Windows server administrator interview questions and answers

Here I am going to discuss some windows server administrator interview questions and answers. These questions are very common in interview session. I hope you will be benefited from this.

What’s the difference between NTFS & FAT?
NTFS is the current file system used by Windows Operating System. It provides security for local user as well as for domain users. 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. On the other hand, FAT32 is the older Microsoft file system, primarily used by the Windows 9X line and Window could be installed on a FAT32 partition up to XP. In comparison, 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.

Why cannot you restore a DC that was backed up 4 months ago?
When restoring a backup file, Active Directory generally requires that the backup file be no more than 180 days old. The lifetime of backed up file is either 60 or 120 days. If attempt to you restore a backup that is expired, you may encounter problems because of lingering objects.

What is VLAN?
VLAN Stand for Virtual Local Area Network. It is a logical grouping of network users and resources connected to administratively defined ports on a switch.
Uses of VLAN are as follows:-
1. It is secured connection.
2. It reduces cost for any network.
3. It increases flexibility.
4. On a network, sensitive data may be broadcast. In such cases, it provides security only those users who have access to the data.
4. It creates separate broadcast domain.

What is the use of Global Catalog?
A Global Catalog is something that each domain has, and it is used for authenticating the user on the network, on windows 2000 network logon’s were protected from failures by assigning a Global Catalog to every site. It stores a copy of all Active Directory objects in a forest. The global catalog stores a full copy of all objects in the directory for its host domain and a partial copy of all objects for all other domains in the forest.

What is role of active directory?
Active directory is a domain controller which is use to authenticate and administrate the group of computer, user, server etc. The active Directory means a service that identifies and handles resources, making them visible for different groups or members that are authorized. All the policies and security will be applicable on the client machine which one is join the domain and all this policies and security is defined in active directory.

What is binding order?
The order by which the network protocols are used for client-server communications. The most frequently used protocols should be at the top.

What do I do to look at the RID allocation table for a Domain Controller?

Go to Command prompt and type

C:\>dcdiag /test:ridmanager /s:<dcname> /v

Here dcname is the name of our Domain Controller.

What is the role of Proxy Server?
A proxy server is a computer that acts as an intermediary between a local network 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. A proxy server is associated with or part of a gateway server that separates the enterprise network from the outside network and a firewall server that protects the enterprise network from outside intrusion.

What is CIDR?
CIDR stands for classless inter domain routing. It was developed in the 1990s as a standard scheme for routing network traffic across the Internet. It helps in preventing the wasting of IP address and nowadays we are facing the shortage of the IP address. So this CIDR helps to prevent the waste of IP address. CIDR notation is a syntax of specifying IP addresses and their associated routing prefix. It appends a slash character to the address and the decimal number of leading bits of the routing prefix, e.g., 192.168.1.0/24

What is the role of DHCP?
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is used for the DHCP servers, automatically provides an Internet Protocol (IP) host with its IP address and other related configuration information such as the subnet mask and default gateway. The server knows nothing about the personal computers until they make a request for information. Usually the most common information sent is IP address and DHCP is used to make a large network administration easier. DHCP is also useful if an administrator wants to change the IP addresses of a large number of systems. Instead of reconfiguring all the systems, he can just edit one DHCP configuration file on the server for the new set of IP addresses.

What is the SYSVOL folder?
Sysvol is an important component of Active Directory. The Sysvol folder stores the server’s copy of the domain’s public files. The Sysvol folder is shared on an NTFS volume on all the domain controllers in a particular domain. The term SYSVOL refers to a set of files and folders that reside on the local hard disk of each domain controller in a domain and that are replicated by the File Replication service (FRS). Sysvol is used to deliver the policy and logon scripts to domain members.

What is difference between Frond end & Back End Server?
A back end server is a computer resource that has not been exposed to the internet. For this the computing resource does not directly communicate with the internet user. It can also be described as a server whose main role is to store and retrieve all email messages. On the other hand, a frontend server is a computer resource that has exposed to the internet.

What are the role Unicast, Multicast and Broadcast?
Unicast is a kind of transmission in which data is sent from one host to another host. Unicast transmission is one-to-one communications.
Unicast -> A transmission to a single port.
Multicast is different from Unicast. It’s a transmission where data can be sent to more host. Where information is sent to multiple receiver.
On the other hand, In Broadcast data is sent by one host but received by all the hosted connected with it.

If you have any questions about this article, don’t forget to leave a comment.