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Top 40 MySQL Interview Questions & Answers For Beginners & Experienced [2024]

Updated on 10 July, 2024

144.12K+ views
29 min read
MySQL Interview Questions & Answers

Have a Data engineering or data science interview coming up? Need to practice some of the most asked MySQL interview questions? The article compiles the list of the MySQL interview questions that you should know.

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What are a few benefits of utilizing MySQL?

MySQL, a popular open-source RDMS, offers several advantages that make it a preferred choice for businesses and developers:

Scalability: MySQL can handle large amounts of data and high-traffic websites, making it scalable for growing businesses. It efficiently manages increasing loads without compromising performance.

Reliability: MySQL is known for its robustness and reliability. It provides data integrity and ensures that transactions are processed accurately, making it suitable for mission-critical applications.

Flexibility: MySQL supports various data types and storage engines, allowing developers to choose the most appropriate options for their requirements. It also supports various programming languages, making it versatile and adaptable to different environments.

High Performance: MySQL is optimized for speed and can deliver quick response times, even when dealing with complex queries and large datasets. This high performance is crucial for applications that require real-time data processing.

Security: MySQL offers advanced security features, including data encryption, access control, and user authentication, ensuring that sensitive information is protected from unauthorized access and malicious attacks.

Community Support: Being open-source, MySQL benefits from a vast community of developers and users. This means continuous improvements, regular updates, and extensive documentation, making it easier for developers to find solutions to issues they might encounter.

Cost-Effectiveness: MySQL is free to use, making it a cost-effective choice for businesses, especially startups and small to medium-sized enterprises. This cost savings can be significant, especially compared to proprietary database systems.

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Common MySQL Interview Questions & Answers

1. What is MySQL?

MySQL is one of the most popular open-source DBMS (database management system). MySQL is easy to use, reliable, and fast. A DB management system that works on embedded systems as well as client-server systems. 

2. Why is MySQL so popular? 

First of all, MySQL is open-source. Second, it is widely adopted, so a lot of code is already available. Even entire developed systems are there that can be referred to for the upcoming projects. MySQL has relational databases; hence it makes it have methodical storage rather than a big dump of unorganized mess. And finally, as said earlier, MySQL is quick and robust. 

Being open-source also means that MySQL benefits from an active developer community that contributes code, fixes bugs, and adds new features.

 

The fact that MySQL is so widely used makes it easy to find solutions, code examples, tools and supporting software that works with it. There’s great documentation and many books available as resources, too. Popular CMS platforms like WordPress are based on MySQL, further driving its adoption.

MySQL is relational, which allows structuring data into tables and relations, avoiding data redundancy. This offers better organisation and querying than unstructured NoSQL databases. Tables, views, triggers and stored procedures help build powerful relational database applications efficiently.

MySQL’s performance has been optimised over the years, making it a fast, robust and stable solution able to handle high-load applications with complex queries. The SQL engine and query optimisers provide quick access and analysis of data. Features like indexing, caching and Explain help tune performance.

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3. What are the tables in MySQL? Explain the types.

This is a must-know MySQL interview question. Let’s see the answer-

MySQL stores everything in logical tables. Tables can be thought of as the core storage structure of MySQL. And hence tables are also known as storage engines. Here are the storage engines provided by MySQL:

· MyISAM – MyISAM is the default storage engine for MySQL. It extends the former ISAM storage engine. MyISAM offers big storage, up to 256TB! The tables can also be compressed to get extra storage. MyISAM tables are not transaction-safe. 

· MERGE – A MERGE table is a virtual table that consolidates different MyISAM tables that have a comparable structure to one table. MERGE tables use the indexes of the base tables, as they do not have indexes of their own.

· ARCHIVE – As the name suggests, Archive helps in archiving the tables by compressing them, in-turn reducing the storage space. Hence, you can store a lot of records with the Archive. It uses the compression-decompression procedure while writing and reading the table records. It is done using the Zlib library.

· CSV – This is more like a storage format. CSV engine stores the values in the Comma-separated values (CSV) format. This engine makes it easier to migrate the tables into a non-SQL pipeline.

· InnoDB – InnoDB is the most optimal while choosing an engine to drive performance. InnoDB is a transaction-safe engine. Hence it is ACID-compliant and can efficiently restore your database to the most stable state in case of a crash.

· Memory– Memory tables were formerly known as HEAP. With memory tables, there can be a performance boost as the tables are stored in the memory. But it does not work with large data tables due to the same reason.

· Federated – Federated tables allow accessing remote MySQL server tables. It can be done without any third-party integration or cluster technology.

Read: SQL for Data Science: Why SQL, List of Benefits & Commands

4. Write a query for a column addition in MySQL

This is one of the significant MySQL query interview questions. For this, an ALTER TABLE query is required. Once invoked, simply mention the column and its definition. Something like this:

ALTER TABLE cars

ADD COLUMN engine VARCHAR(80) AFTER colour;

The ALTER TABLE statement is operated to add, delete or modify columns and constraints in an existing table in MySQL.

To add a new column, the syntax is:

ALTER TABLE table_name ADD COLUMN column_name column_definition;

The column_definition specifies the new column’s data type, length and other attributes. Common data types are INTEGER, VARCHAR, DATETIME, etc.

The AFTER clause specifies the placement of the new column. Here, we add ‘engine’ after the ‘colour’ column. Omitting AFTER will add the column as the last one.

Some key points about adding columns in MySQL:

  • The column cannot be added if it already exists in the table.
  • ADD COLUMN makes the schema change permanent in the table.
  • The column can be added at the beginning, end, or anywhere between existing columns.
  • ADD COLUMN acquires a metadata lock on the table, so it cannot be used if there is an active transaction.
  • No value is set for the new column. The values can be populated later with an UPDATE statement.
  • The added column gets NULL values for existing rows. NOT NULL constraint can’t be added while creating the column.

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5. What is a foreign key? Write a query to implement the same in MySQL.

This is one of the prevalent MySQL queries interview questions for both beginner and experienced candidates. A foreign key is used to connect two tables. A FOREIGN KEY is a field (or assortment of it) in one table that alludes to the PRIMARY KEY in another table. The FOREIGN KEY requirement is utilised to forestall activities that would crush joins between tables.

To assign a foreign key, it is important to mention it while creating the table. It can be assigned by invoking the FOREIGN KEY query. Something like this:

FOREIGN KEY (Any_ID) REFERENCES Table_to_reference(Any_ID)

6. What is MySQL workbench?

MySQL Workbench is a bound together visual instrument for database modelers, designers, and DBAs. MySQL Workbench provides Data modelling, SQL, and server setup set of administrative tools. To put it simply, MySQL workbench makes it possible to operate the database management system through GUI. 

MySQL Workbench is the official integrated development environment (IDE) for MySQL. It replaces older tools like MySQL Query Browser, MySQL Administrator, etc.

Some major features of MySQL Workbench include:

  • Visual Database Designer: This allows you to model databases and generate SQL scripts for execution. Supports features like a visual table editor, relationship modeling, schema synchronisation and more.
  • SQL Development: Offers a powerful SQL editor with syntax highlighting, autocomplete, reuse of SQL snippets and execution history. An integrated debugger is available.
  • Database Administration: Provides visual tools for server configuration, user administration, backup, restore, database monitoring and more.
  • Migration Tools: Migrate from Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase ASE, SQLite, etc. to MySQL visually.
  • Data Import/Export: Import data from CSV/JSON/XML/other formats and export data to various formats.
  • Visual Explain Plans: Generate and visualise explain plans to analyse SQL query performance.
  • Replication Support: Set up and monitor master-slave replication.
  • Schema Synchronisation and Comparison: Synchronise schemas between different database instances and compare schema

7. How does database import/export work in MySQL?

It can be done in two ways. One is to use phpMyAdmin, and the second is to use the command line access of MySQL. The latter can be done by using the command named mysqldump. It goes something like this:

· mysqldump -u username -p databasename > dbsample.sql

To import a database into MySQL, only a sign change is required, with a command of MySQL. The command goes something like this:

· mysql -u username -p databasename < dbsample.sql

8. How can we delete a column or a row in MySQL?

Now dropping a column can be simply done by using the ALTER TABLE command and then using the DROP command. It goes something like this:

ALTER TABLE table_name DROP column name;

To drop a row, first, an identification for the row is required. Once that is handy, use the DELETE command in conjunction with the conditional WHERE command. Something like this:

DELETE FROM cars WHERE carID = 3;

9. What are the different ways to join tables in MySQL?

This is one of the most important MySQL database interview questions.

Join is used to link one or more tables together, with the common column’s values in both tables. Primarily there are four types of joins:

1. Inner Join – Inner join uses a join predicate, which is a condition used to make the join. Here is the syntax:

SELECT something FROM tablename INNER JOIN another table ON condition;

2. Left Join – Left join also requires a join condition. The left join chooses information beginning from the left table. For each entry in the left table, the left compares each entry in the right table. Here is the syntax:

SELECT something FROM tablename LEFT JOIN another table ON condition;

3. Right Join – Opposite to left join and, with one difference in the query, that is the name of join. Here care should be taken about the order of tables. Here is the syntax:

SELECT something FROM tablename LEFT JOIN another table ON condition;

4. Cross Join – Cross join has no join condition. It makes a cartesian of rows of both the tables. Here is the syntax:

SELECT something FROM tablename CROSS JOIN another table;

Note: While dealing with just one table, self-join is also possible. 

It is one of the most dealt with MySQL interview questions. Interviewers do like to see if the candidate understands the basics or not and join one of the core concepts. 

Read: PHP Interview Questions & Answers

10. Can a primary key be dropped in MySQL? If yes, how?

Yes, it is possible to drop the primary key from a table. The command to use is again, the ALTER TABLE followed by DROP. It goes like this:

ALTER TABLE table_name DROP PRIMARY KEY;

The ALTER TABLE statement is used to change the structure of an existing table in MySQL. The DROP PRIMARY KEY clause allows you to remove the primary key constraint from a table.

When the primary key is dropped:

  • Dropping the Primary Key Index: Dropping a primary key will remove the primary key.
  • Unique Values and Duplicates: Once the primary key is dropped, the columns that comprise it are no longer restricted to unique values, allowing duplicates.
  • Impact on Foreign Keys: If foreign keys reference the dropped primary key, they will become invalid.
  • Primary Key Definition: After this operation, the table will not have a primary key.
  • Autoincrement Reset: The assertion about the auto increment counter being reset is not accurate. Dropping a primary key does not reset the auto increment counter in MySQL. The counter continues incrementing from the last used value.
  • Exclusive Lock: Dropping a primary key does acquire an exclusive lock on the table.
  • Data Inconsistencies: The operation can lead to inconsistencies, especially in a database design relying on the primary key for relationships and data integrity.
  • No Column Deletion: Correct, this operation only removes the constraint, not any columns.

11. What are Procedures in MySQL?

This is a MySQL basic interview questions. A thorough understanding of this is very important. 

Procedures (or stored procedures) are subprograms, just like in a regular language, embedded in the database. A stored procedure consists of a name, SQL statement(s) and parameters. It utilises the caching in MySQL and hence saves time and memory, just like the prepared statements. 

