures within the Jenkins UI.
- Maven Plugin: This plugin allows Jenkins to build and test Java projects that use the Maven build system.
- Slack Plugin: This plugin allows Jenkins to send notifications to a Slack channel, which can be useful for informing team members of build status and other events.
- SonarQube Plugin: This plugin allows Jenkins to perform code analysis and generate reports using SonarQube, a popular open-source tool for static code analysis.
- Amazon EC2 Plugin: This plugin allows Jenkins to dynamically provision and manage build agents on Amazon EC2, which can be useful for scaling build capacity as needed.
- Build Time-Tracker: This plugin allows Jenkins to keep track of how long builds take, which can be useful for identifying and addressing performance bottlenecks.
- Jenkins Job DSL: This plugin allows Jenkins jobs to be defined using a domain-specific language, which can make it easier to manage and maintain large numbers of jobs.
Well these are just a few examples of the many plugins available for Jenkins. The best plugin for you will depend on the specific requirements of your project.
Q9. Can we move or copy Jenkins from one server to another?
Yes, it is possible to move or copy Jenkins from one server to another. The process for doing this can vary depending on the specific setup of your Jenkins instance and the target server.
The general steps for moving or copying Jenkins from one server to another include:
- Backing up the Jenkins data
- Installing Jenkins on the target server
- Restoring the Jenkins data
- Configuring the target server
- Updating Jenkins plugins and configurations
- Update the Jenkins URL
It’s important to test the Jenkins instance on the new server to make sure everything is working as expected. It’s also worth noting that there are some other alternative ways to move Jenkins, such as using Jenkins CLI or Jenkins Job DSL.
Q10. What are Azure DevOps Projects?
Azure DevOps Projects are a simplified way to create a new Azure DevOps project and set up a continuous delivery pipeline for your application. They allow you to quickly set up a new project with a Git repository, a build pipeline, and a release pipeline, all preconfigured with recommended settings and best practices.
Q11. What are fault domains and update domains?
In Azure, a fault domain is a group of virtual machines (VMs) or physical hardware that share a common power source and network switch. A fault domain is essentially a way to group resources together so that if there is a failure, such as a power outage or network switch fails, it will only affect a subset of the overall resources in your deployment.
An update domain is a group of virtual machines that are updated together during a planned maintenance event. During an update, only one update domain is taken offline at a time, so that the remaining update domains can continue to service requests.
Q12. Can you briefly explain the concept of virtual machine scale sets, and do scale sets work with Azure availability sets?
Virtual machine scale sets (VMSS) are a feature of Azure that allows you to create and manage a group of identical, load-balanced virtual machines. Scale sets automatically increase or decrease the number of virtual machines in the set based on demand, ensuring that your application is always running at the desired level of performance.
Scale sets work by automatically creating and managing multiple instances of a virtual machine, known as scale set instances. These instances are identical and run the same image and configuration. Scale sets automatically distribute the instances across multiple fault domains and update domains, ensuring that the instances are spread across different physical hardware to increase availability.
Q13. What is Continuous Testing? What is the use of Test Automation in DevOps?
Continuous testing is the practice of executing automated tests as part of the software delivery pipeline to obtain feedback on the business risks associated with a software release as quickly as possible. It is a practice of executing automated tests along with the software development process to obtain feedback on the quality and risk of the application.
The use of test automation in DevOps is to help ensure that code changes do not introduce new bugs or regressions and to provide fast feedback on the quality of the code changes, allowing the development team to make decisions on the next steps. Automated tests can be run as part of the continuous integration process, which is triggered every time code changes are committed to the repository. This way, automated tests can be run in parallel with the build process, providing results in a timely manner.
Q14. Differentiate between Jira and Azure DevOps.
Jira and Azure DevOps are both popular tools for managing software development projects, but they have some key differences in terms of their features and capabilities:
- Purpose: Jira is primarily focused on issue tracking and agile project management, while Azure DevOps is a more comprehensive solution that includes features for source control, continuous integration and delivery, testing, and project management.
