System Administrator interview questions and answers
1) Differentiate between NTFS & FAT.
NTFS is the current file system used by Windows. It offers features like security permissions (to limit other users’ access to folders), quotas (so one user can’t fill up the disk), shadowing (backing up) and many other features that help Windows.
FAT32 is the older Microsoft filesystem, primarily used by the Windows 9X line and Window could be installed on a FAT32 parition up to XP. In comparision, FAT32 offers none of what was mentioned above, and also has a maximum FILE (not folder) size of 4GB, which is kind of small these days, especially in regards to HD video.
2) What Is VOIP.
VOIP – Short for Voice Over Internet Protocol, a category of hardware and software that enables people to use the Internet as the transmission medium for telephone calls by sending voice data in packets using IP rather than by traditional circuit transmissions.
4) What is Proxy Server.
A proxy server is a computer that acts as a gateway between a local network (e.g., all the computers at one company or in one building) and a larger-scale network such as the Internet. Proxy servers provide increased performance and security. In some cases, they monitor employees’ use of outside resources.
5) Differentiate between FIREWALL/ANTIVIRUS.
Antivirus:
The prime job of an anivirus is protect your system from computer viruses. Your computer may be standalone or part of network or connected to Internet you need an antivirus program. It actively monitors when you are using your system for any virus threat from different sources. if it found one it tries to clean or quarantine the virus ultimately keeping your system and data safe.
Firewall:
Firewall is in other hand a program which protects your system from outsider/intruder/hacker attacks. These attacks may not be virus type. In some cases hackers can take control of your system remotely and steal your data or important information from system. If your system is directly connected to internet or a large network than you can install a software firewall in your PC to protect your self from unauthorized access. Firewall is available either in software or in hardware form. For a single PC you may need a software firewall while a large corporate implements hardware firewall to protect all of their systems from such attacks.
6) Differentiate between Frond end & Back End Server.
Backend server:
A back end server is a computer resource that has not been exposed to the internet. In this regard the computing resource does not directly interact with the internet user. It can also be described as a server whose main function is to store and retrieve email messages.
Frontend server:
A frontend server is a computer resources that has exposed to the internet.
7) What is APIPA.
Stands for Automatic Private IP Addressing
APIPA is a DHCP fail over mechanism for local networks. With APIPA, DHCP clients can obtain IP addresses when DHCP servers are non-functional.
APIPA exists in all modern versions of Windows except Windows NT.
When a DHCP server fails, APIPA allocates IP addresses in the private range 169.254.0.1 to 169.254.255.254.
8) How Release and renew IP address from Command prompt.
Ipconfig / release
ipconfig / renew
9) What is wins server.
Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) servers dynamically map IP addresses to computer names (NetBIOS names). This allows users to access resources by computer name instead of by IP address. If you want this computer to keep track of the names and IP addresses of other computers in your network, configure this computer as a WINS server.
If you do not use WINS in such a network, you cannot connect to a remote network resource by using its NetBIOS name.
10)What is the Windows Registry.
The Windows Registry, usually referred to as “the registry,” is a collection of databases of configuration settings in Microsoft Windows operating systems.
11) System Volume Information (SVI) Folder.
Windows XP includes a folder named System Volume Information on the root of each drive that remains hidden from view even when you choose to show system files. It remains hidden because it is not a normally hidden folder you can say it is a Super Hidden Folder. Windows does not shows Super Hidden Folders even when you select “Show Hidden Files.”
12 ) What is MBR.
Short form Master Boot Record, a small program that is executed when a computer boots up. Typically, the MBR resides on the first sector of the hard disk. The program begins the boot process by looking up the partition table to determine which partition to use for booting
13) What is Bit Locker.
BitLocker is an encryption feature available in Ultimate and Enterprise versions of Windows 7 and Vista,
To encrypt an entire drive, simply right-click on the drive and select Turn on BitLocker from the context menu.
14) Difference b/w sata and IDE.
IDE and SATA are different types of interfaces to connect storage devices (like hard drives) to a computer’s system bus. SATA stands for Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (or Serial ATA) and IDE is also called Parallel ATA or PATA. SATA is the newer standard and SATA drives are faster than PATA (IDE) drives. For many years ATA provided the most common and the least expensive interface for this application. But by the beginning of 2007, SATA had largely replaced IDE in all new systems.
15)Main Difference Between Windows server 2008 and 2012
1) New Server Manager: Create, Manage Server Groups
2) Hyper-V Replication : The Hyper-V Replica feature allows you to replicate a virtual machine from one location to another with Hyper-V and a network connection—and without any shared storage required. This is a big deal in the Microsoft world for disaster recovery, high availability and more. VMware does this, too, but the vendor charges new licensees extra for the capability.
3) Expanded PowerShell Capabilities
4)IIS 8.0 and IIS 7 in 2008
5)Hyper-V 3.0
6)PowerShell 3.0
16)How Long My Computer Has Been Running? Get to Know My Computer’s Uptime.
