What is Active Directory

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1. What is Active Directory? 2. What is LDAP? 3. Can you connect Active Directory to other 3rd-party Directory Services? Name a few options. 4. Where is the AD database held? What other folders are related to AD? 5. What is the SYSVOL folder? 6. Name the AD NCs and replication issues for each NC 7. What are application partitions? When do I use them 8. How do you create a new application partition 9. How do you view replication properties for AD partitions and DCs? 10. What is the Global Catalog? 11. How do you view all the GCs in the forest? 12. Why not make all DCs in a large forest as GCs? 13. Trying to look at the Schema, how can I do that? 14. What are the Support Tools? Why do I need them? 15. What is LDP? What is REPLMON? What is ADSIEDIT? What is NETDOM? What is REPADMIN? 16. What are sites? What are they used for? 17. What‘s the difference between a site link‘s schedule and interval? 18. What is the KCC? 19. What is the ISTG? Who has that role by default? 20. What are the requirements for installing AD on a new server? 21. What can you do to promote a server to DC if you‘re in a remote location with slow WAN link? 22. How can you forcibly remove AD from a server, and what do you do later? • Can I get user
passwords from the AD database?

23. What tool would I use to try to grab security related packets from the wire? 24. Name some OU design considerations. 25. What is tombstone lifetime attribute? 26. What do you do to install a new Windows 2003 DC in a Windows 2000 AD? 27. What do you do to install a new Windows 2003 R2 DC in a Windows 2003 AD? 28. How would you find all users that have not logged on since last month? 29. What are the DS* commands? 30. What‘s the difference between LDIFDE and CSVDE? Usage considerations? 31. What are the FSMO roles? Who has them by default? What happens when each one fails? 32. What FSMO placement considerations do you know of? 33. I want to look at the RID allocation table for a DC. What do I do? 34. What‘s the difference between transferring a FSMO role and seizing one? Which one should you
NOT seize? Why?

35. How do you configure a ―stand-by operation master‖ for any of the roles? 36. How do you backup AD? 37. How do you restore AD? 38. How do you change the DS Restore admin password? 39. Why can‘t you restore a DC that was backed up 4 months ago? 40. What are GPOs? 41. What is the order in which GPOs are applied? 42. Name a few benefits of using GPMC. 43. What are the GPC and the GPT? Where can I find them? 44. What are GPO links? What special things can I do to them? 45. What can I do to prevent inheritance from above? 46. How can I override blocking of inheritance?

47. How can you determine what GPO was and was not applied for a user? Name a few ways to do
that.

48. A user claims he did not receive a GPO, yet his user and computer accounts are in the right OU,
and everyone else there gets the GPO. What will you look for?

49. Name a few differences in Vista GPOs 50. Name some GPO settings in the computer and user parts. 51. What are administrative templates? 52. What‘s the difference between software publishing and assigning? 53. Can I deploy non-MSI software with GPO? 54. You want to standardize the desktop environments (wallpaper, My Documents, Start menu,
printers etc.) on the computers in one department. How would you do that?

What is the SYSVOL folder? The sysVOL folder stores the server‘s copy of the domain‘s public files. The contents such as group policy, users etc of the sysvol folder are replicated to all domain controllers in the domain. The sysvol folder must be located on an NTFS volume. Que.: What is Active Directory? Ans. Active Directory is a Meta Data. Active Directory is a data base which store a data base like your user information, computer information and also other network object info. It has capabilities to manage and administor the complite Network which connect with AD. Que.: What is the Global Catalog? Ans.: Global Catalog is a server which maintains the information about multiple domain with trust relationship agreement.. Que: What is Active Directory? Ans: Active Directory directory service is an extensible and scalable directory service that enables you to manage network resources efficiently. Q01: What is Active Directory? Ans:Active Directory is directory service that stores information about objects on a network and makes this information available to users and network administrators. Active Directory gives network users access to permitted resources anywhere on the network using a single logon process. It provides network administrators with an intuitive, hierarchical view of the network and a single point of administration 3for all network objects. Q; What is active directory? Ans: active directory is a domain controller which is use to authenticate and administrate the group of computer,user,server etc. remotely. 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. Q2: What is LDAP? Ans2: LDAP(light weight directory accerss protocol) is an internet protocol which Email and other services is used to look up information from the server. Q 18: What is KCC ? Ans 18: KCC ( knowledge consistency checker ) is used to generate replication topology for inter site replication and for intrasite replication.with in a site replication traffic is done via remote procedure calls over ip, while between site it is done through either RPC or SMTP. Q 10: What is Global Catalog Server ? Ans 10 : Global Catalog Server is basically a container where you put the same type of member

,computer etc and applied the policies and security on the catalog server in place of individual user or computer. Q; What is active directory? active directory is a domain controller which is use to authenticate and administrate the group of computer,user,server etc. remotely. 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. Q 10 : what is Global catalog server GC? Ans : i m sorry i was given wrong ans of this question above but now im giving the exact ans of this question, and th ans which iwas given previously is the ans of Organisatinal Unit not o f GC….. and the ans is The global catalog is a distributed data repository that contains a searchable, partial representation of every object in every domain in a multidomain Active Directory forest. The global catalog is stored on domain controllers that have been designated as global catalog servers and is distributed through multimaster replication. Searches that are directed to the global catalog are faster because they do not involve referrals to different domain controllers. Q 4: Where is the AD database held? What other folders are related to AD? A 4: The AD data base is store in NTDS.DIT. Q 5 : What is the SYSVOL folder? A 5; The sysVOL folder stores the server‘s copy of the domain‘s public files. The contents such as group policy, users etc of the sysvol folder are replicated to all domain controllers in the domain. Q 19: What is the ISTG? Who has that role by default? A 19: Windows 2000 Domain controllers each create Active Directory Replication connection objects representing inbound replication from intra-site replication partners. For inter-site replication, one domain controller per site has the responsibility of evaluating the inter-site replication topology and creating Active Directory Replication Connection objects for appropriate bridgehead servers within its site. The domain controller in each site that owns this role is referred to as the Inter-Site Topology Generator (ISTG). Q :15 What is LDP? What is REPLMON? What is ADSIEDIT? What is NETDOM? What is REPADMIN? A 15 : LDP : Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) is often used to establish MPLS LSPs when traffic engineering is not required. It establishes LSPs that follow the existing IP routing, and is particularly well suited for establishing a full mesh of LSPs between all of the routers on the network. Replmon : Replmon displays information about Active Directory Replication. ADSIEDIT :ADSIEdit is a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in that acts as a low-level editor for Active Directory. It is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) tool. Network administrators can use it for common administrative tasks such as adding, deleting, and moving objects with a directory service. The attributes for each object can be edited or deleted by using this tool. ADSIEdit uses the ADSI application programming interfaces (APIs) to access Active Directory. The following are the required files for using this tool: ADSIEDIT.DLL ADSIEDIT.MSCNETDOM : NETDOM is a command-line tool that allows management of Windows domains and trust relationships. It is used for batch management of trusts, joining computers to domains, verifying trusts, and secure channels. REPADMIN : This command-line tool assists administrators in diagnosing replication problems between Windows domain controllers.Administrators can use Repadmin to view the replication topology (sometimes referred to as RepsFrom and RepsTo) as seen from the perspective of each domain controller. In addition, Repadmin can be used to manually create the replication topology (although in normal practice this should not be necessary), to force replication events between domain controllers, and to view both the replication metadata and up-to-dateness vectors. Q 36: how to take backup of AD ? A 36 : for taking backup of active directory you have to do this : first go to START -> PROGRAM ->ACCESORIES -> SYSTEM TOOLS -> BACKUP when the backup screen is flash then take the backup of SYSTEM STATE it will take the backup of all the necessary information about the syatem including AD backup , DNS ETC.

Q 37 : how to restore the AD ? a 37 : For ths do the same as above in the question 36 but in place of backup you select the restore option and restore the system state . Q 19: What is the ISTG? Who has that role by default? A 19: Inter-Site Topology Generator(istg) is responsible for managing the inbound replication connection objects for all bridgehead servers in the site in which it is located. This domain controller is known as the Inter-Site Topology Generator (ISTG). The domain controller holding this role may not necessarily also be a bridgehead server. Q 29 :What are the DS* commands A 29 : You really are spoilt for choice when it comes to scripting tools for creating Active Directory objects. In addition to CSVDE, LDIFDE and VBScript, we now have the following DS commands: the da family built in utility DSmod - modify Active Directory attributesDSrm - to delete Active Directory objectsDSmove - to relocate objectsDSadd - create new accountsDSquery - to find objects that match your query attributesDSget - list the properties of an object Q 30 :What’s the difference between LDIFDE and CSVDE? Usage considerations? A 30 : CSVDE is a command that can be used to import and export objects to and from the AD into a CSV-formatted file. A CSV (Comma Separated Value) file is a file easily readable in Excel. I will not go to length into this powerful command, but I will show you some basic samples of how to import a large number of users into your AD. Of course, as with the DSADD command, CSVDE can do more than just import users. Consult your help file for more info. Like CSVDE, LDIFDE is a command that can be used to import and export objects to and from the AD into a LDIF-formatted file. A LDIF (LDAP Data Interchange Format) file is a file easily readable in any text editor, however it is not readable in programs like Excel. The major difference between CSVDE and LDIFDE (besides the file format) is the fact that LDIFDE can be used to edit and delete existing AD objects (not just users), while CSVDE can only import and export objects. Q 25 : What is tombstone lifetime attribute? A 25 : The number of days before a deleted object is removed from the directory services. This assists in removing objects from replicated servers and preventing restores from reintroducing a deleted object. This value is in the Directory Service object in the configuration NIC. You want to standardize the desktop environments (wallpaper, My Documents, Start menu, printers etc.) on the computers in one department. How would you do that? How it is possibal (20)What are the requirements for installing AD on a new server? Ans:1)The Domain structure2)The Domain Name3)storage location of the database and log file4)Location of the shared system volume folder5)DNS config Methode6)DNS configuration 7. What are application partitions? When do I use them. Ans: AN application diretcory partition is a directory partition that is replicated only to specific domain controller.Only domain controller running windows Server 2003 can host a replica of application directory partition. Using an application directory partition provides redundany,availabiltiy or fault tolerance by replicating data to specific domain controller pr any set of domain controllers anywhere in the forest Q:You want to standardize the desktop environments (wallpaper, My Documents, Start menu, printers etc.) on the computers in one department. How would you do that? How it is possibal. Ans:Login on client as Domain Admin user change whatever you need add printers etc go to system-User profiles copy this user profile to any location by select Everyone in permitted to use after copy change ntuser.dat to ntuser.man and assgin this path under user profile Q. 8. How do you create a new application partition ANS: Use the DnsCmd command to create an application directory partition. To do this, use the following syntax: DnsCmd ServerName /CreateDirectoryPartition FQDN of partition Global catalog provides a central repository of domain information for the forest by storing partial replicas of all domain directory partitions. These partial replicas are distributed by multimaster replication to all global catalog servers in a forest.

How do you view all the GCs in the forest? Ans C:\>repadmin /showreps domain_controller where domain_controller is the DC you want to query to determine whether it‘s a GC. The output will include the text DSA Options: IS_GC if the DC is a GC. . . . Trying to look at the Schema, how can I do that Ans: type ―adsiedit.msc‖ in run or command prompt Q. Can you connect Active Directory to other 3rd-party Directory Services? Name a few options. Ans. Yes, you can use dirXML or LDAP to connect to other directories In Novell you can use E-directory Q 38 :How do you change the DS Restore admin password ? Ans 38: A. In Windows 2000 Server, you used to have to boot the computer whose password you wanted to change in Directory Restore mode, then use either the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Local User and Groups snap-in or the command net user administrator * to change the Administrator password. Win2K Server Service Pack 2 (SP2) introduced the Setpwd utility, which lets you reset the Directory Service Restore Mode password without having to reboot the computer. (Microsoft refreshed Setpwd in SP4 to improve the utility‘s scripting options.) In Windows Server 2003, you use the Ntdsutil utility to modify the Directory Service Restore Mode Administrator password. To do so, follow these steps: 1. Start Ntdsutil (click Start, Run; enter cmd.exe; then enter ntdsutil.exe). 2. Start the Directory Service Restore Mode Administrator password-reset utility by entering the argument ―set dsrm password‖ at the ntdsutil prompt: ntdsutil: set dsrm password 3. Run the Reset Password command, passing the name of the server on which to change the password, or use the null argument to specify the local machine. For example, to reset the password on server thanos, enter the following argument at the Reset DSRM Administrator Password prompt: Reset DSRM Administrator Password: reset password on server thanos To reset the password on the local machine, specify null as the server name: Reset DSRM Administrator Password: reset password on server null 4. You‘ll be prompted twice to enter the new password. You‘ll see the following messages: 5. Please type password for DS Restore Mode Administrator Account: 6. Please confirm new password: Password has been set successfully. 7. Exit the password-reset utility by typing ―quit‖ at the following prompts: 8. Reset DSRM Administrator Password: quit ntdsutil: quit Q.40: What are Group Policy objects (GPOs)? A.40: Group Policy objects, other than the local Group Policy object, are virtual objects. The policy setting information of a GPO is actually stored in two locations: the Group Policy container and the Group Policy template. The Group Policy container is an Active Directory container that stores GPO properties, including information on version, GPO status, and a list of components that have settings in the GPO. The Group Policy template is a folder structure within the file system that stores Administrative Templatebased policies, security settings, script files, and information regarding applications that are available for Group Policy Software Installation. The Group Policy template is located in the system volume folder (Sysvol) in the \Policies subfolder for its domain. Q 41 :What is the order in which GPOs are applied ? A 41: Group Policy settings are processed in the following order: 1. Local Group Policy object—Each computer has exactly one Group Policy object that is stored locally. This processes for both computer and user Group Policy processing.

2. Site—Any GPOs that have been linked to the site that the computer belongs to are processed next. Processing is in the order that is specified by the administrator, on the Linked Group Policy Objects tab for the site in Group Policy Management Console (GPMC). The GPO with the lowest link order is processed last, and therefore has the highest precedence. 3. Domain—Processing of multiple domain-linked GPOs is in the order specified by the administrator, on the Linked Group Policy Objects tab for the domain in GPMC. The GPO with the lowest link order is processed last, and therefore has the highest precedence. 4. Organizational units—GPOs that are linked to the organizational unit that is highest in the Active Directory hierarchy are processed first, then GPOs that are linked to its child organizational unit, and so on. Finally, the GPOs that are linked to the organizational unit that contains the user or computer are processed. At the level of each organizational unit in the Active Directory hierarchy, one, many, or no GPOs can be linked. If several GPOs are linked to an organizational unit, their processing is in the order that is specified by the administrator, on the Linked Group Policy Objects tab for the organizational unit in GPMC. The GPO with the lowest link order is processed last, and therefore has the highest precedence. This order means that the local GPO is processed first, and GPOs that are linked to the organizational unit of which the computer or user is a direct member are processed last, which overwrites settings in the earlier GPOs if there are conflicts. (If there are no conflicts, then the earlier and later settings are merely aggregated.) What is LDAP? Lightweight Directory Access Protocol This article will tell you how to add your first Windows 2003 DC to an existing Windows 2000 domain. This article is particularly useful if you have Windows 2000 servers that will be replaced by new hardware running Windows Server 2003. The first step is to install Windows 2003 on your new DC. This is a straighforward process, so we aren‘t going to discuss that here. Because significant changes have been made to the Active Directory schema in Windows 2003, we need to make our Windows 2000 Active Directory compatible with the new version. If you already have Windows 2003 DCs running with Windows 2000 DCs, then you can skip down to the part about DNS. Before you attempt this step, you should make sure that you have service pack 4 installed on your Windows 2000 DC. Next, make sure that you are logged in as a user that is a member of the Schema Admin and Enterprise Admin groups. Next, insert the Windows 2003 Server installation CD into the Windows 2000 Server. Bring up a command line and change directories to the I386 directory on the installation CD. At the command prompt, type: Code : adprep /forestprep After running this command, make sure that the updates have been replicated to all existing Windows 2000 DCs in the forest. Next, we need to run the following command: Code : adprep /domainprep The above command must be run on the Infrastructure Master of the domain by someone who is a member of the Domain Admins group. Once this is complete, we move back to the Windows 2003 Server. Click ‘start‘ then ‗run‖ - type in dcpromo and click OK. During the ensuing wizard, make sure that you select that you are adding this DC to an existing domain. After this process is complete, the server will reboot. When it comes back online, check and make sure that the AD database has been replicated to your new server. Next, you will want to check and make sure that DNS was installed on your new server. If not, go to the control panel, click on ‗Add or Remove Programs‘, and click the ‗Add/Remove Windows Components‘ button. In the Windows Components screen, click on ‗Networking Services‘ and click the details button. In the new window check ‗Domain Name System (DNS)‘ and then click the OK button. Click ‗Next‘ in the Windows Components screen. This will install DNS and the server will reboot. After reboot, pull up the DNS Management window and make sure that your DNS settings have replicated from the Windows

