Interview Questions for Desktop Support General Questions Q. What desktop operating systems are you familiar with? A. Before you answer this question, you should have some background information on what operating systems are used within the organization you are interviewing with. Undoubtedly, you will be asked to elaborate on your skill set with each of these operating systems so it’s best to tailor your elaboration to the operating systems that are relevant to the hiring manager. This being said, don’t leave out mentioning experience in other operating systems. You never know whether the company may be evaluating the migration to a different OS. Q. Have you used imaging software before? How do you find these tools useful? A. Automation tools are an important part of your job as a desktop support technician. Elaborate on the tools that you’ve used. Hiring managers want to assess your in-depth knowledge and experience with using these tools. This means talking about how you use their various feature sets. (If you have an opinion, you probably know the product pretty well.) Q. What are the pitfalls of using imaging software? A. This question is meant to assess how well you know these products. For example, discussing the importance of testing the image demonstrates that you use these tools on a regular basis. Q. Have you used any software distribution tools? If so, which ones and how were they used? A. Like imaging software, software distribution tools are an important part of your job. Hiring managers are looking for knowledge that these tools exist and how they can be used to support your organization. Q. What do you like most about desktop support? A. Hiring managers are looking for what motivates you. Hopefully your answer will match the characteristics of the job: being busy, working with different people, and the challenges of learning new operating systems and configurations. Q. What do you like least about desktop support? A. The hiring manager is testing whether you will fit in with the existing team. An appropriate answer here would be not being able to resolve a problem in a timely manner for reasons outside your control, such as hardware failure. Stick to things outside of your control for the best response. Q. When solving a desktop problem, do you prefer to work with the end-user, your peers, or on your own? A. This is another question to determine your fit within the organization. Hiring managers understand that to be successful as a support technician you will have to work in a team environment. This means working with other employees, vendors, and end-users on a constant basis. Q. Can you describe a situation where you have had to deal with a difficult person? How did you handle it? Would you do anything differently? A. Desktop support can be very demanding some days. End-users only see their own priority needs and often are not interested in other demands on your time. This question explores how you deal with a difficult end-user by understanding their problem, assessing priorities, and communicating a timeframe for resolution. Often good communication can help both sides come to an agreement. Make sure you have an example with a successful outcome. Q. How would you say you are able to handle stress? A. Hiring managers are looking to see what coping techniques you can draw on to deal with stress. Sometimes from the answer, they can also determine whether you are prone to stress. When responding, some techniques for handling stress that you may want to talk about include continually evaluating what’s on your plate and prioritizing, communicating with your manager on what your priorities are, and making sure that you take a break to reenergize, particularly at lunch time. Q. What do you see yourself doing two or three years from now? A. Hiring managers want you to stick around. They realize that you will not be in this position forever, and they want to make sure there’s a desire to move up within the organization as well as the right fit. They ask this question to see whether there’s a growth path for you possible within the organization. As a desktop technician, natural growth paths are team leads, quality assurance, engineering positions, and entry-level development. Be honest about where you want to be in two to three years, and ask the interviewer whether they see your career path as a possibility. Q. How do you learn new technologies? A. Learning is an inherent part of the job. Hiring managers are looking for someone who enjoys learning technology on their own and who has the foresight to look for training opportunities. Besides the traditional books and manuals, don’t forget to include user groups, eLearning subscriptions, and IT professional sites such as CramSession. Q. How do you prioritize tasks and manage your time? A. What hiring managers want to know is whether you have time-management skills. Everyone manages their time differently, but think about how you handle e-mail, when you check voice mail, how you respond to pages, when you research and document, and how you pick up new trouble tickets. Q. Imagine the following situation: you receive three simultaneous calls from three vicepresidents who need assistance immediately. How do you manage these conflicting priorities? A. Obviously this is a trick question. What the hiring manager is trying to assess is how you set expectations with each of the individuals, knowing very well that you won’t be able to assist all of them at the same time. They are also looking for how you will prioritize each of these incidents, including seeking assistance from peers and supervisors in order to meet user expectations. Don’t allow the “tyranny of the urgent” to divert you from managementestablished support priorities. Q. How would you handle a user who continually misdiagnoses their PC issues? A. By asking this question, the hiring manager is assessing your customer service skills. In this situation, you may want to discuss that the key is to not offend the user and turn them off to your support services. In handling this situation, you would pay particular attention to ways you can build trust with the user and lead them to the right resolution to their problem. These components may include: Acknowledging the user’s diagnosis Asking the user to reproduce the problem Finding a solution that works Q. How do you handle setting up new employees? A. This question is used by the hiring manager to assess your knowledge of common practices within the IT department, such as setting up new users. Obviously, the IT department plays a critical role in the productivity of the new employee. The role of the desktop technician is to help ease the new employee into the resources available to them and get them up to speed quickly. In responding to this question, you may want to talk about some of the tools you’ve used in the past to help users acquaint themselves with their new environment. Some tools that help are: A new-user welcome letter that is customized to the specific user with all their relevant information including telephone extension, how to access voice mail, and how to log in. It might also include a FAQ on getting help. A “Getting to Know Your Helpdesk” document that provides an orientation to helpdesk service, such as how to contact the helpdesk, its hours of operation, what is and what is not supported by the helpdesk, and answers to common new-user questions. Technical Questions Q. What questions would you ask to help isolate a user’s problem? A. This question is used by the hiring manger to assess your problem-solving abilities. The following represent some of the common questions that you would ask the end-user to help diagnose a situation: When did the problem first start? Has the system ever worked properly? What was the last thing done to the system prior to the failure? Is the issue intermittent or ongoing/constant? Are there any error messages? If so, what are the specific error messages? Has any new hardware been added to the system? Has any new software been added to the system, including downloads from the Internet? Has anything changed with the system (for example, has it been moved) since the issue presented itself? Has anyone else had access to the system? Are there any environmental factors that could be causing the issue? Have you done any troubleshooting on the system on your own? Have you checked all the cables/connections for a tight fit? Q. What are the main differences between the following operating systems? A. Unfortunately, most companies have not been able to standardize the operating systems used by users. It’s always critical that you know more than just the current version because there will always be a user who has a problem with an older version. By asking this question, the hiring manager is actually testing your knowledge of different operating systems that you may need to support. The following provides a concise summary of some of the major differences. Windows 2000 and XP Overall, XP is a minor update with Windows 2000 designed to get Windows 2000 technology into the hands of consumers. The major changes include the following: Device driver rollback Remote control (single-user terminal services) New Start menu, control panel, and user interface elements Fast user switching Encrypted file system support for redirected folders Better support for roaming wireless networking Enhanced policies Credential Manager Personal firewall Q. What are typical virus sources and how do you prevent virus attacks? A. This is virus protection 101 just to ensure that you understand the basics of protecting against viruses. Possible virus sources include e-mail attachments, Internet downloads, and infected floppy disks. To prevent virus infections: Use anti-virus software. Perform regular updates to the virus software definition files and scan engines. Verify updates have succeeded. Perform regularly scheduled virus checks. Configure software to check all files, not just program files. Educate users on virus attacks, their consequences, and how to prevent them. Know where all software came from. Do regular backups. Develop reporting mechanisms to inform server administrators of observed desktop infections and how these could impact the server environment (such as deletions or corruption of files on public shares, hidden payload files that might have been uploaded to servers, and so on). Q. What are some of the guidelines you would recommend for implementing security at the user level? A. Security is a major part of the desktop technician’s day-to-day responsibilities. As the closest point of contact to the end-users, technicians need to be savvy on the different methods for enforcing security. Some of the top techniques are included below. Anti-virus software: Ensure that all users install and regularly use anti-virus software on their PCs. Instruct users to immediately notify the helpdesk when they suspect they’ve contracted a virus. Password security: Instruct users not to give out their passwords. Instruct users not to write down their passwords. Instruct users to make sure their password cannot be easily guessed by using a combination of alphanumeric characters, including special characters (~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) + = [ ] { } / ? < > , ; : \ | ` ’ ” .). Instruct users to change their password if they think there is even a slight chance someone knows it. Instruct users to ensure their password is at least eight characters long. Instruct users not to use a variation of their user ID. Regularly change passwords on Administrator accounts on PCs (NT, Windows 2000 and XP) Desktop security: Instruct users not to leave their workstation logged in overnight. Instruct users to enable screen savers that automatically lock their PC when there is no activity on it for more than five minutes.