Start Task manager, and select Performance tab .
In performance tab we can see system up time
Method 2: By typing systeminfo in command prompt we can find out up time of your server
In system boot time.
17)Event viewer in Windows server
Control panel – Administrative tools – Computer Management – event Viewer
Three types events
Error.
Warning.
Information.
18) Manage Multiple, Remote Servers with Server Manager.
Server Manager is a management console in Windows Server® 2012 R2 Preview and Windows Server® 2012 that helps IT professionals provision and manage both local and remote Windows-based servers from their desktops, without requiring either physical access to servers, or the need to enable Remote Desktop protocol (RDP) connections to each server. Although Server Manager is available in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008, Server Manager was updated in Windows Server 2012, to support remote, multi-server management, and help increase the number of servers an administrator can manage.
19) What happens when we type URL in browser.
Then, your browser opens a TCP connection to the destination host and sends the request according to HTTP 1.1 (or might use HTTP 1.0, but normal browsers don’t do it any more).
The server looks up the required resource (if it exists) and responds using HTTP protocol, sends the data to the client (=your browser)
The browser then uses HTML parser to re-create document structure which is later presented to you on screen. If it finds references to external resources, such as pictures, css files, javascript files, these are is delivered the same way as the HTML document itself.
DHCP:
1) How DHCP work?
DHCP Stands for Dynamic host configuration protocol.
DHCP is a protocol used for automatic configuration IP address in client computers connected to IP networks. DHCP operates on a client server model in four phases.
Discover: A client broadcasts DHCP Discover message when it comes alive on the network.
Offer: When a DHCP server receives the DHCP Discover message from the client, it reserves an I P address for the client and sends a DHCP Offer message to the client offering the reserved IP address.
Request: The client receives the DHCP offer message and broadcasts a DHCP request message to show its consent to accept the offered IP address.
Acknowledge: When the DHCP server receives the DHCP Request message from the client, it sends a DHCP Ack packet to the client. At this point the IP configuration process is complete.
2) What is DHCP Scope.
A range of IP address that the DHCP server can assign to clients that are on one subnet.
3) What protocol and port does DHCP use.
UDP protocol and 67 port in client and 68 port in server.
4) What is a DHCP lease.
A DHCP lease is the amount of time that the DHCP server grants to the DHCP
client permission to use a particular IP address. A typical server allows its
administrator to set the lease time.
5) Can DHCP support statically defined addresses.
Yes.
6) Define Dora Process & why it is used.
Discover, Offer, request and acknowledgement. it is used to assign ip address automatically to client systems.
7) What is Authorizing DHCP Servers in Active Directory.
If a DHCP server is to operate within an Active Directory domain (and is not running on a domain controller) it must first be authorized to Active directory.
8)How to Backup and Restore DHCP in Windows Server 2008
In Windows Server 2008, backup of DHCP database and settings has gotten simpler. You may want to backup your DHCP server from time to time to prepare for disaster recovery scenarios or when migrating DHCP server role to a new hardware.
Backup DHCP Server
1. Open Server Manager > DHCP role
2. Right click server name, choose Backup..
3. Choose a location for backup, click OK
Restore DHCP Server
1. Open Server Manager > DHCP role
2. Right Click server name, choose Restore
3. Choose the location of the backup, click OK
4. Restart the DHCP Service
DHCP Databse location: C:\WINDOWS\System32\DHCP directory.
DNS
1) Define DNS .
Domain Name System, DNS is an Internet service that translates domain names into IP addresses. Because domain names are alphabetic, they’re easier to remember.
Two types of lookup in DNS.
Forward lookup : it converts Domain name to ip address.
Reverse lookup: it converts ip address to Domain name.
Three types of zone.
Primary zone
secandary zone and stub zone.
what is the port no of DNS.
UDP and port number – 53
What is NSlookup.
Nslookup.exe is a command-line administrative tool for testing and troubleshooting DNS servers. This tool is installed along with the TCP/IP protocol through Control Panel.
MS-DOS utility that enables a user to look up an IP address of a domain or host on a network.
1) What is LDAP? Why it is used.
LDAP is the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. Its an active directory protocal ,Basically, it’s a protocol used to access data from a database
2) What is Active Directory? Why it used.
Active Directory is a Directory Service created by Microsoft. It is included with most Windows Server operating systems.
Active Directory is primarily used to store directory objects like users and groups and computers printers.
Using Active Directory brings a number of advantages to your network,
Centralized user account management
Centralized policy management (group policy)
Better security management
3) What Is Group Policy.
Group Policy is a feature of the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems that control the working environment of user accounts and computer accounts. Group Policy provides the centralized management and configuration of operating systems, applications, and users’ settings in an Active Directory environment.
Schema Master | Forest Level | One per forest |
Domain Naming Master | Forest Level | One per forest |
PDC Emulator | Domain Level | One per domain |
RID Master | Domain Level | One per domain |
Infrastructure Master | Domain Level | One per domain |