Upgrade & Secure Your Future with DevOps, SRE, DevSecOps, MLOps!

We spend hours on Instagram and YouTube and waste money on coffee and fast food, but won’t spend 30 minutes a day learning skills to boost our careers.
Master in DevOps, SRE, DevSecOps & MLOps!

Learn from Guru Rajesh Kumar and double your salary in just one year.


Get Started Now!

Chef Configuration Management Interview Questions and Answers Part – 5

Why do we make a new cookbook dependent upon one or more different cookbooks?

  • So that we don’t breach copyright
  • So that we can make use of Berkshelf
  • So we can avoid having to duplicate code (Ans)
  • So that we can manage a node running Linux
  • So that we can upload the cookbook to Chef Server

Why should we always encrypt credentials which are stored in data bags?

  • We cannot create un-encrypted values on Chef Server.
  • So that we do not expose sensitive passwords in plaintext (Ans)
  • Some cookbooks, like apt, require encrypted credentials.
  • We don’t need to encrypt credentials, Chef does this automatically.
  • Berkshelf will not upload cookbooks containing unencrypted data bag values.

Why are hard-coded values in a Chef recipe or template a bad idea?

  • Some platforms (like Windows) don’t support hard-coded values.
  • They increase processing time.
  • From version 12 onwards, Chef does not support hard-coded values.
  • They make the code inflexible and not reusable. (Ans)
  • They are a good idea as they reduce processing time.

When using the ChefDK to generate a new recipe, do you need to specify the .RB file extension?

  • Yes, but only if you’re running Windows.
  • No, Visual Studio Code does this automatically.
  • Yes, otherwise you can’t edit the file.
  • No, all files in a Chef repository automatically use the .RB file extension.
  • No, CHEF GENERATE does this automatically. (Ans)

What is Chocolatey?

  • It is an open-source package provider for Windows. (Ans)
  • It is a community utility provided with the ChefDK.
  • It is a platform for running virtual machines.
  • It is a PowerShell module.
  • It is the code name for the latest build of Windows 10.

Which Test Kitchen provisioner should we use when the target platform is Windows?

  • Vagrant
  • Gem
  • Chef Zero Scheduled Task (Ans)
  • Chef Zero
  • –local-mode

What should you do if “kitchen converge” encounters an error?

  • Use a different Test Kitchen provisioner
  • Use “kitchen destroy”
  • Remediate the error and run “kitchen converge” again (Ans)
  • Nothing – errors are expected
  • Upload the cookbook into production

How do you specify different attributes so that your cookbook will work with Vagrant/Test Kitchen?

  • Use override attributes in the vagrantfile
  • Create [default][kitchen] attributes in the cookbook’s default.rb attributes file
  • Use override attributes in the cookbook’s .kitchen.yml file (Ans)
  • Chef Zero will automatically modify any attributes needed.

How do you use a Chef resource which is defined in a different cookbook?

  • Use the include_cookbook Chef resource in your own cookbook
  • Create a dependency on the external cookbook in your cookbook’s metadata.rb file (Ans)
  • You should always re-create Chef functionality from scratch in each cookbook.
  • Use GEM INSTALL to download the cookbook to the ChefDK

Why do we need to install the WinRM plugin for Vagrant?

  • We don’t – Vagrant does not support WinRM.
  • To connect to a Vagrant box running Windows using WinRM (Ans)
  • Because Vagrant talks to VirtualBox using WinRM
  • To connect to a Vagrant box running Ubuntu using WinRM
  • So that Vagrant can populate the PATH variable

When creating a new Chef role using “knife role from file”, in what format should the source file be?

  • Ruby
  • JSON (Ans)
  • Erlang
  • XML
  • TXT

Why is the Chef Server name important?

  • The server name must be unique as it is accessible over the Internet
  • The trial license is bound to the server name
  • The name is written to the server certificate – if there is a mismatch clients cannot connect (Ans)
  • The Chef Server name isn’t important at all

What describes a technical process which gives the same result each time?

  • Omnipotent
  • Impotent
  • Idempotent (Ans)
  • Potentate

When accessing the Chef Management Console via a browser, why might you see a certificate error?

  • You forgot to run “opscode-manage-reconfigure”
  • You are using a URL which is different to the Chef server name (Ans)
  • You need to purchase a certificate from a Certificate Authority
  • The Management Console has been incorrectly installed

What do you use to install the Azure PowerShell modules?

  • Microsoft Web Platform Installer (Ans)
  • sudo apt-get install
  • Microsoft OneGet
  • Microsoft Azure CLI

We can use SSH to bootstrap the Chef Client onto a Linux node. What do we use for Windows nodes?

  • PowerShell
  • Visual Basic
  • WinRM (Ans)
  • SSH

Why is Git an integral part of using Chef?

  • Because Chef development is driven by open source principles
  • Because version control is critical for managing code properly (Ans)
  • The ChefDK needs Git to be installed first
  • The ChefDK uses Git to upload cookbooks to the Chef Server

If one Chef cookbook depends upon another Chef cookbook, where should this dependency be stated?

  • In the .gitignore file
  • In the README.md file
  • In the metadata.rb file (Ans)
  • In the knife.rb file

On which platform is the Azure Command Line Interface (CLI) supported?

  • All of them (Ans)
  • Mac OS X
  • Microsoft Windows
  • Linux

What does Knife need in order to communicate with the Chef Server?

  • The URL of the Chef Servercd
  • User and organization certificates
  • SSL certificates from the Chef Server
  • All of these (Ans)

In an environment managed by Chef, where does cookbook and policy authoring happen?

  • In the Chef Management Console
  • On the Chef Server
  • In the Chef Development Kit (Ans)
  • In the Chef PostgreSQL database

What is a provider?

  • An entry in the PATH environment variable on a Windows system
  • A process by which Chef achieves a recipe’s declared end-state (Ans)
  • A component of a cookbook which defines the version number and dependencies
  • A self-contained Ruby package, such as knife-windows

What does it mean if a Chef node reports an “empty run list” during a client run?

  • It means that the Chef Client did not install correctly, and must be reinstalled
  • It means that no recipes, cookbooks, or roles have been assigned to the node (Ans)
  • It means that the wrong recipe, cookbook or role has been assigned to the node
  • It means that the Chef Client failed to connect to the Chef Server

Certification Courses

DevOpsSchool has introduced a series of professional certification courses designed to enhance your skills and expertise in cutting-edge technologies and methodologies. Whether you are aiming to excel in development, security, or operations, these certifications provide a comprehensive learning experience. Explore the following programs:

DevOps Certification, SRE Certification, and DevSecOps Certification by DevOpsSchool

Explore our DevOps Certification, SRE Certification, and DevSecOps Certification programs at DevOpsSchool. Gain the expertise needed to excel in your career with hands-on training and globally recognized certifications.