2000 Server. You will need to re-enter any forwarders or other properties you had set up, but the DNS records should replicate on their own. The next 2 items, global catalog and FSMO roles, are important if you plan on decomissioning your Windows 2000 server(s). If this is the case, you need to transfer the global catalog from the old server to the new one. First, let‘s create a global catalog on our new server. Here are the steps: 1. On the domain controller where you want the new global catalog, start the Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in. To start the snap-in, click ‗Start‘, point to ‗Programs‘, point to ‗Administrative Tools‘, and then click ‗Active Directory Sites and Services‘. 2. In the console tree, double-click ‗Sites‘, and then double-click ‘sitename‘. 3. Double-click ‗Servers‘, click your domain controller, right-click ‗NTDS Settings‘, and then click ‗Properties‘. 4. On the General tab, click to select the Global catalog check box to assign the role of global catalog to this server. 5. Restart the domain controller. Make sure you allow sufficient time for the account and the schema information to replicate to the new global catalog server before you remove the global catalog from the original DC or take the DC offline. After this is complete, you will want to transfer or seize the FSMO roles for your new server. For instructions, read Using Ntdsutil.exe to transfer or seize FSMO roles to a domain controller. After this step is complete, we can now run DCPROMO on the Windows 2000 Servers in order to demote them. Once this is complete, copy over any files you need to your new server and you should have successfully replaced your Windows 2000 server(s) with a new Windows 2003 server(s Global Catalyst is the one where the authentication happens, by default primary domain controller is Global Catalyst, we can add global catalyst to improve the Netwrk Performance What is Active Directory? Its a Directory Service which stores and manages the information of Objects(User,computer,printer shared folder etc) What are the requirements for installing AD on a new server? Win2K3 CD DNS Static IP You want to standardize the desktop environments (wallpaper, My Documents, Start menu, printers etc.) on the computers in one department. How would you do that? go to Start->programs->Administrative tools->Active Directory Users and Computers Right Click on Domain->click on preoperties On New windows Click on Group Policy Select Default Policy->click on Edit on group Policy console go to User Configuration->Administrative Template->Start menu and Taskbar Select each property you want to modify and do the same

1. What are the required components of Windows Server 2003 for installing Exchange
2003? - ASP.NET, SMTP, NNTP, W3SVC

2. What must be done to an AD forest before Exchange can be deployed? - Setup /forestprep 3. What Exchange process is responsible for communication with AD? - DSACCESS 4. What 3 types of domain controller does Exchange access? - Normal Domain Controller,
Global Catalog, Configuration Domain Controller

5. What connector type would you use to connect to the Internet, and what are the two 6.
methods of sending mail over that connector? - SMTP Connector: Forward to smart host or use DNS to route to each address How would you optimise Exchange 2003 memory usage on a Windows Server 2003 server with more than 1Gb of memory? - Add /3Gb switch to boot.ini

7. What would a rise in remote queue length generally indicate? - This means mail is not being 8.
sent to other servers. This can be explained by outages or performance issues with the network or remote servers. What would a rise in the Local Delivery queue generally mean? - This indicates a performance issue or outage on the local server. Reasons could be slowness in consulting AD, slowness in handing messages off to local delivery or SMTP delivery. It could also be databases being dismounted or a lack of disk space. What are the standard port numbers for SMTP, POP3, IMAP4, RPC, LDAP and Global Catalog? - SMTP – 25, POP3 – 110, IMAP4 – 143, RPC – 135, LDAP – 389, Global Catalog 3268 Name the process names for the following: System Attendant? – MAD.EXE, Information Store – STORE.EXE, SMTP/POP/IMAP/OWA – INETINFO.EXE What is the maximum amount of databases that can be hosted on Exchange 2003 Enterprise? - 20 databases. 4 SGs x 5 DBs. What are the disadvantages of circular logging? - In the event of a corrupt database, data can only be restored to the last backup.

9. 10. 11. 12.

19 Responses to “Windows sysadmin interview questions” 1) How windows server will configure? Tell them that you have 400 pc based network, and you configure a Active Directory domain on windows servers to centralize administration tasks. 1) How windows server will configure? Its depends on the role of the server. If you installing Active Directory, you have to run DCPROMO on commond prompt, and followed instructions. Over all its depends on the role. Simply you can say– there is an option in windows ―Manage Server‖ once you follow the instructions it will guide you to configure your server. 2) How many types of servers? If they are concern with Hardware server, tell them the hardware configuration and vendor of the server. If they are asking about the types of windows server, tell them Standard, enterprise, or Small business server etc. start > Run > Cmd > Type net send Computername type ur msg Question 2: What must be done to an AD forest before Exchange can be deployed? - Setup /forestprep question 2 is incorrect, in order for ms exchange 2k or 2003 to be sucessfully ―deployed‖ both forestprep and domain prep must successfuly complete first, before the setup.exe of the actual exchange install, or the install and will error out if attempted. .How windows server will configure?. 2.How many types of server?. 3.What is the server evnverment?. I faced one interview they asked how many types of server in your company, how u configured. Please guide me in this mater 1) How to migrate from windows 2000 to 2003 without distrubing the existing Domain ????????? 2) How to migrage from Ms. Exchange 2000 to 2003 and how to configure Outlook Web Access ???????? 3) What r the ports to required to configure to Exchange Server ???????? 4) What is IIS and how to migrate from IIS 5.0 to IIS 6.0 ??

1.

1) What r the frequently asked questions on ADS 2003. and what r the main differences between ADS 2000 and 2003 ???????? 2) What are main differences between WINS and DNS ??? 3) Why we have to go to DNS what r the advantages in DNS ??????? 4) What r the frequently asked questions on DNS ???? 5) What r the frequently asked questions on DHCP ???? 6) What r the frequently asked questions FTP ???? 7) What r the frequently asked questions on DFS ???? 8) What r the frequently asked questions on File Server ?????????? 9) What r the frequently asked questions on Print Server ?????????

2.

1.In windows2000 perfosonal or winxp pc perfomance is very low what is the solution you will give? 2. what is diffrent between AD2000 & AD2003? 3. what is different between windows2000 & NT & winxp?

3.

What r the frequently asked questions on ADS 2003. and what r the main differences between ADS 2000 and 2003 ???????? 2) What are main differences between WINS and DNS ??? 3) Why we have to go to DNS what r the advantages in DNS ??????? 4) What r the frequently asked questions on DNS ???? 5) What r the frequently asked questions on DHCP ???? 6) What r the frequently asked questions FTP ???? 7) What r the frequently asked questions on DFS ???? 8) What r the frequently asked questions on File Server ?????????? 9) What r the frequently asked questions on Print Server ?????????

4.

XP 1.Firewall 2.Automatic update 3.Media Player 9 is support to DVD 4.Visual style 5.Remote Desktop 6.On Screen Board 7.Program Capability wizard 8 etc………………..

5.

Question asked @ interview what is use of NTLDR file where its location what will you do if error occure‖ntldr missing‖ what would be the poroblem if my mails not outgoing. what are the protocols use by outlook. what are diff between outlook & outlook express.

6.
most of these are terrible questions for a general windows/AD sys admin. They‘re bookish, not realistic; the kind of thing one looks up if one doesn‘t use every day. Also, too many of the questions are focused on exchange. For example, we outsource exchange, so a windows sysadmin here wouldn‘t be asked any of those questions… What are main differences between WINS and DNS ??? WINS:- It is used to resolve IP address into netbios Viceversa it is used prior version of win 2000 DNS:-It is used to resolve IP address into host name.Viceversa it is used in 2000, XP, 2003 server what are diff between outlook & outlook express ???? Outlook Express Outlook Express is the e-mail client that is included with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x, the Microsoft Windows 98 operating system, the Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me) operating system, the Microsoft Windows 2000 operating systems, and Microsoft Office 98 for the Macintosh. Outlook Express is designed for home users who gain access to their e-mail messages by dialing in to an Internet service provider (ISP). Outlook Outlook is Microsoft‘s premier messaging and collaboration client. It is a stand -alone application that is integrated into Microsoft Office and Exchange Server. Outlook also provides performance and integration with Internet Explorer 5.5. Complete integration of e-mail, calendaring, and contact management, makes Outlook the perfect client for many business users.

9.
Advantages of WINS: WINS will be really helofull in a multidomain environment where in user‘s would need to access many of the resources in different domains, rathere than adding different DNS suffixes of each domain on the local machine. WINS is the best option. But i could also say WINS is not as stable as DNS. Windows sysadmin interview questions

1. What is Active Directory schema? 2. What are the domain functional level in Windows Server 2003? 3. What are the forest functional level in Windows Server 2003? 4. What is global catalog server? 5. How we can raise domain functional & forest functional level in Windows Server 2003? 6. Which is the deafult protocol used in directory services? 7. What is IPv6? 8. What is the default domain functional level in Windows Server 2003? 9. What are the physical & logical components of ADS 10. In which domain functional level, we can rename domain name?

11. What is multimaster replication? 12. What is a site? 13. Which is the command used to remove active directory from a domain controler? 14. How we can create console, which contain schema? 15. What is trust? 16. What is the file that‘s responsible for keep all Active Directory database?

Windows Server and MS Exchange interview questions

1. What is DHCP? How we configure DHCP? 2. What are the ways to configure DNS & Zones? 3. What are the types of backup? Explain each? 4. What are Levels of RAID 0, 1, 5? Which one is better & why? 5. What are FMSO Roles? List them. 6. Describe the lease process of the DHCP server. 7. Disaster Recovery Plan? 8. What is scope & super scope? 9. Differences between Win 2000 Server & Advanced Server? 10. Logical Diagram of Active Directory? What is the difference between child domain & additional
domain server?

11. FTP, NNTP, SMTP, KERBEROS, DNS, DHCP, POP3 port numbers? 12. What is Kerberos? Which version is currently used by Windows? How does Kerberos work?
Microsoft Exchange Server interview questions

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Distribution List? GAL, Routing Group, Stm files, Eseutil & ininteg - what are they used for? What is MIME & MAPI? List the services of Exchange Server 2000? How would you recover Exchange server when the log file is corrupted?

Sysadmin interview questions

1. What is a level 0 backup? 2. What is an incremental backup? 3. What steps are required to perform a bare-metal recovery? 4. Name key files or directories on a UNIX system that should always be backed up. 5. Name key files or directories on a Windows system that should always be backed up. 6. What is RAID 0? 7. What is RAID 0+1? Why is it better than 0? 8. What is RAID-5? 9. Why would you NOT want to encapsulate a root directory with Veritas? 10. What is concatenation? 11. What is striping? 12. What is a spindle?

Networking questions

1. What is a default gateway? - The exit-point from one network and entry-way into another
network, often the router of the network.

2. How do you set a default route on an IOS Cisco router? - ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 x.x.x.x
[where x.x.x.x represents the destination address]

3. What is the difference between a domain local group and a global group? - Domain local 4. 5. 6. 7.
groups grant permissions to objects within the domain in which the reside. Global groups contain grant permissions tree or forest wide for any objects within the Active Directory. What is LDAP used for? - LDAP is a set of protocol used for providing access to information directories. What tool have you used to create and analyze packet captures? - Network Monitor in Win2K / Win2K3, Ethereal in Linux, OptiView Series II (by Fluke Networks). How does HSRP work? What is the significance of the IP address 255.255.255.255? - The limited broadcast address is utilized when an IP node must perform a one-to-everyone delivery on the local network but the network ID is unknown.

12 general questions from an international company A TechInterviews reader sent in the questions he faced at a major global company. The questions are fairly generic:

1. Tell me about your analytical skills, cite some examples of how you have used your skills in the 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
past. What are some of your long term goals? What are your short term goals? Where do you see yourself five years from now? Tell me why I should hire you? What does customer service mean to you? Why did you leave your last job? Describe your definition of a team player? Sight examples of when in the past you have proven to be a team player? How would you handle a conflict with another employee? What do you believe you can gain by working at this company? Give me some examples of times in the past, when you were able to avoid a conflict, by thinking on your feet. Tell what you know about this company.

SCCM Question

SCCM 2007 Interview Questions with Answers
Question: What is SMS provider and what it does.= Answer: The SMS Provider is a WMI provider that allows both read and write access to the

Configuration Manager 2007 site database. The SMS Provider is used by the Configuration Manager console, Resource Explorer, tools, and custom scripts used by Configuration Manager 2007 administrators to access site information stored in the site database. The SMS Provider also helps ensure that Configuration Manager 2007 object security is enforced by only returning site information that the user account running the Configuration Manager console is authorized to view. More on SMS provider… Question: Can we upgrade SCCM secondary site to primary site? Answer: Yes we can do. More on upgrading secondary sites….. Question: Can you change a secondary site to a primary site? Answer: No. A secondary site is always a secondary site. It cannot be upgraded, moved, or changed without deleting it and reinstalling it. If you delete and reinstall, you lose all secondary site data. Question: Can you distribute a package to a computer without making it a member of a collection? Answer: No. To distribute software you must have a package, a program and an advertisement. Advertisements can only be sent to collections, not to computers. If you want to distribute a package to a single computer, you must create a collection for that computer. Question: Can a site have more than one default management point? Answer: No. You can configure more than one management points in a site, but only one of those management points can be configured as the default management point to support intranet clients in the site. If you are concerned about performance, you can configure more than one management point, configure them to be part of a Network Load Balancing (NLB) cluster, and them configure the NLB cluster as the default management point. Question: Can a secondary site have child sites? Answer: No. A secondary site cannot have a primary or secondary site reporting to it. Secondary sites are always child sites to a primary site. Question: Can you install the Configuration Manager client components without discovering the computer first? Answer: Yes. Client Push Installation is the only client installation method that requires clients to be discovered first. Question: Does Configuration Manager 2007 mixed mode require a public key infrastructre (PKI)? Answer: No. Configuration Manager 2007 native mode requires a PKI, but Configuration Manager 2007 does not. PKI authentication helps provide a greater level of security, but Configuration Manager 2007 does not help you install or configure the PKI infrastructure. If you do not already have the expertise to install and configure the PKI infrastructure, you can start with mixed mode and then change to native mode later.

Question: Can computers show up in the Configuration Manager console before they have the Configuration Manager client installed? Answer: Yes. If you use a discovery method, Configuration Manager can find many resources and create data discovery records (DDRs) for them, and those DDRs are stored in the database. However, you cannot use Configuration Manager features such as software distribution, software updates management, and inventory until you install the client components. Question: Can you assign clients to a secondary site? Answer: No.If you have a secondary site, the client must be assigned to the primary parent of the secondary site. However, Configuration Manager knows how to manage clients at the child secondary site. If there is a distribution point at the secondary site that has the content the clients need, the clients will probably get the content from the local distribution point instead of crossing the WAN link to the primary site. Question: Can Configuration Manager 2007 be used to package software for distribution? Answer: No. Configuration Manager 2007 delivers command lines to clients and can force those command lines to run with administrative rights using the Local System account. Configuration Manager 2007 command lines can be batch files, scripts, Windows Installer files with .msi extensions, executable files – any file that the operating system can run, Configuration Manager 2007 can distribute. However, Configuration Manager 2007 does not actually package any software for distribution.

SCCM / SMS Interview Questions
Are you preparing for SCCM Interview , Below are the ultimate list of Real time SCCM / SMS Interview Questions with Answers which covers different topics ranging from Installation, Troubleshooting, OSD, DCM, SUP etc.
Can you change a secondary site to a primary site? No. A secondary site is always a secondary site. It cannot be upgraded, moved, or changed without deleting it and reinstalling it. If you delete and reinstall, you lose all secondary site data. Can you distribute a package to a computer without making it a member of a collection? No. To distribute software you must have a package, a program and an advertisement. Advertisements can only be sent to collections, not to computers. If you want to distribute a package to a single computer, you must create a collection for that computer.

What is Secondary Site?
Four Main characteristics:
  

A Secondary Site does not have access to a Microsoft SQL Database Secondary Sites are ALWAYS a Child Site of a Primary Site and can only be administered via a Primary Site Secondary Sites cannot have Child Sites of their own



Clients cannot be assigned directly to the Site

What is CENTRAL SITE?

A Central Site is a Configuration Manager Primary Site that resides at the top of the Configuration Manager hierarchy. All Database information rolls from the child to the parent and is collected by the Central Site’s Configuration Manager Database. The Central Site can administer any site below it in the hierarchy and can send data down to those sites as well. What is PRIMARY SITE?
Four main characteristics:
   

The Site has access to a Microsoft SQL Server Database Can administer or be administered via the Configuration Manager Console It can be a child of other Primary Sites and can have Child Sites of its own Clients can be assigned directly to the Site

How do you install and configure Secondary site server
http://exchangeserverinfo.com/2008/05/02/installation-and-configuration-of-secondary-siteserver.aspx How do you create a package for Adobe?

the command line msiexec.exe /q ALLUSERS=2 /m MSIHPSJR /i “AcroRead.msi” TRANSFORMS=mytransform.mst
How do you distribute a package?
   

create a package in SCCM, pointing it to the installation sources, and in the package create an install program (you may have already done this?) assign Distribution Points to your package so the contents get synched. create a Collection containing the objects (users/computers) that are allowed to receive the package. create an Advertisement for the distribution, linking the package you created to the collection, decide whether the Adverisement is mandatory (installation enforced) or not (users have to go to the “Run Advertised Programs” dialog in Windows and select to install the program)

How SCCM download the patches?

You need to add the Software Update Point site role to the site, configure the software update point as active, configure the products, classifications, sync settings, etc. in the Software Update Point properties. THEN, you can go to the Update Repository node and run the Run Synchronization action from the central primary site. Once synchronization completes, you will see the metadata in the Configuration Manager console.

How do you configure the SUP? In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to System CenterConfiguration Manager / Site Database /Site Management / &lt;site code> – <site name> / Site Settings / Site Systems Right-click the site system server name, and then click New Roles. Select Software update point, and then click Next. Specify whether the site server will use a proxy server when connecting to the software update point, and then clickNext. Select Use this server as the active software update point, and then specify the port settings configured for the WSUS Web site on this site system. Specify the synchronization source for the active software update point using one of the following settings: like Synchronize from Microsoft Update or Synchronize from an upstream update server Keep the default setting Do not create WSUS reporting events, and then click Next Specify whether to synchronize software updates on a schedule by selecting Enable synchronization on a schedule Specify the update classifications for which the software updates will be synchronized, and then click Next. Specify the products for which the software updates will be synchronized, and then click Next. Open SUPSetup.log in <InstallationPath>\Logs to monitor the installation progress for the software update point. When the installation completes, Installation was successful is written to the log file. Open WCM.log in <InstallationPath>\Logs to verify that the connection to the WSUS server was successful. How do you Backup SCCM Server?

