Mock Interview Guide Docker
🗃️ Instructions for Interviewer:
● You are playing the role of interviewer. Use this guide as a script.
● Ask each question one at a time. Follow the steps: Definition → Details →
Scenario → Follow-up.
● If the interviewee struggles, use the hint.
● The goal is to keep it conversational and practical. Help the interviewee think and
express their learning.
● colors assigned: Questions Answers Hint
Freshers - Level
Docker (10 Easy DevOps Interview Questions)
1. 🗣️ “Can you explain what Docker is?”
✅ Expected Answer: “Docker is a platform used to create
and run containers. Containers are lightweight and portable
environments that package an app with all its dependencies,
so it works the same on any system.”
💡 Hint (if needed): “Think of Docker like a sealed box that
includes your app, OS libraries, and system tools. It solves the ‘it
works on my machine’ problem.”
2. 🗣️ “What is the difference between Docker containers and virtual
machines?”
✅ Expected Answer: “Containers share the host OS and are
lightweight, while VMs run full OS instances and are heavier.
Docker starts faster and uses fewer resources.”
💡 Hint: “Think about the OS layer. Do both Docker and VMs run
their own OS?”
3. 🗣️ “What is the difference between a Docker image and a
container?”
✅ Expected Answer: “An image is a read-only template with
app and settings. A container is the running instance of that
image.”
💡 Hint: “Image is like a recipe; container is the final dish.”
4. 🗣️ “What is a Dockerfile?”
✅ Expected Answer: “A Dockerfile is a script with
instructions to build a Docker image. It has commands like
FROM, RUN, COPY, CMD.”
💡 Hint: “It’s like a list of steps to prepare your Docker image.”
5. 🗣️ “How do you create a Docker image from a Dockerfile?”
✅ Expected Answer: “Use the command: docker build -t
image-name .”
💡 Hint: “Do you remember the docker build command?”
6. 🗣️ “How do you run a Docker container from an image?”
✅ Expected Answer: “Use the command: docker run
image-name You can add -d to run in background or -p to
map ports.”
💡 Hint: “Have you seen the docker run command?”
7. 🗣️ “How do you list all running containers?”
✅ Expected Answer: “Use the command: docker ps For all
containers including stopped: docker ps -a”
💡 Hint: “It’s similar to the ps command in Linux.”
8. 🗣️ “How do you stop and remove a Docker container?”
✅ Expected Answer: “Use: docker stop container-id Then:
docker rm container-id”
💡 Hint: “Two steps: first stop, then remove.”
9. 🗣️ “What are Docker volumes used for?”
✅ Expected Answer: “Volumes are used to persist data
outside containers. So data remains even if the container is
deleted.”
💡 Hint: “Think about saving data from a database container.”
10. 🗣️ “What is Docker Compose used for?”
✅ Expected Answer: “Docker Compose is used to run
multi-container applications using a YAML file
(docker-compose.yml).”
💡 Hint: “Have you used a YAML file to define services like web +
db together?”
SCENARIO-BASED QUESTIONS
1. Ask: 🗣️
“You created a Docker container but it's not accessible from
the browser. What could be wrong?”
✔️ Expected: “You probably forgot to expose or publish the port
using -p.”
💡 Hint: “Did you use -p 8080:80 or EXPOSE in the Dockerfile?”
2. Ask: 🗣️
“Your container stops immediately after running. What might
be the issue?”
✔️ Expected: “The main process may be exiting. Docker
containers stop when the main command ends.”
💡 Hint: “What command did you specify in CMD or ENTRYPOINT?”
3. Ask: 🗣️
“You installed something in a container, but it's gone when
you restart. Why?”
✔️ Expected: “Changes made inside a running container are not
persistent unless committed or built into a Dockerfile.”
💡 Hint: “Was it saved into a new image or just modified at runtime?”
4. Ask: 🗣️
“You need to share logs or data between your host and
container. What will you use?”
✔️ Expected: “Use volumes or bind mounts using -v or --mount.”
💡 Hint: “Data persistence? Think Docker volumes.”
PROJECT-BASED QUESTIONS
5. Ask : 🗣️ “You want to containerize a basic Python app. How would you
start?”
✔️ Expected: “Write a Dockerfile with Python base image, copy
app code, install requirements, then build and run.”
💡 Hint: “Dockerfile → Build → Run with ports.”
6. Ask: 🗣️
“Your friend wants to run your app without installing
anything. What can you give them?”
✔️ Expected: “A Docker image via Docker Hub or a
docker-compose.yml file to replicate my environment.”
💡 Hint: “Docker Hub or Docker Compose?”
Medium-Level
Docker ( DevOps Interview Questions - 1 to 2 Years Experience)
1. Ask: 🗣️ "How does Docker differ from traditional deployment
methods?"