A) Tell me something about yourself. Tell about your eductaion, place you belong to, some struggle in life which shows that you have positive attitude and will to fight the odds. 1) What is Active Directory? A central component of the Windows platform, Active Directory directory service provides the means to manage the identities and relationships that make up network environments. For example we can create, manage and administor users, computers and printers in the network from active directory. 2) What is DNS? Why it is used? What is "forward lookup" and "reverse lookup" in DNS? What are A records and mx records? DNS is domain naming service and is used for resolving names to IP address and IP addresses to names. The computer understands only numbers while we can easily remember names. So to make it easier for us what we do is we assign names to computers and websites. When we use these names (Like yahoo.com) the computer uses DNS to convert to IP address (number) and it executes our request. Forward lookup: Converting names to IP address is called forward lookup. Reverse lookup: Resolving IP address to names is called reverse lookup. 'A' record: Its called host record and it has the mapping of a name to IP address. This is the record in DNS with the help of which DNS can find out the IP address of a name. 'MX' Record: its called mail exchanger record. Its the record needed to locate the mail servers in the network. This record is also found in DNS. 3) What id DHCP? Why it is used? What are scopes and super scopes? DHCP: Dynamic host configuration protocol. Its used to allocate IP addresses to large number of PCs in a network environment. This makes the IP management very easy. Scope: Scope contains IP address like subnet mask, gateway IP, DNS server IP and exclusion range which a client can use to communicate with the other PCs in the network. Superscope: When we combine two or more scopes together its called super scope. 4) What are the types of LAN cables used? What is a cross cable? Types of LAN cables that are in use are "Cat 5" and "Cat 6". "Cat 5" can support 100 Mbps of speed and "CAT 6" can support 1Gbps of speed.Cross cable: Its used to connect same type of devices without using a switch/hub so that they can communicate. 5) What is the difference between a normal LAN cable and cross cable? What could be the maximum length of the LAN cable? The way the paired wires are connected to the connector (RJ45) is different in cross cable and normal LAN cable. The theoritical length is 100 meters but after 80 meters you may see drop in speed. 6) What would you use to connect two computers without using switches? Cross cable. 7) What is IPCONFIG command? Why it is used? IPCONFIG command is used to display the IP information assigned to a computer. Fromthe output we can find out the IP address, DNS IP address, gateway IP address assigned to that computer. 8) What is APIPA IP address? Or what IP address is assigned to the computer when the DHCP server is not available? When DHCP server is not available the Windows client computer assignes an automatic IP address to itself so that it can communicate with the network cmputers. This ip address is called APIPA. ITs in the range of 169.254.X.X. APIPA stands for Automatic private IP addressing. 9) What is a DOMAIN? What is the difference between a domain and a workgroup? Domain is created when we install Active Directory. ITs a security boundary which is used to manage computers inside the boundary. Domain can be used to centrally administor computers and we can govern them using commo policies called group policies. We can't do the same with workgroup. 10) Do you know how to configure outlook 2000 and outlook 2003 for a user? Please visit the link below to find out how to configure outlook 2000 and outlook 2003.http://www.it.cmich.edu/quickguides/qg_outlook2003_server.asp 11) What is a PST file and what is the difference between a PST file and OST file? What file is used by outlook express? PST file is used to store the mails locally when using outlook 2000 or 2003. OST file is used when we use outlook in cached exchanged mode. Outlook express useds odb file. 12) What is BSOD? What do you do when you get blue screen in a computer? How do you troubleshoot it? BSOD stands for blue screen of Death. when there is a hardware or OS fault due to which the windows OS can run it give a blue screen with a code. Best way to resolve it is to boot the computer is "LAst known good configuration". If this doesn't work than boot the computer in safe mode. If it boots up than the problemis with one of the devices or drivers. 13) What is RIS? What is Imaging/ghosting? RIS stands for remote installation services. You save the installed image on a windows server and then we use RIS to install the configured on in the new hardware. We can use it to deploy both server and client OS. Imaging or ghosting also does the same job of capturing an installed image and then install it on a new hardware when there is a need. We go for RIS or iamging/ghosting because installing OS everytime using a CD can be a very time consuming task. So to save that time we can go for RIS/Ghosting/imaging. 14) What is VPN and how to configure it? VPN stands for Virtual private network. VPN is used to connect to the corporate network to access the resources like mail and files in the LAN. VPN can be configured using the stepsmentioned in the KB: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305550 15) Your computer slowly drops out of network. A reboot of the computer fixes the problem. What to do to resolve this issue? Update the network card driver. 16) Your system is infected with Virus? How to recover the data? Install another system. Install the OS with the latets patches, Antivirus with latest updates. Connect the infected HDD as secondary drive in the system. Once done scan and clean the secondary HDD. Once done copy the files to the new system. 17) How to join a system to the domain? What type of user can add a system to the domain? Please visit the article below and read "Adding the Workstation to the Domain"http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/technologies/directory/activedirectory/stepbystep/domxppro.mspx 18) What is the difference between a switch and a hub? Switch sends the traffic to the port to which its meant for. Hub sends the traffic to all the ports. 19) What is a router? Why we use it? Router is a switch which uses routing protocols to process and send the traffic. It also receives the traffic and sends it across but it uses the routing protocols to do so. 20) What are manageable and non manageable switches? Switches which can be administered are called manageable switches. For example we can create VLAN for on such switch. On no manageable switches we can't do so. IT Helpdesk Questions Technical Questions 1. What is NIC? A network card, network adapter or NIC (network interface controller) is a piece of computer hardware designed to allow computers to communicate over a computer network 2. What is USB? Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a serial bus standard to interface devices. Devices like Modem, Mouse, Keyboard etc can be connected. 3. Dialup vs. Broadband A broadband connection (ADSL) provides high-speed Internet access over a standard phone line. The advantage of a broadband connection over a standard dialup service, is that Broadband is considerably faster, and is "always-on", meaning that once you"re logged on, your PC is online until the PC is turned off again. Broadband offer high-speed Internet access and allows telephone calls and a permanent Internet connection to share a single phone line simultaneously whereas in Dialup connection either Internet connection or telephone call can made at given time. 4. LAN and WAN A local area network is a computer network covering a small geographic area, like a home, office, or group of buildings Wide Area Network (WAN) is a computer network that covers a broad area (i.e., any network whose communications links cross metropolitan, regional, or national boundaries). Or, less formally, a network that uses routers and public communications links 5. Microsoft Access Microsoft Office Access, previously known as Microsoft Access, is a relational database management system from Microsoft. 6. What is RAS? Remote Access Services (RAS) refers to any combination of hardware and software to enable the remote access to tools or information that typically reside on a network of IT devices. 7. Difference between Client Mail and Web Mail? Email clients download your emails onto your computer. Using a specialized email program such as Outlook Express or Apple Mail has the advantage of giving you complete control over your email; every email you receive is placed on your computer and you can keep as many large file attachments as you want. Checking your email through our webmail is similar to using Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail. You never actually copy your messages to your computer; in fact, you are looking at them through your web browser on somebody else"s computer. When you are not online, you are not able to see your email. 8. RAM and ROM random access memory, a type of computer memory that can be accessed randomly; that is, any byte of memory can be accessed without touching the preceding bytes. RAM is the most common type of memory found in computers and other devices, such as printers. Pronounced rahm, acronym for read-only memory, computer memory on which data has been prerecorded. Once data has been written onto a ROM chip, it cannot be removed and can only be read. Unlike main memory (RAM), ROM retains its contents even when the computer is turned off. ROM is referred to as being nonvolatile, whereas RAM is volatile. 9. Spamguard Spam Guard is an Outlook add-in that filters email that arrives in your inbox. If the sender of any message cannot be identified then the message is moved into a spam quarantine folder. Messages deposited in the spam quarantine folder can be inspected and either deleted or approved at your leisure. 10. Firewall and Antivirus A system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software, or a combination of both. Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, especially intranets. All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria. Antivirus is a software program which helps protect a computer against being infected by a virus. 11. DNS Short for Domain Name System (or Service or Server), an Internet service that translates domain names into IP addresses. Because domain names are alphabetic, they"re easier to remember. The Internet however, is really based on IP addresses. Every time you use a domain name, therefore, a DNS service must translate the name into the corresponding IP address. For example, the domain name www.example.com might translate to 198.105.232.4. 12. IPConfig IPConfig is a command line tool used to control the network connections on Windows NT/2000/XP machines. There are three main commands: "all", "release", and "renew". IPConfig displays all current TCP/IP network configuration values and refreshes Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Domain Name System (DNS) settings. Used without parameters, IPConfig displays the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway for all adapters. 13. Trace route Trace route is the program that shows you the route over the network between two systems, listing all the intermediate routers a connection must pass through to get to its destination. It can help you determine why your connections to a given server might be poor, and can often help you figure out where exactly the problem is. It also shows you how systems are connected to each other, letting you see how your ISP connects to the Internet as well as how the target system is connected.

