OmidZamani / DevOps-Engineer-Linux-Server-Challenge

DevOps-Engineer-Linux-Server-Challenge

DevOps Engineer Linux Server Challenge

Introduction

In this challenge, we present a realistic scenario that a DevOps engineer may encounter in a medium-sized organization utilizing Linux servers. The scenario is designed to assess your practical understanding of Linux server management, problem diagnosis, automation, and communication.

Scenario Description

On a typical working day, you encounter the following series of events:

1. You're unable to SSH into a crucial Linux server.
2. The server you finally gain access to is running out of disk space.
3. Users report that the application hosted on this server is running slower than usual.
4. You receive an alert stating that the application is unable to write to a certain file on the server.
5. You're assigned the task of automating a daily application checking task that used to be done manually.
6. In the afternoon, the server reboots unexpectedly.
7. During your investigation, you notice a particular process hogging too much CPU.
8. You receive a report of a critical security vulnerability discovered in a software package widely used across your servers.
9. Your load monitoring tool alerts you that the system load of the server has significantly spiked and remained high for the last 30 minutes, without a significant change in usage.
10. You receive a notification about a partition on another server that is running out of space.

Challenge Questions

Based on the scenario above, provide detailed answers to the following questions:

1. What steps would you take to regain SSH access to the server?
2. How would you rectify the server running out of disk space?
3. How would you diagnose and resolve the issue of the slow-running application?
4. What steps would you take to identify the problem of the application being unable to write to a file?
5. How would you automate the daily application checking task?
6. Where would you look to find out why the server rebooted unexpectedly?
7. How would you manage the process that is using too much CPU?
8. How would you handle the report of the critical security vulnerability?
9. What steps will you take to find out the cause of the high system load and how would you communicate this to the users?
10. How would you handle the alert about the partition running out of space?

Throughout all this, how do you ensure minimal disruption to services and keep communication clear with all stakeholders? Provide a detailed plan outlining your actions, tools used, and contingency plans for each issue faced.

Instructions

1. Fork this repository.
2. Create a new markdown file in your forked repository, name it solution.md.
3. Answer each question in the solution.md file. Ensure that each answer is as comprehensive as possible.
4. Once done, create a pull request to this repository.

Best of luck with the challenge!

Evaluation

Your submission will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

1. Correctness and completeness of the solutions.
2. Depth of understanding of Linux server management, problem diagnosis, and automation.
3. Effectiveness of the proposed communication with stakeholders.
4. Thoughtfulness of the contingency plans.

Remember, there's often more than one correct answer in real-world scenarios - we're more interested in your thought process and problem-solving approach than the specific commands you would run.