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12. What is a trigger in MySQL?

A trigger is a table-associated database object in MySQL. It is activated when a specified action takes place. 

A trigger can be invoked after or before the event takes place. It can be used on INSERT, DELETE, and UPDATE. It uses the respective syntax to define the triggers. For example, BEFORE INSERT, AFTER DELETE, etc.

  • Triggers are database objects automatically executed in reaction to specific events such as insert, update or delete in the associated table.
  • Some key points about triggers in mysql interview questions and answers for experienced:
  • Top mysql interview questions, triggers are written to enforce business rules and data integrity.
  • They can call out to external procedures written in other languages like Perl or Java.
  • Before triggers are executed before the associated action (insert, update, etc). After triggers are executed.
  • Triggers can be executed for each row affected by the event or only once per event.
  • NEW and OLD keywords can refer to column values before and after changes.
  • Triggers can cascade, i.e. one trigger firing can activate another trigger.
  • Triggers can not be invoked manually but get activated automatically.
  • Triggers can read from or write to other tables to perform actions.
  • MySQL runs triggers as part of the same transaction that invoked them.

13. How to add users in MySQL?

To simply put, the user can be added by using the CREATE command and specifying the necessary credentials. First, log in to the MySQL account and then apply the syntax. Something like this:

CREATE USER ‘testuser’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘sample password’;

Users can be granted permissions, by the following commands:

GRANT SELECT ON * . * TO ‘testuser’;

14. What is the core difference between Oracle and MySQL?

The core difference is that MySQL works on a single-model database. That means it can only work with one base structure, while Oracle is a multi-model database. It means it can support various data models like graph, document, key-value, etc. 

Another fundamental difference is that Oracle’s support comes with a price tag for industrial solutions. While MySQL is open-source.

Now this question is one of the MySQL interview questions that should be understood carefully. Because it directly deals with the industry standards and what the company wants.

MySQL is free and open-source, whereas Oracle is commercial and paid. MySQL is more customizable than Oracle because Oracle is a finished product.

From the software perspective, Oracle is more powerful owing to its extra features. Also, it offers better indexing due to which it provides a competitive benefit over MySQL.

15. What is CHAR and VARCHAR in MySQL?

This is one of the most important interview questions on MySQL. 

Both of them define a string. The core difference is that CHAR is a fixed-length while VARCHAR is variable length. For example, if CHAR(5) is defined, then it needs exactly five characters. If VARCHAR(5) is defined, then it can take at most five characters. VARCHAR can be said to have more efficiency in the usage of memory as it can have dynamic memory allocations. 

CHAR and VARCHAR are two MySQL data types used to store string values:

  • CHAR(n) – Fixed length string with length n between 0 and 255 characters. Any shorter strings are padded with spaces.
  • VARCHAR(n) – Variable length string up to n characters. Storage size is the exact length of the string + 1 byte overhead.

Key differences:

  • CHAR pads with spaces to equal n characters. VARCHAR does not, using only required storage.
  • CHAR may be faster for fixed-length strings like state abbreviations. VARCHAR is more space efficient for var length data.
  • CHAR values are right padded; VARCHAR values are not padded
  • VARCHAR’s maximum limit is 65,535 bytes, unlike CHAR’s 255 limit
  • VARCHAR is more flexible, allowing inserts of strings of any length up to the limit
  • CHAR is better for storing password hashes since fixed length prevents length info leaks
  • VARCHAR allows more efficient use of storage space, so it is preferred in most cases

16. Which drivers are necessary for MySQL?

There are many types of drivers in MySQL. Mostly they are used for connections with different computational languages. Some of them are listed below:

· PHP Driver

· JDBC

· OBDC

· Python Driver

· C – Wrapper

· Perl and Ruby Drivers

17. What is a LIKE statement? Explain % and _ in LIKE.

While using filters in commands like SELECT, UPDATE, and DELETE, conditions might require a pattern to detect. LIKE is used to do just that. LIKE has two wildcard characters, namely % (percentage) and _ (underscore). Percentage(%) matches a string of characters, while underscore matches a single character. 

For example, %t will detect trees and tea both. However, _t will only detect one extra character, i.e., strings like ti or te. 

Also, Read MySQL interview questions for 5 years experience candidate.

18. How to convert timestamps to date in MySQL?

It is a rather simple question that requires knowledge on two commands, like DATE_FORMAT and FROM_UNIXTIME. 

DATE_FORMAT(FROM_UNIXTIME(`date_in_timestamp`), ‘%e %b %Y’) AS ‘date_formatted’

Also Read: Java Interview Questions & Answers

19. Can a query be written in any case in MySQL?

This MySQL interview question often confuses people who are just getting started with MySQL. Although most of the time, the queries are written in capital or some in small letters, there is no such case sensitivity to MySQL queries. 

For example, both create table tablename and CREATE TABLE tablename, works fine.

However, if required, it is possible to make the query case sensitive by using the keyword BINARY. 

This MySQL interview question can be tricky, especially when asked to make the query case-sensitive explicitly. 

20. How to save images in MySQL? 

This is one of the most basic MySQL interview questions. 

Images can be stored in the MySQL database by converting them to BLOBS. But it is not preferred due to the large overhead it creates. Plus, it puts unnecessary load on the RAM while loading the entire database. It is hence preferred to store the paths in the database and store the images on disk. 

21. How to get multiple condition results from data in MySQL?

There are two ways to do so. The first is to use the keyword OR while using the WHERE condition. The other is to use a list of values to check and use IN with WHERE. 

In MySQL, the WHERE clause in a SELECT query allows filtering rows based on conditions.

There are two main ways to check for multiple conditions in a WHERE clause:

Using OR

The OR operator combines multiple conditions, so rows matching any of the conditions are returned:

SELECT  FROM table_name

WHERE column_1 = ‘value1’ OR column_2 = ‘value2’;

This returns rows where column_1 is ‘value1’ or column_2 is ‘value2’.

Using IN

The IN operator checks if a value is in a list of values:

SELECT  FROM table_name

WHERE column_1 IN (‘value1’, ‘value2’, ‘value3’);

This returns rows where column_1 is any of the values ‘value1’, ‘value2’ or ‘value3’.

The IN operator is useful when checking for many values as it avoids multiple OR conditions.

Other important points:

  • AND can be used with OR/IN to add more conditions.
  • NOT can be used to negate the conditions.
  • Comparison operators like =, <>, > etc. can be used for range checks.
  • Conditions can be combined using parentheses for more complex logic.

22. What are the different file formats used by MyISAM?

Typically, a MyISAM table is stored using three files on disk. The data file and the index file, which are defined with extensions .MYD and .MYI, respectively. There is a table definition file that has .frm extension. 

23. How does DISTINCT work in MySQL?

DISTINCT is used to avoid the problem of duplicity while fetching the results of a particular query. DISTINCT is used to make sure the results do not contain repeated values. DISTINCT can be used with the SELECT clause. Here is the syntax for it:

SELECT DISTINCT something FROM tablename;

Also, Read MySQL interview questions for 10 years experience candidate.

24. Is there any upper limit for the number of columns in a table?

Although the exact size limitation depends on many factors, MySQL has a hard limit on max size to be 4096 columns. But as said, for a given table, the effective-maximum may be less.

25. What are Access Control Lists or ACLs, in accordance with MySQL?

The ACLs or Access control lists are used in a way to give a guideline for security in the MySQL database. MySQL provides security based on ACLs for all the tasks performed by users like connection requests, queries, and any other operation. 

ACLs (Access Control Lists) allow controlling user access to database objects and operations in MySQL.

Some key points about MySQL ACLs:

  • Permissions are granted to a MySQL user account for various database operations.
  • Operations include SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, EXECUTE, ALTER, CREATE, etc.
  • Access can be controlled at different database object levels – global, database, table, column.
  • The GRANT and REVOKE statements are used to set and modify ACLs.
  • Privileges can be granted for specific columns also using column list with SELECT.
  • The SHOW GRANTS statement displays the grants and permissions assigned to accounts.
  • MySQL account user and host together determine the applicable permissions.
  • Users get ACL permissions from global, database, table and column-level grants.
  • Stored procedures can be granted the EXECUTE privilege to allow users to run them.

26. How to make connections persistent in MySQL?

While making a connection request, if Mysql_pconnect is used rather than mysql_connect, then it can make the connection persistent. Here ‘p’ means persistent. The database connection is not closed every time.

By default, the mysql_connect() function in PHP creates a new relation to the MySQL server every time. The connection closes after the PHP script finishes execution.

To create a persistent connection that remains open even after the PHP script ends, the mysql_pconnect() function can be used instead.

Some key points:

  • mysql_pconnect() establishes a link like mysql_connect(), but the connection does not close when the script finishes.
  • It first checks if there is a persistent link with the same host, username and password. If yes, it reuses that link instead of opening a new connection.
  • If no persistent connection exists, it will open one. The link will remain open for later use.
  • Persistent connections can improve performance as the overhead of creating new connections repeatedly is avoided.
  • However, too many unused persistent connections can consume resources on the database server.

A persistent connection remains open until explicitly closed or the web server restarts.

mysql_close() needs to be called explicitly to close a persistent connection.

Aalso, Read MySQL Interview Questions and Answers for 2 year experience Candidate.

27. Explain the SAVEPOINT statement in MySQL.

SAVEPOINT is a way of making sub-transactions in MySQL, which are also known as nested transactions. 

SAVEPOINT marks a point in a regular transaction. It indicates a point to which the system can rollback. 

Check out: SQL Developer Salary in India

Learn Software development Courses online from the World’s top Universities. Earn Executive PG Programs, Advanced Certificate Programs, or Masters Programs to fast-track your career.

28.Can MySQL store images and videos?

This is one of the important MySQL interview questions. MySQL allows you to store binary content in a table with the help of VARBINARY or BINARY data type for a column. It can store file content like images, sound, videos, simply a binary snippet, etc. There are two methods to save images. The most widespread method is to save the file name in the MySQL table and then upload the image to the folder. The second method is to store the image in the database directly.

29.How does MySQL use indexes?

It is important to prepare for MySQL interview questions around indexes. MySQL use indexes to quickly find rows with specific column values. They are also used to eliminate the rows from consideration. When not using an index, MySQL should start with the first row and read through the whole table to find out the relevant rows. The bigger the table, the higher will be the costs. A table may have an index for columns in question. In such cases, MySQL can swiftly decide the position to find out in the data file’s centre without looking through all data. This process is quite faster than reading each row sequentially.

30.Why is MySQL better than other databases?

It is one of the fundamental MySQL interview questions and answers. MySQL is dominating the list of powerful transactional database engines on the market. The features like consistent, complete atomic, isolated, durable transaction support, multi-version transaction support, and unrestricted row-level locking make it the go-to solution for full data integrity. Moreover, it offers widespread support for all application development requirements. In the MySQL database, you can find support for stored procedures, functions, triggers, cursors, views, ANSI-standard SQL, and more. These types of MySQL interview questions and answers for freshers test your knowledge of trending technology and how up tp date you are with the market.

31.Where does MySQL store passwords?

