Table of contents
1.
Introduction
2.
CI/CD Interview Questions for Freshers
2.1.
1. What is CI?
2.2.
2. What is the use of CI?
2.3.
3. What is DevOps?
2.4.
4. What is the CD?
2.5.
5. What is Git?
2.6.
6. What is version control?
2.7.
7. What is Continuous Deployment?
2.8.
8. What is Continuous Testing?
2.9.
9. Why is Continuous Testing important?
2.10.
10. What is the DevOps pipeline?
3.
CI/CD Interview Questions for Intermediate
3.1.
11. What are the uses of continuous testing?
3.2.
12. What are the uses of the CI/CD pipeline?
3.3.
13. What are some CI/CD pipeline tools?
3.4.
14. What are Jenkins and its main features?
3.5.
15. Why is Git necessary?
3.6.
16. What are the uses of DevOps?
3.7.
17. What is the GitLab CI/CD pipeline?
3.8.
18. What are the uses of the GitLab CI/CD pipeline?
3.9.
19. What is the difference between Continuous integration, Continuous delivery, and Continuous deployment?
3.10.
20. What is a build stage?
4.
CI/CD Interview Questions for Experienced
4.1.
21. Is CI/CD pipeline can be targeted by attackers?
4.2.
22. What is the DevOps workflow?
4.3.
23. Name all the core operations of DevOps.
4.4.
24. What is the use of Orchestration in DevOps?
4.5.
25. What is the meaning of trunk-based development in CI/CD?
4.6.
26. What are the major phases of the CI/CD pipeline?
4.7.
27. How does the CI/CD pipeline works?
4.8.
28. What is the CI server function?
4.9.
29. What is Blue-Green deployment?
4.10.
30. What is canary deployment?
5.
Frequently Asked Questions
5.1.
How do you explain CI/CD pipeline in an interview?
5.2.
How do you trigger a CI/CD pipeline? 
5.3.
How to write CI/CD pipeline in Jenkins?
6.
Conclusion
Last Updated: May 16, 2024
Medium

CI/CD Interview Questions

Introduction

Are you preparing for interviews? Are you especially looking for a DevOps role? If yes, then you must know about CI/CD pipeline. You must know a few major ci cd interview questions in order to get selected.                                    

ci cd interview questions

In this article, we will discuss CI/CD pipeline. We will also be discussing ci cd interview questions. We will see questions on each category that is easy, medium, and hard. The CI/CD pipeline can be defined as a combination of continuous integration(CI) and continuous deployment(CD). It is the process or stages that are performed to deliver the new version of the software. The CI/CD pipeline allows the integration of code changes and delivering the software. Moving forward, let’s discuss easy-level ci cd interview questions.

CI/CD Interview Questions for Freshers

1. What is CI?

CI stands for Continuous Integration. It is a DevOps software development methodology. It is a process of integrating the code changes that are done by various developers into the shared project repository. 

2. What is the use of CI?

CI is used to merge the code changes that are done by one or many contributors into the project repository. 

3. What is DevOps?

In the word DevOps, Dev stands for development, and Ops stands for operations. It is a software methodology that includes tools, which further help in communicating, integrating, and collaborating in the development cycle.

4. What is the CD?

CD stands for continuous delivery. It is a software engineering approach. Continuous delivery works with continuous integration in order to make a complete flow, which helps in delivering code packages.

5. What is Git?

Git is open-source software. It allows data integrity and manages workflows easily. Git gives a way to coordinate among team members easily.

6. What is version control?

Version control allows tracking all changes made in the source code.

7. What is Continuous Deployment?

Continuous deployment can be defined as a software development strategy. It allows the release of code changes that are done in an application into the production environment automatically. 

8. What is Continuous Testing?

Continuous testing is the process of testing in which manual steps of testing are eliminated. Automated routines are set up, which helps in reducing human work. 

9. Why is Continuous Testing important?

Answer: Continuous testing is important in DevOps. As it eliminates human efforts. And also decreases the errors that might occur due to manual testing.

10. What is the DevOps pipeline?

The DevOps pipeline can be defined as the processes and tools. This allows developers(Dev) and operations(Ops) to work together. It is useful in deploying code changes to the production environment.