- Integration: Jira has a large number of integrations available, including integration with a wide range of development tools and services, while Azure DevOps is tightly integrated with other Azure services and also offers integration with a wide range of development tools and services.
- Scaling: Jira is more suited for small to medium-sized teams and projects, while Azure DevOps is better suited for large, enterprise-level projects with a lot of users and a lot of data.
- Pricing: Jira offers both a cloud-based and on-premise version, with different pricing options for each, while Azure DevOps is primarily a cloud-based service, with different pricing options based on the number of users and the level of service needed.
- UI and Customization: Jira has a more customizable interface and can be tailored to the specific needs of a team or organization. Azure DevOps has a more polished interface but with less flexibility in terms of customizing the layout and workflow.
- Project management: Jira is more focused on Agile methodologies, which is great for Scrum and Kanban boards, backlogs, sprints, and Epics, while Azure DevOps has a more comprehensive approach to project management, it supports Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, and more, it also has the ability to track work items, bugs, and backlog items, and use them to plan and track the development of your application.
In summary, Jira and Azure DevOps are both powerful tools for managing software development projects, but they have different strengths and use cases. Jira is best suited for small to medium-sized teams and projects that require extensive customization, while Azure DevOps is better suited for large, enterprise-level projects and organizations that need a more comprehensive solution.
Q15. What different types of backlogs and board options are available in Azure boards?
Azure Boards offers several types of backlogs and boards, including
- Product backlog: This is a prioritized list of work items that need to be completed for a project.
- Sprint backlog: This is a subset of the product backlog that is specific to a particular sprint or iteration.
- Kanban board: This is a visual representation of the workflow for a project, showing items that are in progress, completed, and blocked.
- Dashboards: This allows you to create custom views of your data and track key metrics for your project.
- Reports: This allows you to generate reports based on your work item data and track progress over time.
- Queries: This allows you to search for and filter work items based on specific criteria.
- Test plans and results: This allows you to plan, track, and manage your testing efforts.
- Git integration: This allows you to connect your Git repositories to your Azure Boards project, enabling you to track code changes and work items in a single place.
- Wiki: This allows you to create and share documentation, notes, and other information related to your project.
- Extension: This allows you to use third-party tools and services that integrate with Azure Boards, such as Slack, Trello, and Visual Studio Code.
Q16. What is VNet?
VNet (Virtual Network) is a service provided by Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, that enables users to create and manage virtual networks in the cloud. VNet allows users to create their own private network in the cloud, and connect it to their on-premises infrastructure or other Azure resources. It provides features such as IP address assignment, subnet creation, network security, and VPN connectivity. VNet is a fundamental building block of Azure’s infrastructure as a service (IaaS) offerings.
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Q17. Elaborate Microsoft-hosted agents in the Azure pipeline.
Microsoft-hosted agents in the Azure pipeline refer to the use of pre-configured, Microsoft-managed build and release agents in Azure DevOps. These agents are hosted on virtual machines in the Azure cloud and are available for use in Azure Pipelines. These agents are designed to handle a wide range of tasks, such as building and testing code, creating packages, and deploying applications. They come pre-installed with a variety of tools and software, such as the .NET Framework, Java, and Node.js, as well as popular build and deployment tools like Maven, Gradle, and Octopus Deploy.
The Microsoft-hosted agents are highly available and automatically scale to meet the demands of your pipeline. They are also automatically updated with the latest security patches and software updates.
Using Microsoft-hosted agents in the Azure pipeline provides several benefits, such as:
- It eliminates the need to maintain your own build and release infrastructure.
- It allows you to easily scale your pipeline to handle the increased load.
- It ensures that your pipeline is always running on the latest and most secure software versions.
Overall, Microsoft-hosted agents in the Azure pipeline provide a convenient and reliable way to build and deploy your applications, allowing you to focus on writing code and delivering value to your customers.
Q18. Explain the function of Scrum master in azure boards.