This is one of the important MySQL interview questions and answers from a user data security viewpoint. MySQL stored passwords in the user table in the MySQL system database. Operations that modify or assign passwords are allowed only to those users with the CREATE USER privilege or, otherwise, privileges for the MySQL database. The INSERT privilege is used to create new accounts, and the UPDATE privilege is used to change existing accounts.

32.Are MySQL and SQL servers the same?

No, MySQL and SQL servers are different. Both are relational database management systems, but they differ in terms of pricing, use cases, features, licensing advantages, and more. MySQL is offered through Oracle, whereas SQL Server is through Microsoft Corporation.

The SQL server is far more secure than the MySQL server from the data security viewpoint. In SQL, external processes such as third-party apps can’t directly access or control the data. On the other hand, in MySQL, you can easily control or change the database files in run time using the binaries. Make sure to prepare these comparison-based MySQL interview questions and answers for freshers.

33.Are MySQL databases encrypted?

This one is among the MySQL interview questions for experienced professionals. MySQL Enterprise TDE allows data-at-rest encryption by encrypting the database’s physical files. Data is automatically encrypted, in real-time, before writing to storage. It is then decrypted when data is read from storage. Consequently, malicious users and hackers can’t directly read sensitive data from database files. MySQL Enterprise Encryption permits your enterprise to secure data by blending private, public, and symmetric keys. These keys help to encrypt and decrypt data. The encrypted data is stored in MySQL using DSA, RSA, or DH encryption algorithms.

34.Can MySQL store JSON?

MySQL allows a native JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) data type being defined by RFC 7159. It provides efficient access to the data in JSON documents. One of the key benefits of the JSON data type over storing the JSON-format strings in a string column is the automatic validation of JSON documents saved in JSON columns. But invalid documents generate an error. JSON documents saved in JSON columns are transformed to an internal format that allows rapid read access to the document elements. You can consider this question when preparing MySQL interview questions for experienced candidates.

35.Why did MySQL shut down unexpectedly?

It is one of the popular MySQL interview questions for freshers. The cause of MySQL shutting down unexpectedly is “Error: MySQL Shutdown Unexpectedly” in XAMPP. The common reasons are missing files, corrupted files, wrong database shutdown, and port changes. The corrupted files in the MySQL/data folder cause MySQL to shut down unexpectedly when you run MySQL on a web server. You may encounter this error when launching the Apache module and Apache module.

36.Are MySQL and MariaDB the same?

It is among the common MySQL query interview questions for both freshers and experienced professionals. MySQL and MariaDB both employ standard SQL syntax. This syntax can be common table expressions, window functions, and JSON and geospatial functions. MariaDB adds the EXCEPT and INTERSECT set operators, linear regression functions, and many more.

MariaDB is faster than MySQL when performing replication or queries. So, MariaDB is a decent choice if you want a high-performance relational database solution. Moreover, MariaDB supports a concurrent number of connections without significant performance degradation.

37.Why is my MySQL not working?

You can consider this question when preparing for the MySQL interview questions for freshers. Two reasons why MySQL is not working are error (2002) and error (2003). The error (2002) “Can’t connect to …” typically means that zero MySQL servers are operating on the system. It may also mean that you are using the wrong TCP/IP port number or Unix socket file name when connecting to the server.

The error (2003) “Can’t connect to MySQL server on ‘server’ (10061)” implies that the network connection has been rejected. You must make sure that the MySQL server is running, the network connections are enabled, and the network port you defined is the one configured on the server. Also, you must check that the TCP/IP port being used has not been blocked by a port blocking service or a firewall.

38.When does MySQL lock tables?

These types of MySQL queries interview questions are frequently asked to check candidates’ MySQL competencies. lock mechanism restricts the illicit access of the data in a table. MySQL permits a client session to explicitly obtain a table lock to cooperate with other sessions to access the table’s data. MySQL permits table locking to stop unauthorized modification in the same table during a particular period.

A MySQL session can obtain or release locks on the table just for itself. Thus, one session can’t obtain or release the table locks for other sessions. You should have SELECT privileges and a TABLE LOCK for table locking.

39. What is the difference between MyISAM Static and MyISAM Dynamic?

In MySQL, MyISAM is a storage engine that supports different table formats. MyISAM Static and MyISAM Dynamic primarily differ in handling storage for variable-length columns. MyISAM Static allocates fixed-size space for each row, even if variable-length columns like VARCHAR are used, leading to potentially wasted space. In contrast, MyISAM Dynamic optimizes storage by allocating space for variable-length columns only as needed, reducing wasted space and allowing for more efficient storage utilization. MyISAM Dynamic is preferred when dealing with tables containing variable-length columns, as it offers better space efficiency and flexibility.

40. What is an SQL Server?

SQL Server, developed by Microsoft, is a robust and widely used relational database management system (RDBMS). It is designed to store and retrieve data requested by other software applications. SQL Server supports various data types, providing powerful features for data storage, retrieval, and analysis. It also offers advanced security mechanisms, data integrity, and high availability options. SQL Server supports SQL (Structured Query Language), allowing users to manage and manipulate data efficiently. It is commonly used in enterprise-level applications, business intelligence, and data warehousing, offering seamless integration with Microsoft’s suite of products and services.

Reasons Why MySQL is Always The Preferred Management System

Given just how much information we currently produce, it is simple to understand why reliable database structures are crucial in modern web development.  Organisations are collecting large volumes of qualitative and quantitative data, but they require trustworthy database software and systems to use this data as a competitive advantage. While there are several database management systems, MySQL has various benefits and is often the preferred choice for large organizations. If you are preparing for a MySQL interview reading fundamental concepts and other interview questions on MySQL, then you must also understand its advantages, as it is one of the most basic MySQL interview questions. 

  • Easily Available – Digital companies and online platforms must be able to offer 24/7 services as they have a worldwide clientele. Accessibility is a key component of MySQL because of this. It uses various cluster servers and distributed database techniques to guarantee continuous uptime even during a breakdown. To guarantee that data is not lost, MySQL additionally makes use of several recovery techniques.
  • Extremely Reliable – The main idea behind MySQL was speed. Additionally, it is renowned for its dependability as a database administrator, supported by a sizable programming community that has put the code through stringent testing. The ease of learning and using it is another advantage. Additionally, you can easily locate expert MySQL developers when you need them because the technology has been in existence for almost thirty years.
  • Secure – This is frequently a significant factor for organisations as they have to preserve sensitive information and defend against cyber threats. To safeguard the integrity of all kinds of information, MySQL provides encryption using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol, authentication plugins, data masking, and other levels of security. Additionally, a firewall that guards against online threats is included in MySQL.
  • Compatible Database – This basically implies that the fundamental programme may be installed and used by anybody and that the code can be altered and customised by third persons. Advanced forms include tiered price structures that include more capability, capacity, and solutions.

A large number of systems, computer languages, and database architectures are very compatible with MySQL. DBMS alternatives, SQL and NoSQL databases are all included in this. Additionally, MySQL includes a wide range of database architecture and data modelling features like conceptual data models or logical data models. As a result, it becomes a straightforward and useful alternative for many enterprises, all while brushing aside concerns about becoming “locked in” to the system.

  • Scalable – The MySQL store has to be scaled up as there is growth in data volumes. It must be able to handle the increased workload without suffering performance degradation. There are several techniques to scale MySQL, usually through duplication or clustering. It can support and process very big databases, although doing so is likely to slow it down. 

Some large companies that have used MySQL and have grown are LinkedIn, Pinterest, Quora, Shopify, Twitter, Uber, yelp, YouTube, and Tumblr. Knowing about these companies will help you answer MySQL basic interview questions. MySQL database interview questions are often tricky and confuse candidates. Make sure your preparation is strong enough to face these!

Conclusion

So, these were some MySQL interview questions. To know about the subject and other preparations, do visit upGrad courses and PG programs that help you in finding the right track and applications to boost your career. 

If you are curious to learn about SQL, and more about full-stack development, check out IIIT-B & upGrad’s Executive PG Program in Full Stack Software Development which is created for working professionals and offers 10+ case studies & projects, practical hands-on workshops, mentorship with industry experts, 1-on-1 with industry mentors, 400+ hours of learning and job assistance with top firms.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Is MySQL a programming language?

MySQL is not really a programming language. It is an open-source application from Microsoft Corporation that is used for database management purposes. The functioning of MySQL is based on SQL (Structured Query Language), which is built according to ANSI standards and adopted by the majority of the database systems. SQL is a kind of programming language used to manipulate data contained in database management systems and manage them. Since MySQL implements SQL along with some additional features and functionalities, it is often confused to be another programming language. It can also be viewed as a server-side application that is used to manage database systems.

2. How is MySQL different from NoSQL?

MySQL is meant for relational database systems that contain structured and well-formatted data. On the other hand, NoSQL, which is mainly used for handling real-time applications and big data, is meant for non-relational database systems that contain unstructured data. The fundamental data structures used in MySQL and NoSQL are quite different because the data contained in each database is structurally different. While MySQL uses data-oriented structures, NoSQL is document-oriented. Then again, being a relational database system, some operations in MySQL can seem slower than those in NoSQL. NoSQL is highly scalable, while MySQL can be pretty difficult to scale up.

3. Is MongoDB faster than MySQL?

MySQL offers impressive speed in performance when it comes to transactions. However, when the volume of data keeps expanding, it tends to slow down. This happens because MySQL is a relational database that stores data in tables and is connected through different keys. This takes more time to navigate and fetch data. When it comes to the speed of execution, MongoDB is much faster compared to MySQL on unstructured data. The reason why MongoDB is very fast is that it is a document-based database system. It also delivers a significantly faster performance when working with objects owing to its JSON type of object storage feature.

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Rohan Vats

Software Engineering Manager @ upGrad. Passionate about building large scale web apps with delightful experiences. In pursuit of transforming engineers into leaders.

