Top 10 Common DevOps/SRE Interview Questions and Answers on Kubernetes Best Practices

1. How Do You Set Resource Requests and Limits in Kubernetes?

Resource requests ensure a minimum amount of resources (CPU/Memory) for a container, while limits enforce the maximum resources a container can consume. This helps with efficient resource allocation and prevents resource contention.

Example:

resources:
  requests:
    memory: "256Mi"
    cpu: "500m"
  limits:
    memory: "512Mi"
    cpu: "1000m

2. Why is Namespace Important in Kubernetes?

Namespaces allow you to partition a single Kubernetes cluster into multiple virtual clusters, providing isolation between different teams or projects. They are useful for managing resource quotas and policies.

Example:

kubectl create namespace dev

3. How Do You Ensure High Availability in Kubernetes?

Use multi-zone clusters with redundant control plane components. Distribute workloads across multiple nodes and regions, ensuring no single point of failure.

Example:

• Deploy an application using a Deployment with replicas spread across nodes

replicas: 3

4. What Are the Best Practices for Kubernetes Networking?

• Use network policies to control pod communication and secure the network.

• Implement service mesh (e.g., Istio) for better traffic management and observability.

Example of a NetworkPolicy:

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
  name: allow-only-app
spec:
  podSelector:
    matchLabels:
      app: myapp
  policyTypes:
  - Ingress
  ingress:
  - from:
    - podSelector:
        matchLabels:
          app: frontend

5. How Can You Secure Secrets in Kubernetes?

Avoid storing sensitive information in plain text within configurations. Use Kubernetes Secrets to manage credentials, API keys, and other confidential data.

Example:

kubectl create secret generic db-user-pass --from-literal=username=myuser --from-literal=password=mypassword

6. What Are the Best Practices for Rolling Updates in Kubernetes?

Use the RollingUpdate strategy in Deployments to minimize downtime. This allows updating the application gradually while keeping it available.

Example:

strategy:
  type: RollingUpdate
  rollingUpdate:
    maxUnavailable: 1
    maxSurge: 1

7. How Do You Handle Application Scaling in Kubernetes?

Use the Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA) to automatically scale your application based on CPU, memory, or custom metrics.

Example:

kubectl autoscale deployment myapp --cpu-percent=50 --min=1 --max=10

8. What Are the Best Practices for Kubernetes Logging and Monitoring?

• Centralize logs using logging tools like Fluentd or ELK stack.

• Use Prometheus and Grafana for monitoring cluster performance and setting alerts.

9. How Can You Optimize Kubernetes Storage?

Use Persistent Volumes (PV) and Persistent Volume Claims (PVC) to decouple storage from pods. Ensure storage scalability and availability.

Example:

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: my-pvc
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 1Gi

10. Why Should You Use Liveness and Readiness Probes?

Liveness probes help ensure a container is still running, while readiness probes check if the container is ready to serve traffic. Both are essential for self-healing and proper traffic routing in Kubernetes.

Example:

livenessProbe:
  httpGet:
    path: /healthz
    port: 8080
  initialDelaySeconds: 3
  periodSeconds: 3

readinessProbe:
  httpGet:
    path: /ready
    port: 8080
  initialDelaySeconds: 5
  periodSeconds: 5

Conclusion

Mastering Kubernetes best practices is crucial for DevOps and SRE professionals to ensure the efficiency, scalability, and security of containerized applications. By understanding resource management, networking, security, and scaling strategies, you can manage Kubernetes clusters more effectively and ensure your applications run smoothly in production environments. Whether you’re preparing for an interview or refining your Kubernetes skills, following these best practices will help you build and maintain robust, high-performing systems.

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