VMWARE Questions and Answers 1. Is VMware Kernel a Linux/Unix Kernel? VMware Kernel is a Proprietary Kernel and is not based on any of the UNIX operating systems, it's a kernel developed by VMware Company. 2. Does the VMKernel boot by itself? The VMKernel can't boot by itself, so it takes the help of the 3rd party operating system. In the case of VMware the kernel is booted by RedHat Linux operating system which is known as service console. 3. The service console is developed based up on Redhat Linux Operating system; it is used to manage the VMKernel 4. Which command is used to restart webaccess service on vmware?service vmware-webaccess restart – this will restart apache tomcat app 5. What is the command to restart ssh service on vmware?service sshd restart 6. What is the command to restart host agent(vmware-hostd) on VMware esx server? service mgmt-vmware restart 7. What is the Path of the struts-config.xml? /usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-5.5.17/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/ 8. What is the command to start the scripted install? esx ks=nfs:111.222.333.444:/data/KS.config ksdevice=eth0 location device name 9. Virtual Network in Simple………………. Virtual Nic(s) on Virtual Machine(s) -----> Physical Nic on the ESX Server (Virtual Switch - 56 Ports) -----> Physical Switch Port should be trunked with all the VLANS to which the VM's need access All the ESX servers should be configured with Same number of Physical Nics (vSwitches) and Connectivity also should be same, So that vMotion succeeds. All the Virtual Machines are connected to one vSwitch with Different VLANS, this means the Physical Nic(vSwitch) needs to be trunked with the same VLANS on the Physical Switch Port 10 What are the three port groups present in ESX server networking?1. Virtual Machine Port Group - Used for Virtual Machine Network 2. Service Console Port Group - Used for Service Console Communications 3. VMKernel Port Group - Used for VMotion, iSCSI, NFS Communications 11. What is the use of a Port Group? The port group segregates the type of communication. 12. What are the types of communications which requires an IP address for sure? Service Console and VMKernel (VMotion and iSCSI), these communications does not happen without an ip address (Whether it is a single or dedicated) 13. In the ESX Server licensing features VMotion License is showing as Not used, why? Even though the license box is selected, it shows as "License Not Used" until, you enable the VMotion option for specific vSwitch. 14. How the Virtual Machine Port group communication works? All the vm's which are configured in VM Port Group are able to connect to the physical machines on the network. So this port group enables communication between vSwitch and Physical Switch to connect vm's to Physical Machine's 15. What is a VLAN?A VLAN is a logical configuration on the switch port to segment the IP Traffic. For this to happen, the port must be trunked with the correct VLAN ID. 16. Does the vSwitches support VLAN Tagging? Why?Yes, the vSwitches support VLAN Tagging; otherwise if the virtual machines in an esx host are connected to different VLANS, we need to install a separate physical nic (vSwitch) for every VLAN. That is the reason vmware included the VLAN tagging for vSwitches. So every vSwitch supports upto 1016 ports, and BTW they can support 1016 VLANS if needed, but an ESX server doesn’t support that many VM’s. 17. What is Promiscuous Mode on vSwitch? What happens if it sets to accept?If the promiscuous mode set to Accept, all the communication is visible to all the virtual machines, in other words all the packets are sent to all the ports on vSwitch If the promiscuous mode set to Reject, the packets are sent to inteded port, so that the intended virtual machine was able to see the communication. 18. What is MAC address Changes? What happens if it is set to accept? When we create a virtual machine the configuration wizard generates a MAC address for that machine, you can see it in the .vmx (VM Config) file. If it doesn't matches with the MAC address in the OS this setting does not allow incoming traffic to the VM. So by setting Reject Option both MAC addresses will be remains same, and the incoming traffic will be allowed to the VM. 19. What is Forged Transmits? What happens if it is set to Accept?When we create a virtual machine the configuration wizard generates a MAC address for that machine, you can see it in the .vmx (VM Config) file. If it doesn't matches with the MAC address in the OS this setting does not allow outgoing traffic from the VM. So by setting Reject Option both MAC addresses will be remains same and the outgoing traffic will be allowed from the VM. 20. What are the core services of VC? VM provisioning, Task Scheduling and Event Logging 21. Can we do vMotion between two datacenters? If possible how it will be? Yes we can do vMotion between two datacenters, but the mandatory requirement is the VM should be powered off. 22. What is VC agent? What service it corresponds to? What are the minimum requisites for VC agent installation?VC agent is an agent installed on ESX server which enables communication between VC and ESX server. The daemon associated with it is called vmware-hostd, and the service which corresponds to it is called as mgmt-vmware, in the event of VC agent failure just a restart of the service by typing the following command at the service console helps. " service mgmt-vmware restart " VC agent is installed on the ESX server when we add it to the VC, so at the time of installation if you are getting an error like " VC Agent service failed to install ", check the /Opt size whether it is sufficient or not. 23. How can you edit VI Client Settings and VC Server Settings?Click Edit Menu on VC and Select Client Settings to change VI settings Click Administration Menu on VC and Select VC Management Server Configuration to Change VC Settings. 24. What are the files that make a Virtual Machine? .vmx - Virtual Machine Configuration File .nvram - Virtual Machine BIOS .vmdk - Virtual Machine Disk file .vswp - Virtual Machine Swap File .vmsd - Virtual Machine Snapshot Database .vmsn - Virtual Machine Snapshot file .vmss - Virtual Machine Suspended State file .vmware.log - Current Log File .vmware-#.log - Old Log file 25. What are the devices that can be added while the virtual Machine running? In VI 3.5 we can add Hard Disk and NIC's while the machine running. In vSphere 4.0 we can add Memory and Processor along with HDD and NIC's while the machine running 26. How to set the time delay for BIOS screen for a Virtual Machine? Right Click on VM, select edit settings, choose options tab and select boot option, set the delay how much you want. 27. What is a template? We can convert a VM into Template, and it cannot be powered on once it’s changed to template. This is used to quick provisioning of VM's. 23. What to do to customize the windows virtual machine clone? Copy the sysprep files to Virtual center directory on the server, so that the wizard will take the advantage of it. 24. What to do to customize the linux/unix virtual machine clone? VC itself includes the customization tools, as these operating systems are available as open source. 25. Does cloning from template happen between two datacenters? Yes... it can, if the template is in one datacenter, we can deploy the vm from that template in another datacenter without any problem. 26. What are the common issues with snapshots? What stops from taking a snapshot and how to fix it? If you configure the VM with Mapped LUN's, then the snapshot failed. If it is mapped as virtual then we can take a snapshot of it. If you configure the VM with Mapped LUN's as physical, you need to remove it to take a snapshot. 27. What are the settings that are taken into to consideration when we initiate a snapshot? Virtual Machine Configuration (What hardware is attached to it) State of the Virtual Machine Hard Disk file (To revert back if needed) State of the Virtual Machine Memory (if it is powered on). 28. What are the requirements for Converting a Physical machine to VM? An agent needs to be installed on the Physical machine VI client needs to be installed with Converter Plug-in A server to import/export virtual machines 29. What is VMWare consolidated backup? It is a backup framework, which supports 3rd party utilities to take backups of ESX servers and Virtual Machines. It’s not a backup service. 30. To open the guided consolidation tool, what are the user requirements? The user must be member of administrator, the user should have "Logon as service" privileges - To give a user these privileges, open local sec policy, select Logon as service policy and add the user the user should have read access to AD to send queries 31. Difference between HA and Vmotion? VMotion and HA are not related and are not dependents of each other. DRS has a dependency on vMotion,but not HA. HA is used in the event that a hosts fails you can have your virtual machines restart on another host in the cluster. vMotion allows you to move a virtual machine from one host to another while it is running without service interruption. Ideally you will utilize vMotion, HA and DRS within your cluster to achieve a well balanced VI environment. So HA fail over is not really seamless since you mentioned it has virtual machines restart on another host in the Cluster? No, your VM's will go down If there is a host failure and then HA will restart them on another ESX Host in the cluster. This is where DRS will take over and start to balance out the load across the remaining ESX Hosts in the cluster using vmotion. 32. What is DRS? DRS : Distributed Resource Scheduling (Youtube Video) VMware DRS dynamically balances computing capacity across a collection of hardware resources aggregated into logical resource pools, continuously monitoring utilization across resource pools and intelligently allocating available resources among the virtual machines based on pre-defined rules that reflect business needs and changing priorities. When a virtual machine experiences an increased load, VMware DRS automatically allocates additional resources by redistributing virtual machines among the physical servers in the resource pool. VMware DRS allows IT organizations to: • Prioritize resources to the highest value applications in order to align resources with business goals • Optimize hardware utilization automatically and continuously to respond to changing conditions • Provide dedicated resources to business units while still profiting from higher hardware utilization through resource pooling. • Conduct zero-downtime server maintenance * Lower power consumption costs by up to 20 percent. 33. What is HA? HA : High Availability (Youtube video) vSphere High Availability (HA) delivers the availability needed by many applications running in virtual machines, independent of the operating system and application running in it. HA provides uniform, cost-effective failover protection against hardware and operating system failures within your virtualized IT environment. Monitors virtual machines to detect operating system and hardware failures. Restarts virtual machines on other physical servers in the resource pool without manual intervention when server failure is detected. Protects applications from operating system failures by automatically restarting virtual machines when an operating system failure is detected. 34. What is DPM in VMWARE? DPM : Distributed Power Management VMware Distributed Power Management (DPM) is a pioneering new feature of VMware DRS that continuously monitors resource requirements in a VMware DRS cluster. When resource requirements of the cluster decrease during periods of low usage, VMware DPM consolidates workloads to reduce power consumption by the cluster. When resource requirements of workloads increase during periods of higher usage, VMware DPM brings powered-down hosts back online to ensure service levels are met. VMware DPM allows IT organizations to: • Cut power and cooling costs in the datacenter • Automate management of energy efficiency in the datacenter What is dvSwitch? Distributed vSwitch It’s a new feature introduced in vSphere4.0.The configuration of vDS is centralized to vCenter. The ESX/ESXi 4.xand ESXi 5.x hosts that belong to a dvSwitch do not need further configuration to be compliant. Distributed Switches provide similar functionalities to vSwitches. dvPortgroups is a set of dvPorts. The vDS equivalent of portgroups is a set of ports in a vSwitch. Configuration is inherited from dvSwitch to dvPortgroup, like what happens for vSwitch/Portgroup. Virtual machines, Service Console interface (vswif), and VMKernel interfaces can be connected to dvPortgroups just as like they could be connected to portgroups in vSwitches Administrative rights are required to create the following virtual adapters on each ESX/ESXi host dvSwitch in vCenter: Service Console and VMKernel interfaces Physical NICs and their assignment to dvSwitch Uplink groups Configuring vNetwork Distributed Switch using vCenter What is FT in vmware? FT : Fault Tolerance for Virtual Machines vSphere Fault Tolerance (FT) provides continuous availability for applications in the event of server failures, by creating a live shadow instance of a virtual machine that is in virtual lockstep with the primary instance. By allowing instantaneous failover between the two instances in the event of hardware failure, FT eliminates even the smallest chance of data loss or disruption. VMware Fault Tolerance FAQ What is vApps in vmware? vApps : vApp is a container same as resource pool, but it is having some features of virtual machines, a vApp can be powered on or powered off, and it can be cloned too. More details on vApps along with a video. What is vSafe? vmSafe : VMsafe's application programming interfaces are designed to help third-party vendors create virtualization security products that better secure VMware ESX, vShield Zones is a security tool targets the VMware administrator. In other words VMware VMsafe™ is a program for integrating partner security solutions into VMware-virtualized environments, offering visibility, control and choice to customers. The result is an approach to virtualized security that provides customers with a choice of enhanced security and IT compliance solutions enabling comprehensive protection for virtual datacenters and cloud environments What is vShields? vShield : VShield Zones is essentially a virtual firewall designed to protect VMs and analyze virtual network traffic. This three-part series describes vShield Zones, explains how to install it and provides useful management tips.

