Tomcat Question 1

In this article, we discuss a frequently encountered interview question in the Tomcat domain and provide a thoughtful answer based on real-world DevOps experience.

The interview question is: "Are you supporting any applications, and if so, which application server are you using?" As a DevOps engineer, automation is at the core of your daily tasks. However, it's equally important to consider the audience for your automation efforts—whether they are developers, application teams, or another group. This question aims to gauge your hands-on familiarity with various application servers.

Application servers play a crucial role, ensuring that once code is deployed, the application runs as expected. The diagram below illustrates the role of a DevOps engineer in managing multiple application servers for Java, Node.js, and Python:

Before addressing the answer, let's clarify what an application server entails. For a Java project, you might use Tomcat—an open-source server known for its ease of use and broad adoption. On the other hand, projects may sometimes require JBoss or WebLogic, which are typically license-based. For Node.js environments, IIS might be utilized, while Python projects often rely on Django.

Given the diversity of application servers, interview responses may vary based on your technical expertise and the specific technology stack you work with. Here, we focus on Tomcat due to its popularity and accessibility.

Now, let’s review a sample answer that you can use during an interview:

This answer not only emphasizes your expertise with Tomcat but also demonstrates your versatility with multiple application servers across various programming languages.

That concludes this article. Continue exploring more DevOps interview questions in our upcoming posts to further enhance your career in DevOps.

Thank you.