 

CI/CD Interview Questions for Intermediate

11. What are the uses of continuous testing?

There are many uses for continuous testing. A few of them are as follows.

  • Continuous testing increases the quality and speed of builds.
     
  • It helps in delivering software faster.
     
  • It helps in detecting errors very easily and on the spot.
     
  • It helps in reducing the organization's risks.

12. What are the uses of the CI/CD pipeline?

There are many uses for the CI/CD pipeline. A few of them are as follows.

  • The CI/CD pipeline allows merging code changes quickly and easily.
     
  • It also allows us to test the code changes with various tools automatically.
     
  • The mean time to resolution (MTTR) is reduced. This happens because the code changes are small and easy to implement.
     
  • The CI/CD pipeline helps to find build failures, merge issues, and so on very quickly.

13. What are some CI/CD pipeline tools?

The various CI/CD pipeline tools are as follows.

  • Jenkins
  • CircleCI
  • TeamCity
  • Bamboo
  • GitLab
  • Buddy
  • Travis CI
  • Codeship
  • GoCD
  • Wercker
  • Semaphore
  • Nevercode
  • Spinnaker
  • Buildbot

14. What are Jenkins and its main features?

Jenkins is a CI/CD pipeline tool. It is an open-source server that includes building and continuous integration processes. Jenkins can be used in almost every operating system like Windows, macOS, and so on. It includes various plugins and packages that allow building, deploying, and automating projects. There are various key features of Jenkins. A few of them are as follows.

  • The installation and upgradation process of Jenkins is easy.
     
  • Jenkins provides a user-friendly interface.
     
  • Jenkins includes various useful plugins and packages.
     
  • Jenkins also sends us notifications on changes in the build status.

15. Why is Git necessary?

Git is necessary because it is used to manage source codes. It is a version control system. Git allows data integrity and manages workflows easily. Git gives a way to coordinate among team members easily. Programmers can develop source code by collaborating through Git.

16. What are the uses of DevOps?

There are many uses of DevOps. A few of them are as follows.

  • DevOps allows us to focus on building the code part only.
     
  • DevOps makes updating and improving software development projects easy and efficient.
     
  • DevOps reduces coding errors, development failures, and so on.
     
  • DevOps helps in speeding up the development process.

17. What is the GitLab CI/CD pipeline?

GitLab continuous integration is used in building and testing the software. This takes place whenever contributors add code changes to the application. 

Whereas the GitLab continuous deployment is a software service. It allows placing code changes in the production environment. We can say that GitLab's continuous integration/ continuous deployment helps in building, testing, and deploying code changes every day respectively.

18. What are the uses of the GitLab CI/CD pipeline?

There are many uses for the GitLab CI/CD pipeline. A few of them are as follows.

  • The GitLab CI/CD pipeline is easy to understand and learn.
     
  • The GitLab CI/CD pipeline can be easily used for the deployment and development of software projects.
     
  • There is a feature for setting up our own runner in the GitLab CI/CD pipeline, which helps in executing the jobs faster. 
     
  • The GitLab CI/CD pipeline allows integration of the code changes on a daily basis.

19. What is the difference between Continuous integration, Continuous delivery, and Continuous deployment?

The difference between continuous integration, continuous delivery, and continuous deployment is as follows.

Continuous Integration: CI stands for Continuous Integration. It is a DevOps software development methodology. It is a process of integrating the code changes that are done by various developers into the shared project repository. 

Continuous Delivery: CD stands for continuous delivery. It is a software engineering approach. Continuous delivery works with continuous integration in order to make a complete flow, which helps in delivering code packages.

Continuous Deployment: Continuous deployment can be defined as a software development strategy. It allows the release of code changes that are done in an application into the production environment automatically. 

20. What is a build stage?

There are various programs that have to be built into a software development project. The build stage is responsible for all these programs. These programs are

  • Binary Programs
  • Container Programs
  • Executable Programs
     

This stage also helps in validating whether the application can be built or not.

Moving forward, let’s discuss hard-level ci cd interview questions.