A Scrum Master is a key role in the Scrum framework, and in Azure Boards, the Scrum Master is responsible for facilitating the Scrum process within the development team. The main function of the Scrum Master in Azure Boards is to help the team to understand and adhere to the Scrum framework, as well as to ensure that the team is working efficiently and effectively.
Some specific responsibilities of the Scrum Master in Azure Boards include:
- Facilitating Scrum ceremonies such as Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective
- Removing obstacles that the team may encounter during the sprint
- Ensuring that the team is adhering to the Scrum principles and practices
- Helping the team to identify and prioritize user stories and backlog items
- Tracking and reporting on the team’s progress throughout the sprint
- Ensuring that the team is following the definition of done
The Scrum Master also works closely with the product owner to ensure that the team is working on the most important items in the product backlog and that the team is delivering value to the customer. In Azure Boards, the Scrum Master can use the built-in Scrum boards, backlogs, and dashboards to manage the sprint and track progress, as well as to communicate with other stakeholders.
Overall, the Scrum Master plays an important role in helping the team to deliver high-quality software on time and within budget.
Q19. Mention the advantages of using Azure DevOps.
Azure DevOps is a suite of tools that provides an end-to-end solution for software development, including planning, development, testing, and deployment. Some of the main advantages of using Azure DevOps include:
- Collaboration and communication: Azure DevOps provides a centralized platform for developers, testers, and other stakeholders to collaborate and communicate throughout the software development process.
- Agile planning and tracking: Azure DevOps provides a set of tools for agile planning, tracking, and management, including backlogs, boards, and dashboards.
- Continuous integration and delivery: Azure DevOps provides a set of tools for continuous integration and delivery, including Azure Pipelines, which allow you to automate the building, testing, and deployment of your code.
- Code management: Azure DevOps provides Git source control, which allows you to manage your code, track changes, and collaborate with other developers.
- Testing and quality assurance: Azure DevOps provides a set of tools for testing, including manual and automated testing, as well as load testing, which help you to ensure that your code is of high quality.
- Extensibility: Azure DevOps is highly extensible and can be integrated with a wide range of third-party tools and services.
- Scalability: Azure DevOps is a cloud-based service that can automatically scale to meet the demands of your pipeline.
- Security and Compliance: Azure DevOps provides a set of security features such as role-based access control and Azure Active Directory integration, which helps to ensure that your data is secure and compliant with industry regulations.
Overall, Azure DevOps provides a comprehensive set of tools for software development that can help teams to deliver high-quality software faster and more efficiently.
Let’s move on to advance concepts in this Azure DevOps interview questions and answers.
Advanced Azure DevOps Interview Questions and Answers:
Q1. What is the difference between Azure DevOps Services and Azure DevOps Server?
Azure DevOps Services and Azure DevOps Server are both products from Microsoft that provide a set of tools for software development, including planning, development, testing, and deployment. However, there are some key differences between the two products:
- Cloud-based vs On-Premises: Azure DevOps Services is a cloud-based service that is hosted on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, while Azure DevOps Server is an on-premises solution that can be installed and run on your own infrastructure.
- Accessibility: Azure DevOps Services can be accessed from anywhere with internet access, while Azure DevOps Server is only accessible from within your organization’s network.
- Maintenance and Upkeep: Azure DevOps Services is maintained and updated by Microsoft, while Azure DevOps Server requires regular maintenance and updates to be applied by the organization.
- Scalability: Azure DevOps Services automatically scales to meet the demands of your pipeline, while scaling Azure DevOps Server requires additional resources and can be more complex.
- Cost: Azure DevOps Services is a subscription-based service and you pay as you go, while Azure DevOps Server requires an up-front cost and an ongoing cost for licensing and maintenance.
- Extensibility: Both Azure DevOps Services and Azure DevOps Server can be integrated with a wide range of third-party tools and services, but Azure DevOps Services has more pre-built integrations.
In summary, Azure DevOps Services is a cloud-based, fully managed service that provides easy access and scalability, while Azure DevOps Server is an on-premises solution that requires more maintenance and management. The choice between the two will depend on your organization’s specific needs and requirements.
