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39 Top MICROSOFT Windows Server Administrator Interview Questions and Answers by A Real Interviewer
39 Top MICROSOFT Windows Server Administrator Interview Questions and Answers by A Real Interviewer
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Before we start a technical side, I think the first step to winning an interview you must go
through with few things and those things will help you collect the information you need.
Analyzing the Position: Begin by embarking on a systematic review of the job, Your
objective is to collect as much information as possible about how the job and what
knowledge and competences are needed to perform it.
Take a close look at the official job description: Consider the environment in which
the job is performed. Are there any special skills required? For example, what tools
and software you need to know in order to perform this job. Make note of any tools
that must be used to perform the tasks of the job.
Talk with those who have held the job in the past: If you don’t know anyone just
try to find them through linkedin.com and scan their profiles for tools and skillsets,
they have used. check what competencies and skills contributed to their success? Did
the lack of certain competencies or skills cause or contribute to difficulties that they
experienced on the job?
let's start the technical side because this article is specially written for windows system admin
so we will focus on only the windows system admin most common questions.
Question 1: What are the minimum system requirements to install and use Windows
Server 2019 Essentials:
Answer
Question 2: What is the difference between Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server
2016
Answer
Features related to hybrid capabilities: Only Windows Server 2019 supports hybrid
cloud, Storage Migration Service, and System Insights. However, both OSes support
Storage Replica. Features related to better security: Only Windows Server 2019
supports shielded VMs for Windows Server and Linux, whereas both OSes support
Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), Device Guard, and
Credential Guard. Features related to optimization of performance: Only Windows
Server 2019 supports Linux containers and the Kubernetes platform, whereas both
OSes support Windows Server containers including Docker.
Features related to infrastructure management: Only Windows Server 2019
supports cluster-wide monitoring and deduplication for Resilient File System (ReFS),
whereas both OSes support storage health monitoring and VM Storage Resiliency.
Answer:
All Windows operating systems stores their setting information in a database. This database
is called the “Windows Registry”. The Windows Registry contains profiles with configuration
options for each user account on your Windows computer or device, to separate settings
between users.
Answer:
Active Directory allows administrators to control policies for instance rights and settings, in
an organization's network. Active Directory stores settings related to an object centrally in a
database.
Answer:
The Internet is a giant network of computers connected to each other through a network
globally. Each computer on this network can communicate with other computers. To identify
them, each computer is assigned an IP address. It is a series of numbers that identify a
computer on the internet. Now an IP address like this is quite difficult to remember. Imagine
if you had to use such numbers to visit again your favorite websites. So, the domain name is
invented to solve this problem.
A domain controller allows system administrators to grant or deny users access to system
resources, such as printers, documents, folders, network locations, etc., via a single username
and password.
Answer:
Group Policy allows you to implement specific configurations for users and computers.
You can perform remotely and on any number of computers.
Answer:
A Group Policy Object (GPO) is a collection of settings that control the working environment
of user accounts and computer accounts. GPOs define registry-based policies, security
options, software installation and maintenance options, script options, and folder redirection
options.
Answer:
Answer:
It is a shared folder that stores the group policies info along with login scripts.
Answer:
It runs every 12 hours; Garbage collection is the online defragmentation of the Active
Directory.
Answer:
Question 12: What are the windows default ports used for Email?
Answer:
SMTP – port 25
HTTP – port 80
Answer:
DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol is a network management protocol
used to automate the process of configuring devices/servers on IP networks, thus permitting
them to use network services such as DNS and NTP.
However, few services or applications for example licenses can be bound to IP address so in
this case, we must use the static IP address instead.
DHCP also plays a prominent role in cloud computing, especially for IP allocation.
Question 14: What are Lingering Objects and how we can remove them?
Answer:
A lingering object is a deleted AD object that re-appears “lingers” on the restored domain
controller in its local copy of Active Directory. This can happen if, after the backup was
made, the object was deleted on another DC more than 180 days ago.
Windows Server 2003 and 2008 have the ability to manually remove lingering objects by
using utility command “ REPADMIN.EXE”.
Question 16: Why Should You Not Restore A DC that was Backed Up 6 Months Ago?
Answer:
When restoring a backup file, Active Directory generally requires that the backup file be no
more than 180 days old. If you attempt to restore a backup that is expired, you may face
problems due to lingering objects.
Windows Server 2003: You can backup Active Directory by using the NTBACKUP tool
that comes built-in with Windows Server 2003 or uses any 3rd-party tool that supports this
feature.
Windows Server 2008: In Server 2008, there isn’t an option to backup the System State data
through the normal backup utility. We need to use the command line to backup Active
Directory.
When the backup process has finished you should get a message that the backup completed
successfully. If it did not complete properly you will need to troubleshoot.
Question 18: What kind of servers and systems you have been working as an Admin.
Answer:
Name here all the servers and services you currently manging in your current role.
Answer:
NTFS stands for the New Technology File System which is used as the primary file system
of Windows for its system drive and, by default, for most non-removable drives.
Fat32 stands for File Allocation Table. It is a universal file system, meaning it is accepted
by any operating system. This file system is usually pre-installed on any USB drive you buy
from the store. The biggest limitation of the Fat32 file system is that it has a file size limit of
4GB, which can be a problem for high-size files.
Answer:
Loopback address is 127.0.0.1, An address that sends outgoing signals back to the same
server for testing.
Answer:
A proxy server is a computer that acts as a gateway between a local network and outside
world network. It is used as a line of defense. Proxy servers provide increased performance
and security.
Answer:
Answer:
Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) servers dynamically map IP addresses to computer
names. This allows users to access resources by computer name instead of by IP address. If
you want this computer to keep track of the names and IP addresses of other computers in
your network, configure this computer as a WINS server.
If you do not use WINS in such a network, you cannot connect to a remote network resource
by using its NetBIOS name.
Answer:
Answer:
Microsoft security patches are aimed to solve certain security loopholes, while at the same
time upgrading any existing security features. This would provide better protection by
reducing vulnerabilities in the security of the operating system.
Question 32: How often should you check for Microsoft Updates?
Answer:
I try to do as often as possible and I love to enable the auto-update feature of the Microsoft
operating system that would allow regular monitoring from the Microsoft site for available
updates.
Question 33: How does Microsoft classify security threats to its software?
Answer:
Low
Moderate
Important
Critical
Answer:
The hotfix is files that are distributed by Microsoft Customer Service and are intended to
address issues such as bugs and errors within existing software.
Answer:
DLL is short for Dynamic Link Library. These are shared library files that contain usable
codes and routines that other applications can utilize to create other new applications.
Answer:
FAT12,
FAT16,
FAT32
Windows XP can be installed on these file systems. The use of NTFS is preferred when using
a larger hard drive space.
Answer:
A service pack is a collection of updates and fixes, called patches, for an operating system or
a software program. Many of these patches are often released before a larger service pack,
but the service pack allows for an easy, single installation.
Answer:
COM is short for the Component Object Model. It is a Microsoft technology that allows us to
make use of reusable components and services provided by Microsoft. COM technology
includes COM+, DCOM, and ActiveX.
Question 39: What is the advantage of NTFS over FAT and FAT32?
NTFS was built for better performance, especially when it comes to managing the way files
are stored. It supports encryption, compression and enhanced metadata support. As a result,
NTFS is more robust, safe and has better utilization of hard drive space.
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Administrator-Interview-Questions-and-Answers-By-a-Real-Interviewer.html