CI/CD Interview Questions for Experienced

21. Is CI/CD pipeline can be targeted by attackers?

CI/CD pipelines have access to various sensor data, such as server passwords, repositories, API keys, and so on. If the CI/CD system is not properly secured, then it can be targeted by attackers. A few ways of securing the CI/CD systems are as follows.

  • It is required to trigger penetration tests on the CI/CD system. So that we can track any vulnerabilities. 
     
  • We can also validate security controls to protect our software from unauthorized access. 

22. What is the DevOps workflow?

The DevOps workflow includes four major stages. These are as follows.

Continuous Integration: CI stands for Continuous Integration. It is a DevOps software development methodology. It is a process of integrating the code changes that are done by various developers into the shared project repository. 

Continuous Delivery: CD stands for continuous delivery. It is a software engineering approach. Continuous delivery works with continuous integration in order to make a complete flow. Which helps in delivering code packages.

Continuous Deployment: Continuous deployment can be defined as a software development strategy. It allows the release of code changes that are done in an application into the production environment automatically. 

Version Control: Version control allows tracking all changes made in the source code.

23. Name all the core operations of DevOps.

The core operations of DevOps are as follows.

  • Software development
  • Code building
  • Code coverage
  • Unit testing
  • Packaging
  • Deployment
  • Infrastructure
  • Provisioning
  • Configuration
  • Orchestration
  • Deployment

24. What is the use of Orchestration in DevOps?

The Orchestration is the core operation of DevOps. It can be defined as an automated configuration and coordination of applications, services, and computer systems. It allows information technology to manage typical tasks easily. It also helps in managing complex workflows. 

25. What is the meaning of trunk-based development in CI/CD?

The main branch is called a trunk. In CI/CD, trunk-based development is done in order to add the code changes to the main branch(trunk) directly. The use of trunk-based development helps in decreasing the merge conflicts on version control.

26. What are the major phases of the CI/CD pipeline?

There are majorly four phases of the CI/CD pipeline. These are as follows.

  • Source Code
  • Building
  • Testing
  • Deploying

27. How does the CI/CD pipeline works?

The CI/CD pipeline works in such a way that first, the code is built, then testing is done. And, then the deployment process is done. The CI/CD helps in integrating the code and delivering the new version of the application.

28. What is the CI server function?

The continuous integration server function is used to continuously integrate the code changes. The code changes that are made by contributors are then committed to the repository. Then the compile errors are checked.

29. What is Blue-Green deployment?

The blue-green deployment works in such a way that there will be two environments. One environment is named the Blue environment. While the other is known as the Green environment. The new application or service is deployed in a Green environment. Whereas in the blue environment, the current version of the application is running.

30. What is canary deployment?

The canary deployment strategy helps in the testing of applications or services in the production environment. The testing is done in small subsets and before the final release of the application or service. This strategy helps in detecting the issues. Which further helps in reducing failures.

Check out the most important Git Interview Questions here.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you explain CI/CD pipeline in an interview?

In an interview, I explain a CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) pipeline as an automated process in software development. It involves integrating code changes frequently, running automated tests, and deploying code to production quickly and consistently. It ensures a reliable and efficient software development workflow.

How do you trigger a CI/CD pipeline? 

A CI/CD pipeline can be triggered in several ways. It can be activated by Code Push, scheduled trigger, manual initiation, and Continuous Integration.

How to write CI/CD pipeline in Jenkins?

To write a CI/CD pipeline in Jenkins, Install Jenkins and required plugins, Set up version control such as Git, Create a Jenkinsfile with build, test, and deploy stages, and Save Jenkinsfile to the repository. Then, Create a Jenkins job linked to the Jenkinsfileand trigger the job for the automated CI/CD process.

Conclusion

In this article, we have discussed CI/CD pipeline. We have discussed easy, medium, and hard ci cd interview questions. We hope this article helped you in learning ci cd interview questions. You can read more such articles on our platform, Coding Ninjas Studio.

Check out related article on interview questions:

 

You can also consider our Interview Preparation Course to give your career an edge over others.

Happy Coding!

Live masterclass