Q2. What are the different DevOps solution architectures?
There are several DevOps solution architectures, including
- Monolithic architecture
- Microservices architecture
- Serverless architecture
- Hybrid architecture
Each architecture has its own advantages and disadvantages, and the best architecture for a particular organization depends on its specific requirements and goals.
Q3. What are the reasons to use CI and CD and Azure pipelines?
CI (Continuous Integration) and CD (Continuous Deployment) are used to streamline and automate the software development and delivery process. Using Azure Pipelines to implement CI/CD has benefits:
- Automation: Automating the build, test, and deployment process to reduce human error and increase efficiency.
- Faster delivery: Enables faster delivery of high-quality software, reducing time to market.
- Improved collaboration: Supports collaboration between development and operations teams.
- Increased reliability: Improves software quality and reduces the risk of downtime or production issues.
- Better scalability: Supports deployment to multiple platforms and environments, and can be easily scaled as the organization grows.
- Integration with Azure DevOps: Seamless integration with Azure DevOps, allowing for streamlined workflows and simplified management.
Q4. What should you do to make a NuGet package available to anonymous users outside your organization alongside minimizing the number of publication points?
To make a NuGet package available to anonymous users outside your organization while minimizing the number of publication points, you can:
- Publish the NuGet package to a public NuGet repository such as nuget.org.
- Use a single, central repository within your organization and configure it to proxy the public repository.
- Use a repository manager such as Artifactory to manage and proxy both internal and external NuGet repositories.
By doing this, you can maintain control over the packages you use within your organization, while still providing access to public packages to anonymous users through a single, well-known endpoint.
Q5. How can you enable communication between members of the development team working in different locations around the world using Azure DevOps?
Azure DevOps provides several tools to enable communication between development team members located in different locations around the world:
- Azure Boards: allows team members to track work items, bugs, issues, and project tasks.
- Azure Repos: provides version control and collaboration features for code development.
- Azure Pipelines: helps automate build, test, and deployment processes for applications.
- Azure Test Plans: allows for planning, tracking, and managing the testing process.
- Azure Artifacts: helps manage packages and dependencies used by the application.
- Microsoft Teams integration: allows for real-time chat and collaboration with team members.
- Email notifications: receive updates on work item changes, build and release status, etc.
These tools allow team members to collaborate and communicate effectively, regardless of their location.
Q6. Which feature can be used for the development of a multi-tier application using Azure App Service web apps as the front end and Azure SQL database as the back end?
Azure App Service web apps offer an “Easy Setup” feature that allows developers to quickly set up a multi-tier application with an Azure SQL database as the back end. Easy Setup provides an automated setup process that enables developers to quickly deploy their applications on Azure. With Easy Setup, developers can easily connect to an existing Azure SQL database, or create a new one, and quickly configure their application’s back end. Additionally, developers can use Easy Setup to set up a secure connection between their web app and the back-end database and set up authentication and authorization rules.
Q7. What can you do to improve the quality of code if there are many unused variables and empty catch blocks?
- Remove Unused Variables: Unused variables can create confusion for other developers, as well as make the code less efficient. It’s important to check for and remove any unused variables from the code.
- Remove Empty Catch Blocks: Empty catch blocks can lead to errors that are difficult to debug. It’s important to ensure any catch blocks have code in them that will handle the expected exceptions.
- Refactor Code: Refactoring code can help to improve readability and maintainability. It’s important to consider ways to make the code more efficient and organized.
- Add Comments: Adding comments can help to explain why certain code is being used, as well as make it easier for other developers to understand.
- Automate Tests: Automated tests can help to ensure that the code is working as expected and that any changes won’t cause unexpected errors.
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Q8. What are the necessary components for the integration of Azure DevOps and Bitbucket?
The necessary components for the integration of Azure DevOps and Bitbucket are:
1. An Azure DevOps organization.
2. A Bitbucket account with access to the repositories you want to integrate.
3. A service connection between Azure DevOps and your Bitbucket account.
4. A build pipeline configured to use the Bitbucket repository as its source.
5. A release pipeline configured to use the Bitbucket repository as its source.
Q9. Explain Pair Programming with reference to DevOps.
