Top 55+ AWS DevOps Interview Questions & Answers

The rapid progress of technology around us makes it very vital to understand how DevOps is important for proper development and deployment of software. Amazon Web Services(AWS) uses an easy-to-use set of tools and services that align the DevOps process, letting organisations develop, deploy, and handle apps with extreme ease.

When preparing for an AWS DevOps interview, one is introduced to so many areas that may be overwhelming to encompass. Whether you are a beginner or someone who is considering moving up the ladder, knowing the concepts and relevant tools of AWS is important for your next interview.

In this article, we will discuss managing with AWS DevOps interview questions categorised as beginner, intermediate and experienced.

AWS DevOps Interview Questions for Beginners

1.   What is AWS in DevOps?

AWS in DevOps refers to the combining of the Amazon Web Service with DevOps to improve processes in software development and their operations.

Key Components:

• Automation: Streamline repetitive tasks such as deployments and scaling.
• Scalability: Easily adjust resources based on application demand.
• Collaboration: Foster better communication between development and operations teams.
• Monitoring: Continuously track application performance and system health.

2.   Why Use AWS for DevOps?

There are many obvious benefits of AWS that focus on improvement throughout the software development life cycle. DevOps with AWS brings advantages such as:

• Complete Toolset: Rich set of DevOps tools such as CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy
• Scalability: Applications and Infrastructure can be easily scaled to meet the fluctuating load requirements
• Automation: A lot of effort can go into the automation of applying applications with much less intervention from human resources.
• Integration: Effortless integration with other AWS services and external tools.
• Security: Strong security facilities to ensure your applications and data are safeguarded while passing through your DevOps pipeline.

3.   What is the Difference Between Docker and a Virtual Machine (VM)?

4.   What Are Some Popular AWS DevOps Tools?

DevOps on the AWS platform can be implemented with the use of a number of tools made available by the service provider:

• AWS CodePipeline: Helps streamline and aid with build, test, and deploy stages in your release workflow cycle.
• AWS CodeBuild: Fully managed build service that builds the source code, runs tests and builds software packages.
• AWS CodeDeploy: Manages code updates automatically across any instance, including instances on EC2 as well as local servers.
• AWS CodeCommit: Managed source control software, offering versioned repositories hosted on git.
• AWS CodeStar: Consolidates your software development tasks in a single window, managing the activities from a single user interface.
• AWS CloudWatch: Provides a service regularly utilised to maintain application status by overseeing AWS resources.
• AWS Lambda: This lets you run code in a cloud environment without having to set up or maintain servers.

5.   What is CodePipeline in AWS DevOps?

AWS CodePipeline is a cloud-based continuous integration and continuous delivery service that allows users to easily create, test, and deploy their applications.

Key Features:

• Automated Workflow: This makes it easier for the user to go from committing code to deploying code.
• Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other AWS services like CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, and third-party tools.
• Customisation: This lets users specify what actions and stages should be executed in the required order in order to use a custom workflow.
• Monitoring: Provides real-time visibility into the status of each pipeline stage.

6.   Why Use AWS for DevOps?

There are several key benefits of using AWS specifically in terms of DevOps practices:

• Wide Range of DevOps Services: The multi-step DevOps lifecycle is well-supported with services devoted to coding, building, deploying and more.
• Scalable Resources: Rapid resource scaling to match changing requirements is one of the various benefits.
• Dynamic Pricing: Cost reduction is guaranteed by paying only for services actually used on a monthly basis.
• Protected Information and Providers: Automatic security and compliance features ensure that applications comply with relevant standards without requiring additional verification.
• Wider Service Coverage: Applications can be made available in numerous regions of the world, improving their performance and reliability.
• Reachable Globally: Through relatively simple deployments, applications can be made available in many regions of the globe.

7.   What is the Difference Between AWS CodeCommit and GitHub?

8.   How Would You Explain CodeBuild in AWS DevOps?

CodeBuild is a web service that builds your source code into deployable packages. It is part of AWS’s managed build services.

Key Features:

• Scalability: Automatically scales to handle multiple builds concurrently.
• Customisation: Supports custom-build environments using Docker images.
• Integration: Works seamlessly with other AWS services like CodePipeline and CodeCommit.
• Pay-per-Use: You pay only for the build time you consume.