To create a scheduled backup task, expand the Site Settings node and expand the Site Maintenance node, click on Tasks.
For Manual backup – Start SMS_SITE_BACKUP service What are the client deployments methods?

Client Push Installion, Software update point based installation, Group Policy Installation, Logon Script Installation, Manual Installation, Upgrade Installation(software Distribution)
Can you discover clients those are in different AD forest?

yes. Internet-based client management, which supports the following site systems installed in a

separate forest to the site server: Management point Distribution point Software update point Fallback status point
What are the prerequisite for Software Update Point? Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) 3.0, WSUS 3.0 Administration Console, Windows Update Agent (WUA) 3.0,Site server communication to the active software update point,Network Load Balancing (NLB),Background Intelligent Transfer Server (BITS) 2.5,Windows Installer What is SMS Provider?

The SMS Provider is a WMI provider that allows both read and write access to the Configuration Manager 2007 site database. The SMS Provider is used by the Configuration Manager console The SMS Provider can be installed on the site database server computer, site server computer or another server class third computer during Configuration Manager 2007 Setup. After setup has completed, the current installed location of the SMS Provider is displayed on the site properties general tab
What is ITMU? SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Microsoft Updates What is the use of WSUS (Windows Server Update Service)?

It enables administrators to deploy the latest Microsoft product updates to computers that are running the Windows operating system.
Difference between SMS 2003 and SCCM 2007 What is WMI (indows Management Instrumentation)? You can write WMI scripts or applications to automate administrative tasks on remote computers What is SUP ( Software Update Point)?

This is required component of software updates, and after it is installed, the SUP is displayed as a site system role in the Configuration Manager console. The software update point site system role must be created on a site system server that has Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) 3.0 installed.

Network
Q1. What are 10Base2, 10Base5 and 10BaseT Ethernet LANs 10Base2—An Ethernet term meaning a maximum transfer rate of 10 Megabits per second that uses baseband signaling, with a contiguous cable segment length of 100 meters and a maximum of 2 segments.

10Base5—An Ethernet term meaning a maximum transfer rate of 10 Megabits per second that uses baseband signaling, with 5 continuous segments not exceeding 100 meters per segment. 10BaseT—An Ethernet term meaning a maximum transfer rate of 10 Megabits per second that uses baseband signaling and twisted pair cabling. Q2. What is the difference between an unspecified passive open and a fully specified passive open An unspecified passive open has the server waiting for a connection request from a client. A fully specified passive open has the server waiting for a connection from a specific client. Q3. Explain the function of Transmission Control Block A TCB is a complex data structure that contains a considerable amount of information about each connection. Q4. What is a Management Information Base (MIB) A Management Information Base is part of every SNMP-managed device. Each SNMP agent has the MIB database that contains information about the device's status, its performance, connections, and configuration. The MIB is queried by SNMP. Q5. What is anonymous FTP and why would you use it Anonymous FTP enables users to connect to a host without using a valid login and password. Usually, anonymous FTP uses a login called anonymous or guest, with the password usually requesting the user's ID for tracking purposes only. Anonymous FTP is used to enable a large number of users to access files on the host without having to go to the trouble of setting up logins for them all. Anonymous FTP systems usually have strict controls over the areas an anonymous user can access. Q6. What is a pseudo tty A pseudo tty or false terminal enables external machines to connect through Telnet or rlogin. Without a pseudo tty, no connection can take place. Q7. Which layer of the 7 layer model provides services to the Application layer over the Session layer connection? Presentation. Q8. What does the Mount protocol do ? The Mount protocol returns a file handle and the name of the file system in which a requested file resides. The message is sent to the client from the server after reception of a client's request. Q9. What is External Data Representation External Data Representation is a method of encoding data within an RPC message, used to ensure that the data is not system-dependent. Q10. Which OSI Reference Layer controls application to application communication? Session Q11. BOOTP helps a diskless workstation boot. How does it get a message to the network looking for its IP address and the location of its operating system boot files ? BOOTP sends a UDP message with a subnetwork broadcast address and waits for a reply from a server that gives it the IP address. The same message might contain the name of the machine that has the boot files on it. If the boot image location is not specified, the workstation sends another UDP message to query the server. Q12. What is a DNS resource record A resource record is an entry in a name server's database. There are several types of resource records used, including name-to-address resolution information. Resource records are maintained as ASCII files.

Q13. What protocol is used by DNS name servers DNS uses UDP for communication between servers. It is a better choice than TCP because of the improved speed a connectionless protocol offers. Of course, transmission reliability suffers with UDP. Q14. What is the difference between interior and exterior neighbor gateways Interior gateways connect LANs of one organization, whereas exterior gateways connect the organization to the outside world. Q15. What is the HELLO protocol used for The HELLO protocol uses time instead of distance to determine optimal routing. It is an alternative to the Routing Information Protocol. Q16. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the three types of routing tables The three types of routing tables are fixed, dynamic, and fixed central. The fixed table must be manually modified every time there is a change. A dynamic table changes its information based on network traffic, reducing the amount of manual maintenance. A fixed central table lets a manager modify only one table, which is then read by other devices. The fixed central table reduces the need to update each machine's table, as with the fixed table. Usually a dynamic table causes the fewest problems for a network administrator, although the table's contents can change without the administrator being aware of the change . Q17. What is a characteristic of Store and Forward switches? They read the entire frame and check CRC before forwarding. Q18. What is source route It is a sequence of IP addresses identifying the route a datagram must follow. A source route may optionally be included in an IP datagram header. Q19. What is RIP (Routing Information Protocol) It is a simple protocol used to exchange information between the routers. Q20. What is SLIP (Serial Line Interface Protocol) It is a very simple protocol used for transmission of IP datagrams across a serial line. Q21. What is Proxy ARP It is using a router to answer ARP requests. This will be done when the originating host believes that a destination is local, when in fact is lies beyond router. Q22. What is OSPF It is an Internet routing protocol that scales well, can route traffic along multiple paths, and uses knowledge of an Internet's topology to make accurate routing decisions. Q23. What is Kerberos It is an authentication service developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Kerberos uses encryption to prevent intruders from discovering passwords and gaining unauthorized access to files. Q24. What is a Multi-homed Host It is a host that has a multiple network interfaces and that requires multiple IP addresses is called as a Multi-homed Host. Q25. What is NVT (Network Virtual Terminal) It is a set of rules defining a very simple virtual terminal interaction. The NVT is used in the start of a Telnet session. Q26. What is Gateway-to-Gateway protocol

It is a protocol formerly used to exchange routing information between Internet core routers.

Q27. What is BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) It is a protocol used to advertise the set of networks that can be reached with in an autonomous system. BGP enables this information to be shared with the autonomous system. This is newer than EGP (Exterior Gateway Protocol). Q28. What is autonomous system It is a collection of routers under the control of a single administrative authority and that uses a common Interior Gateway Protocol. Q29. What is EGP (Exterior Gateway Protocol) It is the protocol the routers in neighboring autonomous systems use to identify the set of networks that can be reached within or via each autonomous system. Q30. What is IGP (Interior Gateway Protocol) It is any routing protocol used within an autonomous system. Q31. What is Mail Gateway It is a system that performs a protocol translation between different electronic mail delivery protocols. Q32. What is wide-mouth frog Wide-mouth frog is the simplest known key distribution center (KDC) authentication protocol. Q33. What are Digrams and Trigrams The most common two letter combinations are called as digrams. e.g. th, in, er, re and an. The most common three letter combinations are called as trigrams. e.g. the, ing, and, and ion. Q34. What is silly window syndrome It is a problem that can ruin TCP performance. This problem occurs when data are passed to the sending TCP entity in large blocks, but an interactive application on the receiving side reads 1 byte at a time. Q35. What is region When hierarchical routing is used, the routers are divided into what we call regions, with each router knowing all the details about how to route packets to destinations within its own region, but knowing nothing about the internal structure of other regions. Q36. What is multicast routing Sending a message to a group is called multicasting, and its routing algorithm is called multicast routing. Q37. What is traffic shaping One of the main causes of congestion is that traffic is often busy. If hosts could be made to transmit at a uniform rate,congestion would be less common. Another open loop method to help manage congestion is forcing the packet to be transmitted at a more predictable rate. This is called traffic shaping. Q38. What is packet filter Packet filter is a standard router equipped with some extra functionality. The extra functionality allows every incoming or outgoing packet to be inspected. Packets meeting some criterion are forwarded normally. Those that fail the test are dropped.

Q39. What is virtual path

Along any transmission path from a given source to a given destination, a group of virtual circuits can be grouped together into what is called path. Q40. What is virtual channel Virtual channel is normally a connection from one source to one destination, although multicast connections are also permitted. The other name for virtual channel is virtual circuit. Q41. What is logical link control One of two sublayers of the data link layer of OSI reference model, as defined by the IEEE 802 standard. This sublayer is responsible for maintaining the link between computers when they are sending data across the physical network connection. Q42. Why should you care about the OSI Reference Model It provides a framework for discussing network operations and design. Q43. What is the difference between routable and non- routable protocols Routable protocols can work with a router and can be used to build large networks. Non-Routable protocols are designed to work on small, local networks and cannot be used with a router. Q44. What is MAU In token Ring , hub is called Multistation Access Unit(MAU). Q45. Explain 5-4-3 rule In a Ethernet network, between any two points on the network, there can be no more than five network segments or four repeaters, and of those five segments only three of segments can be populated. Q46. What is the difference between TFTP and FTP application layer protocols The Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) allows a local host to obtain files from a remote host but does not provide reliability or security. It uses the fundamental packet delivery services offered by UDP. The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the standard mechanism provided by TCP / IP for copying a file from one host to another. It uses the services offered by TCP and so is reliable and secure. It establishes two connections (virtual circuits) between the hosts, one for data transfer and another for control information. Q47. What is the range of addresses in the classes of internet addresses Class A 0.0.0.0 - 127.255.255.255 Class B 128.0.0.0 - 191.255.255.255 Class C 192.0.0.0 - 223.255.255.255 Class D 224.0.0.0 - 239.255.255.255 Class E 240.0.0.0 - 247.255.255.255 Q48. What is the minimum and maximum length of the header in the TCP segment and IP datagram The header should have a minimum length of 20 bytes and can have a maximum length of 60 bytes. 49. What is difference between ARP and RARP The address resolution protocol (ARP) is used to associate the 32 bit IP address with the 48 bit physical address, used by a host or a router to find the physical address of another host on its network by sending a ARP query packet that includes the IP address of the receiver. The reverse address resolution protocol (RARP) allows a host to discover its Internet address when it knows only its physical address. Q50. What is ICMP ICMP is Internet Control Message Protocol, a network layer protocol of the TCP/IP suite used by hosts and gateways to send notification of datagram problems back to the sender. It uses the echo test / reply to test whether a destination is reachable and responding. It also handles both control and error

messages. Q51. What are the data units at different layers of the TCP / IP protocol suite The data unit created at the application layer is called a message, at the transport layer the data unit created is called either a segment or an user datagram, at the network layer the data unit created is called the datagram, at the data link layer the datagram is encapsulated in to a frame and finally transmitted as signals along the transmission media. Q52. What is Project 802 It is a project started by IEEE to set standards that enable intercommunication between equipment from a variety of manufacturers. It is a way for specifying functions of the physical layer, the data link layer and to some extent the network layer to allow for interconnectivity of major LAN protocols. It consists of the following: 802.1 is an internetworking standard for compatibility of different LANs and MANs across protocols. 802.2 Logical link control (LLC) is the upper sublayer of the data link layer which is non-architecturespecific, that is remains the same for all IEEE-defined LANs. Media access control (MAC) is the lower sublayer of the data link layer that contains some distinct modules each carrying proprietary information specific to the LAN product being used. The modules are Ethernet LAN (802.3), Token ring LAN (802.4), Token bus LAN (802.5). 802.6 is distributed queue dual bus (DQDB) designed to be used in MANs. Q53. What is Bandwidth Every line has an upper limit and a lower limit on the frequency of signals it can carry. This limited range is called the bandwidth. Q54. Difference between bit rate and baud rate. Bit rate is the number of bits transmitted during one second whereas baud rate refers to the number of signal units per second that are required to represent those bits. baud rate = bit rate / N where N is no-of-bits represented by each signal shift. Q55. What is MAC address The address for a device as it is identified at the Media Access Control (MAC) layer in the network architecture. MAC address is usually stored in ROM on the network adapter card and is unique. Q56. What is attenuation The degeneration of a signal over distance on a network cable is called attenuation. Q57. What is cladding A layer of a glass surrounding the center fiber of glass inside a fiber-optic cable. Q58. What is RAID A method for providing fault tolerance by using multiple hard disk drives. Q59. What is NETBIOS and NETBEUI NETBIOS is a programming interface that allows I/O requests to be sent to and received from a remote computer and it hides the networking hardware from applications. NETBEUI is NetBIOS extended user interface. A transport protocol designed by microsoft and IBM for the use on small

subnets. Q60. What is redirector Redirector is software that intercepts file or prints I/O requests and translates them into network requests. This comes under presentation layer. Q61. What is Beaconing The process that allows a network to self-repair networks problems. The stations on the network notify the other stations on the ring when they are not receiving the transmissions. Beaconing is used in Token ring and FDDI networks. Q62. What is terminal emulation, in which layer it comes Telnet is also called as terminal emulation. It belongs to application layer. Q63. What is frame relay, in which layer it comes Frame relay is a packet switching technology. It will operate in the data link layer. Q64. What do you meant by "triple X" in Networks The function of PAD (Packet Assembler Disassembler) is described in a document known as X.3. The standard protocol has been defined between the terminal and the PAD, called X.28; another standard protocol exists between hte PAD and the network, called X.29. Together, these three recommendations are often called "triple X" Q65. What is SAP Series of interface points that allow other computers to communicate with the other layers of network protocol stack. Q66. What is subnet A generic term for section of a large networks usually separated by a bridge or router. Q67. What is Brouter Hybrid devices that combine the features of both bridges and routers. Q68. How Gateway is different from Routers A gateway operates at the upper levels of the OSI model and translates information between two completely different network architectures or data formats. Q69. What are the different type of networking / internetworking devices Repeater: Also called a regenerator, it is an electronic device that operates only at physical layer. It receives the signal in the network before it becomes weak, regenerates the original bit pattern and puts the refreshed copy back in to the link. Bridges: These operate both in the physical and data link layers of LANs of same type. They divide a larger network in to smaller segments. They contain logic that allow them to keep the traffic for each segment separate and thus are repeaters that relay a frame only the side of the segment containing the intended recipent and control congestion. Routers: They relay packets among multiple interconnected networks (i.e. LANs of different type). They operate in the physical, data link and network layers. They contain software that enable them to determine which of the several possible paths is the best for a particular transmission.

Gateways: They relay packets among networks that have different protocols (e.g. between a LAN and a WAN). They accept a packet formatted for one protocol and convert it to a packet formatted for another protocol before forwarding it. They operate in all seven layers of the OSI model. Q70. What is mesh network A network in which there are multiple network links between computers to provide multiple paths for data to travel. Q71. What is passive topology When the computers on the network simply listen and receive the signal, they are referred to as passive because they don‘t amplify the signal in any way. Example for passive topology - linear bus. Q72. What are the important topologies for networks BUS topology: In this each computer is directly connected to primary network cable in a single line. Advantages: Inexpensive, easy to install, simple to understand, easy to extend. STAR topology: In this all computers are connected using a central hub. Advantages: Can be inexpensive, easy to install and reconfigure and easy to trouble shoot physical problems. RING topology: In this all computers are connected in loop. Advantages: All computers have equal access to network media, installation can be simple, and signal does not degrade as much as in other topologies because each computer regenerates it. Q73. What are major types of networks and explain Server-based network Peer-to-peer network Peer-to-peer network, computers can act as both servers sharing resources and as clients using the resources. Server-based networks provide centralized control of network resources and rely on server computers to provide security and network administration Q74. What is Protocol Data Unit The data unit in the LLC level is called the protocol data unit (PDU). The PDU contains of four fields a destination service access point (DSAP), a source service access point (SSAP), a control field and an information field. DSAP, SSAP are addresses used by the LLC to identify the protocol stacks on the receiving and sending machines that are generating and using the data. The control field specifies whether the PDU frame is a information frame (I frame) or a supervisory frame (S - frame) or a unnumbered frame (U - frame). Q75. What is difference between baseband and broadband transmission In a baseband transmission, the entire bandwidth of the cable is consumed by a single signal. In broadband transmission, signals are sent on multiple frequencies, allowing multiple signals to be sent simultaneously.

Q76. What are the possible ways of data exchange (i) Simplex (ii) Half-duplex (iii) Full-duplex. Q77. What are the types of Transmission media Signals are usually transmitted over some transmission media that are broadly classified in to two categories. Guided Media: These are those that provide a conduit from one device to another that include twisted-pair, coaxial cable and fiber-optic cable. A signal traveling along any of these media is directed and is contained by the physical limits of the medium. Twisted-pair and coaxial cable use metallic that accept and transport signals in the form of electrical current. Optical fiber is a glass or plastic cable that accepts and transports signals in the form of light. Unguided Media: This is the wireless media that transport electromagnetic waves without using a physical conductor. Signals are broadcast either through air. This is done through radio communication, satellite communication and cellular telephony.