✅ Expected Answer: "Traditional methods involve manual
setup and dependency installation. Docker provides
consistent environments using containers, making
deployment faster and more reliable."
💡 Hint: "Think about environment consistency and speed of
deployment."
2. Ask: 🗣️ "What is the role of the Docker daemon?"
✅ Expected Answer: "Docker daemon (dockerd) manages
Docker containers, images, networks, and storage volumes.
It listens for Docker API requests."
💡 Hint: "It’s the background service that powers all Docker
commands."
3. Ask: 🗣️
"Can you explain what happens when you run docker
build?"
✅ Expected Answer: "Docker reads the Dockerfile
instructions and creates an image layer-by-layer from top to
bottom."
💡 Hint: "Think of each Dockerfile instruction creating a new
image layer."
4. Ask: 🗣️
"What is the difference between ENTRYPOINT and CMD in
a Dockerfile?"
✅ Expected Answer: "CMD provides default arguments.
ENTRYPOINT defines the main command. If both are used,
CMD supplies arguments to ENTRYPOINT."
💡 Hint: "ENTRYPOINT is fixed; CMD is flexible."
5. Ask: 🗣️ "How can you persist data in Docker containers?"
✅ Expected Answer: "By using Docker volumes or
bind mounts. Volumes are managed by Docker; bind
mounts map to host directories."
💡 Hint: "Think of saving logs or DB data that shouldn’t disappear
when container is deleted."
6. Ask: 🗣️ "How does Docker networking work?"
✅ Expected Answer: "Docker creates a default
bridge network. Containers in the same network can
communicate. You can also create custom
networks."
💡 Hint: "Have you tried pinging containers inside a user-defined
bridge network?"
7. Ask: 🗣️ "What is the use of .dockerignore file?"
✅ Expected Answer: "It excludes specified
files/folders from the build context. This speeds up
builds and avoids sending unnecessary files."
💡 Hint: "Similar to .gitignore – helps avoid copying junk into your
image."
8. Ask: 🗣️ "What is the difference between docker stop and docker
kill?"
✅ Expected Answer: "docker stop sends SIGTERM for
graceful shutdown; docker kill sends SIGKILL to force stop."
💡 Hint: "One is gentle, the other is instant termination."
9. Ask: 🗣️ "How do you troubleshoot a container that keeps
restarting?"
✅ Expected Answer: "Check logs using docker logs. Use
docker inspect to examine settings. Also check Dockerfile
and application errors."
💡 Hint: "Try to understand the container’s startup process using
logs and inspect."
10. Ask: 🗣️ "What is a multi-stage build in Docker and why is it
useful?"
✅ Expected Answer: "Multi-stage builds allow using one
image for building and another for running, reducing final
image size."
💡 Hint: "Think about separating build tools and runtime – only
keep what’s needed to run."
SCENARIO-BASED QUESTIONS
7. Ask:🗣️ “You want to run a database container and ensure data isn’t
lost after restart. How would you do it?”
✔️ Expected: “Mount a named volume to the DB’s data
directory, like -v pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data.”
💡 Hint: “What keeps data between restarts?”
8. Ask:🗣️ “You built a new image but it’s 2GB in size. How can you
reduce it?”
✔️ Expected: “Use multi-stage builds, lighter base images
(like alpine), and clean up temp files.”
💡 Hint: “What’s the base image and layers doing?”
9. Ask:🗣️ “You have 3 containers that need to communicate internally.
What's the best approach?”
✔️ Expected: “Use a user-defined bridge network or Docker
Compose — they can talk by container name.”
💡 Hint: “Default bridge doesn’t do DNS. Try custom network.”
10. Ask:🗣️“You restarted Docker and lost your containers. What
happened?”
✔️ Expected: “They weren’t run with --restart=always or
saved in Compose/Kubernetes.”
💡 Hint: “Docker doesn't keep them by default after daemon
restart.”
PROJECT-BASED QUESTIONS
11. Ask:🗣️“You’re building a CI/CD pipeline with Dockerized services.
How do you test and deploy?”
✔️ Expected: “Use Docker Compose to spin up services for
integration tests, then push built image to Docker Hub.”
💡 Hint: “Think local test → build → push → deploy.”
12. Ask: 🗣️“You want to deploy your Node.js + Redis app in dev and
prod using Docker. How would you structure it?”
✔️ Expected: “Create a docker-compose.yml with multiple
services, use environment variables, volumes for dev, and scale in
prod.”
💡 Hint: “Compose + .env + service scaling.”
Advanced-Level
( DevOps Interview Questions - 3+ Years Experience)
1. Ask: 🗣️ “Can you explain how Docker handles image layering and
how it impacts performance and storage?”
✅ Expected Answer: Docker builds images in layers based
on Dockerfile instructions. Layers are cached and reused
across builds, which speeds up image creation and saves
storage. Modifying a layer invalidates all layers after it.
