Free EXIN DevOps Master™ Practice Questions

Sample Practice Questions

Try these 10 sample questions from the EXIN DevOps Master™ practice bank. Each includes the answer and explanation. Continue with the interactive practice above to review the full question set.

1. 1A team must recreate an environment from the same configuration after a server failure. Which version-control practice supports this goal?

   1. A.Store the provisioning scripts and configuration in a shared repository.Correct answer: A
   2. B.Store only the application binaries and rebuild configuration manually.
   3. C.Keep the current server configuration only on each running machine.
   4. D.Keep separate untracked copies of provisioning scripts on each laptop.

   Explanation: DORA identifies a prerequisite for reproducibility as "having the scripts and configuration information that are required to provision an environment stored in a shared, accessible system." Keeping those assets together allows the team to recreate the environment using the same configuration.

   Reference: DORA: Version control — Benefits of version control, Reproducibility

2. 2A company wants to reduce release coordination between product teams. Which system design best supports independently testing and deploying each team's service?

   1. A.Use stable service interfaces and boundaries that permit independent tests and deployments.Correct answer: A
   2. B.Use separate services whose releases must always be scheduled together.
   3. C.Use separate codebases that require one shared end-to-end deployment.
   4. D.Use service boundaries that require a shared integration test for every release.

   Explanation: DORA describes teams that can "deploy and release their product or service on demand, independently of the services it depends on" and do "most of their testing on demand, without requiring an integrated test environment." Together these capabilities reduce cross-team release coordination.

   Reference: DORA: Loosely coupled teams — Loosely coupled teams, desired outcomes

3. 3A team is about to define features for a customer problem it has not yet investigated. What should the team do first to understand the problem?

   1. A.Define the feature set using internal estimates.
   2. B.Gather feedback directly from customers.Correct answer: B
   3. C.Measure the number of completed features.
   4. D.Wait until the first full release to interview users.

   Explanation: DORA recommends: "Gather customer feedback first, before defining any potential features." The feedback helps the team validate the problem before selecting a solution.

   Reference: DORA: Customer feedback — How to implement customer feedback

4. 4A team needs a lightweight change approval process that also preserves segregation of duties. Which approach does DORA recommend?

   1. A.Capture peer review and approval by someone other than the author.Correct answer: A
   2. B.Let the change author approve their own change without review.
   3. C.Remove approval records after the change is deployed.
   4. D.Batch all changes until an external board can review them together.

   Explanation: DORA recommends "Use peer review to meet the goal of segregation of duties" and capturing reviews and approvals in the development platform.

   Reference: DORA: Streamlining change approval — How to implement a change approval process

5. 5After an incident, which response reflects a generative culture rather than a pathological or bureaucratic one?

   1. A.Investigate system conditions and contributing factors.Correct answer: A
   2. B.Identify and punish the person closest to the failure.
   3. C.Focus on whether the prescribed reporting procedure was followed.
   4. D.Withhold incident details to protect the team's authority.

   Explanation: In DORA's presentation of Westrum's model, a generative culture is associated with "Failure leads to inquiry." Investigating contributing factors follows that pattern.

   Reference: DORA: Generative organizational culture — Westrum organizational typology model

6. 6A team wants to assess whether its DevOps improvement efforts are working. What should it establish before evaluating subsequent changes?

   1. A.A baseline describing its current stateCorrect answer: A
   2. B.A target state used in place of a current measurement
   3. C.Measurements collected only after the change
   4. D.Another team's baseline used without assessing this team

   Explanation: DORA encourages organizations to "assess their current baseline, formulate hypotheses, and measure the impact of changes iteratively." A baseline makes subsequent change measurable.

   Reference: 2024 Accelerate State of DevOps Report — 2024 report overview, continuous improvement

7. 7A team needs to determine exactly which dependency versions were used in two environments and identify their differences. Which capability of version control addresses this need?

   1. A.Reproducibility of environment provisioning
   2. B.Traceability of environment dependenciesCorrect answer: B
   3. C.Auditability of deployment history
   4. D.Restoration of an earlier revision

   Explanation: DORA describes traceability as the ability to "determine quickly and precisely the versions of every dependency used to create that environment" and compare environment versions. That directly matches the team's need.

   Reference: DORA: Version control — Benefits of version control, Traceability

8. 8A team cannot test its service until a shared integrated environment is available. Which approach can reduce the test dependency on external services?

   1. A.Create stubs for external services in the team's test environment.Correct answer: A
   2. B.Reserve the shared integrated environment for all tests.
   3. C.Run each unit test against the live external services.
   4. D.Run tests in a dedicated environment against the live external services.

   Explanation: DORA says "mocking and stubbing of external services helps reduce the impact of external dependencies" and allows teams to create test environments quickly.

   Reference: DORA: Loosely coupled teams — How to implement architectures for continuous delivery

9. 9A team builds an internal support tool for colleagues. How should it use feedback to avoid building a tool that does not solve their problem?

   1. A.Engage real internal users early and frequently.Correct answer: A
   2. B.Wait until the tool is complete to identify its users.
   3. C.Treat internal users' preferences as irrelevant to design.
   4. D.Measure only whether all requested screens were delivered.

   Explanation: DORA recommends "early and frequent engagement with real users to ensure what you’re building actually solves their problem" for internal tools as well as external products.

   Reference: DORA: Customer feedback — How to implement customer feedback

10. 10An organization has limited review capacity for changes with different risk levels. How can it focus additional scrutiny?

    1. A.Identify and flag high-risk changes early for additional scrutiny.Correct answer: A
    2. B.Apply additional scrutiny to low-risk changes first.
    3. C.Assess risk only after allocating review effort.
    4. D.Wait until after deployment to identify high-risk changes.

    Explanation: DORA recommends "detect and flag high risk changes early on so that they can be subjected to additional scrutiny." Risk differentiation helps focus review effort.

    Reference: DORA: Streamlining change approval — Ways to improve your change approval process