Q78. Difference between the communication and transmission. Transmission is a physical movement of information and concern issues like bit polarity, synchronization, clock etc. Communication means the meaning full exchange of information between two communication media. Q79.The Internet Control Message Protocol occurs at what layer of the seven layer model? Network Q80.Which protocol resolves an IP address to a MAC address? ARP Q81.MIDI and MPEG are examples of what layer of the OSI seven layer model? Presentation Q82.What is the protocol number for UDP? 17 Q83.Which protocol is used for booting diskless workstations? RARP Q84.Which layer is responsible for putting 1s and 0s into a logical group? Physical Q85.What does 'P' mean when running a Trace? Protocol unreachable Q86.UDP works at which layer of the DOD model? Host to Host Q87.What is the default encapsulation of Netware 3.12? 802.2 Q88.Ping uses which Internet layer protocol? ICMP

Q89.Which switching technology can reduce the size of a broadcast domain? VLAN Q90.What is the first step in data encapsulation? User information is converted into data. Q91.What is the protocol number for TCP? 6 Q92.What do you use the Aux port for? Modem Q93.Repeaters work at which layer of the OSI model? Physical Q94.WAN stands for which of the following? Wide Area Network Q95.What ISDN protocol specifies concepts, terminology, and services? I Q96.LAN stands for which of the following? Local Are Network Q97.DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Q98.What does the acronym ARP stand for? Address Resolution Protocol Q99.Which layer is responsible for identifying and establishing the availability of the intended communication partner? Application. Q100.Which OSI layer provides mechanical, electrical, procedural for activating, maintaining physical link? Physical. - See more at: http://www.01world.in/p/network.html#sthash.uGSvqYwZ.dpuf

VMware Admin Interview Questions & Answers.
1. VMWare Kernel is a Proprietary Kenral and is not based on any of the UNIX operating systems, it's a kernel developed by VMWare Company.

2. The VMKernel can't boot it by itself, so that it takes the help of the 3rd party operating system. In VMWare case 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. To restart webaccess service on vmware service vmware-webaccess restart – this will restart apache tomcat app

5. To restart ssh service on vmware service sshd restart

6. To restart host agent(vmware-hostd) on vmware esx server service mgmt-vmware restart

7. Path for the struts-config.xml /usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-5.5.17/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/

8. To start the scripted install the command is 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 type 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 Machineort 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.

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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 VLANtagging 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? and what service it is corresponded to? What are the minimum req's 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 restart the service by typing the following command at the service console

" service mgmt-vmware restart " VC agent installed on the ESX server when we add it to the VC, so at the time of installtion 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 its 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 happens between two datacenters ? Yes.. it can, if the template in one datacenter, we can deploy the vm from that template in another datacenter without any problem.

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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, that supports 3rd party utilities to take backups of ESX servers and Virtual Machines. Its 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

1. What is firewall? A firewall is a hardware or software installed to provide security to the private networks connected to the internet. They can be implemented in both hardware and software, or a combination of both. All data entering or leaving the Intranet passes through the firewall which allows only the data meeting the administrators’ rules to pass through it. 2. What are the types of firewalls? 1. Packet Filtering Firewall: This type of Firewall detects packets and block unnecessary packets and makes network traffic release. 2. Screening Router Firewalls: It's a software base firewall available in Router provides only light filtering. 3. Computer-based Firewall : It's a firewall stored in server with an existing Operating System like Windows and UNIX.

4. Hardware base Firewall: Its device like box allows strong security from public network. Mostly used by big networks. 5. Proxy Server: Proxy server allows all clients to access Internet with different access limits. Proxy server has its own firewall which filters the all packet from web server. 3. What is Pix Firewall Security? How does it differ from a firewall? CISCO pix firewall security is stateful firewall. It uses ASA Technology. 4. What can't a firewall protect against? Firewalls can't protect against attacks that don't go through the firewall. Many corporations that connect to the Internet are very concerned about proprietary data leaking out of the company through that route. Unfortunately for those concerned, a magnetic tape can just as effectively be used to export data. Many organizations that are terrified (at a management level) of Internet connections have no coherent policy about how dial-in access via modems should be protected. 5. Will IPSEC make firewalls obsolete? IPSEC (IP Security) refers to a set of standards developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). There are many documents that collectively define what is known as ``IPSEC'' [4]. IPSEC solves two problems which have plagued the IP protocol suite for years: host-to-host authentication (which will let hosts know that they're talking to the hosts they think they are) and encryption (which will prevent attackers from being able to watch the traffic going between machines). 6. What is a network firewall? A firewall is a system or group of systems that enforces an access control policy between two networks. The actual means by which this is accomplished varies widely, but in principle, the firewall can be thought of as a pair of mechanisms: one which exists to block traffic, and the other which exists to permit traffic. Some firewalls place a greater emphasis on blocking traffic, while others emphasize permitting traffic. Probably the most important thing to recognize about a firewall is that it implements an access control policy. If you don't have a good idea of what kind of access you want to allow or to deny, a firewall really won't help you. It's also important to recognize that the firewall's configuration, because it is a mechanism for enforcing policy, imposes its policy on everything behind it. Administrators for firewalls managing the connectivity for a large number of hosts therefore have a heavy responsibility.

7. What is synchronization and why is it important? With respect to multithreading, synchronization is the capability to control the access of multiple threads to shared resources. Without synchronization, it is possible for one thread to modify a shared object while another thread is in the process of using or updating that object's value. This often leads to significant errors. 8. What are the critical resources in a firewall? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Service Critical Resource Email Disk I/O Netnews Disk I/O Web Host OS Socket Performance IP Routing Host OS Socket Performance Web Cache Host OS Socket Performance, Disk I/O

9. What are some common attacks, and how can I protect my system against them? Each site is a little different from every other in terms of what attacks are likely to be used against it. Some recurring themes do arise, though. 10. What is the difference between gateway and firewall? A network gateway joins two networks together through a combination of hardware and software. A network firewall guards a computer network against unauthorized incoming or outgoing access. Network firewalls may be hardware devices or software programs. 11. What is the difference between router ACLs and Firewall ACLs? Fundamental purpose: 1. Routers are designed to route traffic, not stop it. 2. Firewalls are designed to examine and accept/reject traffic. But the both ACL are do the same job. Depending upon our requirements we do our ACL configuration on it. 12. A trace route command work across the firewall? why?

Trace route is based on ICMP type 30 under Windows and UDP under NIX; trace route packets that would hit the firewall should be dropped similarly any echo replay coming from inside the firewall should be restricted outbound. 13. Can you define Packet filtering ? Packet filtering is the process of passing or blocking packets at a network interface based on source and destination addresses, ports, or protocols. The process is used in conjunction with packet mangling and Network Address Translation (NAT). Packet filtering is often part of a firewall program for protecting a local network from unwanted intrusion. The packet filter examines the header of each packet based on a specific set of rules, and on that basis, decides to prevent it from passing (called DROP) or allow it to pass (called ACCEPT). 14. Can you explain circuit level gateway? The circuit level gateway firewalls work at the session layer of the OSI model. They monitor TCP handshaking between the packets to determine if a requested session is legitimate. And the information passed through a circuit level gateway, to the internet, appears to have come from the circuit level gateway. So, there is no way for a remote computer or a host to determine the internal private ip addresses of an organization, for example. This technique is also called Network Address Translation where the private IP addresses originating from the different clients inside the network are all mapped to the public IP address available through the internet service provider and then sent to the outside world (Internet). This way, the packets are tagged with only the Public IP address (Firewall level) and the internal private IP addresses are not exposed to potential intruders. 15. Can you explain stateful inspection? Stateful inspection, also known as dynamic packet filtering, is a firewall technology that monitors the state of active connections and uses this information to determine which network packets to allow through the firewall. Stateful inspection has largely replaced an older technology, static packet filtering. In static packet filtering, only the headers of packets are checked -- which means that an attacker can sometimes get information through the firewall simply by indicating "reply" in the header. Stateful inspection, on the other hand, analyzes packets down to the application layer. By recording session information such as IP addresses and port numbers, a dynamic packet filter can implement a much tighter security posture than a static packet filter can. 16. Can you explain the concept of demilitarized zone? The concept of the DMZ, like many other network security concepts, was borrowed from military terminology. Geopolitically, a demilitarized zone (DMZ) is an area that runs between

two territories that are hostile to one another or two opposing forces' battle lines. The DMZ likewise provides a buffer zone that separates an internal network from the often hostile territory of the Internet. Sometimes it's called a "screened subnet" or a "perimeter network," but the purpose remains the same. 17. What is Application level Gateway? An application layer gateway (ALG) is a feature on ScreenOS gateways that enables the gateway to parse application layer payloads and take decisions on them. Although there are other ScreenOS features, such as deep inspection, in which the gateway inspects traffic at the application layer, ALGs are typically employed to support applications that use the application layer payload to communicate the dynamic Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or User Datagram Protocol (UDP) ports on which the applications open data connections. Such applications include the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and various IP telephony protocols. The dynamic TCP, UDP, or other ports that are opened by the ScreenOS gateway to permit these data or secondary channels are referred to as pinholes, and are active strictly for the duration of activity on the data channel. 18. Can you explain the concept of demilitarized zone? The concept of the DMZ, like many other network security concepts, was borrowed from military terminology. Geopolitically, a demilitarized zone (DMZ) is an area that runs between two territories that are hostile to one another or two opposing forces' battle lines. The DMZ likewise provides a buffer zone that separates an internal network from the often hostile territory of the Internet. Sometimes it's called a "screened subnet" or a "perimeter network," but the purpose remains the same. 19. What is the meaning of bastion host? A bastion host is a specialized computer that is deliberately exposed on a public network. From a secured network perspective, it is the only node exposed to the outside world and is therefore very prone to attack. It is placed outside the firewall in single firewall systems or, if a system has two firewalls, it is often placed between the two firewalls or on the public side of a demilitarized zone (DMZ). The bastion host processes and filters all incoming traffic and prevents malicious traffic from entering the network, acting much like a gateway. The most common examples of bastion hosts are mail, domain name system, Web and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) servers. Firewalls and routers can also become bastion hosts 20. What are types of firewall architecture ?

1. 2. 3. 4.

Screening Router Architecture Dual-Homed Host Architecture Screened Host Architecture Screened Subnet Architecture

Explain about Screening Router Architecture? In this architecture a firewall consists of nothing more than a screening router. Host on the Local Network and hosts on the Internet are allowed to communicate directly. The communication is restricted to the type that is allowed by a screening router. The security of the whole Local Network depends on the correct ACL of the router and on the amount of services permitted. 22. Circuit level gateway advantages and disadvantages ? The following are the advantages of Circuit Level Gateways: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Private network data hiding Avoidance of filtering individual packets Flexible in developing address schemes Don't need a separate proxy server for each application Simpler to implement

The following are the disadvantages of Circuit Level Gateways: 1. Active content cannot be scanned or disallowed commands. 2. Can only handle TCP connections ? new extensions proposed for UDP 3. TCP/IP stacks are mandatorily be modified by vendor for using CL Gateways. 23. What is IP spoofing and how can it be prevented? IP spoofing is a mechanism used by attackers to gain unauthorized access to a system. Here, the intruder sends messages to a computer with an IP address indicating that the message is coming from a trusted host. This is done by forging the header so it contains a different address and make it appear that the packet was sent by a different machine. Prevention:1. Packet filtering: - to allow packets with recognized formats to enter the network 2. Using special routers and firewalls 3. Encrypting the session 24. What is the use of area and perimeter? A lot of times, area and perimeter is used to help with a lot of home improvement projects like carpeting and hardwood flooring and painting. This is used to help give a good estimate of how much material you would need for these sort of projects. To find out what the outside of the shape is (perimeter), and to find out the inside size (area).

25. Can you explain screened subnet architecture? A screened subnet (also known as a "triple-homed firewall") is a network architecture that uses a single firewall with three network interfaces. The purpose of the screened subnet architecture is to isolate the DMZ and its publicly-accessible resources from the intranet, thereby focusing external attention and any possible attack on that subnet. The architecture also separates the intranet and DMZ networks, making it more difficult to attack the intranet itself. When a properly configured firewall is combined with the use of private IP addresses on one or both of these subnets, attack becomes that much more difficult. Can you explain screened host architecture? screened host architecture is a lower-security, lower-cost alternative to the screened subnet architecture discussed in the previous sections. The screened host architecture is often used by very small sites that are facing significant cost constraints. In a screened host architecture, there is no perimeter net, no interior router, and often no bastion host per se. (Obviously, there is a host that the outside world talks to, but this host is often not dedicated solely to that task.) What you have instead is a single router (most analogous to the exterior router in the dual-router screened subnet architecture) and a services host that provides Internet services to internal and external clients (and is often used for other tasks as well). The router is there to protect and control access to the internal net, and the services host is there to interact with the outside world, much like a bastion host. We call it a services host, rather than a bastion host, because it's often fulfilling many other roles. For example, it's probably the mail server, Usenet news server, and DNS server for the site; it might possibly be a file server, print server, and so on, as well; it might even be the only machine the site has. 27. Can you explain dual home architecture? In this architecture a firewall consists of Dual-Homed Host machine (machine having two or more IP addresses each for specific physical port). One port of the machine connects to the Local Network and the other port/ports connect to the Internet. The IP datagram forwarding is turned off on the Dual-Homed Host machine, thus there is no direct TCP/IP connection between the Local Network and the Internet. You permit communication between Local Network and the Internet in either of two ways: 1. Users on the Local Network are given accounts on the Dual-Homed Host machine. In order to use Internet services the must rlogin on the Dual-Homed Host machine. The fact that you allow accounts on the machine weakens its security greatly (it now depends on each user and user that have access to it, more correctly it depends on the users' ability to

choose "strong" passwords). Once the outsider succeeds to rlogin on the Dual-Homed Host machine he/she can access the entire Local Network. 2. Dual-Homed Host runs proxy program for each service you want to permit, thus there is no more need for users to rlogin to the machine in order to access the Internet. They can communicate via proxy software. The only host that can be accessed and thus attacked from the Internet is the Dual-Homed host machine. Thus it must have much greater level of security than the ordinary host on the Local Network. The excessive logging and auditing of system state must be performed, only secure software and necessary software installed and so on. This architecture is much more secure than the Screening Router Architecture. But still once the Dual-Homed Host is subverted the entire Local Network is vulnerable to attack. 28. What is Routing table? A routing table stores the routes of the various nodes in a network. Nodes can be any electronic device connected to the network. The table is usually stored in a router or the network computer as a database or file. This information helps to found the best possible path. The routing table has at least 3 fields: the destination network id, cost of the path, next hop or address to send the packet. 29. What is Routing Protocols? Routing protocols are used to assist in achieving the basic purpose of routing. They specify the routers the method to communicate with each other. They help the routers select the best possible path between nodes. There are different types of protocols such as link-state routing protocols, path vector protocols and distance vector routing protocols. These protocols prevent routing loops to form or break if formed already. They help to decide preferred routes from a sequence of hop costs. 30. What is SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol)? SNMP or Simple Network Management Protocol is typically used for managing the network. Managing the network includes managing the nodes present in the network. These nodes may be server, routers, bridges and hubs. SNMP agents are used to achieve this. Managing the network is essential because it helps to monitor network performance, detect network faults or failures, audit network usage etc. the SNMP messages like TRAP, GET or SET may be invoked by network elements or network management system. What is POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3)?

POP3 or Post Office Box 3 is used fro receiving emails. It is a client server protocol which holds the email. Once the email is downloaded from the server, POP3 deletes it from the server. Ordinal numbers are used to identify specific messages. 32. What is NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol)? NNTP or Network News Transfer Protocol is used to manage the notes posted on Unset newsgroup (a collection of posted notes on a subject posted by different users). NNTP servers are responsible for managing Usenet newsgroup collected globally. A NTTP client is a part of the web browser also called as a news reader. It uses a reserve port no 119. 33. What is HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)? HTTP or Hyper Text Transfer Protocol is provides a set of rules to transfer files, videos, images over the world wide web. When the web browser is opened, a HTTP request call is made. A web server contains a HTTP daemon. This daemon is used to wait for HTTP requests and handle them when they arrive. The web browser from where HTTP requests are made is called as a client. These requests are sent to the server. It uses a reserved port no 80. 34. What is IGMP protocol? Internet Group Management Protocol, allows internet hosts to multicast. i.e. to send messages to a group of computers. There may be a group of internet hosts interested to multicast. IGMP allows router to determine which host groups have members on a given network segment. It helps to establish group memberships. It is commonly used for streamlining videos and gaming. The protocol can be implemented both as a host side and router side. The host side is responsible to notify its membership in a group. The notification is made to a local router. This local router (router side) in turn sends out queries. 35. What is NetBIOS protocol? NetBIOS (Network Basic Input/Output System) Protocol allows applications on separate computers to communicate over a LAN. It runs over TCP/IP giving each computer in the network a NetBIOS name and IP address. E.g. It can be used for computers running Windows 2000 (or before) to join a computer network running Windows 2000 (or later). 36. What is Data encryption? Data encryption ensures data safety and very important for confidential or critical data. It protect data from being read, altered or forged while transmission.

37. What is the Public Key Encryption? Public key encryption use public and private key for encryption and decryption. In this mechanism, public key is used to encrypt messages and only the corresponding private key can be used to decrypt them. To encrypt a message, a sender has to know recipient's public key. 38. Define Digital Signatures. Digital signature is an attachment to an electronic message used for security purpose. It is used to verify the authenticity of the sender. 39. What is CSMA and CD concept? In CSDA (carrier sense multiple access), presence of any digital signal in a network is checked before transmission. Data transmission occurs only when no signal is sensed. CD, Collision detection is responsible for monitoring carrier in order to avoid signal jam. 40. What is Ethernet technology? Ethernet technology is a high speed broadcast bus technology. In this type, all the station shares a single ether channel and receives every single transmitted signal. Exchange 2010 Interview Questions and Answers

What is Storage Group?
Storage Group is a grouping of Mailbox and/or Public Folder Databases, which shares a single backup schedule and a single set of Transaction log files. Storage Groups are managed using their separate server process and the idea behind splitting databases up in Storage Groups is primarily to reduce the overhead that results from multiple sets of transaction log files.