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Interview with Ankit Tomar, Co-Founder & CTO, Bizongo Check out upGrad’s Advanced Certification in Blockchain Servers are required to process user data, store files, convert it into HTML/CSS/JS. Then, these servers serve it to the browser in a form that can be presented to the user. A database is required to store data important to your app. To program the server, we require a server-side scripting language and for the database, we require a database (duh) and a language to communicate with it. This is exactly what we’re going to do in the next steps. For the first seven, refer to the earlier post!  Learn Software Development Courses online from the World’s top Universities. Earn Executive PG Programs, Advanced Certificate Programs or Masters Programs to fast-track your career. Step 8: Server Side Scripting Languages As mentioned before, to program and communicate with your server, you will need to know a language it understands. Unlike front-end where Javascript is the only choice, there are a plethora of options available for you to program on the backend. The most popular ones are Java, PHP, Python, JavaScript and Ruby. PHP has its shortcomings, but it has the gentlest learning curve out of all the languages and frameworks I’ve used so far. And PHP is about coding quick (and dirty) solutions. So, in an extremely short period of time, you can build a web app to be extremely proud of. Java is a general-purpose programming language and probably the most popular language of all time. It is extremely popular for building mobile apps (on the Android platform) and used extensively in most major tech companies. Head First Java is an excellent place to learn this ubiquitous language. Explore Our Software Development Free Courses Fundamentals of Cloud Computing JavaScript Basics from the scratch Data Structures and Algorithms Blockchain Technology React for Beginners Core Java Basics Java Node.js for Beginners Advanced JavaScript Check out upGrad’s Advanced Certification in DevOps  To learn Python, I’d strongly recommend Zed Shaw’s Learn Python the Hard Way and Albert Sweigart’s Automate the Boring Stuff with Python. If you’ve decided to go with PHP, you can learn the basics of the language on Codecademy. You already know enough JavaScript syntax to get your hands dirty with the Node and backend JS frameworks (such as Express). I’ll cover Ruby later in conjunction with Rails as it is rarely used as a standalone language. Step 9: Learn SQL For the next step, you should probably pick up a little SQL (Structured Query Language). It is the language databases communicate with. And although you might not use it directly when you switch to using frameworks, it still helps to know how to directly communicate with your database. The good news is that SQL is incredibly easy to learn. You should be able to get a good grasp of it in a matter of hours. Head First SQL is a great resource for this purpose. How to Become a Full Stack Developer: Part 1 upGrad’s Exclusive Software Development Webinar for you – SAAS Business – What is So Different? document.createElement('video'); https://cdn.upgrad.com/blog/mausmi-ambastha.mp4   Step 10: Learn a ‘Conventional’ Full-Stack Web Framework Now is a good time to experiment with web frameworks that can do most of the lower level work for you. There isn’t a shortage of great frameworks that could cater to every purpose imaginable. Rails (written in Ruby), Spring (written in Java) and Django (written in Python) are among the popularly used frameworks today. You could take a look at Michael Hartl’s The Rails Tutorial – available for free. As far as Django is concerned, the tutorial on the official website is a good place to start. Once you feel you’re comfortable with the basics of the framework, do give Two Scoops of Django a read. It’s one of the best technology books ever. If you’ve decided to go the Spring route, I’d strongly suggest signing up for UpGrad & IIIT-B’s Software Development program. The program gives you a very holistic overview of the framework and helps you build a robust and scalable backend. Explore our Popular Software Engineering Courses Master of Science in Computer Science from LJMU & IIITB Caltech CTME Cybersecurity Certificate Program Full Stack Development Bootcamp PG Program in Blockchain Executive PG Program in Full Stack Development View All our Courses Below Software Engineering Courses Step 11: Javascript Full-Stack Frameworks and the MEAN Stack Not very long ago, Backend Development used to be based on the concept of the request-response cycle. For example, the browser sent a request and the server responded by spitting out a webpage in HTML. However, since early 2010, more and more applications have become real time. The structure of an entire web page changes without refreshing and behaves dynamically based on user input and interaction (Think chat, liking, commenting, live videos and reactions, etc.). In such a scenario, a simple request-response cycle simply isn’t enough. Therefore, there has been a recent surge of interest towards asynchronous programming and making AJAX requests the norm. Javascript Frameworks tend to excel at this. So, it makes sense to get acquainted with one of the major JS frameworks available in the market. The two most popular ones are the MEAN Stack and MeteorJS. Interview with Farooq Adam, Co-Founder, Fynd Learning MEAN is slightly more complicated due to its asynchronous nature and the callback hell Node usually tends to unleash. But now that you’re a seasoned developer, you are mature enough to deal with its idiosyncrasies. Meteor is a full-stack JS framework I’m currently experimenting with. The concept of Meteor is absolutely delightful – one framework in one language that takes care of all the components of an application (front-end, back-end, and database). However, this comes at the cost of customisation freedom. Once you’ve built something in Meteor, it is virtually impossible to change the database or the backend framework should you choose to do so. Though, I still think this is a worthwhile technology to learn. Meteor is known to be extremely powerful. It’s capable of doing things in hundreds of lines of code where other conventional frameworks would’ve required a thousand. In-Demand Software Development Skills JavaScript Courses Core Java Courses Data Structures Courses Node.js Courses SQL Courses Full stack development Courses NFT Courses DevOps Courses Big Data Courses React.js Courses Cyber Security Courses Cloud Computing Courses Database Design Courses Python Courses Cryptocurrency Courses Conclusion This is the end of part 2. In this post, we’ve covered resources concerning backend development and the various full-stack technologies available. You can now proudly call yourself a full-stack developer. Congratulations! But the story of full-stack web development doesn’t end here. With the introduction of the iPhone, there has been a smartphone revolution around the globe. More and more people are shifting towards using smartphones in place of desktops. In such a scenario, it is imperative that you learn to build apps for two of the most popular platforms out there: Android and iOS. We shall be covering this in the next and final part of this series. Additionally, we shall also look into frameworks that allow us to build native apps using Javascript (Ionic, React Native, etc.). Until then, it’s goodbye. 🙂 Your comments and suggestions are welcome! Read our Popular Articles related to Software Development Why Learn to Code? How Learn to Code? How to Install Specific Version of NPM Package? Types of Inheritance in C++ What Should You Know?
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by Rounak Banik

01 Dec'17
How to Become a Full-Stack Developer: Part 3

5.3K+

How to Become a Full-Stack Developer: Part 3

This post is the third and final in the series on becoming a full-stack developer. This article talks specifically about mobile app development. Read here for more on frontend and backend development. When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in 2007, it ushered the biggest revolution the world had witnessed since the printing press. Smartphones have managed to penetrate almost every country on the globe. Even the most impoverished seem to be in possession of one so much so that life without them seems inconceivable. Check out our free courses to get an edge over the competition Motivation There are certain apps which make sense only when running on a phone. Take Uber, for instance. Uber needs to know your exact location through GPS. An Uber app for desktop wouldn’t make much sense. Another issue is that a majority of your audience will open your app through a phone, even if it is one that has been built for browsers. In such cases, it is imperative that you ensure the experience is seamless and too much data isn’t consumed. Finally, there are subtle differences between interacting using mouse-clicks and touch. Your app must ensure that it behaves well in both scenarios. Keeping all these considerations in mind, it makes good sense to venture out of the browser and build mobile apps. This ensures that you make maximum use of the functionalities a typical smartphone has to offer while at the same time making the user experience a delight. Below are the steps to acing mobile app development. For the first part to become a full stack developer on frontend and backend development. Check out upGrad’s Advanced Certification in Blockchain Learn Software Development Courses online from the World’s top Universities. Earn Executive PG Programs, Advanced Certificate Programs or Masters Programs to fast-track your career. Interview with Ankit Tomar, Co-Founder & CTO, Bizongo Step 12: Choose a Platform The first step would be to choose a platform where you would like to build your application. Unless you’re part of a reasonably big team, it is extremely unlikely that you will build apps from scratch on all major platforms. The more likely scenario is that you will be coding on your favourite platform and will then simply port it over to the others. The major smartphone platforms today are iOS, Android, and Windows. They use drastically different languages and IDEs. For instance, iOS uses Swift and XCode, Android uses Java and the Android Studio and Microsoft operate with C# and Visual Studio. upGrad’s Exclusive Software Development Webinar for you – SAAS Business – What is So Different? document.createElement('video'); https://cdn.upgrad.com/blog/mausmi-ambastha.mp4   Check out upGrad’s Advanced Certification in DevOps  The market today is dominated by Android and iOS, so the choice really comes down to these two. Some things you may need to consider before making a choice is the audience share for your app. I believe it makes good business sense to build iOS apps if you’re in a First World country as Apple Devices are extremely popular there. In contrast, in a country like India, Android would be a more obvious choice as the market share for iPhones is extremely small owing to its exorbitant price. If you plan on making money from your app, keep in mind that iOS users are more likely to open their wallets for in-app purchases than their Android counterparts. This may be because iOS users usually tend to have more disposable income as compared to third world markets where Android dominates. iOS development requires you to have a Mac Development machine. Also, Apple App Store licenses retail at $99/year compared to Google Play’s one time $25 fee. In other words, iOS development is considerably more expensive. In this post, I shall cover how mobile app development is done today: Native Android Apps, Native iOS Apps and Hybrid Mobile Apps. Explore Our Software Development Free Courses Fundamentals of Cloud Computing JavaScript Basics from the scratch Data Structures and Algorithms Blockchain Technology React for Beginners Core Java Basics Java Node.js for Beginners Advanced JavaScript Step 13: Java and XML Java is the most popular language for Android Development (Google has recently introduced support for the Kotlin Programming language too). The founders of Android thought Java to be an appropriate choice and they have stuck to it since its inception. And if their trajectory is anything to go by, it has been nothing short of an amazing decision. The best resource to learn Java would be Head First Java. Reading this book will give you a thorough introduction to the language as well as Object Oriented Programming Principles. As far as XML is concerned, I do not think you need a concentrated tutorial on the subject. You’ve already worked extensively with a subset of XML (HTML) and you will be able to figure it out pretty quickly, even if you were to jump directly into Android development. I cannot say the same for Java. Ensure you have a good grasp of the language before venturing into Android. Step 14: Android You now have the technical know-how to build Android apps. It is time to dive deep into this revolutionary OS. Be wary though that certain Android practices differ from what you usually see on the web. The resources I’ve suggested below will ensure that your learning is not hindered by these differences. Android Programming- The Big Nerd Ranch Guide 2nd Edition is a good place to start if you know Java already. Make sure you pick up the second edition as that is the one that uses Android Studio, which is the industry standard now. The practice of building apps in Eclipse is largely outdated. Interview with Farooq Adam, Co-Founder, Fynd Explore our Popular Software Engineering Courses Master of Science in Computer Science from LJMU & IIITB Caltech CTME Cybersecurity Certificate Program Full Stack Development Bootcamp PG Program in Blockchain Executive PG Program in Full Stack Development View All our Courses Below Software Engineering Courses Step 15: iOS If you are more of an Apple aficionado and/or have decided that iOS apps make more sense to your business/career aspirations. The first step would be to acquire a Mac. XCode works only on Mac and in order to publish on the app store, you need a Mac. Sorry, VMWare. The resource I’m going to suggest for iOS is exactly the same as that for Android. Nerd Ranch has its own publication – iOS Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide which deals with Swift and XCode, so that is a good place to start. Step 16: Hybrid Mobile Apps If you’re a solo developer or are working in a small team, you probably do not have the time or the resources to separately build and maintain Android and iOS Apps. To alleviate the developer’s pain of building for multiple platforms, the concept of Hybrid Mobile Apps was introduced. The concept is extremely simple and revolutionary. If you know Javascript, you already know how to build web apps. Therefore, should you have an app in JS, there must exist a framework that automatically ports your application into Android, iOS, and Windows. Incredible but true. Most hybrid frameworks achieve this using Cordova or React Native. You can think of Cordova as the bridge between browsers and the smartphone’s native hardware. It establishes a connection between the two solely using JS and helps in creating the build scripts in the native languages of each platform. Cordova based frameworks, however, are rapidly being overshadowed by Facebook’s powerhouse, React Native. The power of React Native lies in the fact that while Cordova constructs WebViews, React Native lets you build native apps that you’d build using either Java (for Android) or Swift (for iOS). In other words, Cordova is a website disguised as a mobile app, but React Native lets you build the real thing. In-Demand Software Development Skills JavaScript Courses Core Java Courses Data Structures Courses Node.js Courses SQL Courses Full stack development Courses NFT Courses DevOps Courses Big Data Courses React.js Courses Cyber Security Courses Cloud Computing Courses Database Design Courses Python Courses Cryptocurrency Courses In my opinion, you can give Cordova a miss and learn React Native instead. It is an extremely great career investment to make. UpGrad & IIIT-B’s Software Development program is a great place to start your journey with this revolutionary library which has already been used by companies like Facebook, Netflix and AirBnB to design their apps. Interview with Farooq Adam, Co-Founder, Fynd Conclusion With the conclusion of hybrid apps, we come to an end of this series. In summary, these are the things we’ve covered: Computer Science Fundamentals. Data Structures and Algorithms UI/UX HTML, CSS, JS Front-End Frameworks Server-Side Scripting and Databases Full Stack Frameworks Android and iOS Hybrid Mobile Apps Read our Popular Articles related to Software Development Why Learn to Code? How Learn to Code? How to Install Specific Version of NPM Package? Types of Inheritance in C++ What Should You Know? I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this series as much as I have enjoyed writing it and more importantly, found at least some parts useful. As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome!
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by Rounak Banik

