Top 50 Prometheus Interview Questions with Answers

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What is Prometheus?
A) A monitoring and alerting system
B) A virtual machine
C) A database management system
D) A web server

Ans: A) A monitoring and alerting system

Who created Prometheus?
A) Microsoft
B) Google
C) Amazon
D) Facebook

Ans: B) Google

What is the purpose of Prometheus?
A) To store data
B) To monitor applications
C) To manage databases
D) To create virtual machines

Ans: B) To monitor applications

What is the primary language used by Prometheus?
A) Python
B) Ruby
C) Go
D) Java

Ans: C) Go

Which component of Prometheus stores time-series data?
A) Prometheus Server
B) Pushgateway
C) Alertmanager
D) Exporters

Ans: A) Prometheus Server

What is Grafana?
A) A database management system
B) A web server
C) A monitoring and alerting system
D) A visualization tool

Ans: D) A visualization tool

What is the default port for Prometheus instance?
A) 8090
B) 9090
C) 9999
D) 8888

Ans: B) 9090

How does Prometheus collect data?
A) Through scraping
B) Through logging
C) Through polling
D) Through streaming

Ans: A) Through scraping

What is the role of the Pushgateway?
A) To push metrics to Grafana
B) To receive data sent by Prometheus
C) To collect data from multiple sources
D) To generate alerts

Ans: B) To receive data sent by Prometheus

What is an exporter in Prometheus?
A) A tool to export data to a database
B) A tool to export data to another monitoring system
C) A tool to export data for visualization
D) A tool to collect metrics from services

Ans: D) A tool to collect metrics from services

What is a Prometheus client library?
A) A tool to monitor client-side applications
B) A tool to create client-side applications
C) A tool to collect metrics from client-side applications
D) A tool to manage client-side applications

Ans: C) A tool to collect metrics from client-side applications

How does Prometheus handle alerting?
A) Through a separate component called Alertmanager
B) By sending emails
C) Through integration with third-party alerting systems
D) By creating tickets in issue tracking systems

Ans: A) Through a separate component called Alertmanager

What is the role of relabeling in Prometheus?
A) To filter out unwanted metrics
B) To modify metric labels
C) To group metrics
D) To aggregate metrics

Ans: B) To modify metric labels

What is federation in Prometheus?
A) A way to share data between multiple Prometheus instances
B) A way to distribute data to multiple monitoring systems
C) A way to synchronize data between Grafana and Prometheus
D) A way to store data in multiple databases

Ans: A) A way to share data between multiple Prometheus instances

What is the purpose of recording rules in Prometheus?
A) To aggregate metrics
B) To modify metrics
C) To generate alerts
D) To create new time-series data

Ans: D) To create new time-series data

What is Continuous Integration (CI) in Prometheus?
A) A way to continuously monitor applications
B) A way to continuously test applications
C) A way to deploy applications
D) A way to build applications

Ans: B) A way to continuously test applications

What is Continuous Delivery (CD) in Prometheus?
A) A way to continuously monitor applications
B) A way to continuously test applications
C) A way to deploy applications
D) A way to build applications

Ans: C) A way to deploy applications

What is Continuous Deployment (CD) in Prometheus?
A) A way to continuously monitor applications
B) A way to continuously test applications
C) A way to deploy applications
D) A way to build applications

Ans: C) A way to deploy applications

What is the difference between monitoring and logging?
A) Monitoring is real-time, while logging is not
B) Logging is real-time, while monitoring is not
C) Monitoring captures metrics, while logging captures events
D) Logging captures metrics, while monitoring captures events

Ans: C) Monitoring captures metrics, while logging captures events

What is the role of node_exporter in Prometheus?
A) To collect metrics from a single node
B) To collect metrics from multiple nodes
C) To aggregate metrics from multiple nodes
D) To generate alerts for node failures

Ans: A) To collect metrics from a single node

What is the role of kube-state-metrics in Prometheus?
A) To collect metrics from Kubernetes services
B) To collect metrics from Kubernetes nodes
C) To collect metrics from Kubernetes pods and containers
D) To generate alerts for Kubernetes services

Ans: C) To collect metrics from Kubernetes pods and containers

What is the role of cAdvisor in Prometheus?
A) To collect metrics from Kubernetes services
B) To collect metrics from Kubernetes nodes
C) To collect metrics from Kubernetes pods and containers
D) To generate alerts for Kubernetes services

Ans: C) To collect metrics from Kubernetes pods and containers

What is the purpose of Blackbox exporter in Prometheus?
A) To collect metrics from web applications
B) To collect metrics from network devices
C) To collect metrics from databases
D) To collect metrics from storage devices

Ans: A) To collect metrics from web applications

What is the purpose of SNMP exporter in Prometheus?
A) To collect metrics from web applications
B) To collect metrics from network devices
C) To collect metrics from databases
D) To collect metrics from storage devices

Ans: B) To collect metrics from network devices

What is the role of the Alertmanager in Prometheus?
A) To collect metrics
B) To generate alerts
C) To visualize data
D) To modify metrics

Ans: B) To generate alerts

What kind of data does Prometheus store?
A) Structured data
B) Unstructured data
C) Semi-structured data
D) NoSQL data

Ans: A) Structured data

What is the difference between counters and gauges in Prometheus?
A) Counters are cumulative, while gauges can go up and down
B) Counters can go up and down, while gauges are cumulative
C) Counters and gauges are the same thing
D) Counters and gauges are not used in Prometheus

Ans: A) Counters are cumulative, while gauges can go up and down

What are histograms in Prometheus?
A) A way to count occurrences of events
B) A way to calculate the average value of a metric
C) A way to calculate percentiles for a metric
D) A way to group metrics based on labels