Pair programming is a software development technique in which two developers work together on the same code. It is a form of Agile development that encourages collaboration and team-based learning. In a pair programming session, one developer (the driver) writes the code while the other (the navigator) reviews the code and suggests improvements. By working together, the two developers can quickly identify errors and come up with creative solutions. Pair programming is a valuable tool in DevOps because it helps to ensure that code is written correctly and is up to standard. It also encourages collaboration and communication between developers, which is essential for successful DevOps teams. The practice also encourages teams to adhere to best practices and create well-structured code that is easy to maintain and understand. Additionally, pair programming can help reduce the amount of time spent debugging, as two developers are able to spot problems faster than one.
Q10. Tell us something about fault domains.
Fault domains are a way of grouping physical hardware components together in order to provide resiliency in the event of a physical failure. Each fault domain contains multiple components that are completely independent of each other, meaning that if one component fails, the others should still be working. This provides a level of redundancy that allows for uninterrupted service even in the event of a component failure.
Q11. Tell us something about the Update domains feature.
The Update domains feature in Google Search Console allows website owners to tell Google which domains they would like to associate with their website. This feature enables website owners to specify which domains should be used to refer to their website when it appears in Google search results. The feature also allows website owners to specify which domains should be used to access their website when someone clicks on their Google search result. This ensures that users are always taken to the correct URL and can access the correct content.
Q12. How can Azure Ad applications be used?
Azure AD applications can be used to enable single sign-on (SSO) access to cloud applications; secure access to on-premises applications; configure automated user provisioning and de-provisioning to cloud applications; secure access to web applications; and provide secure access to mobile applications. They can also be used to manage user identities, enforce multi-factor authentication, and provide advanced security analytics and reporting.
Q13. What is meant by system capabilities and user capabilities in the Azure pipeline?
System capabilities are the features and services offered by the Azure pipeline which are used for automating the software development process. This includes tasks such as continuous integration, continuous delivery, and automated testing. User capabilities are the features and services offered by the Azure pipeline which are used by developers to manage the development process. This includes tasks such as setting up code repositories, checking in new code, and tracking project progress.
Q14. What is the azure cli command used to run the pipeline?
The command to run an Azure Pipeline is:
az pipelines run --name <pipeline name>
Q15. Elaborate self-hosted agent in Azure pipeline.
A self-hosted agent allows you to run builds and deployments on a machine in your own environment. It can be used for builds and deployments that require specific software or require access to a private network. Self-hosted agents are installed on Windows and Linux machines and can be used to run builds and deployments on your own machines. In Azure Pipelines, you can create a self-hosted agent pool that can be used to run builds and deployments. This tool can be configured to use specific versions of software, set up authentication, and set up other customizations. You can also use a self-hosted agent pool to run builds and deployments on virtual machines or in a cloud environment. To create a self-hosted agent pool, you will need to create a pool in the Azure DevOps portal, configure the settings, and add agents. You can add agents either manually or by using an automated provisioning tool such as Chef or Ansible. Once the pool is configured and agents are added, you can use the pool for builds and deployments. The self-hosted agent pool allows you to have more control over the environment used for builds and deployments. You can configure the pool to use specific versions of software and set.
Q16. Elaborate Microsoft-hosted agents in the Azure pipeline.
Microsoft-hosted agents in the Azure pipeline are cloud-based virtual machines that can be used to build and deploy applications. These agents are available in various sizes, including Windows, Ubuntu, and macOS, and can be used to build, test, and deploy projects written in languages such as Java, .NET, Node.js, Ruby, Python, and PHP. Additionally, the agents can be used to build and deploy Docker containers, run automated tests, and deploy applications to the cloud. The agents are managed by Microsoft and all the necessary software and dependencies are pre-installed and configured for the user. The agents can be used for CI/CD processes, such as continuous integration, automated testing, and continuous deployment, as well as other DevOps tasks.