01 Dec'17
Why Companies are Looking to Hire Full Stack Developers

7.11K+

Why Companies are Looking to Hire Full Stack Developers

It’s no secret that companies today are looking to hire young and talented software developers. But with so many smart developers out there, how can you set yourself apart from everyone else applying for these coveted roles? The best way to do this is to master the skills companies demand: a wide variety of programming skills. When you are learning how to develop software, you can improve your odds of getting a job by learning full stack development. In fact, Indeed ranked the Full Stack Developer role as the #1 job in 2017. Check out our free courses to get an edge over the competition. There are three main reasons why companies love to hire young full stack developers: Full stack developers can solve many problems Companies look to hire people based on what problems the candidates can solve for the company. By definition, full stack developers can work on both backend, frontend, and the protocols that connect the two; being able to create a software product end to end and independently. When you learn full stack development, you have an advantage over other job seekers as you can solve many more problems than other developers. For example, think about working at a high growth startup. Startups need developers who can work on a variety of programming projects. From user interfaces to server-side programming, to database applications, and everything in between. With only a small team, startups want to hire full stack developers who can work on many of the different software projects. As a full stack developer, you build many types of software projects that most other developers cannot. Check out upGrad’s Full Stack Development Bootcamp (JS/MERN) Even at a larger company, hiring developers with the knowledge to work on many different projects gives a manager flexibility to move people between teams as businesses constantly need change. One year, you can have a developer work on a frontend project and then you can move him to a backend project the very next year. The added flexibility makes the manager’s job much easier so they like to work with developers with a wide variety of skills. Check out upGrad’s Java Bootcamp.   How to Become a Full Stack Developer Companies love full stack developers because they can solve many different problems for the business. Companies like to hire young developers who are generalists The main reason is that companies hire young developers based on their potential rather than deep domain knowledge. Companies like to teach young developers what they want them to know. As a full stack developer, you have a broad set of technology skills that the company can help you expand further. As an entry-level developer, they don’t need you to understand every algorithm. But you need to have core programming knowledge so the company can teach you what is specific to their business. Let’s go back to the example of working at a startup. When the company is starting out, they need full stack developers to work on all layers of the development stack, but as the company grows, the developers will need to specialise. It’s easy for a full stack developer to start as a generalist and then become a specialist later as the company can hire more employees. On the other hand, it’s very difficult for a specialist to join a startup and learn to be a generalist when the company is small. Full stack developers can grow with their companies more easily than specialists can. In-Demand Software Development Skills JavaScript Courses Core Java Courses Data Structures Courses Node.js Courses SQL Courses Full stack development Courses NFT Courses DevOps Courses Big Data Courses React.js Courses Cyber Security Courses Cloud Computing Courses Database Design Courses Python Courses Cryptocurrency Courses Once you know the basics and get the job, the company will invest time and money to help you expand your knowledge further. Full stack developers can become great managers and executives Companies love to promote people with a wide variety of experiences in the business. As a full stack developer, you will get a chance to work on frontend software, backend software, and all of the architecture that connects them. Through that variety of experience on different projects, you get the opportunity to learn much more than your solely backend and frontend peers. They only get a chance to learn one part of the company’s technology architecture, but you learn the whole architecture and understand how it all fits together. That puts you in a great opportunity to rise through the technology ranks of the company and get promoted. If you work at a startup, your experience as a full stack developer can help set you apart from your peers as the company grows. Where some developers only know how one part of the technology stack works, you understand how all aspects of the technology fit together. As more developers are hired and new technology teams form, you are more likely to manage those new teams because of your wide knowledge. At a large company, you may also get more chances for promotion. When companies look to promote from within, they need people who can manage cross-functional software teams. As a full stack developer, you will know how to talk to developers from both frontend and backend teams. How to Succeed in Your First Software Development Job Of course, technology skills are not the only ones needed to get you a promotion. You will also need to learn business skills to be a manager. But if you do that you can climb high up the corporate ladder. Looking to become a full stack developer? This article does a great job explaining how to get started: How to become a full stack developer. Explore Our Software Development Free Courses Fundamentals of Cloud Computing JavaScript Basics from the scratch Data Structures and Algorithms Blockchain Technology React for Beginners Core Java Basics Java Node.js for Beginners Advanced JavaScript Enroll in Software Engineering Courses from the World’s top Universities. Earn Executive PG Programs, Advanced Certificate Programs, or Masters Programs to fast-track your career.
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by Gopi Vajravelu

31 Jan'18
What is Test-driven Development: A Newbie’s Guide

5.53K+

What is Test-driven Development: A Newbie’s Guide

Programmers and bugs have been in a never-ending fight for supremacy since time unknown. It’s unavoidable – even the best programmers fall prey to bugs. No code is truly safe from bugs, that’s why we perform testing. Programmers, at least the sane ones, test their code by running it on development machines to make sure it does what it was meant to do. Traditionally, test cases were written after writing the code, but in Test-driven Development, an automated test case is written before writing any piece of code so that the execution and testing can be checked simultaneously. In this article, we’ll be talking about Test-Driven Development in depth and why is it better than the traditional methods! Check out our free courses to get an edge over the competition   What is Test-Driven Development? Test-Driven Development was created as part of the Extreme Programming (XP) methodology and was called the ‘Test-First’ concept. Test-driven development allows you to test your code thoroughly, and also enables you to retest your code quickly and easily since it’s automated. In essence, before writing any piece of code, the programmer first creates a unit-test. Then, the programmer creates just enough code to satisfy the unit-test. Once the test is passed and the code refactored, the programmer can go ahead with making further improvements. Test-driven development makes sure that the code is thoroughly tested which leads to a modularized, extensible, and flexible code. Each time a new feature is to be added, it needs to undergo what is called the “lifecycle” of TDD. Let’s talk more about this lifecycle. Check out upGrad’s Advanced Certification in DevOps How to Become a Full Stack Developer Explore Our Software Development Free Courses Fundamentals of Cloud Computing JavaScript Basics from the scratch Data Structures and Algorithms Blockchain Technology React for Beginners Core Java Basics Java Node.js for Beginners Advanced JavaScript Test-Driven Development Lifecycle The test-driven development lifecycle covers everything from writing the initial unit-test to reworking the code. Add a test: Every new feature needs to undergo a test before its implemented. The essential requirement for writing a test is to have a clear understanding of all the requirements. This is accomplished using use-cases and user-stories.   Run all tests and check the net test: This is done to ensure the correct working of our test. Basically, this phase aims to check that the test is not passed by any code that doesn’t meet the requirements. By doing so, this step eliminates the possibility of having a faulty test at hand.   Write code: Now that you have your test in place, the next obvious step is to write a code that clears the test. This code need not be perfect in all aspects, but it needs to clear the test. Once we’re sure this code clears the test, it can be modified as per the requirements.   Run the tests: Having written the code, now it’s time to see if the code passes the test or not. If your code passes the tests, it means that your code meets the requirements – till now.   Refactor the code: This is essentially done to clean up the code. Refactoring doesn’t cause damage to any of the functionalities; it is just for cleaning the code by removing duplication between test code and production code.   Repeat: This cycle is now repeated with a fresh test to add more functionalities. Each functionality undergoes the same cycle. Essentially, the size of steps should be not more than 1-10 edits between each test run. If a code doesn’t pass the test rapidly, the developer must revert and not debug excessively. Check out upGrad’s Full Stack Development Bootcamp (JS/MERN)  Why Companies are Looking to Hire Full Stack Developers Explore our Popular Software Engineering Courses Master of Science in Computer Science from LJMU & IIITB Caltech CTME Cybersecurity Certificate Program Full Stack Development Bootcamp PG Program in Blockchain Executive PG Program in Full Stack Development View All our Courses Below Software Engineering Courses The Pros and Cons of Test-Driven Development Test-driven development has some definite pros over traditional methods of testing – which were mostly manual. However, it’s not infallible. Just like any other technology, the test-driven development also has a set of cons. Let’s have a look at what are the benefits of TDD in detail: Writing small tests ensures modularity of your code. Practicing TDD helps you understand the underlying principles of good modular design.   TDD provides clarity during the implementation of your code which enables a safety-net during the refactoring phase.   With TDD, collaborating is a lot easier as now people can edit the code with confidence because the test will inform them if their changes are not up to the mark of the test.   The base of TDD is unit-tests. Because of that, refactoring is a whole lot easier and faster. Refactoring an old code is a pain, but if the code is backed by unit tests, it becomes so much easier.   It helps in clarifying all the requirements before you begin the coding part. This way, a lot of ambiguity that can arise later on is avoided.   Test-driven development focuses on testing while writing. This forces the programmer to make their interfaces clean enough to pass the test. It’s hard to understand this advantage until you work on a piece of code that hasn’t undergone TDD.   Silly mistakes are caught almost immediately. It helps in removal of those mistakes that would waste a lot of time if found in QA. In-Demand Software Development Skills JavaScript Courses Core Java Courses Data Structures Courses Node.js Courses SQL Courses Full stack development Courses NFT Courses DevOps Courses Big Data Courses React.js Courses Cyber Security Courses Cloud Computing Courses Database Design Courses Python Courses Cryptocurrency Courses Now, let’s have a look at what are the limitations of test-driven development: The test suite that’s used for testing needs to be maintained else the tests may not be fully deterministic.   The tests are hard to write – especially beyond the unit-testing phase.   TDD does slow down the pace of development, at least initially.   Like with any form of development, there’s a big difference between just doing it and doing it well. Writing good unit tests requires a level of specialty.   It’s difficult to apply this approach to your legacy(existing) code.   TDD requires you to perform routine housekeeping. It’s necessary to refine the tests to make them run more quickly.   It’s easy to get distracted by the fancy features in any unit-testing framework, but it should be kept in mind that simple tests tend to give the best results.   Unless everyone on the team correctly maintains their tests, the whole system can quickly degrade. How to Succeed in Your First Software Development Job Read our Popular Articles related to Software Development Why Learn to Code? How Learn to Code? How to Install Specific Version of NPM Package? Types of Inheritance in C++ What Should You Know? In Conclusion… Test-driven development is the way forward as far as future of application development goes. There are a number of automated testing frameworks like PHPUnit, Serenity, Robot, RedWoodHQ, and many more. Pick the one that fits your need and get started with building better maintainable applications in no time!  Enroll in Software Engineering Courses from the World’s top Universities. Earn Executive PG Programs, Advanced Certificate Programs, or Masters Programs to fast-track your career.
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by Arjun Mathur