nterview Questions for Sys Admin/ Net Admin 120 Interview Questions for System Administrator / Network Administrator General Questions Q. Please describe the technical environment of your current (or most recent) position. A. When describing the technical environment that you currently support, be sure to include the number of users you support, the number of IT staff, the technical infrastructure including servers, types of connections, desktop operating systems, your job duties, and your work schedule. You should be prepared to talk about each of the positions you have listed on your résumé in this way. Also be prepared with a follow-up statement of your most significant accomplishment. Q. How do you keep your technical knowledge and skills current? A. Keeping your skills current demonstrates initiative and a desire to perform at high standards. Be prepared with a list of resources including professional groups. Q. Please describe your greatest technical challenge and how you overcame it. A. Ah, an opportunity for a story. Great examples to draw on: how you taught yourself a new operating system, the installation of a complex system, integration of multiple systems, building of an e-commerce web site. Q. What are some of the tools you use to make your job easier? A. All network administrators have a bag of tricks. You should share some of your trade secrets as a way of demonstrating that you can be efficient in your job as a network administrator. These can include ghosting tools, troubleshooting tools, and documentation tools. Q. How do you document your network? A. One of the toughest parts of network administration is keeping track of an always changing environment. You must have basic documentation for user administration, file system planning, and address planning. Share your documentation with your interviewer. Planning Questions The interviewer will be interested in your network planning methodologies. The following questions provide insight into these skills. Q. What are some of the things you need to take into consideration when planning an upgrade from one network operating system to another? A. This is the mother of all planning activities because it will affect so many resources. The key here is testing and backups and that’s what the interviewer wants to hear. Other considerations include: Network documentation Ensuring that your hardware meets the minimum hardware requirements for the new operating system Creating a test network for testing the compatibility of applications, hardware, and drivers with the new operating system Gathering all updated drivers and patches/service packs required for upgrade compatibility Identifying workflow issues before converting Separating workstation conversions from server conversions Ensuring you have backups of data and the servers so that you can revert back Network addressing scheme Q. Describe the backup/restore policy you use most. A. First of all, the interviewer wants to ensure that you do backups! There are different methods, but the most common backup strategy used is to perform incremental backups Monday through Thursday and a normal backup on Friday. An alternative backup strategy is to perform differential backups Monday through Thursday and a normal backup on Friday. Q. How would you ensure that your servers are secure? A. Security always begins at the physical level—it makes little difference that you’ve provided all the security the operating system and software can provide if someone can walk away with the box or the portable hard drive. The next step is to ensure you have the latest service packs for the operating system and applications running on the server. Installation Q. What steps do you go through as part of your server installation process? A. The interviewer wants to know whether your typical work habits are to just jump in or whether you do some planning. You obviously want to ensure that your hardware meets the minimum requirements, that you have all the right drivers for the new operating system, and whether you need a ROM upgrade for your hardware. Depending on how many installations you’ve done, you may have a process that you like to follow. If you do, describe it to the interviewer. Q. How do you determine which file system is best for your environment? A. This question tests how well you plan for a variety of different environments. The key here is to take into consideration the file format support required for backward compatibility with other operating systems like NetWare or older versions of Windows NT. You’ll also want to make sure there’s enough disk space for drivers and files that must reside in the system partition, as well as space for a dump file if anything goes wrong. Q. What’s the first thing you should do after installing the network operating system? A. This is a test of your security skills. The first thing you should do is either change the password on the administrator account or change the name of the account itself. Q. You just installed a service pack on the e-mail, SQL, print, and file servers. You rebooted all the servers, and now the service pack installation is complete. What’s the final step for the evening? A. The interviewer wants to make sure that testing is an integral part of your routine whenever you install software or make updates to systems. You may also want to review the Event Viewer logs and look for any errors that have been registered. It’s a good idea to also examine the administrative interfaces for SQL and the e-mail server to satisfy yourself that no anomalies have appeared there. Configuration Ninety percent of your day is spent configuring network services, whether it’s installing applications, creating users, or adding printers. Q. What methods are available for configuring a WINS server for use by various Microsoft computers? A. This question demonstrates to the interviewer that you are familiar with the various methods for configuring routing using WINS. You can either configure the WINS server manually or by way of a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Server. Q. A user has left the company and you need to create a new user with the same rights and permissions. What are some of the ways to create the new user? A. By asking you to describe multiple ways of getting the job done, the interviewer can assess your experience level with the operating system. Some of the correct answers to this question include the following: You could copy an existing user’s account to create a new account. However, the rights and permissions for the new, copied account will be based purely on its group memberships, not permissions g ranted strictly to the original account itself. Using Active Directory, you could use the CSVDE.exe program to create a new account with specific group memberships; however, this program is usually intended for bulk creation of accounts in your domain. You could create the new account from scratch, assigning group permissions or individual rights manually. Q. What are some of the alternative ways for mapping a drive letter to a file server if you wish to connect to one of the server’s shared folders? A. This question tests your experience by asking for alternate methods of getting the job done. In addition to mapped drives you can use a Universal Naming Convention path: \\servername\ sharename. You can also browse the Network Neighborhood. Q. You shared a printer from your NT server. What could you do to ensure that the printer is easily accessible to your Windows 98 clients? A. You may have to support older clients on your network. This question tests your experience with older technology. In this case, you should load the Windows 98 printer drivers on the share point. Q. How large can I make a file allocation table partition using the NT operating system? A. This question tests your familiarity with system capabilities and limitations. The maximum FAT partition size is 4 gigabytes. Q. Is it necessary for an NT client computer to use the server’s name in that UNC path? A. There are typically multiple ways of accomplishing the same task. Thank goodness, because you sometimes need them while troubleshooting. Using very basic questions, the interviewer can assess your real knowledge and experience with various operating systems. In this case, you can also use the server’s TCP/IP address. Q. We are creating a web site on our NT server using Internet Information Server 4.0. We expect users to log on anonymously. How many client access licenses must we purchase to allow up to 100 simultaneous connections to our web site? A. This is a trick question to see if you understand the concept of user licensed connections. Anonymous logons on IIS 4.0 do not require client access licenses. Troubleshooting Q. A user contacts you and reports that their Windows 2000 workstation is having trouble connecting to the Web. You run the ipconfig command on the computer and you find that the computer is not referencing the correct primary DNS server. What must you do to remedy this? A. Using this question, the interviewer can assess your routing troubleshooting skills, an essential part of network administration. In this case, you would want to check the primary DNS setting in the IP configuration of the computer. If ipconfig shows a setting for the default DNS server other than what you want, this means the computer’s IP configuration is incorrect. Therefore, the Windows 2000 client computer needs to be reconfigured. Q. Users are complaining of slow performance when they run server-based applications. The server has the following specifications: > Compaq 1600 > 800 MHz Pentium 3 > 256MB of RAM > 18GB EIDE hard drive > 10/100 NIC > Connected to a Cisco switch The performance monitor shows the following: Memory Pages/Sec: 5 Physical Disk % Disk Time: 20 percent Processor % Processor Time: 90 percent What is the best way to improve the system’s performance? A. This question tests your knowledge of server optimization. In this case, the recommendation should be to upgrade the processor. Microsoft recommends you do so if the CPU utilization averages over 70 to 75 percent. Q. A user is having trouble sharing a folder from their NT Workstation. What is a likely cause? A. The interviewer is testing your basic knowledge of rights. In order to share a folder you must be logged on as an administrator, server operator (in a domain), or power user (in a workgroup). Q. You’ve shared a folder and set the share permissions to “Everyone = Full Control.” However, none of the users can save information in the folder. What’s the likely cause? A. This is another question that tests your knowledge of permissions. The likely cause is that someone has set the NTFS permissions in a more restrictive manner than the share permissions. Between those two categories of permissions, the more restrictive of the two always applies to users