What are the storage group and database size limitations in Exchange 2007, compared with Exchange 2003?
Exchange Server 2003 Standard edition supported 1 Storage Group and 2 Stores – one Mailbox and one Public Folder Store (when excluding the Recovery Storage Group of course). Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition supported a total of 4 Storage Groups each containing a maximum of 5 store

databases per Storage Groups (thus maximum 20 databases per server). The limit of a database size in Exchange Server 2003 Standard edition was 16 GB (although raised to 75 GB when Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2 was applied). There was no limit on a database size when talking about Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise edition (well actually there is a 16 Terabyte limit but this limit is caused by hardware). Exchange Server 2007 comes in two flavours, a standard edition and an enterprise edition, just like previous versions of Exchange. The Mailbox Server when talking about the Exchange Server 2007 Standard edition supports a total of 5 Storage Groups and 5 databases. Unlike Exchange 2003 and previous versions of Exchange there’s no longer a database storage limit in the standard edition. The Mailbox server in the Exchange 2007 Enterprise edition supports up to 50 Storage groups and a maximum of 50 databases per server. Exchange 2007 allows you to create up to 5 databases in each Storage Group as is the case with Exchange 2003, but best practice is to create 1 database per Storage Group. So why should you have a one to one relationship between storage groups and databases? Well primarily because you’ll be up and running a lot faster considering disaster recovery scenarios, etc. No Storage Groups In Exchange 2010… Exchange 2010 has only mailbox databases and they are organizational objects in EMC. Mailbox databases no longer connected to the server object they become *Peers*. Database management has also been moved from Server configuration node in exchange console EMC. The mailbox databases are placed in the Organization Configuration ->Mailbox location in the console rather than the server level in exchange 2007. The database names has to be unique through out the exchange organization as well. This means that we can’t have duplicate mailbox database names like in 2007 (in different storage groups, of course). As there are no storage groups, this will also mean that the database will have its own logs as well… One of the goals of ESE in Exchange 2010 is to reduce the cost of maintaining and managing a database. Database maintenance is comprised of several tasks that manage and keep the integrity of your mailbox database. Database maintenance is divided into the following: Store mailbox maintenance ESE database maintenance In Exchange 2007, ESE database maintenance was disk-intensive. In Exchange 2010, improvements have been made to increase performance. In Exchange 2010, on large or very heavy profile servers, the store mailbox maintenance task only lasts approximately 45 minutes, while ESE database maintenance usually took from six to eight hours per

night to complete on large Exchange 2007 databases (2 GB quotas). In Exchange 2010, improvements have been made to support both large mailboxes as well as to support JBOD storage and storage without the use of RAID. Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 includes many improvements to the Exchange database architecture:  Public folder reporting has been enhanced.  Databases are no longer associated with storage groups. Storage groups have been removed.  Investments in store schema and Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) optimizations have reduced IOPS by 70 percent.

Describe the differences in the permission model between Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2010.
Exchange 2003 Security and Permissions Model To help simplify management of permissions, Exchange Server 2003 provided predefined security roles that were available in the Exchange 2003 Administrative Delegation Wizard. These roles were a collection of standardized permissions that could be applied at either the organization or the administrative group level. In Exchange 2003, the following security roles were available through the Delegation Wizard in Exchange System Manager: Exchange Full Administrator Exchange Administrator Exchange View Only Administrator This model had the following limitations: A lack of specificity. The Exchange Administrator group was too large, and some customers wanted to manage their security and permissions model at the individual server-level. A perception that the Exchange Server 2003 security roles only differed in subtle ways. There was no clear separation between administration of users and groups by the Windows (Active Directory) administrators and Exchange recipient administrators. For example, to perform Exchange recipient related tasks, you had to grant Exchange administrators high level permissions (Account Operator permissions on Windows domains). Exchange 2007 Security and Permissions Model To improve the management of your Exchange administrator roles, which were called "security groups" in Exchange 2003, the following new or improved features have been made to the Exchange security and permissions model:

New administrator roles that is similar to the built-in Windows Server security groups. You can use the Exchange Management Console (formerly Exchange System Manager) and the Exchange Management Shell to view, add, and remove members from any administrator role.

What's New in Exchange Server 2007 SP1?
You can install Exchange 2007 SP1 on a computer that is running the Windows Server 2008 operating system Improvement in Microsoft Outlook Web Access (OWA)

Recover Deleted Items Local Distribution List S/MIME feature Public Folder Rules Monthly view New themes

What's New in Exchange Server 2007 SP2?
You can deploy Exchange Server 2010 in your organization once all of the Client Access servers in your organization have been upgraded to Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2). Exchange 2007 Service Pack 2 includes a VSS plug-in for Windows Server Backup to support Exchange backups. Once SP2 is installed, you can use Windows Server Backup to back up and restore your Exchange 2007 SP2 databases. New Exchange auditing events and audit log repository enable Exchange administrators to more easily audit the activities occurring on their Exchange servers.

What's New in Exchange Server 2007 SP3?
Windows Server 2008 R2 Support Exchange Server 2007 SP3 supports all Exchange 2007 roles on the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. Windows 7 Support Exchange 2007 SP3 supports the installation of the Exchange 2007 management tools on a computer that is running Windows 7. Additionally, Exchange 2007 SP3 provides support for the installation of the Exchange 2007 Management Tools together with the Exchange Server 2010 Management Tools on the same Windows 7-based computer. Improved Password Reset Functionality Exchange 2007 SP3 introduces password reset functionality for Internet Information Services (IIS) 7. Updated Search Functionality Exchange 2007 SP3 includes updates to the Exchange Search (MS-Search) component. Support for Right-to-Left Disclaimer Text Exchange 2007 SP3 includes support for Right-to-Left text in e-mail message disclaimers in a right-to-left language, such as Arabic.

What are the major changes in the way Exchange 2010 stores work? Name some of the changes in comparison with Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007.
The following is a list of core store functionality that's included or has been changed in Exchange 2010:  Deprecated storage groups  Mailbox databases no longer connected to the server object  Improvements in Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) for high availability, performance, and database mobility  Flattened Outlook store schema  Enhanced reporting with public folders

In Exchange 2010, the store schema has been changed to remove the dependency of mailbox databases on the server object. In addition, the new schema has been improved to help reduce database I/O per second (IOPS) by refactoring the tables used to store information. Refactoring the tables allows higher logical contiguity and locality of reference. These changes reduce the store's reliance on the secondary indexes maintained by ESE. As a result, the store is no longer sensitive to performance issues related to the secondary indexes.

Store resilience and health has also been improved by adding several features related to detecting and correcting errors and providing alerts, such as the following:  Mailbox quarantine on rogue mailboxes  Transport cut-off to databases with less than 1 GB of space  Thread time-out detection and reporting

Name the system prerequisites for installing Exchange 2007 in your existing Active Directory forest.
Windows Server 2003/R2 x64 SP2 Windows Server 2008 x64 Microsoft .NET Framework Version 3.0/Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 (with update/SP1) Microsoft Windows PowerShell Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0 Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) service must not be installed. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) service must not be installed. IIS (for OWA)

Name the system prerequisites for installing Exchange 2010?
1- General Prerequisites: Make sure that the functional level of your forest is at least Windows Server 2003, and that the Schema Master is running Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 or later. The full installation option of Windows Server 2008 SP2-64bit or Windows Server 2008 R2-64bit must be used for all servers running Exchange 2010 server roles. Both Windows Server 2008 SP2-64bit or Windows Server 2008 R2-64bit Standard & Enterprise are supported and we can use them to install Exchange 2010. DNS must configure correctly in your Active Directory forest. All servers that run Exchange Server 2010 must be able to locate Active Directory domain controllers, global catalog servers, and other Exchange servers. For all server roles other than the Edge Transport server role, you must first join the computer to the appropriate internal Active Directory forest and domain. 2- Operating System Components Prerequisites: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Windows Remote Management (WinRM) 2.0 Windows PowerShell V2 IIS 7 ASP.NET In addition to the above, we need to install the following windows components (features): RSAT-ADDS (requires a reboot) Web-Server Web-ISAPI-Ext Web-Metabase Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console Web-Basic-Auth

Web-Digest-Auth Web-Windows-Auth Web-Dyn-Compression Net-HTTP-Activation RPC-over-HTTP-Proxy 3- Software Prerequisites: For Hub Transport or Mailbox server role, Microsoft Filter Pack is required to be installed. You can download the Microsoft Filter Pack from the Microsoft website.

How would you easily install all the Windows Server 2008 R2 roles and features required for Exchange 2010?
Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 allows us to install all Operating System prerequisites using just the Exchange Setup wizard. When we use the Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Setup wizard, there is a new option called Automatically install Windows Server roles and features required for Exchange Server. Just by clicking on that option will be installed all prerequisites automatically. Installing Exchange Server 2010 Pre-Requisites on Windows Server 2008 First, install the following software components. 1. .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 2. .NET Framework 3.5 Family Update 3. Windows Remote Management and Windows PowerShell 2.0 4. 2007 Office System Converter: Microsoft Filter Pack (for Hub Transport and Mailbox Server roles only) Run the following from an elevated command prompt. C:\>sc config NetTcpPortSharing start= auto Next we need to install the operating system components. The Exchange source files contain a series of ServerManagerCmd.exe answer files in XML format that can be used to install the operating system prerequisites for each of the server roles. Each file relates to a specific Exchange 2010 deployment scenario. exchange-all.xml – all server roles exchange-base.xml – only the requirements for Forest and Domain prep operations exchange-cadb.xml – Central Admin Database role exchange-cas.xml – Client Access Server role exchange-eca.xml – Central Admin role

exchange-edge.xml – Edge Transport Server role exchange-hub.xml – Hub Transport Server role exchange-mbx.xml – Mailbox Server role exchange-typical.xml – Typical Exchange server (Client Access, Hub Transport, and Mailbox Server roles) exchange-um.xml – Unified Messaging role Execute any of the answer files using ServerManagerCmd.exe and the -inputPath parameter (that can be shortened to -ip). Here I am installing the pre-requisites for a “Typical” Exchange 2010 server.

servermanagercmd -ip exchange-typical.xml –restart -restart option used to restart server automatically

How would you check your Exchange configuration settings to see if they’re right?
Run Microsoft Exchange Best Practices Analyzer tool.

Looking to install Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008. What SP version do you need? And for R2?
Exchange Server 2007 SP1 required for installation on Windows Server 2008 and Exchange Server 2007 SP3 required for Windows Server 2008 R2.

What’s a Rollup Update? What’s the latest RU for Exchange 2007 – 2010?
An update rollup is a tested, cumulative set of hotfixes, security updates, critical updates, and updates that are packaged together for easy deployment. A rollup generally targets a specific area, such as security, or a component of a product. At the time of this writing, Update Rollup 4 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 and Update Rollup 10 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 are available.

How can you easily integrate a RU in the Exchange 2007 – 2010 installation media?
The Exchange installation folder includes an Updates folder. When you perform a new Exchange installation, you can copy an update rollup to the Updates folder. In this scenario, the update rollup package is applied during the installation of Exchange. The Updates folder supports only new installation of Exchange server.

Name a few reasons for using 64-bit hardware and OS version for Exchange 2007 – 2010.
64-bit hardware provides the system architecture that is required to support the increased memory, storage, and enhanced security requirements in a more cost-effective manner. Trends indicate that demands on messaging systems will continue to grow and 64-bit servers provide the system architecture to meet these demands while reducing costs within organizations through server and disk storage consolidations. With a larger addressable space, the Exchange servers can utilize more memory thereby reducing the required input/output per user (IOPS), enabling the use of larger disks as well as low cost storage such as SATA2 drives.

Exchange 2007 came in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Name a couple of reasons for ever needing the 32-bit version.
You need exchange 2007 32bit to export mail box into PST file.

Wanting to manage Exchange 2007 – 2010 from a remote computer, name a few of your management options.
There are a few options for managing Exchange 2007 servers remotely. First off, you can install the Exchange 2007 management tools onto a separate machine from your Exchange server, as long as that machine is running either the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or later, Windows Server 2003 R2, or Windows XP SP2 or later. Note that installing any of the server roles (client access, mailbox, edge, and so on) on 32-bit hardware is not supported in production environments, but is supported for installing the management tools on a

32-bit machine. Also note that as of the initial release of Exchange Server 2007, the management tools are not supported on Windows Vista. In some organizations, the IT department creates a single server to be the management server, installing all the necessary management tools for various products on this server. Then the administrators who need to use those tools access the management server via Terminal Server so they can perform remote administration. In other settings, users install the management tools on their own desktops. From the console or shell you can perform operations on the servers in your organization. In the console, the servers are visible so you can perform operations on any of them remotely. In the shell, many of the tasks support a filtering flag like -server if you want to scope an operation to a single server. There are a few exceptions, however, for commands that must be run locally, such as the GetNetworkConnectionInfo command.

What is the GAL?
The Global Address List (GAL) also known as Microsoft Exchange Global Address Book is a directory service within the Microsoft Exchange email system. The GAL contains information for all email users, distribution groups, and Exchange resources.

What is the OAB? When is it used?
An Offline Address Book is a container that stores a collection of Offline Address Lists. Outlook users can choose which offline address lists they want to download. Users who work offline connect to Exchange Server computers and download Offline Address Lists to obtain information about other users in their organization. When an Administrator creates an Offline Address Book, the address list will be converted to a separate set of files and stored in an Exchange Public Folder. Offline Address Books typically contain at least one address list that represents the global address list (GAL). Users who are working offline with their Outlook clients can use this global address while they are on the road.

What is PowerShell and why do we care?
Windows PowerShell is a task-based command-line shell and scripting language designed especially for system administration. Built on the .NET Framework, Windows PowerShell helps IT professionals and power users control and automate the administration of the Windows operating system and applications that run on Windows. Built-in Windows PowerShell commands, called cmdlets, let you manage the computers in your enterprise from the command line. The Exchange Management Shell, built on Windows PowerShell technology, provides a powerful command-line interface for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 that enables automation of administrative tasks. With the Shell, you can manage every aspect of Exchange. You can enable new e-mail accounts, configure SMTP connectors, store database properties, store transport agents, and more. The Shell can perform every task that can be performed by the Exchange Management Console and the Exchange Web interface in addition to tasks that can't be performed in those interfaces. In fact, when a task is performed in the console and the Web interface, those interfaces use the Shell to perform the task.

Name major benefits of PowerShell v2 over V1
PowerShell Remoting : Using WS-Management, PowerShell 2.0 allows scripts and cmdlets to be invoked on a remote machine or a large set of remote machines.

Background Jobs : Also called a PSJob, it allows a command sequence (script) or pipeline to be invoked asynchronously. Jobs can be run on the local machine or on multiple remote machines. A PSJob cannot include interactive cmdlets. Transactions : Enable cmdlet and provider developers to perform transactional operations. PowerShell 2.0 includes transaction cmdlets for starting, committing, and rolling back a PSTransaction as well as features to manage and direct the transaction to the participating cmdlet and provider operations. The PowerShell Registry provider supports transactions. ScriptCmdlets: These are cmdlets written using the PowerShell scripting language. NOTE: The preferred name for script cmdlets is now Advanced Functions. SteppablePipelines: This allows the user to control when the BeginProcessing(), ProcessRecord() and EndProcessing() functions of a cmdlet are called. Modules : This allows script developers and administrators to organize and partition PowerShell scripts in self-contained, reusable units. Code from a module executes in its own self-contained context and does not affect the state outside of the module. Modules can define a restricted runspace environment by using a script. They have a persistent state as well as public and private members. Data Language : A domain-specific subset of the PowerShell scripting language, that allows data definitions to be decoupled from the scripts and allow localized string resources to be imported into the script at runtime (Script Internationalization). Script Debugging : It allows breakpoints to be set in a PowerShell script or function. Breakpoints can be set on lines, line & columns, commands and read or write access of variables. It includes a set of cmdlets to control the breakpoints via script. Eventing: This feature allows listening, forwarding, and acting on management and system events. Eventing allows PowerShell hosts to be notified about state changes to their managed entities. It also enables PowerShell scripts to subscribe to ObjectEvents, PSEvents, and WmiEvents and process them synchronously and asynchronously. Windows PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE) : PowerShell 2.0 includes a GUI-based PowerShell host (formerly known as Graphical Windows PowerShell) that provides integrated debugger, syntax highlighting, tab completion and up to 8 PowerShell Unicode-enabled consoles (Runspaces) in a tabbed UI, as well as the ability to run only the selected parts in a script. Network File Transfer : Native support for prioritized, throttled, and asynchronous transfer of files between machines using the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS). New Cmdlets : Including Out-GridView, which displays tabular data in the WPF GridView object. New Operators : -Split, -Join, and Splatting (@) operators. Exception Handling with Try-Catch-Finally : Unlike other .NET languages, this allows multiple exception types for a single catch block. Nestable Here-Strings : PowerShell Here-Strings have been improved and can now nest. Block Comments : PowerShell 2.0 supports block comments using <# and #> as delimiters.

New APIs : The new APIs range from handing more control over the PowerShell parser and runtime to the host, to creating and managing collection of Runspaces (RunspacePools) as well as the ability to create Restricted Runspaces which only allow a configured subset of PowerShell to be invoked. The new APIs also support participation in a Windows PowerShell managed transaction.

In the installation folder root you see setup.com and setup.exe. Which would you use and when?
Setup.com is used for all preparation work; basically it calls different backend procedures. Setup.com is also used in disaster recovery to reinstall all ex2k7 roles. Setup.exe is used for GIU installation.