Q17. Tell us about the Azure Redis cache.
Azure Redis Cache is an in-memory data store powered by the popular open-source Redis cache. It is a fully managed, secure, and highly available service that provides fast access to data stored in a secure and durable manner. Azure Redis Cache helps applications perform faster by providing them with a secure, dedicated Redis cache, managed by Microsoft. It supports data structures such as strings, hashes, lists, sets, sorted sets, bitmaps, geospatial indexes, and streams. Azure Redis Cache provides a cost-effective solution for applications that need high-throughput, low-latency access to data. It also offers a wide range of features such as automatic scaling, backup and restore data persistence, and geo-distribution. Azure Redis Cache is ideal for applications requiring fast data access without managing servers or clusters.
Q18. What is NuGet? How can one allow anonymous external users to access a NuGet package while also reducing the number of publishing points?
NuGet is a package manager for .NET and Visual Studio. It makes it easy for developers to add libraries, components, and other tools to their projects. NuGet packages can be hosted on a NuGet server, which provides a single publishing point for developers to access the packages. To allow anonymous external users to access a NuGet package while also reducing the number of publishing points, one can use a NuGet proxy server. A proxy server is a server that acts as a mediator between external users and the NuGet server. The proxy server provides a single publishing point for the NuGet packages, while also allowing external users to access the NuGet packages without having to authenticate themselves. This reduces the number of publishing points and makes it easier for external users to access the NuGet packages.
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Frequently Asked Azure DevOps Interview Questions and Answers
Q1. Mention some of the alternatives to azure DevOps?
- Jenkins
- Travis CI
- AWS CodePipeline
- CircleCI
- GitLab CI/CD
- BitRise
- TeamCity
- Semaphore
- Harness
- Codeship
Q2. Mention the advantages of using Azure DevOps.
- Automated Deployments: Azure DevOps allows users to configure automated deployments from source code repositories, such as GitHub or BitBucket. This eliminates manual steps in the deployment process and helps ensure that the latest version of the code is deployed.
- Continuous Integration & Delivery: Azure DevOps enables users to set up a continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) pipeline which automatically builds, tests, and deploys applications based on changes to the source code. This helps ensure the code is always up-to-date and ready to deploy.
- Agile Planning: Azure DevOps provides a suite of tools to help teams plan, track, and manage their software projects in an agile way. This includes features such as sprint planning, task tracking, backlog management, and more.
- Collaboration & Visibility: Azure DevOps helps increase collaboration and visibility across teams by providing tools to facilitate communication and sharing of information. This helps teams stay aligned and on the same page throughout the software development process.
- Cloud Hosting: Azure DevOps is hosted on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, which provides a secure, reliable, and cost-effective hosting environment. This helps teams save money on hosting costs
Q3. Which service is used for managing Azure resources?
Azure Resource Manager (ARM) is used for managing Azure resources. ARM is a service that provides a consistent management layer for deploying, managing, and monitoring Azure resources. It provides an infrastructure for managing resources in a declarative format using JSON templates.
Q4. Differentiate between Azure DevOps server and azure DevOps services.
Azure DevOps Server (formerly known as Team Foundation Server) is a self-hosted platform for managing the development of software projects. It is installed on-premises and allows organizations to have full control over their data and customizations.
Azure DevOps Services (formerly known as Visual Studio Team Services) is a cloud-based platform for managing the development of software projects. It is a managed service hosted by Microsoft and provides a flexible and scalable platform for organizations to collaborate on development projects.
In summary, the main difference between Azure DevOps Server and Azure DevOps Services is that the former is an on-premises solution, while the latter is a cloud-based service.
Q5. What are the main components of Azure DevOps?
- Version Control: Azure DevOps uses a distributed version control system (Git) to store and manage source code.
- Build and Release Pipelines: Build and release pipelines automate the process of building, testing, and deploying code.
- Continuous Integration and Delivery (CI/CD): This feature enables developers to quickly build and deploy code to their production environment.