accessing the folder over the network. Q. What is the most likely cause for the failure of a user to connect to an NT remote access server? A. Supporting remote users may be a big part of your job. It’s important to understand the proper configuration and troubleshooting of the NT RAS. In this case, the user must be granted the RAS dial-in permission. Q. A remote user in Montana, who is not technical and is scared to death of computers, calls for help. The user logged in to your network via the terminal server. You determine that the solution to the user’s problem requires an edit of a hidden read-only file, deleting a system file in the winnt\system32 folder, and creating a simple batch file on the user’s computer. What tools would you use to resolve this problem? A. This question tests your ability for remote troubleshooting. An administrator can edit these files on the user’s computer by connecting to it over the network via the Computer Management console in Windows 2000. Using this console, you can access the administrative shares (C$, D$, and so on) that represent the partitions on the user’s computer. From there, you can edit or create any files necessary to repair the problem. Windows NT Networking Questions Windows NT is still the most popular operating system around. You should be comfortable with this environment to be able to respond to the following questions that an interviewer may ask you. Q. Why is Windows Internet Name Server needed in a Windows NT domain? A. An important part of network administration is setting up the server and clients so they can find one another. WINS is necessary to achieve NetBIOS name resolution. Your desktop clients can then log on to the domain, and the domain controllers can authenticate to one another. Q. What is the normal replication interval between the primary domain controll er and the backup domain controller? A. The PDC waits five minutes after a change in the domain database before “pulsing,” or notifying, the BDCs. Q. How can you synchronize a BDC immediately? A. Within the server manager, select the BDC’s account, choose the Computer menu, and select Synchronize With Primary Domain Controller. Q. Users change their passwords in the NT domain every 30 days. Our primary domain controller is in New York, but we have users in our California office. When a California user changes their password, will they be able to use the new password immediately, or must they wait for replication to occur to a backup domain controller in California? A. You must have a firm grasp of replication. In this case, waiting for a replication will not be necessary. If a BDC doesn’t recognize a user’s password, it will automatically appeal to the PDC to establish its validity. Q. I’ve created logon scripts for my users on the primary domain controller. I’ve correctly mapped them in the properties of my users’ accounts. Some run, some do not. What should I check next? A. The scripts should be replicated to all of your backup domain controllers. The domain controller that validates the logon is the one that runs the script. Q. Is it possible to create a domain account from an NT member server? A. Yes. By using User Manager for Domains, you can create the account from the member server. The account will actually be created on the primary domain controller, however. Q. Someone just dropped a safe on our primary domain controller. What should we do next? A. You should promote one of your backup domain controllers to become the primary domain controller. Q. After the promotion, what happens if we bring the old PDC back online? A. When the old PDC gets back online, its Netlogon service will fail. You can resolve this through Server Manager by first demoting it to a backup domain controller and then promoting it to a primary domain controller. Q. One of your users logs on to the domain from his NT Workstation. Due to a network failure the following day, he is unable to contact a domain controller when he tries to log on. Can the user log on with his domain account? A. Yes. He will be able to log on with locally cached credentials. Q. Someone deleted the account of one of my backup domain controllers in Server Manager. When the BDC boots up, it is unable to authenticate to the primary domain controller, and its Netlogon service fails. What can I do? A. Either restore the account from a backup or reinstall the backup domain controller from scratch. Q. How can I promote one of my member servers to become a backup domain controller? A. You can’t. You must reinstall the entire operating system as a domain controller (either a backup or primary domain controller). Q. Does it matter which of my domain controllers I upgrade to Windows 2000 first? A. Yes. You must upgrade the primary domain controller to Windows 2000 before any of the backup domain controllers. Q. What about the member servers and workstations? Must I upgrade them in any particular order? A. No. member servers and workstations can be upgraded in any order. Active Directory In order to manage an Active Directory Services environment, you must be comfortable with planning, security and permissions, authentication, and synchronization. The following questions may be asked by the interviewer to assess your experience with performing these functions. Q. What rights must your logged-in account have when creating a Windows 2000 forest? A. You must understand rights and permissions thoroughly. In this instance, the account must have administrative rights on the Windows 2000 server used to create the new forest. Q. What rights must your account have when adding a domain to an existing forest? A. In this case, you must be a member of the Enterprise Administrators group. Q. My account has the proper rights, but when I try to create a new domain I get an error message stating that the Domain Naming Master cannot be contacted. What does this mean? A. An experienced network administrator will be able to readily troubleshoot for problems such as this one. This scenario can mean network connectivity issues or a failed Domain Naming Master, which is the domain controller for the forest root domain. Q. Why is Domain Name System (DNS) so important to an Active Directory forest? A. As a network administrator you must understand name resolution. DNS is critical to your forest because it possesses all of the service (SRV) records. These records indicate the TCP/IP address and port necessary to locate a specific service offered by a server. Q. Does the DNS server have to be a Windows 2000 server? A. This is a trick question. DNS is independent of Windows 2000 and so the answer is no. To support Active Directory, the DNS server must support two BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain) version standards: 4.9.6 (SRV records) and 8.1.2 (dynamic updates). Q. What rights does a user need in order to create computer accounts in an Active Directory domain? A. By default, a user only needs to be recognized as a member of the Authenticated Users group to add workstations to a domain. This permission is established in the Default Domain Controllers policy, and permits users to create up to ten accounts. Q. Is it possible to have entirely separate domain name spaces within the same forest? A. When it comes to Active Directory, you must have a thorough understanding of forest limitations. In this case, you can have multiple domain name spaces within the same forest. Q. Do clocks synchronize automatically between Windows 2000 computers? A. This question tests your understanding of Active Directory synchronization. Clocks do synchronize only within a domain. The Primary Domain Controller Emulator handles this task for you. But there is no server that automatically synchronizes clocks between your separate domains. Q. To create Group Policy objects in a domain, what group must you be a member of? A. You must be a member of the Group Policy Creator Owners group in your domain to create these objects. Q. Is it possible to prevent the application of a Group Policy to a user account within one of our organizational units? A. To prevent the application of a Group Policy to a user, you would deny the Read and Apply Group Policy permissions to the user in that organizational unit. Q. Is it possible to schedule replication between two domain controllers in Active Directory? A. This question assesses your knowledge of configuration options for domain controllers within Active Directory. In this case, place the domain controllers in different sites. Then set the schedule on the Site Link object that connects the sites. Q. My Windows 98 users cannot search for published objects in our Active Directory domain. How do I add this capability to their computers? A. Add the DSClient utility to their computers from the Windows 2000 Server CD. Q. What are some of the ways of propagating permissions set on an Active Directory object to lower-level child objects? A. Administering security is a big part of an administrator’s job. One way to accomplish this task is the following: On the Security tab of the parent object, click the Advanced button. Using the special permissions list, be sure to select “Apply onto…This object and all child objects.” Another method is to use the Delegation of Control Wizard. Q. An organization is running a web site using Internet Information Server 5.0 on a Windows 2000 Server. The site allows both Anonymous and Integrated Windows authentication. When our domain users connect to the site, which authentication method is used? A. Understanding authentication modes is a critical part to troubleshooting and effectively securing resources. In this case, they will authenticate as the Anonymous account. An exception to this would be seen if the Anonymous account lacked permissions to a particular resource on the web site, in which case Integrated Windows authentication would be attempted. Q. How can I move the Active Directory database and log files to a different drive on the domain controller? A. This can be accomplished by rebooting the domain controller using Directory Services Restore Mode and running the ntdsutil tool. Q. An administrator accidentally deleted an entire organizational unit containing 200 users from our domain. How can you recover the organizational unit? A. Everyone has these types of situations. You must know how to recover from these mistakes. In this case, rebooting a domain controller using Directory Services Restore Mode and conducting an authoritative restore of the OU from a backup will solve the problem. Q. We demoted our Primary Domain Controller Emulator to become a member server in our domain. What do we need to do to transfer the PDC Emulator role to another domain controller? A. This question tests how well you understand how the PDC Emulator works. In this situation, the role was automatically transferred when the former PDC Emulator was demoted.