9.   Describe the CodeDeploy in AWS DevOps.

AWS CodeDeploy is a service that delivers applications automatically to different types of compute units, including Amazon EC2 and low-performing in-house equipment or serverless applications.

Key Features:

• Automated Deployments: Streamlines the process of deploying code changes.
• Deployment Strategies: Supports rolling updates, blue/green deployments, and canary releases.
• Integration: Works with other AWS services like CodePipeline and CodeBuild.
• Monitoring: Provides deployment status and error tracking.

10.  What is Amazon S3?

S3 is Amazon’s object storage service that is both scalable and very durable with its ability to retain and safeguard data due to its high level of availability. It also supports various classes of storage which assist in reducing the cost based on how frequently data is held. It has the ability to integrate with other AWS services, which allows for the processing of data, backups and storage. Such capabilities make S3 a go-to service for website storage, data archival and big data analytics, among others.

11.  What Are the Types of Load Balancers in AWS?

AWS offers three main types of load balancers, each suited for different use cases:

12.  What is CodeStar in AWS DevOps?

CodeStar allows users to quickly build and deploy applications by providing them with a single interface from which they can manage and control the entire software development. It provides a central interface that enables you to view the progress of all application development activities at once.

13. What Are Containers?

Containers are small and independent units designed to encapsulate the application with its dependencies. This enables the application to run uniformly across different environments.

Key Characteristics:

• Isolation: Each container runs in its own environment, isolated from others.
• Portability: Containers can run consistently on any system that supports the container runtime.
• Efficiency: Share the host OS, reducing resource overhead compared to virtual machines.
• Scalability: Easily scalable to handle varying workloads.

14. How Do You Orchestrate Containers in AWS?

Orchestrating containers in AWS involves managing the deployment, scaling, and operation of containerised applications. Here are the primary methods:

Using Amazon ECS:

• Task Definitions: Define how containers should run.
• Service Management: Maintain the desired number of running tasks.
• Scheduling: Distribute containers across the cluster based on resource requirements.

Using Amazon EKS:

• Kubernetes Management: Utilise Kubernetes for advanced container orchestration.
• Integration: Leverage Kubernetes tools and APIs within the AWS ecosystem.
• Scalability: Benefit from Kubernetes’ robust scaling and management capabilities.

Key Steps:

• Define Containers: Create Docker images for your applications.
• Choose Orchestration Tool: Select ECS, EKS, or Fargate based on your needs.
• Configure Resources: Set up clusters, services, and task definitions.
• Deploy and Manage: Use AWS tools to deploy, monitor, and scale your containers.

15.  What Are Security Groups and NACLs in AWS?

Security groups and NACLs are two basic building blocks for securing AWS resources, especially within a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).

16.  What is AWS Lambda in AWS DevOps?

AWS Lambda is a no-server provisioning, serverless computing service. It will automatically scale your applications because it runs your code in response to events.

Key Features:

• Event-driven: It triggers the code for events, such as HTTP requests, changes in a database, or file uploads.
• Automatic Scaling: It will scale based on the incoming request numbers.
• Flexible Resource Allocation: Select the desired memory from 128 MB to 10 GB.
• Integrated Security: Uses IAM roles to securely access other AWS services.

17. What is Amazon ECS?

Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) is a fully managed container orchestration service that enables you to run, scale, and secure Docker containers on AWS.

Core Components:

• Clusters: Logical grouping of tasks or services.
• Task Definitions: Blueprint for your application, specifying containers, resources, and configurations.
• Services: Ensure that a specified number of task instances are running and manage their lifecycle.
• Container Instances: EC2 instances that run your containers.

18. What Are the Different Storage Classes in Amazon S3?

Amazon S3 offers various storage classes to help optimise costs based on data access patterns and durability requirements:

19. What Are the Limitations of AWS Lambda?

AWS Lambda is a powerful serverless computing service, but it has some limitations:

• Execution Time: Maximum of 15 minutes per invocation.
• Resource Constraints: Limited to 10 GB memory and 512 MB temporary disk space.
• Cold Starts: Initial invocation may experience latency, especially for large functions.
• Deployment Package Size: Limited to 50 MB (compressed) or 250 MB (uncompressed).
• Concurrency Limits: The default limit is 1,000 concurrent executions per region, which is adjustable upon request.
• State Management: Stateless by design; requires external storage for persistent state.
• Language Support: Limited to supported runtimes like Node.js, Python, Java, etc.