12 Mar'18
A Beginner’s Guide to MVC Architecture in Java

35.67K+

A Beginner’s Guide to MVC Architecture in Java

If you’re related to web development scene, you’ll most certainly have come across the acronym “MVC” hundreds of time, if not more. MVC is one of the most talked about design patterns in the web programming world today, and rightly so. In this article, we’ll take you through the world of MVC Architecture. We’ll talk about the basics of MVC, its advantages, and finally, a simple code that will help you understand the implementation of MVC in Java in a clearer way. What exactly is the MVC architecture? Before we get into the technicalities of it, let’s make some things clear – MVC is NOT a design pattern, it’s a way to structure your applications. In recent years, the web applications are extensively using the MVC architecture, and hence it’s natural to confuse it for a design pattern exclusive for web applications. However, let’s tell you that MVC was first described way back in 1979 – before the WWW era when there was no concept of web applications. The architecture used today for web applications is an adaptation of the original pattern. In fact, this architecture was initially included in the two major web development frameworks – Struts and Ruby on Rails. These two environments paved the way for a majority of web frameworks that came later – and thus the popularity of this architecture kept rising. Learn to build applications like Swiggy, Quora, IMDB and more MVC architectural pattern follows an elementary idea – we must separate the responsibilities in any application on the following basis: Model: Handles data and business logic. View: Presents the data to the user whenever asked for. Controller: Entertains user requests and fetch necessary resources. Each of the components has a demarcated set of tasks which ensures smooth functioning of the entire application along with complete modularity. Let us have a look at each of these components in further detail. Check out our free courses to get an edge over the competition. Explore Our Software Development Free Courses Fundamentals of Cloud Computing JavaScript Basics from the scratch Data Structures and Algorithms Blockchain Technology React for Beginners Core Java Basics Java Node.js for Beginners Advanced JavaScript upGrad’s Exclusive Software and Tech Webinar for you – SAAS Business – What is So Different? document.createElement('video'); https://cdn.upgrad.com/blog/mausmi-ambastha.mp4   Controller The controller is the like the housekeeper of the application – it performs coordination between model and view to entertain a user request. The user requests are received as HTTP get or post request – for example, when the user clicks on any GUI elements to perform any action. The primary function of a controller is to call and coordinate with the model to fetch any necessary resources required to act. Usually, on receiving a user request, the controller calls the appropriate model for the task at hand. Check out upGrad’s Full Stack Development Bootcamp (JS/MERN) Model The model is quite simply the data for our application. The data is “modelled” in a way it’s easy to store, retrieve, and edit. The model is how we apply rules to our data, which eventually represents the concepts our application manages. For any software application, everything is modelled as data that can be handled easily. What is a user, a book, or a message for an app? Nothing really, only data that must be processed according to specific rules. Like, the date must not be higher than the current date, the email must be in the correct format, the name mustn’t be more than “x” characters long, etc. Check out upGrad’s Java Bootcamp Whenever a user makes any request from the controller, it contacts the appropriate model which returns a data representation of whatever the user requested. This model will be the same for a particular work, irrespective of how we wish to display it to the user. That is why we can choose any available view to render the model data. Additionally, a model also contains the logic to update the relevant controller whenever there is any change in the model’s data. Explore our Popular Software Engineering Courses Master of Science in Computer Science from LJMU & IIITB Caltech CTME Cybersecurity Certificate Program Full Stack Development Bootcamp PG Program in Blockchain Executive PG Program in Full Stack Development View All our Courses Below Software Engineering Courses View As the name suggests, the view is responsible for rendering the data received from the model. There may be pre-designed templates where you can fit the data, and there may even be several different views per model depending on the requirements. Any web application is structured keeping these three core components in mind. There may be a primary controller that is responsible for receiving all the requests and calling the specific controller for specific actions. Let’s understand the working of a web application under the MVC architecture better using an example. Let’s See an Example Let’s take an example of an online stationery shop. The user can view items, buy, add items to cart, add items to current order, or even add/remove items (if he’s the admin). Now, let’s see what will happen when a user clicks on the title “Pens” to see the list of pens. Our application will have a particular controller to handle all the queries related to pens. Let’s say it’s called “pens_controller.php”. We’ll also have a model that will store the data regarding the pens we have – let’s call it “pens_model.php”. Finally, we’ll have several views to present the data – a list of pens, a table displaying pens, a page to edit the list, etc. The following figure shows the complete flow of control right from the moment a user clicks on “pens”, to when the result is rendered in front of him: First, the “pens_controller.php” handles the user request (1) as a GET or POST request. We can also have an “index.php” which is the central controller which will call the “pens_controller” whenever needed. The controller then examines the request and the parameters and calls the required model – in this case, “pens_model.php”. The controller asks the model to return the list of available pens (2). Now, the model searches the database for the necessary information (3), applies logics if necessary, and returns the data to the controller(4). The controller then picks an appropriate view (5) and presents the data (6 and 7). If a request comes from a handheld device, a view suitable for it will be used, or if the user has a particular theme selected, its view will be picked – and so on. How to Become a Full Stack Developer The Advantages of the MVC Architecture A common problem faced by application developers these days is the support for different type of devices. The MVC architecture solves this problem as developers can create different interfaces for different devices, and based on from which device the request is made, the controller will select an appropriate view. The model sends the same data irrespective of the device being used, which ensures a complete consistency across all devices. The MVC separation beautifully isolates the view from the business logic. It also reduces complexities in designing large application by keeping the code and workflow structured. This makes the overall code much easier to maintain, test, debug, and reuse. In-Demand Software Development Skills JavaScript Courses Core Java Courses Data Structures Courses Node.js Courses SQL Courses Full stack development Courses NFT Courses DevOps Courses Big Data Courses React.js Courses Cyber Security Courses Cloud Computing Courses Database Design Courses Python Courses Cryptocurrency Courses A Simple Implementation of MVC using Java We will have the following three: StudentObject : the model.   StudentView: view class to print details on the console.   StudentController: a controller that stores data in studentObject and updates StudentView accordingly Step 1: Create the Model public class Student {   private String rollNo;   private String name;      public String getRollNo() {      return rollNo;   }      public void setRollNo(String rollNo) {      this.rollNo = rollNo;   }      public String getName() {      return name;   }      public void setName(String name) {      this.name = name;   } } The code is self-explanatory. It consists of functions to get/set roll number and names of the students. Let’s call it “student.java”. Step 2: Create the View public class StudentView {   public void printStudentDetails(String studentName, String studentRollNo){      System.out.println("Student: ");      System.out.println("Name: " + studentName);      System.out.println("Roll No: " + studentRollNo);   } } This is simply to print the values to the console. Let’s call this “studentView.java”. Step 3: Create the Controller public class StudentController {   private Student model;   private StudentView view;   public StudentController(Student model, StudentView view){      this.model = model;      this.view = view;   }   public void setStudentName(String name){      model.setName(name);   }   public String getStudentName(){      return model.getName();   }   public void setStudentRollNo(String rollNo){      model.setRollNo(rollNo);   }   public String getStudentRollNo(){      return model.getRollNo();   }   public void updateView(){      view.printStudentDetails(model.getName(), model.getRollNo());   } } Call this “StudentController.java”. A cursory glance will tell you that this controller is just responsible for calling the model to get/set the data, and then updating the view. Now, let’s have a look at how all of this is tied together. Step 4: Create the main Java file public class MVCPatternDemo {   public static void main(String[] args) {      //fetch student record based on his roll no from the database      Student model  = retriveStudentFromDatabase();      //Create a view : to write student details on console      StudentView view = new StudentView();      StudentController controller = new StudentController(model, view);      controller.updateView();      //update model data      controller.setStudentName("John");      controller.updateView();   }   private static Student retriveStudentFromDatabase(){      Student student = new Student();      student.setName("Robert");      student.setRollNo("10");      return student;   } } This is called “MVCPatternDemo.java”. As you can see, it fetches the student data from the database or a function (in this case we’re using a function to set the values) and pushes it on to the Student model. Then, it initialises the view we had created earlier. Further, it also initialises our controller and binds it to the model and the view. The updateView() method is a part of the controller which updates the student details on the console. Step 5: Test the Result If everything goes right, the result should be: Student: Name: Robert Roll No: 10 Student: Name: John Roll No: 10 If you get this as the output, congratulations! You’ve successfully implemented the MVC architecture using Java, albeit for a simple application. However simple, this application is enough to demonstrate the powers of the MVC architecture. 15 Must-Know Spring MVC Interview Questions Wrapping Up… After so much said and done, it’s hard to emphasise more on the power of the MVC architecture in any web/desktop application these days. It provides an altogether new level of modularity to your code which makes it a lot more readable and maintainable. So, if you want to scale to new heights in your career as an application developer, getting hold of the MVC architecture and its working should be your top priority. Read our Popular Articles related to Software Development Why Learn to Code? How Learn to Code? How to Install Specific Version of NPM Package? Types of Inheritance in C++ What Should You Know? Enroll in Software Engineering Courses from the World’s top Universities. Earn Executive PG Programs, Advanced Certificate Programs, or Masters Programs to fast-track your career. Do drop by a comment and let us know how you like this article!
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by Arjun Mathur

09 Apr'18
What is the Future Scope of Full Stack Developer in India?

11.36K+

What is the Future Scope of Full Stack Developer in India?