25 HR Interview Questions 210 25 HR Interview Questions 1. Tell me about yourself. Since this is often the opening question in an interview, be extra careful that you don’t run off at the mouth. Keep your answer to a minute or two at most. Cover four topics: early years, education, work history, and recent career experience. Emphasize this last subject. Remember that this is likely to be a warm-up question. Don’t waste your best points on it. 2. What do you know about our organization? You should be able to discuss products or services, revenues, reputation, image, goals, problems, management style, people, history and philosophy. But don’t act as if you know everything about the place. Let your answer show that you have taken the time to do some research, but don’t overwhelm the interviewer, and make it clear that you wish to learn more. You might start your answer in this manner: “In my job search, I’ve investigated a number of companies. Yours is one of the few that interests me, for these reasons…” Give your answer a positive tone. Don’t say, “Well, everyone tells me that you’re in all sorts of trouble, and that’s why I’m here”, even if that is why you’re there. 3. Why do you want to work for us? The deadliest answer you can give is “Because I like people.” What else would you like-animals? Here, and throughout the interview, a good answer comes from having done your homework so that you can speak in terms of the company’s needs. You might say that your research has shown that the company is doing things you would like to be involved with, and that it’s doing them in ways that greatly interest you. For example, if the organization is known for strong management, your answer should mention that fact and show that you would like to be a part of that team. If the company places a great deal of emphasis on research and development, emphasize the fact that you want to create new things and that you know this is a place in which such activity is encouraged. If the organization stresses financial controls, your answer should mention a reverence for numbers. If you feel that you have to concoct an answer to this question – if, for example, the company stresses research, and you feel that you should mention it even though it really doesn’t interest you- then you probably should not be taking that interview, because you probably shouldn’t be considering a job with that organization. Your homework should include learning enough about the company to avoid approaching places where you wouldn’t be able -or wouldn’t want- to function. Since most of us are poor liars, it’s difficult to con anyone in an interview. But even if you should succeed at it, your prize is a job you don’t really want. 4. What can you do for us that someone else can’t? Here you have every right, and perhaps an obligation, to toot your own horn and be a bit egotistical. Talk about your record of getting things done, and mention specifics from your resume or list of career accomplishments. Say that your skills and interests, combined with this history of getting results, make you valuable. Mention your ability to set priorities, identify problems, and use your experience and energy to solve them. 5. What do you find most attractive about this position? What seems least attractive about it? List three or four attractive factors of the job, and mention a single, minor, unattractive item. 6. Why should we hire you? Create your answer by thinking in terms of your ability, your experience, and your energy. (See question 4.) 7. What do you look for in a job? Keep your answer oriented to opportunities at this organization. Talk about your desire to perform and be recognized for your contributions. Make your answer oriented toward opportunity rather than personal security. 8. Please give me your definition of [the position for which you are being interviewed]. Keep your answer brief and task oriented. Think in terms of responsibilities and accountability. Make sure that you really do understand what the position involves before you attempt an answer. If you are not certain, ask the interviewer; he / she may answer the question for you. 9. How long would it take you to make a meaningful contribution to our firm? Be realistic. Say that, while you would expect to meet pressing demands and pull your own weight from the first day, it might take six months to a year before you could expect to know the organization and its needs well enough to make a major contribution. 10. How long would you stay with us? Say that you are interested in a career with the organization, but admit that you would have to continue to feel challenged to remain with any organization. Think in terms of, “As long as we both feel achievement-oriented.” 11. Your resume suggests that you may be over-qualified or too experienced for this position. What’s Your opinion? Emphasize your interest in establishing a long-term association with the organization, and say that you assume that if you perform well in his job, new opportunities will open up for you. Mention that a strong company needs a strong staff. Observe that experienced executives are always at a premium. Suggest that since you are so well qualified, the employer will get a fast return on his investment. Say that a growing, energetic company can never have too much talent. 12. What is your management style? You should know enough about the company’s style to know that your management style will complement it. Possible styles include: task oriented (I’ll enjoy problem-solving identifying what’s wrong, choosing a solution and implementing it”), results-oriented (“Every management decision I make is determined by how it will affect the bottom line”), or even paternalistic (“I’m committed to taking care of my subordinates and pointing them in the right direction”). A participative style is currently quite popular: an open-door method of managing in which you get things done by motivating people and delegating responsibility. As you consider this question, think about whether your style will let you work happily and effectively within the organization. 13. Are you a good manager? Can you give me some examples? Do you feel that you have top managerial potential? Keep your answer achievement and ask-oriented. Rely on example to buttress your argument. Stress your experience and your energy. 14. What do you look for when You hire people? Think in terms of skills, initiative, and the adaptability to be able to work comfortably and effectively with others. Mention that you like to hire people who appear capable of moving up in the organization. 15. Have you ever had to fire people? What were the reasons, and how did you handle the situation? Admit that the situation was not easy, but say that it worked out well, both for the company and, you think, for the individ ual. Show that, like anyone else, you don’t enjoy unpleasant tasks but that you can resolve them efficiently and -in the case of firing someone- humanely. 16. What do you think is the most difficult thing about being a manager or executive? Mention planning, execution, and cost-control. The most difficult task is to motivate and manage employees to get something planned and completed on time and within the budget. 17. What important trends do you see in our industry? Be prepared with two or three trends that illustrate how well you understand your industry. You might consider technological challenges or opportunities, economic conditions, or even regulatory demands as you collect your thoughts about the direction in which your business is heading. 18. Why are you leaving (did you leave) your present (last) job? Be brief, to the point, and as honest as you can without hurting yourself. Refer back to the planning phase of your job search. where you considered this topic as you set your reference statements. If you were laid off in an across-the-board cutback, say so; otherwise, indicate that the move was your decision, the result of your action. Do not mention personality conflicts. The interviewer may spend some time probing you on this issue, particularly if it is clear that you were terminated. The “We agreed to disagree” approach may be useful. Remember hat your references are likely to be checked, so don’t concoct a story for an interview. 19. How do you feel about leaving all your benefits to find a new job? Mention that you are concerned, naturally, but not panicked. You are willing to accept some risk to find the right job for yourself. Don’t suggest that security might interest you more than getting the job done successfully. 20. In your current (last) position, what features do (did) you like the most? The least? Be careful and be positive. Describe more features that you liked than disliked. Don’t cite personality problems. If you make your last job sound terrible, an interviewer may wonder why you remained there until now. 21. What do you think of your boss? Be as positive as you can. A potential boss is likely to wonder if you might talk about him in similar terms at some point in the future. 22. Why aren’t you earning more at your age? Say that this is one reason that you are conducting this job search. Don’t be defensive. 23. What do you feel this position should pay? Salary is a delicate topic. We suggest that you defer tying yourself to a precise figure for as long as you can do so politely. You might say, “I understand that the range for this job is between Rs.______ and Rs.______. That seems appropriate for the job as I understand it.” You might answer the question with a question: “Perhaps you can help me on this one. Can you tell me if there is a range for similar jobs in the organization?” If you are asked the question during an initial screening interview, you might say that you feel you need to know more about the position’s responsibilities before you could give a meaningful answer to that question. Here, too, either by asking the interviewer or search executive (if one is involved), or in research done as part of your homework, you can try to find out whether there is a salary grade attached to the job. If there is, and if you can live with it, say that the range seems right to you. If the interviewer continues to probe, you might say, “You know that I’m making Rs.______ now. Like everyone else, I’d like to improve on that figure, but my major interest is with the job itself.” Remember that the act of taking a new job does not, in and of itself, make you worth more money. If a search firm is involved, your contact there may be able to help with the salary question. He or she may even be able to run interference for you. If, for instance, he tells you what the position pays, and you tell him that you are earning that amount now and would like to do a bit better, he might go back to the employer and propose that you be offered an additional 10%. If no price range is attached to the job, and the interviewer continues to press the subject, then you will have to respond with a number. You cannot leave the impression that it does not really matter, that you’ll accept whatever is offered. If you’ve been making Rs. 3,00,000a year, you can’t say that a Rs. 2,00,000 figure would be fine without sounding as if you’ve given up on yourself. (If you are making a radical career change, however, this kind of disparity may be more reasonable and understandable.) Don’t sell yourself short, but continue to stress the fact that the job itself is the most important thing in your mind. The interviewer may be trying to determine just how much you want the job. Don’t leave the impression that money is the only thing that is important to you. Link questions of salary to the work itself. But whenever possible, say as little as you can about salary until you reach the “final” stage of the interview process. At that point, you know that the company is genuinely interested in you and that it is likely to be flexible in salary negotiations. 24. What are your long-range goals? Refer back to the planning phase of your job search. Don’t answer, “I want the job you’ve advertised.” Relate your goals to the company you are interviewing: ‘in a firm like yours, I would like to…” 25. How successful do you you’ve been so far? Say that, all-in-all; you’re happy with the way your career has progressed so far. Given the normal ups and downs of life, you feel that you’ve done quite well and have no complaints. Present a positive and confident picture of yourself, but don’t overstate your case. An answer like, “Everything’s wonderful! I can’t think of a time when things were going better! I’m overjoyed!” is likely to make an interviewer wonder whether you’re trying to fool him / her or yourself. The most convincing confidence is usually quiet confidence.