💡 Hint: “Why do we try to keep frequently changing lines at the
bottom of a Dockerfile?”
2. Ask: 🗣️ “How do you reduce the size of a Docker image in
production environments?”
✅ Expected Answer: Use smaller base images (like alpine),
remove unnecessary packages, use multi-stage builds, and
clear caches (apt-get clean, pip cache purge).
💡 Hint: “Have you used multi-stage builds or stripped down
images for production?”
3. Ask: 🗣️ “What are the implications of running a container in
privileged mode?”
✅ Expected Answer: It gives the container access to all
host devices and allows more low-level operations. It’s
insecure and should be avoided unless absolutely
necessary.
💡 Hint: “Think about how this could be used to access host
resources dangerously.”
4. Ask: 🗣️ “Can you explain how Docker content trust works?”
✅ Expected Answer: Docker Content Trust (DCT) uses
digital signatures to verify image authenticity. It ensures the
image is from a trusted source.
💡 Hint: “Have you used DOCKER_CONTENT_TRUST=1 to
enable this?”
5. Ask: 🗣️
“How do you secure Docker containers in a production
environment?”
✅ Expected Answer:
○ Use non-root users inside containers
○ Limit container capabilities (with --cap-drop)
○ Scan images for vulnerabilities
○ Use private registries and signed images
○ Restrict networking and volumes
💡 Hint: “Think about both build-time and run-time hardening.”
🗣️
6. Ask: “What is the difference between Docker Swarm and
Kubernetes?”
✅ Expected Answer: Docker Swarm is a simpler
orchestrator tightly integrated with Docker. Kubernetes is
more complex, flexible, and widely used for large-scale
deployments.
💡 Hint: “Which one did you use and why? What challenges did
you face?”
🗣️
7. Ask: “How do you monitor Docker containers in a real-time
production setup?”
✅ Expected Answer: Use tools like Prometheus, Grafana,
ELK stack, or Docker stats. Metrics like CPU, memory,
network IO, and container logs are key.
💡 Hint: “Did you expose Docker metrics using cadvisor or
integrate with monitoring tools?”
🗣️
8. Ask: “Can you explain how image vulnerability scanning works
in Docker?”
✅ Expected Answer: Tools like Trivy, Clair, or Docker Hub
scan image layers for known CVEs. These tools compare
installed packages against vulnerability databases.
💡 Hint: “Have you set up automated scans or integrated them
into CI/CD?”
9. Ask: 🗣️ “How do you handle secret management in containers?”
✅ Expected Answer: Avoid hardcoding secrets in images
or ENV variables. Use tools like Docker secrets (in Swarm),
HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, or Kubernetes
secrets.
💡 Hint: “Where do you store DB passwords, API keys, etc.?”
10. Ask: 🗣️
“What would you do if a containerized app suddenly
starts consuming high CPU and memory?”
✅ Expected Answer:
○ Use docker stats to inspect container resource usage
○ Check application logs
○ docker top to see running processes
○ docker inspect for config issues
○ Restart with resource limits
💡 Hint: “What would your investigation steps look like? How would
you prevent this in future?”
SCENARIO-BASED QUESTIONS
13. Ask: 🗣️ “You notice high CPU usage in one container. How do
you isolate and limit its resources?”
✔️ Expected: “Use Docker stats to monitor, and limit resources via
-cpus and --memory flags.”
💡 Hint: “Try resource constraints at runtime.”
14. Ask: 🗣️ “You need to scan your Docker images for security
vulnerabilities. What tool would you use?”
✔️ Expected: “Tools like Trivy, Docker scan, or integrate scanning
in CI pipeline.”
💡 Hint: “Image scanning before deploy?”
15. Ask: 🗣️“You’re building images in CI and want faster builds.
Any optimization tips?”
✔️ Expected: “Use build cache, .dockerignore, multi-stage builds,
and avoid ADD-ing large directories.”
💡 Hint: “Smaller context = faster build.”
16. Ask: 🗣️ “You’ve deployed a container that’s failing, but logs
aren’t helping. How else can you debug?”
✔️ Expected: “Use docker exec to inspect live container, attach
shell, or use --entrypoint bash to manually run.”
💡 Hint: “Get inside the container.”
PROJECT-BASED QUESTIONS
17. Ask: 🗣️
“You're designing a Docker-based microservice system.
How would you handle service discovery and networking?”
✔️ Expected: “Use Docker Compose for local, or orchestrators
(K8s, Swarm) with DNS and overlay networks.”
💡 Hint: “Container-to-container name resolution.”
18. Ask: 🗣️
“You're asked to set up a local dev environment with 5+
interdependent services. How would you handle this?”
✔️ Expected: “Use Docker Compose with separate Dockerfiles,
shared networks, and mount source for hot reload.”
💡 Hint: “Multi-container setup + config mgmt.”
