Interview Question For Windows Server & Network

1. What is DHCP? DHCP is a Networking Services known as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. The role of a DHCP Server when installed and configured is to allocate dynamic IP Address to its client so that IP Addresses can be reused when hosts no longer needs them. IP Address does not remain the same for client machines it changes as per the lease period set on the DHCP Server. Most important for the DHCP Server to allocate IP Address to its client is get the DHCP Authorized. 2. What is DNS ? DNS is a Networking Services known as Domain Name System. The role of a DNS Server is to resolve the Fully Qualified Domain Name to an IP Address. On a live network when one PC tries to connect to another PC it does not connects directly indeed it contacts the DNS Server and the DNS Server resolves the hostname to IP Address and sends the request back to the user. If you do not have access to properly configured DNS then to get the name resolved you will have to make an entry in the HOST file for your computer. 3. What is WINS? WINS is a Networking Services know as Windows Internet Naming Service. The role of a WINS Server is to resolve a NetBIOS name to an IP Address. This is mainly for backward-compatibility with Windows NT, 98 which used this addressing scheme. When a client attempts to communicate with another computer using a NetBIOS name in a WINS environment, the following steps are used to resolve the NetBIOS name to an IP Address: 1. The client will check its local NetBIOS name cache to see if it contains a NetBIOS-to-IP address mapping. 2. If the request is not resolved, the client will send a name query to the primary WINS server. 3. If the primary WINS server is not available after three attempts, the client will send a name query to the secondary WINS server. 4. 4. If no WINS server can resolve the name, a network broadcast is initiated to attempt to locate the remote computer. 4. What is ADS? ADS is Active Directory Services. ADS is a Directory Service which hold information and resources about your Network like : Users, Computers, Printers, File Share, OUs. The role of ADS is very important because when installed and configured it can become the Root Domain or the Child Domain of an existing Parent Domain. Windows 2000 has a strong integration with ADS. 5. Where does ADS store its Database & Log files by default? It stores its Database & Log files in C:\WINNT\NTDS 6. Where does ADS store its Domain Public Files? The Sysvol folder stores the servers copy of Domain Public Files. The contents of Sysvol folder are replicated to all domain controllers in the domain. The location for the same is C:\WINNT\SYSVOL

7. What is a Domain? A Domain is a logical grouping of computers and other resources on the network which share a common directory database. You can think of a Domain as the security boundary of a Windows 2000 network. 8. What is a Domain Controller? A Windows 2000 Server on which Active Directory is installed by running DCPROMO.EXE is called a Domain Controller. A DC can have sub DCs also which is called as Domain Tree. 9. What is an OU in Active Directory? An OU (Organizational Unit) is a container in Active Directory in which you can place group of objects like Users, Groups, Computers, File Share, Printer and other OUs and assign permissions on them. An OU cannot contain OUs from other Domain. In short in can be termed as a security for a specific groups. 10. What is a Domain Tree? A Domain Tree is a Hierarchical structure of one or two Windows 2000 Domains that share a Common Name Space. The first domain is called the Root Domain and additional domain trees are called Child Domain. 11. What is a Forest? A Domain Forest is group of one or more Domain Trees that do not share a Common Name Space but may share a common Schema and Global Catalog. There is always at least one forest on the network, and it is created when the first Active Directory-enabled computer on a network is installed. It cannot be removed from the forest without removing the entire forest itself. 12. What is a Global Catlog Server? In a single domain environment, users can rely on Active Directory for the domain to provide all of the necessary information about the resources on the network. In a multi-domain environment, however, users often need to access resources outside of their domain-resources that may be more difficult to find. For this, a Global Catalog is used to hold information about all the objects in a forest. The Global Catalog enables users and applications to find objects in an Active Directory Domain tree if the user or applications knows one or more attributes of the target object. 13. Difference between Windows NT & Windows 2000? The difference between Windows NT & Windows 2000 is: 1. Windows 2000 is Plug-N-Play whereas Windows NT is not. 2. Windows 2000 supports USB whereas Windows NT does not support. 3. Windows 2000 have new features like Quota System, EFS, DFs, Group Policy and etc. 4. Windows 2000 has been great feature like Active Directory whereas Windows NT has the funda of PDC & BDC. 5. Windows 2000 has got file and folder level security whereas Windows NT has got only folder level Security 14. What is VLAN? Virtual LAN. Group of devices on one or more LANs that are configured (using management software) so that they can communicate as if they were attached to the same wire, when in fact they are located on a