20. What is an IAM Policy?

An IAM policy is a JSON document defining permissions for AWS resources. It outlines what actions are allowed or denied for which resources under what conditions. Policies can be attached to users, groups, or roles to manage access control. This allows fine-grained permission management and ensures entities have only the access necessary to do their jobs.

21. What is an EC2 Instance?

An Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instance is a virtual server in AWS’s cloud for running applications and services.

Key Points:

• Types and Sizes: Various instance types optimised for compute, memory, storage, or GPU tasks.
• Operating Systems: Supports multiple OS, including Linux, Windows, and custom AMIs.
• Scalability: Easily scale up or down based on demand.
• Networking: Integrated with AWS VPC for secure networking.
• Storage Options: Supports EBS volumes and instance stores for persistent and temporary storage.
• Security: Controlled via security groups and IAM roles.

22. How Can You Automatically Scale EC2 Instances?

Automatically scaling EC2 instances ensures your application can handle varying traffic loads efficiently.

Steps to Set Up Auto Scaling:

• Create an Auto Scaling Group (ASG):
  • Define the minimum, maximum, and desired number of instances.
  • Launch Configuration/Template:
  • Specify instance type, AMI, security groups, and other configurations.
• Define Scaling Policies:
  • Dynamic Scaling: Adjust based on metrics like CPU usage.
  • Scheduled Scaling: Scale at specific times.
• Set Up CloudWatch Alarms: Monitor metrics to trigger scaling actions.
• Enable Health Checks: Replace unhealthy instances automatically.

23. What is an Elastic Load Balancer (ELB)?

Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) helps you to automatically distribute any type of incoming application traffic across multiple targets. This includes different examples like EC2 instances, containers, and IP addresses, thereby achieving high availability and reliability.

Key Features:

• Automatic Scaling: Adjusts capacity to handle traffic changes.
• Health Checks: Monitors the health of targets and routes traffic accordingly.
• Security Integration: Works with AWS IAM and supports SSL/TLS termination.
• Flexible Routing: Supports path-based and host-based routing for ALB.

24. What is the Difference Between IAM Roles and IAM Policies?

25. What is AWS CloudFormation?

AWS CloudFormation is a service, and using it, you can easily set up your AWS resources in your account. It also provides templates so that you can resume them as an infrastructure code.

Key Features:

• Template-Based: Define resources in JSON or YAML templates.
• Automation: Automates the provisioning and updating of AWS resources.
• Version Control: Manage templates through version control systems for better tracking and collaboration.
• Stack Management: Organise related resources into stacks for easier management.
• Integration: Works seamlessly with other AWS services like IAM, EC2, S3, and more.

26. What is a CloudFormation Stack?

A CloudFormation stack is a collection of AWS resources managed as one unit. Through the use of a stack, a group of resources can be added, updated, or even deleted by a CloudFormation template.

Key Points:

• Template-Based: Defines resources in JSON or YAML formats.
• Resource Management: Groups-related resources like EC2 instances, S3 buckets, and IAM roles.
• Lifecycle Control: Allows for consistent deployment and versioning of infrastructure.
• Dependencies Handling: Automatically manages resource dependencies during creation and updates.

27. What is the Difference Between Amazon ECS and Amazon EKS?

28. How Does CloudFormation Help with DevOps?

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) frameworks are easily implemented through AWS CloudFormation. Consequently, the AWS Resources can easily be managed and provisioned.

Use Cases:

• Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): It works with pipelines to combine application code with infrastructure deployments.
• Environment Replication: Establishes a provision to create and make several environments for testing and development purposes in a short time.

29. Describe the Features of AWS DynamoDB.

AWS DynamoDB is a fast, fully managed NoSQL database service that features high availability and scalability on the AWS platform.