Basic information on Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, RAID

DNS:A Domain Naming server is a hierarchical namespace structure designed to provide host to IP address name resolution and registration.

DNS ZONE TYPE:
Forward lookup zone: resolves names to IP address.

Reverse lookup zone:
resolves IP addresses to Host names.

AD INTEGRATED ZONE
AD–integrated DNS enables AD storage and replication of DNS zone databases. Windows 2000 & 2003 DNS servers which accommodates storing zone data in AD. When you configure a computer as a DNS server, zones are usually stored as text files on name servers — that is, all of the zones required by DNS are stored in a text file on the server computer. These text files must be synchronized among DNS name servers by using a system that requires a separate replication topology and schedule called a zone transfer However, if you use AD integrated DNS you configure a domain controller as a DNS name server, zone data is stored as an AD object and is replicated as part of domain replication.

STUB ZONE
A Stub zone is a read only copy of a zone that contains only those resources records necessary to identify the authoritative DNS servers for the actual zone. A stub zone is used to keep a parent zone aware of authoritative DNS servers for a delegated zone and thereby maintain DNS name resolution efficiently. A stub zone is conposed of (A), (NS), (SOA)


Types of DNS Records: -
A(Host):
Represents a computer or device on the network. 'A'records are the most common and most used DNS records.
PTR(Pointer):
Used for finding the DNS name that corresponds to an IP address. The PTR is found only in the reverse lookup zone.
NS(NameServer):
The NS RRs facilitate delegation by identifying DNS servers for each zone. They appear in all forward and reverse look-up zones.
SOA(Start Of Authority):
The first record in any zone file is a SOA. the SOA identifies a primary DNS name server for the zone as the best source of information for the data within that zone and as an entity processing the updates for the zone.
SRV(Service Record):
Indicates a network service offered by a host.- CNAME(Alias):an alias is hostname that refers to another hostname.
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DHCP: Is a standard for simplifing management of host IP configuration.

SUPERSCOPE: Superscope is a administrative feature of DHCP server that you can create and manage through the DHCP console. Using a Superscope you can group multiple scopes as a single administrative entity.

DHCP Authorize: This procedure is usually only needed if you are running a DHCP server on a member server. In most cases, if you are installing a DHCP server on a computer also running as a domain controller, the server is automatically authorized the first time you add the server to the DHCP console.

SCOPE: DHCP scope is a poole of IP addresses which are offered to DHCP clients.
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WHAT ARE FSMO ROLES IN ACTIVE DIRECTORY?
Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 Active directory follow the multimaster model. Under this model there are five roles which which can be held by the DCs (Domian Controllers).

The five roles are given below:
• Schema Master: The schema master domain controller controls all updates and modifications to the schema. To update the schema of a forest, you must have access to the schema master. There can be only one schema master in the whole forest.
• Domain naming master: The domain naming master domain controller controls the addition or removal of domains in the forest. There can be only one domain naming master in the whole forest.
• Infrastructure Master: The infrastructure is responsible for updating references from objects in its domain to objects in other domains. At any one time, there can be only one domain controller acting as the infrastructure master in each domain.
• Relative ID (RID) Master: The RID master is responsible for processing RID pool requests from all domain controllers in a particular domain. At any one time, there can be only one domain controller acting as the RID master in the domain.
• PDC Emulator: The PDC emulator is a domain controller that advertises itself as the primary domain controller (PDC) to workstations, member servers, and domain controllers that are running earlier versions of Windows. For example, if the domain contains computers that are not running Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Microsoft Windows 2000 client software, or if it contains Microsoft Windows NT backup domain controllers, the PDC emulator master acts as a Windows NT PDC. It is also the Domain Master Browser, and it handles password discrepancies. At any one time, there can be only one domain controller acting as the PDC emulator master in each domain in the forest.


What is replication in active directory?
REPLICATION Replication is a process of sending update information for data that has changed in the directory to other domain controllers, as a Part of the AD planning an implementation process.*2000/2003 uses MULTI-MASTER replication for the AD.
Types of UPDATES which force replication: Add, Modify, ModifyDN, delete
USN: Update sequence numbers
GUID: Globally unique identifier


REPLICATION PARTITIONS:

Schema Partition: contains object and attribute definitions. In other words it contains a list of definitions that define what objects and attributes for those objects can exist in the AD.
Configuration partition: contains information about the physical structure of the AD, such as the sites and domains and where DC resides in the enterprise. It is replicated to all DC's in the tree or forest.
Domain partition: contains information about all AD objects that are specific to that domain, such as users, groups and other resources. All domain partition information is completely replicated to all domain controllers within the domain.


REPLICATION TOPOLOGY
KCC: Knowledge Consistency Checker: It builds the topology for the intrasite replication between the DCs. It uses only RPC to communicate with the directory service.
Bridgehead server: A point where a replication information leaves or enters a site for intersite replication.