Ans: C) A way to calculate percentiles for a metric

What is the difference between percentiles and quantiles?
A) There is no difference
B) Percentiles are expressed as fractions, while quantiles are expressed as percentages
C) Quantiles are expressed as fractions, while percentiles are expressed as percentages
D) Quantiles and percentiles are calculated differently

Ans: C) Quantiles are expressed as fractions, while percentiles are expressed as percentages

What is the purpose of bucketing in Prometheus histograms?
A) To group data based on labels
B) To count occurrences of events
C) To calculate percentiles
D) To group data in predefined ranges

Ans: D) To group data in predefined ranges

What is the role of scrape_configs in Prometheus configuration?
A) To configure exporters
B) To configure Prometheus instances
C) To configure Alertmanager
D) To configure Grafana

Ans: A) To configure exporters

What is the role of job_configs in Prometheus configuration?
A) To configure exporters
B) To configure Prometheus instances
C) To configure Alertmanager
D) To configure Grafana

Ans: B) To configure Prometheus instances

What is the purpose of relabel_configs in Prometheus configuration?
A) To filter out unwanted metrics
B) To modify metric labels
C) To group metrics
D) To aggregate metrics

Ans: B) To modify metric labels

What is the function of rules_files in Prometheus configuration?
A) To configure alerting rules
B) To configure recording rules
C) To configure pushgateway
D) To configure federation

Ans: B) To configure recording rules

What is the role of service discovery in Prometheus?
A) To discover new metrics
B) To discover new targets for scraping
C) To discover new Prometheus instances
D) To discover new exporters

Ans: B) To discover new targets for scraping

What is the difference between static and dynamic service discovery in Prometheus?
A) There is no difference
B) Static service discovery requires manual configuration, while dynamic service discovery is automated
C) Dynamic service discovery requires manual configuration, while static service discovery is automated
D) Static and dynamic service discovery are not used in Prometheus

Ans: B) Static service discovery requires manual configuration, while dynamic service discovery is automated

What is the role of relabeling in Prometheus alerts?
A) To filter out unwanted alerts
B) To modify alert labels
C) To group alerts
D) To aggregate alerts

Ans: B) To modify alert labels

What is the difference between a rule and an alert in Prometheus?
A) There is no difference
B) A rule creates new metrics, while an alert generates notifications based on metrics
C) A rule aggregates metrics, while an alert modifies metrics
D) A rule modifies labels, while an alert modifies values

Ans: B) A rule creates new metrics, while an alert generates notifications based on metrics

What is the role of the prometheus.yml file in Prometheus configuration?
A) To configure Alertmanager
B) To configure exporters
C) To configure Prometheus instances
D) To configure Grafana

Ans: C) To configure Prometheus instances

What is the role of the external labels in Prometheus configuration?
A) To add metadata to a metric
B) To modify metric labels
C) To group metrics
D) To aggregate metrics

Ans: A) To add metadata to a metric

What is the purpose of the scrape_interval configuration in Prometheus?
A) To define how often Prometheus scrapes targets
B) To define how long metrics are retained in Prometheus
C) To define how often Alertmanager generates notifications
D) To define how often Grafana requests data from Prometheus

Ans: A) To define how often Prometheus scrapes targets

What is the purpose of the evaluation_interval configuration in Prometheus?
A) To define how often Prometheus scrapes targets
B) To define how long metrics are retained in Prometheus
C) To define how often Alertmanager generates notifications
D) To define how often Prometheus evaluates rules

Ans: D) To define how often Prometheus evaluates rules

What is the purpose of the retention configuration in Prometheus?
A) To define how often Prometheus scrapes targets
B) To define how long metrics are retained in Prometheus
C) To define how often Alertmanager generates notifications
D) To define how often Prometheus evaluates rules

Ans: B) To define how long metrics are retained in Prometheus

What is the purpose of the alert_history configuration in Prometheus?
A) To store generated alerts
B) To store metrics data
C) To store configuration data
D) To store visualization data

Ans: A) To store generated alerts

What is a pushgateway in Prometheus?
A) A way to store metrics data
B) A way to aggregate metrics data
C) A way to push metrics data to another system
D) A way to generate alerts

Ans: C) A way to push metrics data to another system

What is the purpose of the scrape_timeout configuration in Prometheus?
A) To define how long Prometheus spends scraping a target
B) To define how long Prometheus retains metrics data
C) To define the rate at which Prometheus scrapes targets
D) To define the rate at which Prometheus evaluates rules

Ans: A) To define how long Prometheus spends scraping a target

What is the role of the target_relabel_configs in Prometheus configuration?
A) To filter out unwanted targets
B) To modify target labels
C) To group targets
D) To aggregate targets

Ans: B) To modify target labels

What is the role of the metric_relabel_configs in Prometheus configuration?
A) To filter out unwanted metrics
B) To modify metric labels
C) To group metrics
D) To aggregate metrics

Ans: B) To modify metric labels

What is the role of the external_url configuration in Prometheus?
A) To define the URL for Prometheus server
B) To define the URL for Grafana server
C) To define the URL for Alertmanager server
D) To define the URL for pushgateway server

Ans: A) To define the URL for Prometheus server

What is the role of the HTTP API in Prometheus?
A) To provide a web interface for Prometheus
B) To export metrics to other systems
C) To provide a RESTful interface for Prometheus
D) To store metrics data

Ans: C) To provide a RESTful interface for Prometheus

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Ashwani Kumar

Sr. Software Engineer at Cotocus Private Limited

There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.