What are the Exchange 2007/2010 server roles?
Exchange 2007 introduces a new concept to Exchange organizations, the concept of server roles. Similar to how a Windows server can host one or more roles. Server roles allow an administrator to split the functions of an Exchange

server and place each role, or a combination of roles, on different servers in the organization. With current Exchange servers you can make a server a Front-End server, or a Back-End server and that is about it. Exchange 2007 introduces five roles to the Exchange organization. Edge Transport - The last hop of outgoing mail and first hop of incoming mail, acting as a "smart host" and usually deployed in a perimeter network, Edge Transport provides mail quarantine and SMTP service to enhance security. One advantage of this role is that is does not require Active Directory access, so it can function with limited access to the corporate network for increased security. Hub Transport - The Hub Transport role handles mails by routing them to next hop: another Hub Transport server, Edge server or mailbox server. Unlike Exchange 2003 Bridgehead that needs Exchange admin defined routing groups, Exchange 2007 Hub Transport role uses AD site info to determine the mail flow. The Hub Transport and Edge Transport servers are very similar and in fact, one can forgo the Edge Transport server and configure the Hub Transport to accept mail from, and send mail to, the Internet. Client Access - The Client Access server role provides the other mailbox server protocol access apart from MAPI. Similar to Exchange 2003 FrontEnd server, it enables user to use an Internet browser (OWA), 3rd party mail client (POP3/IMAP4) and mobile device (ActiveSync) to access their mailbox. Mailbox - The Mailbox server role is responsible for hosting mailbox and public folder data. This role also provides MAPI access for Outlook clients. Note that there is also a variation of this role called Clustered Mailbox role, for use with high-availability MSCS clustering of mailbox data. When Clustered Mailbox role is selected, other server roles cannot be combined on the same physical server. Unified Messaging - This role enables end users to access their mailbox, address book, and calendar using telephone and voice. IP-PBX or VoIP gateway needs to be installed and configured to facilitate much of the functionality of this server role.

What are the benefits of using roles, vs. the way Exchange 2000/2003 worked?
Server role is a logical concept used to organize Exchange 2007 services and features across one or more servers. While Exchange 2003 provided primitive server roles called BackEnd server and FrontEnd server, Exchange 2007 has more granular divisions. Dividing Exchange features among several server roles has advantages: More flexible deployment topology: For a small or medium company that has only hundreds of mailboxes and all users are centralized, customer can install all required roles on one physical server. For a large enterprise where tens of thousands of mailboxes span multiple physical locations, customer can choose to deploy each role on a separate server or even multiple servers per role to provide better performance and fault tolerance. Better hardware utilization and scalability: Because each role only installs binaries and runs services for a specific feature set. Unlike older versions of Exchange, configuring a server that has only one or two roles will reduce Memory, CPU and disk space requirements for this server. In addition, roles are scalable so admin can load balance work of one role to multiple servers.

Easy to maintain: Upgrading, applying hotfix, or other server changes that could cause server outage can be isolated to one server role. This reduces maintenance down time and end user impact. Admin can also install or uninstall roles on a server as needed.

What are the Exchange 2003 equivalents of the various Exchange 2007-2010 roles?
Exchange 2007 Exchange 2003

Edge Transport Hub Transport Bridgehead server Client Access Front-End server Mailbox Back End server Unified Messaging

The main differences between Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010.
Feature Database Storage Groups Public Folders Web Services Desktop Clients DR Technologies Outlook clients connect to

Exchange 2007

Exchange 2010

Jet EDB database Yes Automatically created ExOLEDB, CDOEX, WebDAV, EWS Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010 SCC, CCR, SCR Mailbox Server

Jet EDB database None, only data stores Manual creation Exchange Web Services (EWS) Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010 Database Availability Group (DAG) Client Access Server

Exchange server 2007/2010 Interview Questions/Answers
What are the pre requisites to install Exchange Server 2007? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 Microsoft ASP .Net World Wide Web Service MMC 3.0 Windows power shell SMTP & NNTP service should not be installed

2. What’s the order to install Exchange Server 2007 Roles in a exchange Server 2003 organization? 1. 2. 3. 4. Client Access Server Role Hub Transport Server Role Mailbox Server Role Unified Messaging Server role

3. What are the versions available in Exchange Server 2007?

There are two types of Exchange Server 2007 version release
 

· 64 bit – for production environment · 32 bit – only for non-production environment

4. What are the Operating system requirements to install Exchange Server 2007? Exchange Server 2007 can be installed on
  

· Windows Server 2003 SP2 64-bit, · Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2 64-bit or · Windows Server 2008 64-bit

5. What are the Active directory requirements to install Exchange Server 2007? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Domain functional level at least windows server 2000 native or higher Schema Master must be run on windows 2003 server with sp1 At least one Domain Controller, in each domain with windows server 2003 sp1 At least one global catalog server in Active Directory Site which hosts exchange Server 2007 4:1 ratio of Exchange processor to global catalog server processors

6. What are the hardware requirements to install Exchange Server 2007?
    

Processor – 64 bit processor RAM – 2 GB + 5 MB per Mailbox Disk Space – At least 1.2 GB on the drive on which you install Exchange - 200 MB of available disk space on the system drive File Format – NTFS

7. What are the Software requirements to install Exchange Server 2007? Following are the software prerequisites to install Exchange Server 2007 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 IIS WWW MMC 3.0 Microsoft Windows Power Shell

8. What is Transition in Exchange Server 2007? Transition is the scenario in which you upgrade an existing Exchange organization to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. To perform the transition, you must move data from the existing Exchange servers to new Exchange 2007 servers. For example, when upgrading from an Exchange Server 2003 or Exchange 2000 Server organization to an Exchange 2007 organization, you perform a transition

When transitioning to Exchange 2007, you cannot perform an in-place server upgrade on an existing Exchange server. Instead, you must install a new Exchange 2007 server into the existing organization, and then move data to the new Exchange 2007 server.

9. What is Migration in Exchange Server 2007?

Migration is the scenario in which you upgrade to Exchange 2007 by migrating data from a nonExchange messaging system to Exchange 2007 or from an existing Exchange organization to a completely new Exchange organization, without retaining any of the Exchange configuration data in the first organization. For example, when merging with another company, you can perform a migration. In this scenario, you move mailboxes and data to the other company’s Exchange organization, without retaining any of the configuration data from your existing Exchange organization. Another example is when upgrading from Lotus Notes to Exchange 2007, you perform a migration. In this scenario, you must move mailboxes and data to the new Exchange 2007 organization, without retaining any of the data from the Lotus Notes organization. The migration process includes installing a completely new Exchange 2007 organization, and then migrating mailboxes from the old messaging system to the new Exchange 2007 messaging system, using various tools for migration.

10. Is it possible to do in place upgrade from Exchange Server 2003 to Exchange Server 2007? No in-place upgrade on existing Exchange server organization. Install new Exchange Server 2007 server into existing organization, and move data to new server.

11. What are the transition options available in Exchange Server 2007 We can make transition in following options

Single forest to single forest – you have an existing single forest Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 topology, you can transition to a single forest Exchange 2007 organization Single forest to cross forest – If you have an existing single forest Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 topology, you can transition to a cross-forest Exchange 2007 topology Cross forest to cross forest – If you have an existing cross-forest Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 topology with Exchange servers and mailboxes in each forest, you can transition to an Exchange 2007 cross-forest topology. Resource forest to resource forest Single forest to resource forest -

12. What are the considerations for Exchange Server 2007 to co exists with Exchange server 2000 and Exchange Server 2003?
    

Exchange Organization in Exchange Native Mode· Exchange Server 2007 routing group (DWBGZMFD01QNBJR) is created only for coexisting with earlier versions of Exchange. Routing Group Connector is required between Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2007 (created during setup). Exchange Server 2003 computers cannot interoperate with the Unified Messaging server role. Exchange 2003 mailboxes cannot be Unified Messaging–enabled. Exchange 2003 Front-ends cannot talk to Exchange Server 2007 Mailbox Server Roles. No in-place upgrade on existing Exchange server. Install new Exchange Server 2007 server into existing organization, and move data to new server

13. Will Front End server talk to Exchange Server 2007 Mailbox server in an Exchange organization having both exchange 2003 and exchange Server 2007? Exchange Server 2003 Front-end server cannot talk to Exchange Server 2007 Mailbox Server Roles

14. What is the status of routing group connector in co existed of Exchange Server 2003 and 2007? Exchange Organization in Exchange Native Mode· Exchange Server 2007 routing group (DWBGZMFD01QNBJR) is created only for coexisting with earlier versions of Exchange. Routing Group Connector is required between Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2007 (created during setup).

15. Which service should not be installed in Exchange Server 2007 installation? SMTP and NNTP service should not be installed 16. What are the Exchange Server editions available? There are two types of Exchange Server 2007 editions available 1. Standard Edition 2. Enterprise Edition 17. What is the difference between standard and Enterprise Edition? Exchange 2007 functions Number of Data Stores Supported Clustering support Standard Edition 5 includes Mailbox/Public Folder No Enterprise Edition 50 combination of both Yes

OS Support

Windows 2003 64 bit

Windows 2003 64 bit

18. What to do if exchange Server 5.5 in your organization in order to upgrade to Exchange Server 2007?

You cannot upgrade an existing Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.5 organization to Exchange Server 2007. You must first migrate from the Exchange Server 5.5 organization to an Exchange Server 2003 or an Exchange 2000 Server organization. Then you can transition the Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 organization to Exchange 2007.

19. What are the Planning considerations for Client Access Server Role? The Client Access server role supports the Outlook Web Access, Outlook Anywhere, and Exchange ActiveSync client applications, in addition to the POP3 and IMAP4 protocols. The Client Access server role also hosts several key services, such as the Auto discover service and Exchange Web Services. In order to have better client access functionality we have to perform a Planning consideration on Exchange Active Sync. Outlook web Access, outlook anywhere, POP3 and IMAP4 protocols and also securing client access

20. What are the Planning Considerations of Hub Transport Server Role? Hub Transport server role is a required role in a Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 organization that provides routing within a single organizational network by using the Active Directory directory service site. Hub Transport server role installed handles all mail flow inside the organization, apply transport rules, apply journal rules, and deliver messages to recipients’ mailboxes We have to perform a Planning Consideration on
   

Topology for mail flow inside and outside the Exchange organization Server capacity – determine how to perform performance monitor Security – includes delegation of administrative roles and verification that IP connections are only enabled from authorized servers Transport Features – determine the transport features that you will enable at the Hub Transport server and how they will be configured

21. What are the Planning Considerations of Mailbox Server Role? The Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Mailbox server role hosts mailbox databases and provides e-mail storage and advanced scheduling services for Microsoft Office Outlook users The Mailbox server role can

also host a public folder database, which provides a foundation for workflow, document sharing, and other forms of collaboration We have to perform a planning consideration on
   

Sizing the database, Planning for public folder, Co hosting with other server roles and Planning for clustered Mailbox server

22. What are the Planning Considerations for Edge Transport Server Role? Exchange Server 2007 Edge Transport server role is designed to provide improved antivirus and antispam protection for the Exchange organization. Computers that have the Edge Transport server role also apply policies to messages in transport between organizations. The Edge Transport server role is deployed in an organization’s perimeter network.
    

Edge Transport Should not be included in Active Directory Should be installed in a Standalone Server Edge Transport Should not be Part of the domain ADAM Should be Installed Pre requisites .Net framework , Windows Management Shell, MMC

Difference Between Exchange Server 2007 Standard and Enterprise Edition.


Exchange 2007 Enterprise Edition supports up to fifty storage groups, one storage group support up to five databases. Exchange 2007 Standard Edition supports only five storage groups, one storage group support up to five databases. If You are using Continuous Replication technology Microsoft recommend use one database per storage group. Exchange 2007 Enterprise Edition supports up to fifty databases per server. Exchange 2007 Standard Edition supports only five databases per server. Exchange 2007 Enterprise Edition database size is limited to 16 TB. Exchange 2007 Standard Edition databases size is limited to 16 TB. Microsoft recommend limit database size to 100 GB or If You are using Continuous Replication technology database size should be limited 200 GB. Exchange 2007 Enterprise Edition supports Single Copy Clusters technology (better protection mail system with two Exchange servers and one disc store).





    



 

Exchange 2007 Standard Edition do not support Single Copy Clusters technology. Local Continuous Replication technology (better protection mail store with one Exchange server and two discs store) is supported by Exchange 2007 Standard Edition and Exchange 2007 Enterprise Edition. Exchange 2007 Enterprise Edition supports Single Copy Clusters technology (better protection mail system and mail store with two Exchange servers and two discs store) Exchange 2007 Standard Edition do not support Single Copy Clusters technology. Standby Continuous Replication technology (better protection mail store) is supported by Exchange 2007 Standard Edition SP1 and Exchange 2007 Enterprise Edition SP1.



 

Q. How does the OAB distribution happens in Exchange 2007?Ans. The Exchange System Attendant service is responsible for the generation of oab. This service is available only on a server that has the mailbox role installed. The SA invokes a dll file called oabgen.dll. The oab files are stored in C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\ExchangeOAB. This folder is shared so that it can be replicated to the CAS server for web distribution. The oab generation server opens the oab folders and updates the file. The oabgen.dll file is responsible for connecting to the public folder. CAS server runs a service named Microsoft Exchange File Distribution Service which copies the oab files from the mailbox server (ExchangeOAB folder) to the web distribution point in the CAS server. The web distribution folder is a folder on CAS Server where the copied oab files are placed. The default location is C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\ClientAccess\OAB. The web distribution point is updated once in 8 hours. If you want to force an oab update, restart the Exchange File Distribution Service. Q. Is it recommended to install CAS server in perimeter network? Why? Ans. No. Security and availability of AD attributes are two main reasons. Q. How is the performance of Exchange 2007 better than Exchange 2003? Ans. In Exchange 2003, the database read to write ratio was typically 2:1 or 66 percent reads. With Exchange 2007, the larger database cache decreases the number of reads to the database on disk causing the reads to shrink as a percentage of total I/O. In Exchange 2003, a transaction log for a storage group requires roughly 10 percent as many I/Os as the databases in the storage group. For example, if the database LUN is using 1000 I/Os, the log LUN would use approximately 100 I/Os. With the reduction in database reads in Exchange 2007, combined with the smaller log file size and the ability to have more storage groups, the log-to-database write ratio is

roughly 1:2. For example, if the database LUN is consuming 500 write I/Os, the log LUN will consume approximately 250 write I/Os. Q. What is Transport Dumpster? Ans. The transport dumpster submits recently delivered mail after an unscheduled outage MaxDumpsterSizePerStorageGroup: 1.5 times the size of the max msg that can be sent MaxDumpsterTime: How long the email can stay in the transport dumpster queue 7.00:00:00 means 7 days Q. What is Back-Pressure? Ans. The settings for back-pressure can be configure on Hub Transport and Edge Server. If utilization of a system resource exceeds the specified limit, the Exchange server stops accepting new connections and messages. This prevents the system resources from being completely overwhelmed and enables the Exchange server to deliver the existing messages. Q. Exchange 2007 main Services: Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology Microsoft Exchange Monitoring Microsoft Exchange IMAP4 Microsoft Exchange POP3 Microsoft Exchange Transport Log Search Microsoft Exchange Transport: On Hub and Edge Microsoft Exchange Service Host Microsoft Exchange Search Indexer Microsoft Exchange Replication Service Microsoft Exchange Mail Submission Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Assistants Microsoft Exchange File Distribution: On CAS Server Microsoft Exchange Information Store Microsoft Exchange System Attendant Microsoft Exchange EdgeSync: on Hub Transport Server Microsoft Exchange Anti-spam Update

Exchange General
1. What is the server roles in Exchange 2007? 2. What are the Exchange 2003 sever roles equivalents of the various Exchange server 2007/2010 roles?
Exchange server 2003 Front End Server (SMTP Service) Exchange server 2007/2010 HUB Transport Server

Front End Server Backend End Server

Client Access Server Mailbox Server Edge Transport Server (NEW) Unified Messaging

3. Name the system prerequisites for installing Exchange 2007? 4. Why doesn’t we install Outlook on the same machine running Exchange 2007/2010? 5. Where does Exchange store its configuration settings? 6. How do you prepare the AD for Exchange 2007? 7. How would you verify that the schema was in fact updated? 8. What are in the installation folder root setup.com and setup.exe. Which would you use and when? 9. What is PowerShell in Exchange server and Name one major benefit of PowerShell v2 over V1? 10. What’s the difference between the Enterprise and Standard editions of Exchange in relation with the number and size of the stores on the server? 11. What is Cached Mode in Outlook 2007/2010? 12. What is S/MIME? What are the usage scenarios for S/MIME? 13. What are E-Discovery features? 14. In Exchange 2007, what are the minimum requirements for implementing a high availability topology, in relation to the server roles and server numbers?

Exchange Recipient Level
1. What are the different Exchange Recipient types? User mailbox: This mailbox is created for an individual user to store mails, calendar items, contacts, tasks, documents, and other business data. Linked mailbox: This mailbox is created for an individual user in a separate, trusted forest. For example AD account is created in A.COM and Mailbox is created in B.COM Exchange Server. Shared mailbox: This mailbox is not primarily associated with a single user and is generally configured to allow logon access for multiple users. Legacy mailbox: This mailbox is resides on a server running Exchange Server 2003 or Exchange 2000 Server. Room mailbox: This mailbox is created for a meeting location, such as a meeting or conference room, auditorium, or training room. When we create this mailbox, by default a disabled user

object account is created. Equipment mailbox: A resource mailbox is created for a non-location specific resource, such as a portable computer projector, microphone, or a company car. When we create this mailbox, by default a disabled user object account is created. Equipment mailboxes provide a simple and efficient way for users to use resources in manageable way. 2. What is the difference between mail user and mail contact? Mail user: This is an Active Directory user that represents e-mail address outside your Exchange organization. Each mail user has an external e-mail address to which all messages sent to the mail user are routed. Mail contact: This is an Active Directory contact that contains e-mail address information about people or organizations that exist outside your Exchange organization. Each mail contact has an external e-mail address. All messages sent to the mail contact are routed to this external e-mail address. 3. What is the difference between Distribution group and Dynamic Distribution group? Mail-enabled (Universal distribution group): This is an Active Directory distribution group object that can be used only to distribute messages to a group of recipients. Mail-enabled (Universal security group):A mail-enabled Active Directory security group object that can be used to grant access permissions to resources in Active Directory, and can also be used to distribute messages. Mail-enabled (Non-universal group): This is an Active Directory global or local group object. Mail-enabled non-universal groups are de-emphasized in Exchange 2007 and can exist only if they were migrated from previous versions of Exchange. You cannot use Exchange 2007 to create new non-universal distribution groups. Dynamic distribution group: A distribution group that uses recipient filters and conditions to derive its membership at the time messages are sent.