Choosing a career in the tech sector can be tricky. You wouldn’t want to choose something that’s getting obsolete. You would want to find a career option that’s in demand and will remain in demand for the coming years. With so many options available, figuring out which one to choose can also be overwhelming. One of those options is full-stack development.  Full-stack developers are experts who are familiar with both client-side and server-side programming. They perform the roles of front-end and back-end developers. While some may argue that they are no specialists, a talented full-stack developer wouldn’t have much trouble handling development projects.  But you might wonder, “What is full stack developer’s future scope?” We’ll answer that question in this article and help you understand how attractive this field is. Let’s dive in.  Check out our free courses to get an edge over the competition. Explore Our Software Development Free Courses Fundamentals of Cloud Computing JavaScript Basics from the scratch Data Structures and Algorithms Blockchain Technology React for Beginners Core Java Basics Java Node.js for Beginners Advanced JavaScript How Full Stack Development has Evolved You might think that full-stack development is a new term, but the concept has existed for a long time. Full-stack development has a fascinating history that goes back to the earliest days of programming. Knowing how much this field has evolved will let you get an idea of how much scope is there.  Since the beginning of software development, when there was no web or mobile programming, the role of full-stack developers has been present. In the early 80s, most of the software developers used to work alone and oversee the entire project from start to finish. Check out upGrad’s Full Stack Development Bootcamp (JS/MERN) There wasn’t much requirement of separate experts. Then the web came, and the need for specialists increased. As websites got more complex, the division between specialists also became distinct.  Things were this way in the 90s and remained this way until the mid-2000s. The term full-stack developer was coined much later, in the 2000s, when the web required the expertise of different expertise. Web applications required people to learn both client-side programming and server-side programming. And when people who studied both of these sectors entered the market, the term full stack developer arrived. Apart from that, tools and technologies that simplified the integration of client-side and server-side programming had entered the market. This helped the growth of full-stack developers.  Explore our Popular Software Engineering Courses Master of Science in Computer Science from LJMU & IIITB Caltech CTME Cybersecurity Certificate Program Full Stack Development Bootcamp PG Program in Blockchain Executive PG Program in Full Stack Development View All our Courses Below Software Engineering Courses Full Stack Scope Now Nowadays, full-stack development is in huge demand. Companies need full stack developers because of several reasons. Full-stack developers can work with multiple technologies, and so, they can handle more aspects of a project than an average programmer. Check out upGrad’s Advanced Certification in Cyber Security They cut costs for companies because they can do the work of many specialists alone. A full-stack developer is familiar with many stacks, including the MEAN stack and the LAMP stack. Their vast knowledge of multiple areas equips them to handle the unique requirements of their projects.  The average salary for full-stack developers in India is about 6.3 LPA, and it goes up to 16 LPA for experts. Companies are willing to pay handsome salaries to full-stack developers because of their unique skill sets and abilities. As a full-stack developer, you’ll have to handle both the client-side and the server-side of the application you develop. Read a detailed article about the full stack developers salary in India based on various factors. Huge Demand and Steady Growth The future of full-stack development is attractive. It looks promising because of the steady growth in demand of these professionals. There are many reasons why the demand for full-stack developers is increasing and will keep rising in the coming years. Here are some of those reasons: Smaller Teams With a full-stack developer in the team, you can keep the team short. And smaller teams have many advantages over large ones. Even Jeff Bezos believes that a small team is better than a large staff. A large team requires more communication and more resources. A large team costs more than a small group as well. As they require more communication, the chances of facing problems of miscommunication are also higher in their cases.  A full-stack developer can easily handle the work of 2-3 developers because of his/her expertise. An excellent full-stack developer can handle the requirements of both a front-end developer and a back-end developer. Due to this reason, a company can keep the teams small, avoid miscommunication, and reduce the operating costs. In-Demand Software Development Skills JavaScript Courses Core Java Courses Data Structures Courses Node.js Courses SQL Courses Full stack development Courses NFT Courses DevOps Courses Big Data Courses React.js Courses Cyber Security Courses Cloud Computing Courses Database Design Courses Python Courses Cryptocurrency Courses upGrad’s Exclusive Digital Marketing Webinar for you – What’s new in Marketing? document.createElement('video'); https://cdn.upgrad.com/blog/rumi-ambastha.mp4   Adaptability Web development is a challenging field. A lot of factors are at play when you’re developing a new product. And the product’s requirements could change at any time. Maybe you found a new framework which can enhance productivity considerably. Or, maybe your team just got smaller because a member got fired. A full-stack developer is a preferred choice in such scenarios because he/she can adapt to these changes quickly.  Whether it’s taking on a new responsibility or making tweaks to the final product, full-stack developers can handle it all. Apart from that, as a full stack developer yourself, you wouldn’t have to worry about working on new projects that pose exciting challenges. After all, they are the “Jack of all Trades” of the sector.  Learn Software Development online from the World’s top Universities. Earn Executive PG Programs, Advanced Certificate Programs or Masters Programs to fast-track your career. New Technologies Development tools and software keep getting new updates for better performance. Even the programming languages get newer versions regularly to ensure they function better and cause less hassle. Most of the time, the new updates help with integrating different tools for enhanced productivity. Read: How to become a full stack developer? An average developer might have to put in a lot of effort to keep up with these new developments. He/she might not know how to approach the original subjects. On the other hand, a full stack developer has to learn the relations between different technologies beforehand. So keeping up with new updates and integrations is an easy task for him/her. Moreover, he/she would already be accustomed to learning new things about web development. That’s why they remain in huge demand. Read our Popular Articles related to Software Development Why Learn to Code? How Learn to Code? How to Install Specific Version of NPM Package? Types of Inheritance in C++ What Should You Know?   Conclusion You must’ve noticed how excellent the prospects are for full-stack developers. As companies are relying more and more on technology and the web, the demand for such experts is increasing. The full stack developer future scope is undoubtedly bright, and it’s the perfect time for anyone to learn this skill.  If you’re interested to learn more about full stack, check out upGrad & IIIT-B’s PG Diploma in Full-stack Software Development which is designed for working professionals and offers 500+ hours of rigorous training, 9+ projects and assignments, IIIT-B Alumni status, practical hands-on capstone projects & job assistance with top firms.
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by Rohit Sharma

26 Jan'20
25+Questions For Your Nagios Interview

6.92K+

25+Questions For Your Nagios Interview

Are you preparing for a DevOps interview? Then you should read these Nagios interview questions and answers.  Nagios is the most popular continuous monitoring software among companies. Companies rely on constant monitoring software to highlight errors and solve problems before they become significant issues. As a DevOps professional, recruiters would expect you to be familiar with all aspects of this powerful software. We’ve compiled a list of the most important Nagios interview questions and answers to help you prepare for your job interview. Feel free to share this list with others.  Check out our free courses to get an edge over the competition. What is Nagios? Nagios is a popular open-source solution that helps in monitoring systems, networks, and applications. It’s a standard DevOps tool, which tracks all the changes taking place in the subject. In case a technical fault arises, it can send alerts to the staff and make them aware of the issue as well. This way, the problem can be solved faster and earlier without it becoming a significant issue.  Nagios provides a centralized view of the complete infrastructure and vies detailed information on its status as well. You can also mention how it benefits organizations and how you can use it to solve the numerous problems related to the specific organization. Check out upGrad’s Advanced Certification in Cloud Computing Nagios helps in understanding where the infrastructure lacks and how you can upgrade it to overcome those problems. You can also mention how it automatically solves the issues detected. Nagios enables you to monitor the whole organization, its infrastructure, and its various processes.  This should answer the question. But you can add more points such as the advantages of using Nagios, and some other applications of Nagios, if required.  Check out upGrad’s Advanced Certification in Blockchain How Nagios helps DevOps Professionals? Nagios helps DevOps problems in tracking down issues and solving them in their early stages. This software solution overlooks every aspect of the infrastructure so it can spot an error and alert the technical team quickly. This way, DevOps professionals don’t have to worry about monitoring the systems for finding problems. They can rely on Nagios to spot the same.  Explore our Popular Software Engineering Courses Master of Science in Computer Science from LJMU & IIITB Caltech CTME Cybersecurity Certificate Program Full Stack Development Bootcamp PG Program in Blockchain Executive PG Program in Full Stack Development View All our Courses Below Software Engineering Courses What are the features of Nagios? Nagios has many features.  – Its APIs enable it for monitoring various systems, infrastructures, and applications. – It has add-ons that make you aware of the aging infrastructure and help you in planning upgrades. – You have full access to its code as it is open-source software.  – Its reporting system is fast and agile. It gives you a record of all the alerts and their responses.  – You can view the entire infrastructure of your organization through Nagios while also seeing the detailed information about everything. – Nagios has a vast community of more than a million users. If you come across any problems or have any questions, you can ask them who’d be happy to help.  How does Nagios operate? You can give this explanation as to your answer: Nagios runs as a service on a server It runs plugins on the server which connect with hosts on the network You can see the detailed information of the connected host through its interface In case some issue arises, you would receive an email or another notification Nagios runs scripts at specific times and saves the results of those scripts If the results of running the scripts change, Nagios starts running other scripts  That is how Nagios operates.  What do you mean by ‘Plugins’ in Nagios? Plugins in Nagios are different scripts that check the status of a service or host. You’d run them from the command line. Nagios checks the results from its plugins to see the condition of the various hosts and services present in your network.  You can also explain why plugins are necessary for Nagios.  Nagios requires plugins to check the status of the numerous hosts and services present in a network. A plugin verifies the required host and sends the results of its check to Nagios. Nagios then processes the results and determines whether an action is needed or not.  In-Demand Software Development Skills JavaScript Courses Core Java Courses Data Structures Courses Node.js Courses SQL Courses Full stack development Courses NFT Courses DevOps Courses Big Data Courses React.js Courses Cyber Security Courses Cloud Computing Courses Database Design Courses Python Courses Cryptocurrency Courses What is NRPE? NRPE enables you to run plugins on remote Unix and Linux machines. This way, Nagios can monitor local resources such as memory usage and CPU on remote components. Typically, these resources are not given to remote machines; that’s why you’d need to use NRPE.  You can also give an explanation of NRPE architecture for a more detailed answer.  NRPE contains two sections, the NRPE daemon, and the check_NRPE plugin. The former runs on a different computer while the latter remains in the local machine and has an SSL connection between the monitoring machine and the remote machine.  What is a Passive Check?  In Nagios, external processes initiate Passive checks. When they are completed, the results are sent to Nagios. Passive checks help in monitoring asynchronous services. Those services can’t be tracked without regular polling of their status. Passive checks also help Nagios in checking the status of hosts that are behind a firewall as they can’t be verified through a monitoring host.  What are the advantages of using Nagios? Nagios offers plenty of advantages to an organization.  It allows you to plan future upgrades for your existing infrastructure It ensures a technical error in your IT infrastructure has minimum impact It quickly alerts you of any new problems It allows you to monitor the entire system and infrastructure  It coordinates the responses of the technical staff It helps you find out how fast your team responds to technical problems It ensures that SLAs (Service-Level Agreements) of your organization are met What is Icinga? How is it related to Nagios? Icinga is another popular open-source software that helps in monitoring services. It was designed in 2009 to help Nagios, but it has become a separate software.  What is an Active Check? Nagios performs an Active check to poll a device or service for its status information on a scheduled basis.  Can you name a few databases which support Nagios? Many databases support Nagios. They are Oracle, Postgres, Microsoft SQL solutions, and MySQL.  What is Nagios XI? Nagios is the most trusted and most powerful monitoring software. It can help you in monitoring applications, network protocols, systems, services, and metrics. It provides you with all the advantages of Nagios (discussed above) and has a powerful performance.  Explore Our Software Development Free Courses Fundamentals of Cloud Computing JavaScript Basics from the scratch Data Structures and Algorithms Blockchain Technology React for Beginners Core Java Basics Java Node.js for Beginners Advanced JavaScript Is Nagios used to monitor window machines? Yes, Nagios is used to monitor window machines. You can do so by setting-up Nagios for monitoring the required window system and then add a separate server and host for performing the task.  What is OID Nagios? The Simple Network Management Protocol (aka SNMP) uses Object Identifiers for defining the Management Information Base.  What is the Nagios Network Analyzer? The network analyzer is a vital component of Nagios which checks the system for potential dangers. Its quick scan enables the admin to get the required data about the health of the system.  What are the benefits of using Nagios to monitor websites? Nagios can help you monitor websites too. It improves the website’s availability, helps you spot bugs, and you can enhance your site’s performance and avoid online security threats as well with the help of Nagios.  Is Nagios Object-oriented? If so, can you elaborate on what it means? Object-oriented means that you can produce object definitions in Nagios that are inherited from other objects. As Nagios is object-oriented, its relationship with its components remains simple without any intricate details.  Which protocols support Nagios? SMTP Monitoring, POP Monitoring, FTP Monitoring, IPMI Monitoring, DNS Monitoring, and LDAP Monitoring are some of the protocols Nagios supports.  Can you use Nagios for Cloud Monitoring? Yes, you can use Nagios for cloud monitoring. It is one of the most popular monitoring tools available in the market.  What are objects in Nagios? All elements related to the alerting logic and the monitoring process are objects in Nagios.  Name three virtualization platforms that support Nagios. Microsoft Virtual PC, Amazon EC2, and VMware are three of the most popular virtualization platforms supporting Nagios.  What are the object types in Nagios? Nagios has a variety of object types such as host groups, periods, services, hosts, contact, notifications, and commands.  What are the two-state types in Nagios? Soft states and hard states are the two primary state types in Nagios.  Which database format does Nagios support for storing data? Nagios supports the RRD database format for storing status data.  What are the sections of NDO utilities? NDO utilities include FILE2STOCK Utility, NDOMOD Event Broker Module, NDO2DB Daemon, and LOG2NDO Utility.  What are the default credentials in Nagios? The Username and Password are “nagiosadmin” in Nagios as default.  What language does Nagios core use? Nagios core uses PHP and CGI.  What are the required conditions for Nagios to check external commands? Nagios checks for external commands regularly according to the command_check_interval option. In addition to the regular checks, it also checks for external commands when an event handler is executed.  What are the differences between Passive and Active checks? It is one of the most popular Nagios interview questions, so we suggest you prepare the answer thoroughly.  The main difference between Active checks and Passive checks is that Nagios performs the former while an external application performs the latter.  Passive checks monitor services that are located behind a firewall or are asynchronous. Active tests can’t be done on those services or hosts even though Nagios performs them regularly.  How is Nagios related to DevOps? Continuous monitoring is a core component of DevOps and Nagios is a popular tool for the same.  Can you customize charts in Nagios? Yes, you can customize charts through a third-party tool such as Graphite or CACTI. What is the difference between soft and hard states in Nagios? To answer this question, you should define both of these states.  When the results of a host or service are not OK, but it has not been rechecked multiple times according to max_check_attempts, then the error is specified as a Soft error. When a host or service recovers from a Soft Error, it is called Soft Recovery. On the other hand, when the results of a host or service check are not OK even when they have been rechecked several times, according to max_check_attempts, the error is called Hard Error. Recovery from such a kind of error is called Hard Recovery.  upGrad’s Exclusive Software Development Webinar for you – SAAS Business – What is So Different? document.createElement('video'); https://cdn.upgrad.com/blog/mausmi-ambastha.mp4   Which three variables affect inheritance and recursion in Nagios? The three variables affecting recursion and inheritance are Name, Use, and Register. The name is a placeholder for other objects. Use specifies the parent object and Register can either have a value of 1 or 0. If the Register has a value of 1, it means it’s an actual object. If it has a value of 0, it means the object is only a template and isn’t a real object.  What is meant by State Stalking? Let us discuss what State Stalking is. State stalking helps in logging. With State Stalking, Nagios watches a particular service or host and log any changes it notices in the check results. You can also add that State Stalking is quite helpful in the analysis of logs. Without State Stalking, Nagios logs a check only when the state is changed between two checks.  What is Flap Detection in Nagios? When a host or service changes its state too frequently, it is called Flapping. Flapping can lead to many problems, which could, in turn, cause many recovery notifications to arise. Nagios checks if a service or host has started flapping during its status check.  Nagios checks for flapping. It does so by storing the results of the previous 21 checks of the specific service or host first. And it analyzes those results to see how frequent state changes occurred. It determines a percent state change value through that data and compares the same to flapping thresholds. When the percent state change is greater than the high threshold for flapping, the object is said to have started flapping. And when the percent state change is lower than the low threshold for flapping the object is said to have stopped flapping.  How would you explain the ‘Machine is Unreachable’ error? When Nagios fails in finding a path to a specific node, it shows this error. The node might be up, but because Nagios can’t access it, it shows the node as unreachable.  Final Thoughts We hope you found these Nagios interview questions helpful. Be sure to prepare all these questions thoroughly.  If you’re interested to learn more about Nagios, check out upGrad & IIIT-B’s PG Diploma in Full-stack Software Development which is designed for working professionals and offers 500+ hours of rigorous training, 9+ projects, and assignments, IIIT-B Alumni status, practical hands-on capstone projects & job assistance with top firms.  
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by Arjun Mathur