BENIFITS
• Optimize replication for speed and bandwidth consumption between domain controllers.• Locate the closest domain controller for client logon, services, and directory searches.
• Direct a Distributed File System (DFS) client to the server that is hosting the requested data within the site.
• Replicate the system volume (SYSVOL), a collection of folders in the file system that exists on each domain controller in a domain and is required for implementation of Group Policy
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What is RAID?
ANS: Redundant Array of Inexpensive disk is a way to increase capaxity, performance and reliablility.
RAID0: (Striping) Not really RAID as it has no fault tolerance, Data is striped across all disks, Excelent read/write performance.
RAID1: (Mirroring) Need at least 2 drives, tolerates single drive failure, often used for OS drive or boot volume.
RAID5: Requires at least 3 drives, data and parity striped across all disks, can tolerate failure of any one disk without losing data but performance does degrade.

TCP/IP MODEL:
Application Layer
Transport Layer
Internet
Network Interface

OSI MODEL
Application Layer
Presentation layer
Session layer
Transport Layer
Network Layer
Data-link Layer
Physical layer


What is a switch?
A network switch, or bridge, is a specialized device that connects multiple network segments. It's a more modern and efficient form of the ubiquitous (and outdated) network hub. A hub, also known as a repeater, is a simple device that has been used for years to connect all nodes, or computers, on a network to a central location. Each node on a network has a unique hardware address called a MAC address. A hub is known as a repeater because when a packet of data, or frame, is sent through the hub, it is repeated to each and every computer on the network.This means that if a 1 GB video is sent to one computer through the hub, the file will also be sent to all of the other computers on the hub. This is very inefficient for bandwidth management. "Hubs have two major drawbacks," says Ben deGonzague, a deployment engineer with TopCoder Software, a Glastonbury, Conn.-based software engineering firm. "First, network bandwidth is consumed as each and every frame is sent to all devices on a network. Second, your network is only as fast as the slowest device. Hubs have become obsolete with switching-based networks."A switch-based network is one that utilizes switches instead of hubs. A switch is a major upgrade to a hub. Instead of sending all network data to each and every network node, the switch will analyze the MAC address and determine where to send the data. Network bandwidth is not wasted by sending every frame to every port.So when a switch receives data for a file, if it was addressed to one computer it will only be sent there. The other computers on the network wouldn't know about it. This means that the network is now much more efficient, but it's also a step toward being more secure: "Since switches can segregate traffic from different nodes," says deGonzague, "this makes it more difficult for anyone to capture packets on your network.


What is a router?
While switches connect multiple computers, a router is required to connect multiple networks, like your LAN to the Internet. Routers work by storing large tables of networks and addresses, then using algorithms to determine the shortest routes to individual addresses within those networks. In this way efficient routers not only facilitate intra-network communications, but also play a role in overall network performance. delivering the information faster.While many consumers are familiar with small routers from companies like Linksys, which can be purchased for less than $50 at computer hardware stores, they shouldn't be confused with a proper router for business. "A typical router at home will connect your cable modem or DSL network to your internal network. This is just connecting two different networks. Routers for businesses on the other hand might have to connect several different networks," says deGonzague. Small business routers from vendors like Cisco often include management software, enabling IT staff to better manage network stability and, ultimately, performance.

1) What is Active Directory? 
A central component of the Windows platform, Active Directory directory service provides the means to manage the identities and relationships that make up network environments. For example we can create, manage and administor users, computers and printers in the network from active directory.


2) What is DNS? Why it is used? What is "forward lookup" and "reverse lookup" in DNS? What are A records and mx records? 
DNS is domain naming service and is used for resolving names to IP address and IP addresses to names. The computer understands only numbers while we can easily remember names. So to make it easier for us what we do is we assign names to computers and websites. When we use these names (Like yahoo.com) the computer uses DNS to convert to IP address (number) and it executes our request.
Forward lookup: Converting names to IP address is called forward lookup.
Reverse lookup: Resolving IP address to names is called reverse lookup.
'A' record: Its called host record and it has the mapping of a name to IP address. This is the record in DNS with the help of which DNS can find out the IP address of a name.
'MX' Record: its called mail exchanger record. Its the record needed to locate the mail servers in the network. This record is also found in DNS.

For in depth learning of DNS, please download, extract and watch the videos available here. 



3) What is DHCP? Why it is used? What are scopes and super scopes?

DHCP: Dynamic host configuration protocol. Its used to allocate IP addresses to large number of PCs in a network environment. This makes the IP management very easy.
Scope: Scope contains IP address like subnet mask, gateway IP, DNS server IP and exclusion range which a client can use to communicate with the other PCs in the network.
Superscope: When we combine two or more scopes together its called super scope.



4) What are the types of LAN cables used? What is a cross cable? 

Types of LAN cables that are in use are "Cat 5" and "Cat 6". "Cat 5" can support 100 Mbps of speed and "CAT 6" can support 1Gbps of speed.
Cross cable: Its used to connect same type of devices without using a switch/hub so that they can communicate.


5) What is the difference between a normal LAN cable and cross cable? What could be the maximum length of the LAN cable? 

The way the paired wires are connected to the connector (RJ45) is different in cross cable and normal LAN cable.
The theoritical length is 100 meters but after 80 meters you may see drop in speed due to loss of signal.


6) What would you use to connect two computers without using switches? Cross cable. 7) What is IPCONFIG command? Why it is used?
IPCONFIG command is used to display the IP information assigned to a computer. Fromthe output we can find out the IP address, DNS IP address, gateway IP address assigned to that computer.


8) What is APIPA IP address? Or what IP address is assigned to the computer when the DHCP server is not available?
When DHCP server is not available the Windows client computer assignes an automatic IP address to itself so that it can communicate with the network cmputers. This ip address is called APIPA. ITs in the range of 169.254.X.X.
APIPA stands for Automatic private IP addressing. Its in the range of 169.254.X.X.


9) What is a DOMAIN? What is the difference between a domain and a workgroup? Domain is created when we install Active Directory. It's a security boundary which is used to manage computers inside the boundary. Domain can be used to centrally administor computers and we can govern them using common policies called group policies.
We can't do the same with workgroup.


10) Do you know how to configure outlook 2000 and outlook 2003 for a user?
Please visit the link below to find out how to configure outlook 2000 and outlook 2003.http://www.it.cmich.edu/quickguides/qg_outlook2003_server.asp


11) What is a PST file and what is the difference between a PST file and OST file? What file is used by outlook express?
PST file is used to store the mails locally when using outlook 2000 or 2003. OST file is used when we use outlook in cached exchanged mode. Outlook express useds odb file.


12) What is BSOD? What do you do when you get blue screen in a computer? How do you troubleshoot it?
BSOD stands for blue screen of Death. when there is a hardware or OS fault due to which the windows OS can run it give a blue screen with a code. Best way to resolve it is to boot the computer is "LAst known good configuration". If this doesn't work than boot the computer in safe mode. If it boots up than the problemis with one of the devices or drivers.


13) What is RIS? What is Imaging/ghosting?
RIS stands for remote installation services. You save the installed image on a windows server and then we use RIS to install the configured on in the new hardware. We can use it to deploy both server and client OS. Imaging or ghosting also does the same job of capturing an installed image and then install it on a new hardware when there is a need. We go for RIS or iamging/ghosting because installing OS everytime using a CD can be a very time consuming task. So to save that time we can go for RIS/Ghosting/imaging.


14) What is VPN and how to configure it?
VPN stands for Virtual private network. VPN is used to connect to the corporate network to access the resources like mail and files in the LAN. VPN can be configured using the stepsmentioned in the KB:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305550

15) Your computer slowly drops out of network. A reboot of the computer fixes the problem. What to do to resolve this issue?
Update the network card driver.


16) Your system is infected with Virus? How to recover the data?
Install another system. Insall the OS with the lates pathces, Antivirus with latest updates. Connect the infected HDD as secondary drive in the system. Once done scan and clean the secondary HDD. Once done copy the files to the new system.


17) How to join a system to the domain? What type of user can add a system to the domain?
Please visit the article below and read "Adding the Workstation to the Domain"
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/technologies/directory/activedirectory/stepbystep/domxppro.mspx


18) What is the difference between a switch and a hub?
Switch sends the traffic to the port to which its meant for. Hub sends the traffic to all the ports.


19) What is a router? Why we use it?
Router is a switch which uses routing protocols to process and send the traffic. It also receives the traffic and sends it across but it uses the routing protocols to do so.


20) What are manageable and non manageable switches?
Switches which can be administered are calledmanageable switches. For example we can create VLAN for on such switch. On no manageable swiches we can't do so.