Exchange CAS Role
1. What is OWA? OWA refer to Outlook Web Access in Exchange 2007 by you access your e-mail from any Web browser. Outlook Web Access contains many new features such as meeting booking, Microsoft SharePoint Services and Windows file share integration, and a rich user experience from any computer that has a Web browser.

2. What is the Exchange ActiveSync? Exchange ActiveSync is a feature which synchronize you email data between your mobile device and Exchange server. Using Active sync you can synchronize e-mail, contacts, calendar and tasks. Mobile devices running Windows Mobile software and Windows Mobile 5.0, are all supported. 3. What is Availability service The Availability service provides free/busy information using secure, consistent, and up-to-date free/busy data to users that are running Outlook 2007. Outlook 2007 uses the Autodiscover service to obtain the URL of the Availability service. 4. What is Autodiscover service? This service enables Outlook clients and some mobile devices to receive their necessary profile settings directly from the Exchange server by using the client’s Active Directory domain credentials or user’s SMTP domain. 5. What is Outlook Anywhere and describe the method for enabling Outlook Anywhere? Outlook Anywhere feature (previously known as RPC over HTTP) provide a facility to connect your Internet-based Microsoft Outlook clients to connect to your Exchange Server 2007. This featureeliminates the need to use virtual private networks (VPNs) if Exchange server 2003 with Sp1 and Exchange 2007. Outlook Anywhere can be enabled by using the Exchange Management Console Open Exchange Management console tree > expand Server Configuration > then click Client Access. In the action pane, click Enable Outlook Anywhere. Exchange Management Shell Enable-OutlookAnywhere -Server: <ServerName> -ExternalHostName: <ExternalHostName> ClientAuthenticationMethod:Basic -IISAuthenticationMethods <MultiValuedProperty> SSLOffloading:$false Requirement of Outlook anywhere  Install a valid Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate from a trusted certification authority (CA).  Install the Windows RPC over HTTP Proxy component 6. What are the certificates can be installed on Exchange 2007 and Name a few commercial CAs? Wildcard Certificate: Exchange Server support certificates with wildcard names, such as *.nakshatrait.com. This is an acceptable domain. Please make sure that some legacy clients and mobile devices do not support wildcard names on a certificate.

SAN Certificate: This is the most widely used certificate type such as it has one common name like webmail.nakshatrait.com and some additional domain name refer to Exchange other services like Autodiscover.nakshatrait.com, pop.nakshatrait.com, imap.nakshatrait.com. 7. How to Determine When to Use Certificates Issued by Public CAs and When to Use SelfSigned Certificates? Whenever your users are access Exchange components that require authentication and encryption from outside your corporate firewall, it is time to deploy a certificate issued by a public CA. Let users are accessing Exchange ActiveSync, POP3, IMAP4, and Outlook Anywhere. so in this case you require a certificate that is issued by a public CA. A self-signed certificate used by Exchange 2007 component that uses Kerberos, Direct Trust, or NTLM authentication. These are all internal Exchange 2007 components, to the fact that the data paths are between Exchange 2007 servers and within the corporate network that is defined by Active Directory. 7. Named the Exchange 2007 components use certificates? SMTP EdgeSync synchronization POP3 and IMAP4 Unified Messaging Autodiscover Client Access applications such as Outlook Anywhere, OWA, and Exchange ActiveSync 8. Exchange Transport Role 9. 1. Where does Exchange 2007 get its routing topology from? Exchange 2007 uses the Active Directory site topology to determine how messages are transported in the organization. The Hub Transport server uses the Active Directory Topology service to retrieve the Exchange organization’s configuration information. Unlike earlier versions of Exchange, Exchange 2007 does not use a link state routing table and does not try to calculate an alternative route when a connection is unavailable. 10. 2. What is a Mail Relay? Name a few known mail relay software or hardware options? 3. What’s a Smart Host? When would you configure and use it? 4. What is Send Connector? Send Connector 11. 5. What is Receive Connectors? Provide two default receive connector names? Receive Connector: By default, when you install the Hub Transport server role, two Receive connectors exist. No additional Receive connectors are needed. The default Receive connectors do not require any additional configuration changes. 12. 13. Default Receive connector: (A) Client <Servername>: This Receive connector accepts SMTP connections from all non-MAPI clients, such as POP and IMAP. This connector work on port 587. (B) Default <Servername>: This Receive connector accepts connections from Edge

Transport servers to receive messages from the Internet and from other Hub Transport servers. This connector work on port 25 14. What’s the major issue blocking you from receiving e-mail from the world, considering you’ve enabled the right port(s) on the firewall, and properly configured MX records for your domain(s)? 6. What’s the difference between the “Client” and the “Default” Receive Connectors? You’re looking to troubleshoot e-mail delivery issues. Name 4 options/tools/logs that are built into Exchange 2007/2010 that can help you in your task. 7. How to enable Anti-Spam features on the HT role and what is the recommendation? 8. Where does Edge role store its settings? Edge Transport server role installed doesn’t have access to Active Directory. The Edge Transport server stores all configuration and recipient information in ADAM. Because Active Directory and ADAM both use Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), and because both directory services use the Exchange 2007 schema, you can replicate data from Active Directory to ADAM. 15. Types of Data Replicated to ADAM A. Edge Subscription information Provision and maintain the credentials to help secure the LDAP connection. Arbitrate the synchronization lock and lease process. Optimize the EdgeSync synchronization process 16. B. Configuration information Hub Transport servers Accepted domains Message classifications Remote domains Send connectors Internal SMTP servers Domain Secure lists 17. C. Recipient information Recipients Proxy addresses Safe Senders List and Safe Recipients List Per recipient anti-spam settings 18. D. Topology information Notification of newly subscribed Edge Transport servers. This data is refreshed every five minutes. 19. 9. How to enable high-availability and load balancing on Edge servers? 10. What is Edge subscription and process to enable Edge subscription? Exchange 2007 Edge Transport server role is always deployed in organization’s DMZ (perimeter) network. Edge Transport server handles all Internet mail flow. It also provides some additional protection and security provided by a series of agents running on the Edge Transport server. These agents protect messages against viruses and spam and apply transport rules to control message flow.

20. This is an optional process, subscribing an Edge Transport server provide anti-spam features, recipient lookup or safelist, or secure SMTP communications. 21. Edge Subscription Process A. Make sure that the Hub Transport servers and the Edge Transport server can resolve the each other FQDNs by using DNS. B. Run the New-EdgeSubscription cmdlet in the EMS on the Edge Transport server to export the Edge Subscription file. C. Copy the Edge Subscription file to a Hub Transport server. D. Run the New-EdgeSubscription cmdlet in the EMS or EMC to import the Edge Subscription file. 22. 11. What’s the default replication interval for Edge sync and what is the step to force replication? When the Exchange Edge server starts, the Microsoft Exchange EdgeSync service starts and establishes a synchronization schedule. Configuration data is synchronized to ADAM once every hour. Recipient data is synchronized to ADAM once every four hours. 23. You cannot modify the synchronization intervals. 24. Steps to Sync Edge sync replication Use the EMS to immediately start synchronization of data from the Active Directory service to the subscribed Edge Transport servers. Run the below command on the HB transport server. 25. Start-EdgeSynchronization -Server <Hub Transport server name> 26. 12. What ports required to open between the DMZ holding the Edge role and internal network? 27. 13. How to configure E-mal routing to be able to send e-mail externally (to the Internet) and what do you need to do? 28. 14. What are the default connectors created during the Exchange Edge subscription? When we do the EdgeSync synchronization process, it creates two send connector which then replicated to ADAM. A Send connector that is configured to relay e-mail messages from the Exchange organization to the Internet. Connector Name: EdgeSync – <Site Name> to Internet 29. A Send connector that is configured to relay e-mail messages from the Edge Transport server to the Exchange organization. Connector Name: EdgeSync – Inbound to <Site Name>
Name Address Space EdgeSync – <Site Name> to Internet SMTP:*;100 Edge Subscription name Source Servers Note: The name of the Edge Subscription is the same as the name of the subscribed Edge EdgeSync – Inbound to <Site Name> SMTP:–;1 Edge Subscription name

Transport server. Enabled DNS Routing Enabled Domain Secure Enabled (Mutual Auth TLS)

TRUE TRUE TRUE


TRUE FALSE

30. 15. What is Accepted Domains and difference?

31.
32.

Exchange Mailbox Role

What is OAB? OAB? When it is used and what are the OAB distribution options? What is the GAL and when would you decide to create more than one GAL? What are the major changes in the way Exchange 2007 stores work? What’s a Recovery Storage Group? How do you work with one? Can you use Exmerge in Exchange 2007/2010? Why? How do you export a mailbox content in Exchange 2007/2010? What’s a Dial Tone recovery? Describe the concept behind Log Shipping. What’s the difference between LCR, CCR and SCR and SCC? What are the high availability solutions introduced in Exchange Server 2010? What id DAC and when it need to enable? What’s the major difference in store high availability in Exchange 2007? What Exchange edition version do you need for LCR? What Windows edition version do you need for LCR? How do you recover from a store corruption when using LCR? Name the procedures you would use. What are the major changes in the way Exchange 2010 stores work? Name some of the changes in comparison with Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007.

Exchange Tools, Backup
1. What is Eseutil and Isinteg, Name a few scenarios for using both tools? Eseutil Isinteg Scenario when you need there utilities. When there is a logical corruption in database. When you have enough free white space in Exchange database. When your Exchange database disk going to full and need to free disk space. 33. For more details go to URL 34. 2. What backup solutions are you familiar with in Exchange 2007/2010? 3. What built-in tool do you have to allow you to manage Exchange store recoveries? 4. What the difference is between online and offline defrag? 5. What are streaming backups and VSS backups?

6. How would you backup Exchange 2007/2010 on a Windows Server 2008/R2 machine without using 3rd-party tools? 7. What’s a Brick-Level backup? 8. What is ROLA BASED ACCESS CONTROL? 35.

MS Exchange Interview Questions 1.What must be done to an AD forest before Exchange can be deployed? -Setup.exe /forestprep 2.What Exchange process is responsible for communication with AD? -DSACCESS 3.What 3 types of domain controller does Exchange access? -Normal Domain Controller, Global Catalog, Configuration Domain Controller 4.What connector type would you use to connect to the Internet, and what are the two methods of sending mail over that connector? SMTP Connector: Forward to smart host or use DNS to route to each address 5.How would you optimise Exchange 2003 memory usage on a Windows Server 2003 server with mre than 1Gb of memory? Add /3Gb switch to boot.ini 6.Name the process names for the following: System Attendant? MAD.EXE, Information Store – STORE.EXE, SMTP/POP/IMAP/OWA – INETINFO.EXE 7.What is the maximum amount of databases that can be hosted on Exchange 2003 Enterprise? -20 databases. 4 SGs x 5 DBs. 8.What are the standard port numbers for SMTP, POP3, IMAP4, RPC, LDAP and Global Catalog? -25SMTP -110 POP3

-143IMAP4 -135RPC -389LDAP -636LDAP (SSL), -3268Global Catalog -465 SMTP/SSL, -993IMAP4/SSL, -563IMAP4/SSL, -53DNS , -80 HTTP , -88Kerberos , -102 X.400 , -110 POP3 , -119 NNTP , -137 - NetBIOS Session Service -139 - NetBIOS Name Service , -379 LDAP (SRS) , -443HTTP (SSL) , -445 - NetBIOS over TCP -563 NNTP (SSL) , -691 LSA ,-993 IMAP4 (SSL) , -994 IRC (SSL) , -995 POP3 (SSL) , -1503 T.120 , -1720 H.323 , -1731 Audio conferencing , -1863 - MSN IM -3268 GC , -3269 GC (SSL) , -6001 Rpc/HTTP Exchange Store , -6002 HTTP Exchange Directory Referral service , -6004 Rpc/HTTP NSPI Exchange Directory Proxy service/Global Catalog , -6667 IRC/IRCX , -6891 - 6900 - MSN IM File transfer , -6901 - MSN IM Voice , -7801 - 7825 - MSN IM Voice[/b] 9.What are the prequisite for installation of Exchange Server The pre requsite are IIS, SMTP, WWW service ,NNTP, W3SVC NET Framework ASP.NET Then run Forestprep The run domainprep 10.Which protocol is used for Public Folder ? ANS: SMTP 11.What is the use of NNTP with exchange ? -ANS: This protocol is used the news group in exchange 12.Disaster Recovery Plan? Ans: Deals with the restoration of computer system with all attendent software and connections to full functionality under a variety of damaging or interfering external condtions. 13.About the new features in Exchange 2003: 1.Updated Outlook Web Access.

2.Updated VSAPI (Virus Scanning Application Programming Interface) but in Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise, there are Specific Features which : 3.Eight-node Clustering using the Windows Clustering service in Windows Server (Ent.&Datacenter) 4.Multiple storage groups. 5..X.400 connectors which supports both TCP/IP and X.25. 14.What would a rise in remote queue length generally indicate? -This means mail is not being sent to other servers. This can be explained by outages or performance issues with the network or remote servers. 15.What would a rise in the Local Delivery queue generally mean? This indicates a performance issue or outage on the local server. Reasons could be slowness in consulting AD, slowness in handing messages off to local delivery or SMTP delivery. It could also be databases being dismounted or a lack of disk space. 16.What are the disadvantages of circular logging? In the event of a corrupt database, data can only be restored to the last backup. 17.What is the maximum storage capacity for Exchange standard version? What would you do if it reaches maximum capacity?” 16GB.Once the store dismounts at the 16GB limit the only way to mount it again is to use the 17GB registry setting. And even this is a temporary solution. if you apply Exchange 2003 SP2 to your Standard Edition server, the database size limit is initially increased to 18GB. Whilst you can go on to change this figure to a value up to 75GB, it’s important to note that 18GB is the default setting HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\{server name}\Private-{GUID It therefore follows that for registry settings that relate to making changes on a public store, you’ll need to work in the following registry key: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\{server name}\Public-{GUID} Under the relevant database, create the following registry information: Value type: REG_DWORD Value name: Database Size Limit in GB Set the value data to be the maximum size in gigabytes that the database is allowed to grow to. For the Standard Edition of Exchange, you can enter numbers between 1 and 75. For the Enterprise Edition, you can enter numbers between 1 and 8000. Yes, that’s right, between 1GB and 8000GB or 8TB. Therefore, even if you are running the Enterprise Edition of Exchange, you can still enforce overall database size limits of, say, 150GB if you so desire. Exchange 2000 Server Question 18.You are the Exchange Administrator for your company. A hard disk on one of the Exchange 2000Server computers fails. The failed hard disk contained the Exchange 2000 System files. The hard disk that contained the transaction log files and exchange databases was not affected by the failure. You replace the failed hard disk. You need to bring the server online, but the only available does not include the system files. What should you do? A.Reinstall Exchange 2000 Server by running setup/DomainPrep on the server. B.Reinstall Exchange 2000 Server by running setup/DisasterRecovery on the server. C.Perform a normal installation of Exchange 2000 Server on the server. Create a new database that uses the same database names and paths as the original installation. D.Perform a normal installation of Exchange 2000 Server on the server. Create a storage group that uses the same database names and paths as the original installation. 19.You are the Exchange Administrator for your company. You configure an Exchange 2000 Server computer as a recovery server for single mailbox recovery. You restore the database files from your production exchange server’s online backup to recovery server. You specify the correct names and paths of the databases, but you are not able to mount the databases. What should you do?

A.Run ISINTEG-patch and then mount the databases. B.Change the transaction log file path to match the transaction log file path of the original server. C.In system manager, select the This database can be overwritten by a restore check box, and then mount the databases. D.Enable circular logging on the storage group, and then restart the information store service. 20.You are the Exchange Administrator for your company. A power failure causes one of the Exchange 2000 Server computers shut down abruptly. You restore power to the exchange server, but the hard disk that contains the transaction log files was damaged. You replace the failed hard disk, but its contents are unrecoverable. When you restart the server, the mailbox store will not mount. You examine the header of the database, and find it to be in an inconsistent state. You back up the exchange database files to a safe location, and now you need to bring the mailbox store online with most current data possible. Which two actions should you take before mounting the database? (Each correct answer presents part of the solution. Choose two) A.Run ESEUTIL/R on the database. B.Run ESEUTIL/P on the database. C.Run ESEUTIL/G on the database. D.Run ISINTEG-patch in the MDBData folder. E.Run ISINTEG-fix on the database. 21.You are the Exchange Administrator for your company. The only domain controller on your Windows 2000 network is named as server 1. The only Exchange 2000 Server computer on the network is named server 2. Server 1 fails, and you do not have a backup of the server. You reinstall the domain controller and create a new forest. You need to allow the users in this new forest to access the exchange mailboxes on server2. What should you do? A.Run setup/DisasterRecovery on server 2, and then run the mailbox clean up agent on the mailboxes. B.Perform a normal reinstallation of Exchange 2000 Server on Server 2. Configure the new installation to use your original database files, and then reconnect the mailboxes to the new user accounts. C.Join server 2 to the new domain created by server 1, and then run the mailbox cleanup agent on the mailboxes. D.Run EXMERGE against the exchange databases, and save the output to a file. Run setup/DomainPrep on server2, and then import the EXMERGE data files exchange. 22.You are the administrator of an exchange organization that has the Exchange 2000 Server computers.Each server supports 1,500 mailboxes. Some users are using Microsoft outlook 2000, and some are using outlook web access. Recently, you enabled SSL for the default web site on all servers and now require all outlook web access users to connect by using secure HTTP. Users report that all the servers are much slower than they were before you enabled SSL. You must keep additional level of security provided by SSL, but you need to improve server responsiveness. What should you do? A.Install an additional Exchange 2000 Server computer to support the secure HTTP users, and configure it as a front-end server. B.Remove SSL and implement TLS on the SMTP and IMAP4 virtual servers. C.Install two additional Exchange 2000 Server computers, and move the outlook web access users to the new server. D.Specify digest authentication on the default web site, and disable integrated Windows authentication. E.Enable Windows 2000 IPSec for the network adapter that supports SQL. 23.You are the Exchange Administrator for your company. The public folders in your organization contain more than 10,000 documents. You want to make it easier and faster for users to find specific documents.