30 Jan'20
Continuous Delivery vs. Continuous Deployment: Difference Between

6.22K+

Continuous Delivery vs. Continuous Deployment: Difference Between

Knowing the difference between continuous delivery vs continuous deployment is paramount in today’s rapidly progressing world. That is because your users should be able to update the software without much hassle.  It is something that you are aware of through your smartphone, laptop, or computer software. Software updates for a wide range of applications are a regular occurrence. Without them happening, developments cannot take place.  Check out our free courses to get an edge over the competition. So, what can you do about it? In this internet era, you should be able to meet your user’s requirements in a matter of time. When you rectify errors or issues quickly, you can retain your clients. At the same time, when you find it challenging to do so, it can cause drowning profits.  So, when you opt for the usual slow and obsolete process of finding, analyzing, and planning methods, you are well out of the market. You have lost the plot altogether. To avoid being left out in the lurch, what you require is agile development.  Check out upGrad’s Advanced Certification in Cyber Security  Opt for agile development Agile development is the process or framework where you can test, plan, and eventually implement your ideas. The best part is that you can do it immediately. Instant results are the order of the day.  Those businesses and companies that have embedded agile development into their processing plans stand to gain from it. When you can achieve continuous delivery as well as constant deployment in your solution delivery pipeline, your firm can release the updates efficiently.  For our readers, who are not aware of the difference between continuous delivery and continuous deployment, then we will try and clarify through this post. Not to mention, you will also learn how they fit into an agile environment.  When you want to understand both continuous delivery and continuous deployment, then you must first understand, continuous integration.  Check out upGrad’s Advanced Certification in Cloud Computing  It is an essential element for agile practice.  An Agile Developer knows the significance of implementing this process because it gives them the ability to manage smaller components. This way, they can design quality software. For agile concepts, all the teams know what is going on, unlike the waterfall concept.  Explore our Popular Software Engineering Courses Master of Science in Computer Science from LJMU & IIITB Caltech CTME Cybersecurity Certificate Program Full Stack Development Bootcamp PG Program in Blockchain Executive PG Program in Full Stack Development View All our Courses Below Software Engineering Courses Developers must use deployment automation tool        That is why developers must consider using automation of continuous deployment at the development stage itself. Solutions should be given to ensure that continuous integration and continuous delivery are smoothly handled through a consumption-based model. What is continuous integration? Continuous integration is a process where, several methodologies are used from several sources, automatically to integrate the code for designing and testing purposes. As a DevOps Developer, when your design code can pass the test, then it is deployed automatically.  Further testing is then conducted on your code like manual exploratory test and load test. You would be surprised to know that the process can take several days. It entirely depends on the requirements.  What is continuous delivery? Continuous delivery enables you to design a high-quality version of your code. This classic version helps you to decide when you want to release your software for your clients, based on the feedback. In most cases, the timing of the release matters depending on the market condition.  Continuous delivery vs. continuous deployment It is the main difference between continuous delivery vs continuous deployment. Continuous deployment is the process where the software to be released undergoes an automated pipeline. Developers need not worry about the release, but rather ensure that the code developed, is regularly tested, updated, and then released. More importantly, it must work fine from the client’s end.  The continuous delivery consists of a time lag before the release of the software. The product gets reviewed, and changes, if any, is done before the release. Continuous deployment involves automated testing throughout the entire process until the release of the product.  Explore Our Software Development Free Courses Fundamentals of Cloud Computing JavaScript Basics from the scratch Data Structures and Algorithms Blockchain Technology React for Beginners Core Java Basics Java Node.js for Beginners Advanced JavaScript How can you consolidate delivery and deployment to attain common goals? It is when some developers get tempted to think that continuous deployment may be advantageous for the software. It depends on the CI/CD practices implemented in your organization.  However, there are some constraints that you might want to beware of before making use of continuous deployment. Market conditions and regulatory compliances, usually restrict IT firms from making use of continuous deployment. The levels of the DevOps concepts implemented in an IT firm also dramatically influences the usage of continuous deployment.  Continuous delivery requires manual code changes, and that can delay in the deadline for deploying the code.  But, there are some benefits to using it. IT firms may want to consider using continuous delivery because of the convenience. It enables IT firms to have a competitive advantage for deploying the code, ably supported by human intelligence.  Developers can come up with many new features that can be designed and ready for implementation. It enables them to develop robust and resilient systems. What this does is, reduces the production costs, and allows developers to improve the quality of the product.  But, continuous delivery and continuous deployment may not be that relevant in some areas of work. You may not require a deployment phase when contributing to a library or designing an artifact. In-Demand Software Development Skills JavaScript Courses Core Java Courses Data Structures Courses Node.js Courses SQL Courses Full stack development Courses NFT Courses DevOps Courses Big Data Courses React.js Courses Cyber Security Courses Cloud Computing Courses Database Design Courses Python Courses Cryptocurrency Courses Likewise, many web applications do not have to come up with a design and deploy phases. These days, there is a new development for designing high-end tools for application release that can effectively manage software releases. Few of them include: Packaging of the applications  The version of the release  When updating the database  Managing the configuration of the server  Rollback and roll forward  Auditing and access for security purposes To summarise, the main difference between continuous delivery vs continuous deployment would be that continuous delivery is the ability to release a version on any platform. On the other hand, continuous deployment is your ability to deploy the versions continuously.  Both the concepts need a framework, where you can work on small, but effective changes that can be implemented immediately in the market. It would help if you learned how your updates had affected the users, in a good and bad way.  You will need to communicate with your clients to achieve what you intend to by finding out how it helped or did not help them. However, to make that, you need to bring value to your users.  upGrad’s Exclusive Software Development Webinar for you – SAAS Business – What is So Different? document.createElement('video'); https://cdn.upgrad.com/blog/mausmi-ambastha.mp4   Do you want to learn more? If you are keen on developing your DevOps skills and learning more about the continuous delivery vs continuous deployment, then we would recommend you take up courses taught from an online higher education platform.  Only a handful of these online education platforms have tie-ups and partnerships with universities like IIT Madras, IIIT-B, MICA, NMIMS, and Cambridge Judge Business School Executive Education. When they certify you, it elevates your knowledge and enables you to stand out from the crowd. The above-mentioned reasons are why an online course in full-stack software development can kickstart your career in tech, especially if you are looking to switch lanes.
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by Rohit Sharma

05 Feb'20