Key Features:

• Performance: Single-digit millisecond latency at any scale.
• Scalability: Automatically scales throughput capacity to meet application demands.
• Flexible Data Model: Supports key-value and document data structures.
• Built-in Security: Integrates with AWS IAM, encryption at rest, and VPC endpoints.
• Global Tables: Provides multi-region, fully replicated tables for global applications.
• Backup and Restore: Offers on-demand and continuous backups to protect data.
• Streams: Enables real-time data processing and integration with other AWS services.

30. How Do AWS CloudWatch and AWS CloudTrail Differ?

31. What Are the Important DevOps KPIs?

Key performance indicators are indispensable in evaluating the success of the DevOps environment.

DevOps KPIs include:

• Deployment Frequency: The frequency with which new versions are released into production.
• Lead Time for Changes: The time it takes to get code committed to production.
• Change Failure Rate: The proportion of production failures arising from one or more deployments.
• Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR): Average time within which a service can be restored after failure.
• Availability/Uptime: Operational time during which a system is functional and can be reached.
• Automated Test Coverage: Ratio between the number of automated tests to manual tests.

32. What is AWS Auto Scaling?

AWS Auto Scaling optimally maintains the number of Amazon EC2 instances as per the demand within the cloud. It ensures the application resources provided to traffic are just the right amount for security, performance improvements and cost reductions. So, by setting policies on most used metrics such as CPU usage or ace network traffic, Auto Scaling can scale out to meet high demand or might scale in when usage is low. This feature includes health checks that ensure sick instances are replaced as well.

33. What is AWS Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS)?

It is a fully managed service offering by AWS, where one can run Kubernetes on AWS without having to install and operate one’s very own Kubernetes control plane.

Key Features:

• Managed Control Plane: The AWS team manages the Kubernetes masters for best use cases.
• Integration with AWS Services: Compatible with services such as IAM, VPC and CloudWatch.
• Scalability: Kubernetes infrastructure scales on its own based on the demand of the application.

34. What is the Difference Between AWS Elastic Beanstalk and AWS CloudFormation?

35. How Can You Use AWS Step Functions to Orchestrate Complex DevOps Workflows?

It allows for enabling complex DevOps processes by coordinating multiple AWS services into serverless workflows.

Usage Steps:

• Define State Machine: Create a JSON or YAML definition outlining the workflow steps.
• Integrate Services: Connect services like Lambda, ECS, and SNS within the workflow.
• Error Handling: Implement retries and catch blocks to manage failures gracefully.
• Parallel Processing: Execute multiple tasks simultaneously for efficiency.
• Monitor Execution: Use the Step Functions console and CloudWatch for tracking workflow status.

36. What is AWS CloudWatch?

AWS CloudWatch is a monitoring and observability service that offers you data as well as actionable insights to observe your applications, respond to system-wide performance changes, as well as optimise resource utilisation.

Key Features:

• Metrics Collection: Gathers metrics from AWS services and custom sources.
• Logs Management: Collects and stores logs from applications and AWS resources.
• Dashboards: Create customisable dashboards to visualise metrics and logs.
• Alarms: Set thresholds to trigger notifications or automated actions.
• Events: Respond to system changes by triggering Lambda functions or other actions.

37. What Are CloudWatch Alarms?

CloudWatch Alarms monitor specific metrics and are used to trigger actions at predefined thresholds to help you keep the health and performance of your applications in check.

Key Components:

• Metric Selection: Choose the metric to monitor, such as CPU utilisation or memory usage.
• Threshold Setting: Define the value that triggers the alarm, e.g., CPU > 80%.
• Evaluation Period: Determine how many consecutive periods the metric must breach the threshold before triggering.
• Actions: Specify actions like sending notifications via SNS, triggering Auto Scaling, or executing Lambda functions.

38. What is the Difference Between AWS CodeBuild and AWS CodeDeploy?

39. How Does AWS CloudTrail Help in Monitoring?

AWS CloudTrail provides detailed logs of all API calls and activities within your AWS account, enhancing monitoring and security.