number of different LAN segments. Because VLANs are based on logical instead of physical connections, they are extremely flexible. 15. What is a Router? Router is a Hardware Device which is used to connect two networks. Theyre the crucial devices that let messages flow between networks, rather than within networks. Hubs, switches and routers all take signals from computers or networks and pass them along to other computers and networks, but a router is the only one of these devices that examines each bundle of data as it passes and makes a decision about exactly where it should go. To make these decisions, routers must first know about two kinds of information: addresses and network structure. In short Routers forward packets from one network to another based on network layer information. Occasionally called a gateway. 16. What would you do if you are asked to setup up a network? OR What are the requirement for setting up a Network ? 1. Prepare a Proper documentation and Network artichture for your Network. 2. Hardware requirement for the setup. 3. Setup the Domain Controller, DHCP, DNS, WINS Servers (The role for the same has been explained above) 4. If the Network is divided into two then I would use a Router to connect both the network. 5. For Internet access I will get hold of my nearest ISP. 6. For the Network security purpose I will use a Hardware Firewall to protect my network from the outside world (INTERNET) 7. I will setup a proper Antivirus Server to protect the network from critical viruses. 17. What is a Firewall? A firewall is simply a program or hardware device that filters the information coming through the Internet connection into your private network or computer system. If an incoming packet of information is flagged by the filters, it is not allowed through. Let's say that you work at a company with 500 employees. The company will therefore have hundreds of computers that all have network cards connecting them together. In addition, the company will have one or more connections to the Internet through something like T1 or T3 lines. Without a firewall in place, all of those hundreds of computers are directly accessible to anyone on the Internet. A person who knows what he or she is doing can probe those computers, try to make FTP connections to them, try to make telnet connections to them and so on. If one employee makes a mistake and leaves a security hole, hackers can get to the machine and exploit the hole. With a firewall in place, the landscape is much different. A company will place a firewall at every connection to the Internet (for example, at every T1 line coming into the company). The firewall can implement security rules. For example, one of the security rules inside the company might be: Out of the 500 computers inside this company, only one of them is permitted to receive public FTP traffic. Allow FTP connections only to that one computer and prevent them on all others. A company can set up rules like this for FTP servers, Web servers, Telnet servers and so on. In addition, the company can control how employees connect to Web sites, whether files are allowed to leave the company over the network and so on. A firewall gives a company tremendous control over how people use the network. Firewalls use one or more of three methods to control traffic flowing in and out of the network:

Packet filtering - Packets (small chunks of data) are analyzed against a set of filters. Packets that make it through the filters are sent to the requesting system and all others are discarded.

Proxy service - Information from the Internet is retrieved by the firewall and then sent to the requesting system and vice versa. Stateful inspection - A newer method that doesn't examine the contents of each packet but instead compares certain key parts of the packet to a database of trusted information. Information traveling from inside the firewall to the outside is monitored for specific defining characteristics, then incoming information is compared to these characteristics. If the comparison yields a reasonable match, the information is allowed through. Otherwise it is discarded.

18. Types of Backup and its uses? Full Backup Incremental Backup Differential Backup 19. How to Migrate from Windows NT 4.0 PDC to Windows 2000 ADS? 1. Before going ahead with the Migration process, a proper backup should be taken of your PDC and other necessary System Files. 2. See whether necessary Hardware will support your upgradation. 3. If Yes.Go ahead with the installation. Insert Windows 2000 Server CD into the CD ROM Drive. It will give a message that there is already an OS installed on this machine would you like to upgrade it. Click YES to continue. 4. Windows NT 4.0 PDC gets upgraded to Windows 2000 Server. 5. Run DCPROMO.EXE to install ADS. 20. What are the Services of Exchange 2000 Server? Exchange System Attendee Exchange Information Store Exchange MTA Exchange Event Viewer Service Exchange Directory Service Site Replication Service :::: - This service logs events in Event Viewer :: - This service replicates directory information between EX 5.5 & EX 2000

