Question 1

What is Linux, and what are its core components?

Accepted Answer

Linux is an open-source operating system modeled on UNIX. It powers everything from smartphones to supercomputers and is the dominant operating system for servers and cloud infrastructure.

The kernel is the core of Linux. It manages hardware resources, handles system calls, controls processes, and manages memory. The kernel acts as a bridge between applications and the physical hardware. Different distributions use different kernel versions, but they all share the same fundamental architecture.

The shell is the command-line interface that lets users interact with the system. Bash, which

Question 2

Describe the Linux filesystem hierarchy and the purpose of key directories.

Accepted Answer

The Linux filesystem follows the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, or FHS, which defines a consistent directory structure across distributions.

The root directory, represented by a forward slash, is the top of the hierarchy. Everything else branches from here.

The /bin directory contains essential command binaries needed for single-user mode and basic system operations. Commands like ls, cp, and cat live here.

The /sbin directory holds system binaries used for administration tasks, typically requiring root privileges. Commands like fdisk, iptables, and reboot are found here.

The /etc

Question 3

What is the difference between single quotes, double quotes, and backticks in Bash? Can you give examples of when to use each?

Accepted Answer

In Bash, the three types of quoting serve different purposes and behave very differently.

Single quotes preserve everything literally. Whatever you put inside single quotes will be treated exactly as written. No variable expansion, no command substitution, nothing special happens. For example, echo '$HOME' prints the literal text "$HOME" rather than your home directory path. Use single quotes when you want to protect special characters from interpretation.

Double quotes allow variable expansion and command substitution while still protecting most special characters. If you write echo "$H

Question 4

What is the difference between $@ and $* in Bash? When would you use one over the other?

Accepted Answer

Both $@ and $* represent all the positional parameters passed to a script, but they behave differently when quoted.

Without quotes, they are essentially the same. Both expand to all arguments separated by spaces. The difference becomes important when you put them inside double quotes.

"$*" expands to a single string with all arguments joined by the first character of the IFS variable, which is usually a space. So if you pass three arguments "one", "two", and "three", "$*" becomes one single string: "one two three".

"$@" expands to separate strings, preserving each argument as a distin

Question 5

What is CI/CD, and why is it important in modern software development?

Accepted Answer

CI/CD stands for Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery, or sometimes Continuous Deployment. It is a set of practices that automate the process of building, testing, and deploying software.

Continuous Integration means that developers frequently merge their code changes into a shared repository, often multiple times a day. Each merge triggers an automated build and test process. This catches integration problems early, when they are easier to fix, rather than discovering them late in the development cycle.

Continuous Delivery extends this by automatically preparing code for relea

Question 6

What is the difference between Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, and Continuous Deployment?

Accepted Answer

These three terms are often used together, but they represent distinct stages in the automation pipeline.

Continuous Integration focuses on the development phase. Developers commit code to a shared repository frequently, ideally several times a day. Each commit triggers an automated process that builds the application and runs tests. The goal is to detect integration issues early. If the build or tests fail, the team fixes the problem immediately. CI ensures that the codebase is always in a working state.

Continuous Delivery builds on CI by automating the release process. After code pass

Question 7

What is cloud computing, and what are its main benefits compared to traditional on-premise infrastructure?

Accepted Answer

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services over the internet. Instead of owning and maintaining physical servers, you rent computing resources from a cloud provider like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform. You pay for what you use, similar to how you pay for electricity or water.

The main benefits compared to traditional on-premise infrastructure are significant.

Scalability. You can quickly scale resources up or down based on demand. If your website gets a traffic spike, you can add more servers in minutes. With on-premise, you would need to buy, i

Question 8

What is the difference between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS? Can you give examples of each?

Accepted Answer

IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS represent different levels of cloud service abstraction. Think of them as a spectrum from most control to least control, or equivalently, from most responsibility to least responsibility.

Infrastructure as a Service, or IaaS, provides virtualized computing resources. You get virtual machines, storage, and networking. You are responsible for the operating system, middleware, runtime, and applications. The cloud provider handles the physical hardware, virtualization, and data center. Examples include Amazon EC2, Azure Virtual Machines, and Google Compute Engine. IaaS give

DevOps Engineer

Topics

Linux Fundamentals

Scripting (Bash/Python)

CI/CD Pipelines

Cloud Basics (AWS/GCP/Azure)

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