CGOA Certified GitOps Associate Exam Questions and Answers

Progressive deliveryis a GitOps pattern that incrementally rolls out application updates, using methods like canary releases, feature flags, and blue-green deployments. GitOps enhances this by ensuring the rollout isautomated and declaratively managed through Git, removing the need for manual traffic switching.

“GitOps enables progressive delivery by declaratively managing rollout strategies such as canary or blue-green deployments. These strategies are applied automatically by controllers, without requiring manual traffic switching.”

Thus, the correct answer isB.

Thefeedback loopis critical in GitOps reconciliation. It continuously monitors the system’s actual state and compares it to the desired state. This loop determines when reconciliation is required and whether a full or partial synchronization is necessary.

“The feedback loop in reconciliation continuously observes the actual state. It determines if reconciliation is required, and informs whether to perform a partial or full sync to align with the declared desired state.”

Thus, the correct answer isA.

A fundamental GitOps principle is that reconciliation isautomated and continuous. Software agents (e.g., controllers like ArgoCD or Flux) continuously pull desired state declarations from Git repositories and reconcile them with the actual state.

“Software agents automatically pull the desired state declarations from the source of truth and continuously reconcile the actual state to match.”

Thus, the correct answer isC.

The reconciliation loop is a fundamental GitOps principle. It continuously compares thedesired state(stored in Git) with theactual state(running in the system). When a divergence (drift) is detected, the reconciler automatically corrects the system to match the desired state.

“The reconciliation loop ensures the system is continuously converging toward the declared desired state. Whenever the actual state deviates, the loop reconciles the system to match the desired state.”

Thus, the correct answer isC.

Whendriftoccurs (actual state diverges from desired state), GitOps controllers attempt to reapply theDesired Statestored in Git. The system is always converged toward what Git declares, never the other way around.

“In case of drift, the reconciler re-applies the desired state from Git to the runtime environment, ensuring the actual system matches the declared configuration.”

Thus, the correct answer isB.

Areconcilerensures that the actual system matches the desired state declared in Git. External reconcilers run outside the core cluster orchestration process.Fluxis a widely used GitOps external reconciler that continuously syncs cluster state with the repository.

“Flux is an example of a GitOps reconciler that continuously monitors Git repositories and applies changes to the cluster. As an external reconciler, it handles synchronization and reconciliation loops outside the direct application code.”

Thus,A: Fluxis correct.

ThePulled AutomaticallyGitOps principle refers to the way software agents continuously access theDesired Statestored in the State Store (e.g., Git). Agents automatically pull the state from the repository and reconcile the system accordingly.

“Software agents automatically pull the desired state declarations from the source of truth (State Store) and continuously reconcile the system to match.”

Thus, the correct answer isD.

Configuration as Code (CaC)in GitOps ensures that infrastructure and application definitions are stored in Git, version-controlled, and immutable. Unlike traditional approaches (manual changes, scripts, mutable infrastructure), GitOps uses CaC forimmutable infrastructure deployments, guaranteeing reproducibility and environment consistency.

“Configuration as Code ensures that system configuration is stored declaratively in version control. This allows immutable deployments, reproducibility, consistency across environments, and prevents ad-hoc manual changes.”

Thus, the distinct advantage isimmutable deployments and consistent environments, makingBcorrect.

Blue-Green deployments are aprogressive delivery patternwhere two environments exist: Blue (current version) and Green (new version). The new version is deployed in parallel, and once validated, traffic is switched over from Blue to Green.

“Blue-Green deployments provide zero-downtime releases by running two production environments: one active and one idle. A new version is deployed to the idle environment, tested, and when ready, traffic is switched to it.”

Thus, the correct description isA.

In GitOps, deployments are driven bycommitting declarative configurationinto a Git repository (the State Store). From there, agents reconcile the actual environment to match the desired state, making deployments reproducible and auditable.

“To deploy in GitOps, commit the declarative configuration into version control. The reconciler ensures the runtime environment converges to the declared state.”

Thus, the correct answer isD.

One of the four fundamental GitOps principles isVersioned and Immutable. This means that the entire system’s desired state must be stored in a Git repository with version control. Each change must be represented as a commit, and Git’s immutability guarantees a reliable, auditable history of how the system evolved.

“The desired state is stored in a version control system. The record of truth is stored in an immutable history, and changes can be audited and reverted if necessary. This guarantees that the system’s configuration is versioned, immutable, and traceable.”

Thus,configuration and infrastructure must be version-controlled and immutable, never changed directly in production.

Linting tools are essential in GitOps practices for maintaining consistency, standardization, and quality in configuration files. Automated linters can validate YAML manifests, Helm charts, or Kustomize overlays for formatting and best practices.

“Linters automate the enforcement of formatting and quality rules in declarative configuration files. They ensure standardized structure and reduce errors in GitOps workflows.”

Thus, the correct answer isC.

Helm is a Kubernetes package manager widely used in GitOps for packaging, configuring, and deploying complex applications. Helm charts bundle configuration, dependencies, and Kubernetes manifests into reusable, declarative packages that can be applied across multiple clusters.

“Helm charts provide a way to package Kubernetes applications, defining configuration and dependencies declaratively. This allows consistent deployment across clusters in GitOps workflows.”

Thus, the correct answer isA.

GitOps requires apull-based approachas the default model, where agents in the cluster automatically pull desired state from Git. However,push-based triggers(e.g., webhooks) can optionally be used to complement pull-based reconciliation.

“Pull-based reconciliation is required in GitOps to ensure automation and security. Push-based triggers may optionally complement this, but the pull model is fundamental.”

Thus, the correct answer isD.

GitOps enhancesDevSecOpsby ensuring security-related configurations and changes are stored in version control, where acomplete audit historyis available. This provides traceability, accountability, and compliance enforcement.

“With GitOps, the entire version history of desired state changes is stored immutably in Git. This audit trail supports security and compliance goals in DevSecOps practices.”

Thus, the correct answer isB.