Advanced DevOps Hands-On Tasks

Linux & System Administration

• Create a restricted SFTP user that can only access a specific directory using chroot jail.
• Configure log rotation for a custom application log located in /var/log/myapp.log.
• Identify and terminate a process consuming 90% CPU without restarting the server.
• Configure a daily automated backup of /var/www to a remote server using rsync.
• Create a script that monitors disk usage and sends an alert if usage exceeds 85%.
• Mount a new disk and configure it to automatically mount on reboot.
• Configure Linux firewall rules to allow only ports 22, 80, and 443.
• Create a systemd service for a custom application.

Networking Tasks

• Identify which process is using port 8080 and stop it.
• Configure static IP networking on an Ubuntu server.
• Analyze network path latency to an external server using traceroute.
• Identify network connectivity issues between two servers.
• Capture network traffic on port 80 using tcpdump.

DNS Tasks

• Configure a domain to point to a server using an A record.
• Create a CNAME record for a subdomain.
• Verify DNS propagation using dig.
• Troubleshoot a domain resolving incorrectly.
• Configure reverse DNS lookup for a server.

Apache / Nginx Tasks

• Configure two websites on the same server using virtual hosts.
• Enable HTTPS using Let's Encrypt SSL certificates.
• Redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS automatically.
• Configure Apache logs for each virtual host.
• Troubleshoot a 502 Bad Gateway error.

Docker Tasks

• Create a Dockerfile for a Node.js or Python application.
• Build and run a Docker container exposing port 3000.
• Debug a container that exits immediately after starting.
• Persist application data using Docker volumes.
• Create a multi-container setup using Docker Compose.
• Limit container CPU and memory usage.
• Push a Docker image to Docker Hub.

CI/CD Tasks

• Create a CI pipeline that builds and deploys an application.
• Configure automated testing in the pipeline.
• Trigger deployment only when code is pushed to the main branch.
• Configure rollback if deployment fails.
• Secure pipeline credentials using environment variables.

Monitoring & Logging

• Install and configure Prometheus for server monitoring.
• Create dashboards in Grafana to visualize CPU and memory usage.
• Configure alerts for high CPU usage.
• Centralize logs from multiple servers.
• Identify a memory leak using monitoring tools.

Security Tasks

• Disable root SSH login and enforce key-based authentication.
• Configure fail2ban to block repeated SSH login attempts.
• Restrict server access using firewall rules.
• Audit server users and remove unused accounts.
• Rotate SSH keys securely.

Real Production Troubleshooting

• Troubleshoot a website accessible via IP but not via domain.
• Identify why a server becomes slow every day at midnight.
• Fix a containerized application failing due to missing environment variables.
• Investigate why a CI/CD pipeline fails during deployment.
• Resolve disk space exhaustion on a production server.