Production Support Interview Questions

Introduction 

The day-to-day functioning of an application is governed by production support. It, therefore, includes actions like providing contact for users and administering the application to ensure that all service level objectives are met.

Production support personnel are important in ensuring that the applications run well. They may, for example, enhance software application performance and undertake troubleshooting and apply upgrades.

Given the importance of these positions, you should be well prepared before attending a production support interview. As a result, this article focuses on some of the most typical production support interview questions to provide you with a solid basis for your Interview.

In this article, we will look at some Important Production Support Interview Questions. We will start with simple questions and work our way up to good-level questions. This blog is especially for Production support interview questions, so read it with 100% concentration.

Most Common Production Support Interview Questions

1) What exactly is production support?

The process of supporting IT systems/applications is known as production support. A production support executive takes requests from end-users, analyses them, and answers to the end-user with the best answer feasible.

source: complexsql.com

2) What Should You Do If You Receive An Application Outage Ticket?

• Finish the RCA (Root Cause Analysis) and distribute the report to stakeholders.
• If necessary, bounce the web/application server instance.
• Involve the relevant Network Team if not.
• Check to check if the server is responding.
• Close the ticket with the measures you took to remedy the issue.
• Inform the stakeholders about the development.
• Examine the Application and Web Server logs to see whether the application is getting requests.
• Inform the stakeholders that the problem is being addressed.

This is one of the most commonly asked Production Support Interview Question

3) What is a production support engineer?

Production support engineers (PSEs) are IT experts that assist organizations in troubleshooting software applications and systems and ensuring help desk issues are resolved as quickly as possible. Installing, maintaining, and debugging software programs is part of their job. It is their obligation to maintain programs up to date, ensuring they are working to their full potential, and troubleshoot any problems that may develop.

A PSE at a big firm may be a subject matter expert for certain software stacks, whereas a PSE in a small or medium business may manage a small number of client-facing computer programs. These people understand high-level technology and can evaluate end-user feedback and solve other issues as needed.

4) What does a production support engineer or professional do?

Applications support engineers may have varying jobs and responsibilities depending on the industry or company. Application support engineers often monitor the system or apps, review messages, and make improvements to current methods. Other responsibilities of an application support engineer include:

• They prepare and install tools required for the correct operation of software programs and systems on a regular basis.
• They create maintenance and upgrade plans for the organization's systems.
• Application support engineers serve as the go-between for consumers and their issues. These people examine client issues in order to identify particular issues that the firm should solve.
• Despite their hectic schedules, they have solid professional connections with the engineering and customer service teams.
• Their role is to coordinate operations across the company's numerous departments.
• They organize and execute small to medium-sized projects while providing assistance to all processes under the supervision of senior engineers.
• These individuals understand how systems work and are capable of troubleshooting systems and applications as well as dealing with technological concerns. If they are unable to remedy the problem, they must notify their superiors, such as the senior engineer, and request assistance.

5) What qualifications do production support engineers need?

A production support engineer must have the following human and technical skills:

Technical

The following technical abilities are required of a Production support engineer:

• With great front-end expertise, assists internal departments and web-based customers.
• Knowledge of software development and scripting is required.
• Understanding of Structured Query Language (SQL).
• Understanding of tools for tracking and managing difficulties
• Knowledge of Advanced Encryption Standards (AES).
• Extensive knowledge in diagnosing and correcting application issues.
• Front-end and back-end programming expertise in C++, Javascript, Python, and Ruby.
• Capable of handling code migration, documentation of configuration changes, and performance monitoring.

Human

As they work with numerous stakeholders, application support engineers require strong human support abilities.

• Leadership
• Customer service
• Multi-tasking
• Verbal communication
• Critical thinking
• Patience and calmness.
• Relationship management

Also read,System Design Interview Questions

6) What exactly is incident management?

Incident management is the practice of identifying, analyzing, and correcting problems so that they do not reoccur in the future. It was either an incident response team or an incident management team that it dealt with.

7) What skills and mindset are necessary for the position of Production support expert?

Teamwork is the most significant tactic in the field of production support. Because the problem occurs suddenly in most systems, practically every member of the IT department must collaborate to find a speedy solution. As a result, the production support engineer must be able to collaborate with different specialists. In terms of mentality, someone who is enthusiastic about assisting others should be a good fit for this position. Application assistance often comprises answering questions and supporting clients with application issues.

8) What is the most significant aspect of your job as a production support engineer?

One of the production support engineer's primary responsibilities is to guarantee that the system is working properly and that users can do their daily chores. They also concentrate on data integrity because the only way to keep an application system healthy is to have correct and dependable data.

This is also one of the most commonly asked Production Support Interview Questions.

9) What problems will production support professionals face?

Application crashes are one of the most prevalent problems that technical support engineers face. The most common cause of program crashes is unhandled exceptions. Furthermore, dissatisfied clients frequently use harsh language to vent their emotions, and in such cases, the application support engineer should stay cool and demonstrate empathy for the consumer. One of the most critical traits of a production support engineer is patience.

10) Have you ever had an issue as an outcome of caching?

Yes, I occasionally hear complaints about outdated pages being displayed to users. In those circumstances, I clean the cache and then try to figure out why. Sometimes the problem is caused by a somewhat long refresh period. In such circumstances, I decrease the cache refresh interval.

11) What have you learned from your mistakes in the field of production support?

You must come up with something or risk losing credibility. Make it a minor, well-intended error with a positive lesson learned. Working too far ahead of coworkers on a project, for example, might throw coordination off.

12) What are your responsibilities once the ticket has been closed?