- Agile Planning Tools: Azure DevOps provides a suite of tools for project planning, monitoring, and reporting.
- Test Management: Azure DevOps provides a comprehensive test management system to help teams efficiently plan, manage, and track the performance of their tests. 6. Analytics: Azure DevOps’ analytics tools provide insight into the performance of projects, pipelines, and tests.
Q6. Elaborate on the job role of Azure DevOps engineer.
Azure DevOps engineers are responsible for designing, deploying, managing, and maintaining cloud-based applications and services on the Microsoft Azure platform. They oversee all aspects of the development process, including architecture design, application development, deployment, testing, and monitoring. They create and maintain automation scripts to automate the tasks associated with the delivery of applications, services, and infrastructure. They are also responsible for ensuring that the applications and services meet the performance and scalability requirements and are compliant with the security and regulatory policies. Additionally, they provide technical support to users and stakeholders, troubleshoot problems, and implement best practices. Azure DevOps engineers might also be responsible for developing DevOps processes and procedures to streamline the development life cycle.
Q7. Which web applications can be deployed with Azure?
The following web applications can be deployed with Azure:
- ASP.NET
- Node.js
- PHP
- Java
- Python
- Ruby on Rails
- HTML/CSS/Javascript
- Azure App Service
- Azure Functions
- Azure Kubernetes Service
Q8. Mention different ways for connecting with a project in Azure DevOps.
- Using Azure DevOps Services: This is the simplest way to connect with a project in Azure DevOps. You can sign up for an Azure DevOps Services account and then use the web interface to connect with the project.
- Using Azure DevOps CLI: If you are comfortable with the command line, you can use the Azure DevOps CLI to connect to the project. This allows you to automate tasks and manage your project from the command line.
- Using Visual Studio: If you are using Visual Studio, you can connect with the project directly from within the IDE. This allows you to quickly access the project’s source code and perform operations such as committing changes and reviewing builds.
- Using Azure DevOps API: You can use the Azure DevOps API to access and manage the project from any platform and language. This allows you to integrate with other systems and build custom solutions.
- Using REST API: You can also access the project using the Azure DevOps REST API. This allows you to programmatically access the project’s data and operations and integrate them with other applications.
Q9. Elaborate on the projects of Azure DevOps.
Azure DevOps is a suite of cloud-based services that help organizations plan, build, test, and deploy applications in the cloud. It comprises several services including Azure Pipelines, Azure Boards, Azure Repos, Azure Test Plans, and Azure Artifacts.
- Azure Pipelines: This service provides continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines that automatically build, test, and deploy applications to Azure. It allows developers to create and manage CI/CD pipelines for their applications, and track the progress and performance of their builds.
- Azure Boards: This service provides project management capabilities for teams to track work, manage projects, and collaborate on code. It helps teams plan, track, and discuss work across the development cycle.
- Azure Repos: This service provides a way to store, manage, and track code changes in private or public Git repositories. It allows developers to collaborate on code, manage version control, and review code changes.
- Azure Test Plans: This service provides a way to manage and track testing activities, including manual and automated testing. It helps teams plan, track, and run tests and track their results.
- Azure Artifacts: This service provides a way to store, manage, and share packages and artifacts such as libraries, components, and applications. It helps teams package and deploys their applications and artifacts more quickly.
Q10. Briefly explain continuous monitoring.
Continuous monitoring is the process of collecting and analyzing data from an IT system or environment in real time. It is used to identify and alert on potential security issues, as well as changes in user behavior, system configurations, and other indicators of malicious or unauthorized activities. Continuous monitoring allows organizations to quickly detect and respond to threats, helping to reduce the risk of data breaches or other security incidents.
Related Learning: Top Azure Interview Questions!
Hoping this blog covers all your doubts and about Azure DevOps Interview questions and answers, we are closing up the content here. Make sure to check out the video if you need to understand better. If you are interested in mastering Azure DevOps, please visit our Edureka website and enroll in the Azure Solution Architect certification course. All the best for your interview! Happy Learning!
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