What should you do? A.Configure a public folder store policy, and add the public folder store to the policy. B.Configure a public folder store policy, and create a full-text index on the public folder store. C.Configure a public folder store policy, and set the replication for the public folder store policy to always run. D.Create a new public folder tree, configure a public folder store policy in this tree, and then create a fulltext index for the public folder store. 24.You are the exchange administrator for your company. You have a mail box store policy for mailbox storage limits in effect for your entire exchange organization. The policy is shown in the exhibit. You add a new exchange 2000 server computer. After the server runs for a few weeks, you notice that several mailboxes are considerably over the limits that are. You need to configure the server to enforce the limits that you set. What should you do? A.Configure a new mailbox store policy for the new server. B.Configure a new server policy and add the new server to this policy. C.Set storage limits on the existing mailbox store on the new server. D.Add the default mailbox store on the new server to the mailbox store policy. 25.You are the exchange administrator of your company. Your network is configured as shown in the exhibit. Click the exhibit button. All of your employees connect to your exchange 2000 server computers by using the Microsoft outlook 2000 or outlook express while in office and outlook web access outside the office. You examine the exchange 2000 log files and notice that unknown users on the internet are using your exchange 2000 express server computers to relay SMTP messages to users outside of your company. You need to prevent unauthorized use of your SMTP server while still allowing all of your users to connect to your exchange servers whether the users are in the office or out of the office. In addition, users must still be able to exchange internet e-mail messages with anyone. What should you do? A.Create a rule on the firewall to allow only the computers on the LAN to access IP addresses 192.169.1.0/24 by using port 25, port 80 and port 110. B. Create a rule on the firewall to allow only the computers on the perimeter network to access IP address 192.168.1.0/24 by using the port 25, port 80 and port 110. C. Configure the SMTP virtual servers to accept SMTP connections from only IP address 192.168.1.0/24 and 92.168.2.0/24. D. Configure the SMTP virtual servers to accept connections from anyone and to allow relaying for only IP addresses 192.168.1.0/24. 26.You are the Exchange Administrator for an international company. You have Exchange 2000 Server computers located in 15 countries worldwide. You create a routing group for each country and a routing group connector between each country and the routing group for your main office. The networks in three of these countries are configured with 56-Kbps connections to your WAN. The networks in the other 12 countries have faster connections. You select several public folders and configure them to replicate to the Exchange servers in each of these three countries. You need to configure the public fold replication to occur during non-business hours during those three countries. You also need to prevent the users in these three countries from accessing public folders that have not been replicated to the Exchange servers located in their country. What should you do? A.Configure the replication interval for the selected public folders to always run. Configure the connection time for the routing group connectors for each of the three countries and the main office to occur at midnight. B.Configure the replication interval for the selected public folders to run at midnight. Configure the routing group connector for each of three countries to disallow public folder referrals.

C.Configure the replication interval for the selected public folder to run at midnight. Configure the routing group connector for the main office to disallow public folder referrals. D.Configure the connection time for the routing group connectors for each of the three countries and the main office to occur at mid night. Set the routing group connector cost to 1. E.Configure the connection time for the routing group connectors for each of the three countries and the main office to occur at mid night. Set the routing group connector cost to 100. 27.You are the network administrator for Contoso Ltd. The company hires a consultant named Amy Jones from Litware Inc. Amy requires access to your network. She prefers to receive all of her e-mail at her [email protected] address. You want Amy’s name to appear in the exchange address book, but you want e-mail messages to be sent only at her litware.com address. What should you do? A.Create a user account that has an exchange mailbox in active directory. Change the SMTP address on the e-mail address tab to the user property sheet to the [email protected] . B.Create an e-mail enabled contact object for Amy Jones and specify the SMTP [email protected] as the e-mail address in active directory. C.C. Create a user account that does not have an exchange mailbox in active directory. Use exchange task wizard to assign an SMTP address for [email protected] D.D. Create a user account that does not have an exchange mailbox in active directory. Enter [email protected] as the e-mail address on the General tab of the user property sheet. 28.You are the administrator of seven Exchange 2000 server computers. Each server supports 1,800 mailboxes. Each server’s mailboxes are distributed among five mailbox stores that are located in two storage groups. All mailbox store settings are configured at the default values. Tape backups on all servers occur between 4 A.M and 7 A.M. Users on the night shift report that sending and operating messages often takes several seconds between 1 A.M and 2:30 A.M. Response times are acceptable at other times. You need to improve the response times between 1 A.M and 2:30 A.M. What should you do? A.Configure full-text indexing to use a lower amount of system resources. B.Schedule the tape backups to back up each of the mailbox stores at different times across a wider period of time. C.Configure the warning interval of each of the mailbox stores so that warnings run on a custom schedule. D.Configure the maintenance interval of each of the mailboxes stores so that maintenance is staggered across a wider period of time. 29.You are the exchange administrator of Miller textiles. Eric, the manager of human resources wants potential job candidates to send their resumes to [email protected]. Eric wants to prevent employees in other departments from being able to view these messages. Eric creates a Microsoft outlook public folder named job inquires. You need to configure the job inquiries folder to accept e-mail messages from job candidates. Which two actions should you take? (each correct answer presents part of the solution. Choose two) A.Enable anonymous access for the job inquiries folder. B.Change the name of the job inquiries folder in the address list to [email protected] C.Change the SMTP address of the job inquiries folder to [email protected] D.Make the job inquiries folder visible in the address list. E.Change the permissions role for the default user to contributor. 30.You are the Exchange Administrator for your company. You recently implemented instant messaging. Some users report that they are unable to logon to the instant messaging server. You

verify that you can log on to the server and communicate with other users on the network. You need to configure your network to allow all users to log on to the instant messaging server. What should you do? A.Use system manager to change the permissions on the instant messaging protocol. Grant the Everyone group read permission. B.Use system manager to change the permissions on the instant messaging protocol. Grant the user who are unable to log on the execute permission. C.Use the Active Directory users and computers console to select the users who are unable to log on. Run Exchange task wizard and enable instant messaging. D. Use the Active Directory users and computers console to select the users who are unable to log on. Change the protocol settings for these users. 31.You are the Exchange Administrator for your company. Your Exchange 2000 Server computer has a single storage group that contains three mailbox stores and one public folder store. You perform nightly backups, altering between a normal backup of two of the mailbox stores on one night and a normal backup of the other mailbox store and public folder store the following night. You notice hat the transaction log files are not being purged, and they are now consuming nearly all the available disk space. You need to continue to perform alternating nightly backups of the mailbox stores and the public folder store, but you must make sure that the transaction log files are not taking up too much of hard disk space. What should you do? A.Configure the storage group to disable circular logging. B.Install a new physical disk and move the transaction log files to the new disk. C.Perform a nightly incremental backup of the entire storage group in addition to the current backups. D.Perform differential backups of the mailbox stores and the public folder store instead of normal backups. 32.You are the Exchange Administrator for your company. You are configuring your Exchange 2000 Server computer to support a disaster recovery plan. The server has three hard disks, Disk0, disk1, and disk2. The system files are stored on disk 1. Currently, disk1 and disk2 are not in use. You perform nightly online backups of the exchange databases.You must configure the server to minimize the loss of data if one of the hard disks fails. What should you do? A.Place the log files on disk 1. Place the .edb and .stm files on disk 2. Enable circular logging on the exchange server. B.Place the log files on disk 1. Place the .edb files on disk 2. Enable circular logging on the exchange server. C.Place the log files on disk 1. Place the .edb and .stm files on disk 2. Disable circular logging on the exchange server. D.Place the log files on disk 1. Place the .stm files on disk 2. Disable circular logging on the exchange server.

High Availablilty: Exchange 2010 comes with new high availability concepts of DAG [Database Availablity Group] which incooperates features of CCR, SCR clustering on Exchange 2007 into single entity. Exchange 2010 don't use CCR, SCR terms but rather user DAG for high availability within site and for site resilence. CAS Array In Exchange 2010, by design mapi clients now connect to the Client Access RPC service that runs on cas server. High Availability of CAS servers can be achieved with using CAS Array with load balancers. CAS Array means that we can combine all the cas servers in single site as one server to which clients will connect. Then request will automatically be proxied over to the appropriate cas servers.

Storage Groups have been removed and database are no longer associated with particular storage group or server rather they are moved to Org level. Permission Functionality: Permission model has been resived in Exchange 2010. With Role Based Access control also spelled as RBAC, you can define extermly broad or extremely precise permissions model based on the roles of your administrators and users. You can grant users with the rights to change their own personal information, contact information, DL group membership hence delegating most common administrative tasks to the end users itself. Transport and Routing Functionality: Shadow redundancy Messages that are submitted to an Exchange 2010 Hub Transport server are stored in the transport database until the next hop reports successful delivery of the message. If the next hop doesn't report successful delivery and it fails, the message is resubmitted for delivery. Moderated transport Exchange 2010 provides an approval workflow for sending messages to recipients. When you configure a recipient for moderation, all messages sent to that recipient must go through an approval process. End-to-end message tracking With Exchange 2010 End users are given ability to track messages. Incremental EdgeSync In Exchange 2010, the EdgeSync process has been changed to keep track of synchronized information and only synchronize the changes since the last replication cycle. This significantly reduces network traffic and greatly improves synchronization efficiency. Message throttling improvements In Exchange 2010, you can configure a Receive connector to monitor the rate of message submissions by users, IP addresses, or both. If you configure a Receive connector to monitor the message submission rate for users, it ensures that a specific user doesn't exceed the message rate that it's allowed, regardless of the IP address the connections are coming from. The default client Receive connector created on the Hub Transport servers is configured this way. Mailbox and Recipient Functionality Ability for users to share information, such as calendar free/busy information and contacts with users who reside in a different organization Ability to move a mailbox while the end user is still accessing it Ability to appoint a moderator to regulate the flow of messages sent to a distribution group Messaging and Complaince Personal Archive feature to provide users with online archive mailboxes and help eliminate .pst files These are the major changes in Exchange 2010 over Exchange 2007. For comprehensive listing please refer to technet Artcile.

Category Interface

Feature Exchange Management Console (EMC)

Exchange 2010 Yes

Exchange 2013 No. Replaced By Exchange Administration Center (EAC)

Exchange Control Panel (ECP) Public Folder administration console Role Based Access Control (RBAC) User Editor Unified Messaging – Call Statistics and User Call Logs tools Exchange Best Practice Analyser (EXPBA) Notification viewer No of User Objects Shown in Console Server Roles Mailbox Server Role

Yes Yes. Separate Console. Yes. Separate Console. Yes. Separate Console. Yes

No. Replaced By Exchange Administration Center (EAC) No. Replaced By Exchange Administration Center (EAC) No. Replaced By Exchange Administration Center (EAC) No. Replaced By Exchange Administration Center (EAC) Retired Available in EAC. Ex. Customize Email Notification to receive move mailbox completion. Max 20,000 Available. Includes Transport service, Mailbox databases, and Unified Messaging. Available. Provides authentication, limited redirection, and proxy services Removed. Transport service exists on the Mailbox server. Removed. Unified Messaging is handled by both Mailbox Server and CAS Server Removed. Still Exchange 2007/2010 Edge Servers are supported. No. Every Outlook should connect through RPC Over HTTP (i.e Outlook Anywhere)

No

Max 500

Available

Client Access Server Available Role

Hub Transport Role

Available

Unified Messaging Role

Available

Edge Server Role

Available

Clients

Outlook through Direct RPC

Available

Outlook 2003 Client

Supported

Self Signed Certificate Warning Message in Client‘s End Outlook Web App Spell Check Services RPC client access service Front End Transport service DAG

Yes

Yes Yes in CAS Server No Yes

Not supported. Only Outlook 2007 and higher versions are supported. No. Because Exchange 2013 CAS Server automatically trusts Exchange 2013 Mailbox server‘s Certificate. No. Relies on Browser Spell Check. Removed New service in CAS Server Yes Yes. New feature. Can be configured through Transport rules. Yes Yes

High Availability

Security

Data Loss Protection Ex. Mistakenly Sending sensitive Not there. data to unauthorised users. Supported ? Supported ? Yes Yes

Lync 2010 / 2013 Sharepoint 2010 / 2013

10. IIS 8 IIS 8 brings Internet Information Services up to feature parity with the rest of the world, and surpasses it in places. More than a decade's worth of "you use Windows as your web server" jokes officially end here. IIS 8 sports script precompilation, granular process throttling, SNI support and centralised certificate management. Add in a FTP server that finally, mercifully, doesn't suck (it even has functional login restrictions) and IIS 8 becomes worth the cost of the operating system on its own.

9. PowerShell PowerShell 3.0 is an evolution rather than a revolution. Having more PowerShell scriptlets is not normally something I would care about. That said, the 2012 line of products marks a revolution in Microsoft's approach to server management. Every element of the operating system and virtually every other companion server, such as SQL, Exchange or Lync, are completely manageable through PowerShell. This is so ingrained that the GUIs are just buttons that call PowerShell scripts underneath. PowerShell should be tops on this list but to make proper use of it, your Google-fu has to be strong. The official documentation is incomplete, Bing is still worthless for searching Microsoft's web estate and the golden examples for making use of PowerShell lie in the blogs maintained by Microsoft's staff. Once you have assembled the list of scriptlets you need – printed, laminated and guarded by a fire elemental as in days of old – you can make the 2012 stack of Microsoft software sing. Thanks to PowerShell, Microsoft is ready to take on all comers at any scale. 8. DirectAccess DirectAccess was a neat idea but it was poorly implemented in previous versions of Windows. Server 2012 makes it easier to use, with SSL as the default configuration and IPSec as an option. The rigid dependence on IPv6 has also been removed. DirectAccess has evolved into a reasonable, reliable and easy-to-use replacement for virtual private networks. 7. Cluster Shared Volumes With Server 2012 Cluster Shared Volumes are officially supported for use beyond hosting virtual hard disks for Hyper-V. You may now roll your own highly available multi-node replicated storage cluster and do so with a proper fistful of best-practice documentation. 6. Deduplication For years now, storage demand has been growing faster than hard drive density. Meeting our voracious appetite for data storage has meant more and more spindles, and more controllers, chassis, power supplies, electricity and cooling to keep those spindles spinning. Deduplication has moved from nice to have to absolute must in recent years and Microsoft has taken notice. Server 2012 supports deduplication on NTFS volumes – though tragically it does not work with CSV – and deeply integrates it with BranchCache to save on WAN bandwidth.

5. Hyper-V 3.0 Server 2012 sees Hyper-V catch up with VMware's mainstream. While objectively I would have to say that VMware retains the feature lead at the top end, when combined with System Center 2012, Hyper-V 3.0 will cheerfully handle two-sigma worth of use cases. Microsoft is no longer an also-ran in the virtualisation space; it is a capable and voracious predator stalking the wilds of the data centre for new prey. Microsoft's Hyper-V Server – a free Windows Core version of Hyper-V – is feature complete. If you have a yen to dive into PowerShell then you can run a complete 64-node, 8,000 virtual machine Hyper-V cluster without paying Microsoft a dime. It takes a very special kind of masochist to do so – Microsoft is betting you will spend the money on System Center 2012 and it is probably right. System Center 2012 is amazing, even more so with the newly launched Service Pack 1. Microsoft's focus on PowerShell and its decision to put price pressure on VMware with Hyper-V server has opened up a market for third-party management tools such as 5Nine. These are not nearly as capable as System Center, but offer a great mid-point between free and impossible to manage and awesome but too expensive. This emerging ecosystem should see Hyper-V's market share explode. 4. Hyper-V Replica Hyper-V Replica is a storage technology designed to continuously replicate your virtual machines across to a backup cluster. It ensures that snapshots no more than 15 minutes old of your critical virtual machines are available over any network link, including the internet. It replicates the initial snapshot in full – after that it sends only change blocks – and it fully supports versioning of your virtual machines. 3. iSCSI With Windows Storage Server 2008, Microsoft first made an iSCSI target available. It eventually became an optional download from Microsoft's website for Server 2008 R2 and is now finally integrated into Server 2012 as a core component. 2. NFS 4.1 Microsoft's NFS 4.1 server is good code. Designed from the ground up it is is fast, stable and reliable. It makes a great storage system for heterogenous environments and a wonderful network storage point for VMware servers.

1. SMB 3.0 SMB 3.0 is the crown jewel of Server 2012. It is far removed from its laughingstock predecessor CIFS. It supports multiple simultaneous network interfaces – including the ability to hot-plug new interfaces on the fly to increase bandwidth for large or complex transfers – and supports MPIO, thin provisioning of volumes and deduplication (assuming the underlying storage is NTFS). SMB 3.0 also supports SMB Direct and remote direct memory access, the ability for appropriately kitted systems to move SMB data directly from one system's memory to the other, bypassing the SMB stack. This has enabled Microsoft to hit 16GBps transfer rates for SMB 3.0, a weighty gauntlet for any potential challenger to raise. I have found Server 2012 to be worth the cost of the upgrade, even where I have the excellent Server 2008 R2 deployed. Given that I work with very limited IT budgets, that is a strong endorsement. Added version number for Windows Server 2012 RC
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Windows 2000 RTM with all Service packs = Schema version 13 Windows Server 2003 RTM with all Service packs = Schema version 30 Windows Server 2003 R2 RTM with all Service packs = Schema version 31 Windows Server 2008 RTM with all Service packs = Schema version 44 Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM with all Service packs = Schema version 47 Windows Server 2012 RTM = Schema version 56

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