Monitoring Capabilities:

• Audit Trails: Records all actions taken by users, roles, and AWS services, aiding in accountability.
• Security Analysis: Identifies unauthorised access or suspicious activities by analysing log data.
• Compliance: Helps meet regulatory requirements by maintaining comprehensive logs.
• Operational Insights: Tracks changes to infrastructure and applications, facilitating troubleshooting.
• Integration with CloudWatch: Sends CloudTrail logs to CloudWatch for real-time monitoring and alerting.

40. What is AWS CodeCommit?

AWS CodeCommit provides you with a fully managed, scalable, and secure source control service that can host Git repositories for versioning your code.

Key Features:

• Managed Service: It is a managed service so there is no need to install and manage your source control servers
• Scalable: Scalable handling any size of repository seamlessly
• Secure: Encrypted at rest and in transit with the integration of AWS IAM for access control.
• Integration: They can work well with other services in AWS, like CodeBuild, CodePipeline, or CodeDeploy.
• Collaboration Tools: It enables pull requests, code review, and team branch.

41. What is AWS X-Ray?

AWS X-Ray is a service that helps developers analyse and debug distributed applications, providing insights into performance bottlenecks and errors.

Key Features:

• Tracing: Captures detailed information about requests as they travel through your application.
• Service Map: Visualises the architecture and interactions between services.
• Performance Analysis: Identifies latency issues and slowdowns within the application.
• Error Detection: Pinpoints errors and exceptions in the code.
• Integration: Works seamlessly with AWS services like Lambda, ECS, and EC2, as well as with applications using popular frameworks.

42. What is the Difference Between CodeCommit and GitHub?

43. Can You Integrate CodeCommit with External CI/CD Tools Like Jenkins?

Yes, AWS CodeCommit can be integrated with external CI/CD tools like Jenkins to automate the build and deployment processes.

Integration Steps:

• Install AWS CLI: Ensure Jenkins has AWS CLI installed and configured with the necessary permissions.
• Configure Git: Set up Jenkins to clone repositories from CodeCommit using HTTPS or SSH.
• Webhooks: Create triggers in CodeCommit to notify Jenkins of repository changes.
• Jenkins Plugins: Use plugins like AWS CodeCommit and Git plugins to facilitate integration.
• Pipeline Configuration: Define Jenkins pipelines to pull code from CodeCommit, build, test, and deploy using Jenkinsfile scripts.
• Authentication: Use IAM roles or SSH keys to securely authenticate Jenkins with CodeCommit.

Example Workflow:

• Developer pushes code to CodeCommit.
• CodeCommit triggers Jenkins via webhook.
• Jenkins pulls the latest code and runs build and tests.
• Upon success, Jenkins deploys the application to the target environment.

44.  How Does AWS CodeCommit Integrate with CI/CD Pipelines?

AWS CodeCommit integrates with CI/CD pipelines by serving as the source repository. Here’s how it works:

• Source Stage: CodeCommit repositories are connected to CI/CD tools like AWS CodePipeline.
• Triggering Builds: Code changes trigger automated builds in services like AWS CodeBuild.
• Testing: Automated tests run as part of the pipeline.
• Deployment: Successful builds are deployed using AWS CodeDeploy or other deployment tools.
• Monitoring: Pipeline status is tracked through AWS monitoring tools.

This integration ensures a seamless flow from code commit to deployment.

45. What is AWS KMS?

This is a managed service that helps you to create a secure data connection. AWS Key Management Service (KMS) primarily forms encryption keys and other services for final data encryption. KMS is used to define key policies, manage key rotation, and audit key usage through the AWS cloud trial service. Overall it will ensure all the user encryption keys that must be protected in order to make a secure connection for you, following industry guidelines and standards.

AWS DevOps Interview Questions for Experienced

46. What is the Difference Between AWS Lambda and Amazon EC2?

47.How Does AWS Auto Scaling Work with EC2?

This makes the number of Amazon EC2 instances change automatically in reaction to the fluctuations in traffic or demand for better performance with optimum cost efficiency.

How It Works:

Define Auto Scaling Group: Specify the minimum, maximum, and desired number of instances.

• Set Scaling Policies: Create rules based on metrics like CPU utilisation or network traffic.
• Monitor Metrics: AWS CloudWatch continuously monitors the defined metrics.
• Scale-Out/In: Automatically adds or removes EC2 instances based on the scaling policies.
• Health Checks: Regularly checks the health of instances and replaces unhealthy ones.