21. What are the database files of Exchange 2000 Server & where does it store it database files? The database files of Exchange 2000 Server are: Priv1.edb Pub1.edb Priv1.stm Pub1.stm The location of these files is C:\Program Files\Exchsrv\Mdbdata 22. What is POP3, IMAP4, SMTP, NNTP? POP3 (Post Office Protocol) its an incoming protocol for retrieving mails from the Inbox folder of a mailbox on a remote server. IMAP4 (Internet Message Access Protocol) its an incoming protocol for retrieving mails from a mailbox of a remote server. It gives access to Personal, Public as well as Inbox folder.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) its a protocol for transferring mails NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol) It transfers data between newsgroup servers and between newsgroup server and newsgroup reader programs. 23. Active Directory runs on which Protocol? Active Directory runs on LDAP Protocol 24. What is Mail Exchanger resource record? (MX resource record) A Domain Name System (DNS) record that specifies a mail exchange server for a DNS domain name. A mail exchange server is a host that either processes or forwards mail for the DNS domain name. Processing the mail means either delivering it to the addressee or passing it to a different type of mail transport. Forwarding the mail means sending it to its final destination server, sending it using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) to another mail exchange server that is closer to the final destination, or queuing it for a specified amount of time. 25. What is a Bridgehead Server? Bridgehead servers are the contact point for exchange of directory information between sites. You can specify a preferred bridgehead servers if you have a computer with appropriate bandwidth to transmit and receive information. If there's typically a high level of directory information exchange, a computer with more bandwidth can ensure these exchanges are handled promptly. Matching the demands of your Active Directory deployment with a domain controller having the capacity to handle those demands will enable efficient updates of directory information. You can specify multiple preferred bridgehead servers, but only one will be the active preferred bridgehead server at any time. If the active preferred bridgehead server fails, Active Directory will select another preferred bridgehead server to be the active preferred bridgehead server from the set you designate. If no active preferred bridgehead server is available and there are no other preferred bridgehead servers available for Active Directory to select, it will select another domain controller in the site to be the preferred bridgehead server. This can be problematic if the domain controller Active Directory selects does not have the bandwidth to efficiently handle the increased requirements posed by being a preferred bridgehead server. You must specify a preferred bridgehead server if your deployment uses a firewall to protect a site. Establish your firewall proxy server as the preferred bridgehead server, making it the contact point for exchanging information with servers outside the firewall. If you do not do this, directory information may not be successfully exchanged. Directory information is exchanged between sites over a site link. IP and SMTP are the default transport protocols for which you can add site links. Any domain controller can use the site link protocol of the site link to exchange the information. If there are multiple servers in a site, and one of the servers is a preferred bridgehead server for a protocol used in a site link, that server will be the preferred bridgehead server for inter-site exchange of directory information. Establishing a preferred bridgehead designates that server as the pre-eminent server for information exchange over the protocol for which the site link is established. Other domain controllers could still exchange directory information if a need arises, but under normal conditions, the bridgehead server will be used as the first choice to receive and send all directory traffic. In summary, a site link directs information arbitrarily to any domain controller in a site. Establishing a bridgehead server provides some ranking or criteria for choosing which domain controller should be preferred as the recipient for inter-site replication. This bridgehead server then subsequently distributes the directory information via intra-site replication.

26. What is OSI Layer? Think of the seven layers as the assembly line in the computer. At each layer, certain things happen to the data that prepare it for the next layer. The seven layers, which separate into two sets, are: Application Set Layer 7: Application - This is the layer that actually interacts with the operating system or application whenever the user chooses to transfer files, read messages or perform other network-related activities. Layer 6: Presentation - Layer 6 takes the data provided by the Application layer and converts it into a standard format that the other layers can understand. Layer 5: Session - Layer 5 establishes, maintains and ends communication with the receiving device. Transport Set Layer 4: Transport - This layer maintains flow control of data and provides for error checking and recovery of data between the devices. Flow control means that the Transport layer looks to see if data is coming from more than one application and integrates each application's data into a single stream for the physical network. Layer 3: Network - The way that the data will be sent to the recipient device is determined in this layer. Logical protocols, routing and addressing are handled here. Layer 2: Data - In this layer, the appropriate physical protocol is assigned to the data. Also, the type of network and the packet sequencing is defined. Layer 1: Physical - This is the level of the actual hardware. It defines the physical characteristics of the network such as connections, voltage levels and timing. 26. What is Subnetting?
Subnetting is a means of making a splitting a single IP address into multiple network addresses. It is accomplished by mathematically combining an IP address with another set of numbers called a network mask. Subnetting increases the number of networks an organization can have but decreases the number of hosts that can be on each network. A method to subdivide a network in class A and B adressed networks, which provides some ability for network management personnel to organize groups of machines within their network into logical divisions, reflected by their network numbers.

27. What is Switch? 1) In networks, a device that filters and forwards packets between LAN segments. Switches operate at the data link layer (layer 2) and sometimes the network layer (layer 3) of the OSI Reference Model and therefore support any packet protocol. LANs that use switches to join segments are called switched LANs or, in the case of Ethernet networks, switched Ethernet LANs. 28. What is Gateway? (1) A node on a network that serves as an entrance to another network. In enterprises, the gateway is the computer that routes the traffic from a workstation to the outside network that is serving the Web pages. In homes, the gateway is the ISP that connects the user to the internet. In enterprises, the gateway node often acts as a proxy server and a firewall. The gateway is also associated with both a router, which use headers and forwarding tables to determine where packets are sent, and a switch, which provides the actual path for the packet in and out of the gateway.