I will tell the stakeholders about the resolution and the efforts taken to achieve it. I changed the ticket information and linked it to the master/related tickets. A report is submitted when RCA is completed for high priority and critical issues.

13) What would you do if the problem was with the database server?

I involve DBA and attempt to fix the problem via them. I keep the stakeholders informed of the progress as they work to solve it.

14) How do you repair or restore a crashed application?

Application crashes are among the most typical instances that production support engineers experience. Unhandled exceptions and various looping structures in the program typically cause an application crash. There are several approaches that may be taken to handle this problem, and the following are some of the more prevalent.

• Examine for an Unhandled exception. In the case of unhandled exceptions, the production support engineer should provide the error code and explanation.
• To determine what is occurring at the application end, run a full stack trace for unhandled exceptions.
• After getting permission, restart the Unix server and test the application.

This is also one of the most commonly asked Production Support Interview Questions.

15) In Linux/Unix, which command is appropriate for obtaining current user information?

The who command may be used to determine which users are presently logged in to your server or system. The who command returns the following results:

The most recent system boot time

Current system run-level 

list of logged-in users, etc.

$ who [options] [filename]

16) In a shell script operating on Unix/Linux, how would you verify if a directory exists?

To check the presence of the directory provided in the variable $mydir, use the following command expression:

mydir= "home/etc/Datafiles/"
if [ -d "$mydir" ] 
then
   echo "$mydir exists." 
else
   echo "Error: $mydir does not exist."
fi

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17) In Oracle, how do you represent comments?

A comment can be included between keywords, parameters, or punctuation marks in a SQL query. There are two ways to add a comment to an Oracle/PLSQL SQL query.

• Single line Comment
• Multi-line Comment

18) In Oracle, how do you represent a single-line comment?

You can begin the remark in your SQL statement with two hyphens (--) at the end of the line and then follow with the comment content. The comment content can only be one line long. The remark must be followed by a line break.

Syntax:

-- CommentText

19)  In Oracle, how do you represent a single-line comment?

 In your SQL statement, start the comment with a slash and an asterisk (/*) at the end of the line, then continue with the remark content. Comment text may extend beyond one line and cover many lines. An asterisk and a slash (*/) must be used to end the comment. There is no need to use a space or a line break to separate the beginning and concluding characters.

Syntax: 

/*  Comment text 
   ...   */

20) What is the command for displaying the current working directory?

PWD is an abbreviation for print working directory. In the Linux operating system, the PWD command is used to print the current working directory.

Syntax:

$ pwd [-options]

pwd offers settings that control how it behaves. Some of the alternatives are as follows:

-L (Logical): Displays the current working directory's logical path.

-P (Physical): Displays the current working directory's physical or real path.

—Help: Displays a help message before exiting.

21) How can you fix the problem if the application is down?

A variety of causes might cause the program to crash. Here are some methods you may take to troubleshoot the application's downtime.

• First, determine whether the application server is reachable. When the server goes down, most programs cease operating. In the event of a server malfunction, notify the server team to troubleshoot the issue.
• If any further issues develop, look at the application's deployment architecture.
• Alternatively, verify the application's setup and correct the issue.

This is one of the most commonly asked Production Support Interview Question

22) Explain why Unix is necessary for job-supporting applications?

Unix is one of the most widely utilized and secure operating systems in application development and deployment. Because of its security, UNIX servers are used by 90% of applications. It is simple, robust, and scalable, and it offers multi-user and multi-tasking capabilities. It is used in all types of computer systems, including desktops, laptops, and servers. As a result, having a solid understanding of Unix would be advantageous.

23) Can we remove many files at the same time under Unix? If so, how so?

Yes, we can remove many files at the same time on Unix. The rm command (short for remove) is used to delete or remove files, directories, or symbolic links from file systems on Unix and Unix-like systems. rm, like other commands, has options that control how it behaves. Some of the alternatives are as follows:

• rm -i: It asks for confirmation before deleting a file.
• rm -f: This command ignores non-existent files and ignores any confirmation prompts.
• rm -r: It recursively removes or deletes folders and their contents.
• Syntax:

$ rm filename1 filename2 filename3

24) Can you explain the terms (.) in Unix? 

Current directory (.): The current directory in Unix is denoted by (.). You can stay where you are by using the command "cd." (with a space between cd and dot).

25) Can you explain the terms (..) in Unix?

Parent directory (..): In Unix, (..) represents the current directory's parent. You can return to a single directory by using the command "cd.." or "cd.." (with a space). Moving to the parent directory is another term for this.

26) In UNIX, what command is used to list files or directories alphabetically? 

You may list the contents of the current directory, such as files and directories, by using the ls command.

Syntax: 

ls [OPTIONS] [FILES]

27) How did you deal with the challenging consumer requests?

Support analysts are generally in charge of prioritizing tasks based on their influence on the business. It is critical to prioritize client demands that have a major influence on our business. We should first remedy the issue before logging it into the issue management system.

28) Do you use command aliases when working?

Yes, I've generated several aliases and placed them in my.profile file so that the system will load them each time I log in to the server.

29) What tools do you rely on to conduct your job as a Production Support Specialist?

There are various technologies for monitoring and managing issues in production support; thus, a production support engineer must be well-versed in these tools. These instruments may include:

• IT administration software
• Computer systems that are complex
• Telecommunications networks
• Printers and photocopier machines

30) What exactly is system security?

System security is preventing viruses and malware programs from infiltrating the computer system. It is possible to do this by employing tactics such as antivirus, firewall installation, and limiting internet users' activity.

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