48. What is the Use of Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) in AWS DevOps?

This is a service, completely managed by Amazon. This helps make the containerisation of applications easier as far as their deployment, management, and scalability are concerned.

Primary Uses:

• Management of Container: Deploy and manage Docker containers across a cluster of EC2 instances in simple steps.
• AWS services integration: Integrates into IAM, VPC and CloudWatch with ease.
• Scalability: Containerised applications will scale up or down automatically to meet the demand.
• Task Definitions: Requirements like CPU and Memory for application execution are defined as well as managed.

49. What is AWS IAM?

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) allows users to safely manage the availing resources and services of AWS for other third parties or applications.

Key Features:

• Management of users: Practicing the creation and management of AWS users and groups.
• Permission Control: Define policy-based fine-grained permissions to allow or deny specific actions on specific resources.
• Roles: Link roles with the AWS services, enabling them to perform actions on your command without access to long-term credentials.
• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Provide extra security by requiring verification for sensitive operations.
• Federated Access: Permit external (corporate directory, for example) identities to connect to AWS resources.

50. How Do AWS Step Functions and AWS Lambda Differ?

51. What Are IAM Roles?

IAM Roles are AWS identities with a subset of permissions that users, applications, or AWS services may assume to perform actions on AWS resources.

Key Characteristics:

• Temporary Credentials: Provide temporary security credentials for accessing resources, enhancing security by avoiding long-term credentials.
• Assumption Mechanism: Entities assume roles via AWS Security Token Service (STS), granting them the permissions defined in the role.
• No Associated Password: Roles do not have passwords or access keys, reducing the risk of credential leakage.
• Trust Policies: Define which entities are allowed to assume the role.

52. What is AWS Elastic Beanstalk?

AWS Elastic Beanstalk is PaaS (Platform as a Service) for simplifying the deployment and management of applications within the AWS Cloud.

Features:

• Automated Deployment: provisioning, load balancing, scaling, and monitoring
• Support for Multiple Languages: Java,.NET, PHP, Node.js, Python, Ruby, Go, Docker.
• Customisation: Allows configuration of underlying resources using configuration files.
• Integrated Monitoring: Uses AWS CloudWatch for performance metrics.
• Easy Management: Provides a user-friendly interface for application updates and environment management.

53. What is Amazon EKS?

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) is a managed Kubernetes service that makes it easy to run Kubernetes on AWS without needing to install or operate your own Kubernetes control plane.

Key Features:

• Managed Control Plane: The AWS infrastructure handles the masters of Kubernetes, ensuring high availability and scalability.
• Integration with AWS Services: Integrate with other services such as IAM, VPC, and CloudWatch is needed.
• Security: Access is controlled through AWS IAM and Kubernetes RBAC is also pledged.
• Scalability: Automatically scales Kubernetes infrastructure based on application needs.

54. What is the Difference Between Amazon S3 Versioning and S3 Encryption?

55. How Does Auto Scaling Work with EC2?

AWS Auto Scaling manages EC2 instances by dynamically adjusting their number based on defined policies:

• Auto Scaling Group (ASG): Defines the minimum, maximum, and desired number of instances.
• Scaling Policies: Set rules based on metrics like CPU utilisation or request count.
• CloudWatch Monitoring: Continuously monitors metrics to trigger scaling actions.
• Launch Configuration/Template: Specifies instance settings like AMI, type, and security groups.
• Health Checks: Detect and replace unhealthy instances automatically.

This setup ensures optimal resource usage and application performance.

56. What is the Difference Between Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) and Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS)?

Conclusion

When you are preparing for an AWS DevOps interview, you would want to know how many services are provided by AWS and how DevOps works with the new frameworks and tools, before appearing for an AWS DevOps interview. Having gone through this question and answer set in the blog, you must have been well prepared for your next interview.

No matter whether you are a newbie or a professional, learning these key topics will improve your chances of performing well in the interview and progressing within this fast-growing domain of DevOps. If you plan to get your hands on DevOps for your career, then this Certificate Program in DevOps & Cloud Engineering With Microsoft by Hero Vired will help you with what you are seeking.