MCSE Interview Questions with Answers

Hi all,

This Blog is meant to help MCSEs and MCSAs to attend the interview....

This is just an introduction to this blog ... we will add more questions and answers later....
Just Wait and See.

To view answers please click here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it's just a beginning... We will update it soon.

MCSE and Systems Administrator Job Interview Questions - Networking

In today's dynamic IT world many people might find themselves in a position where they are now looking to get a new or better job than they had up to that point in time. Getting your foot into the door is hard enough, and for that you need a well-written CV, not to mention the ability to make a good first impression on the potential phone conversation you might get. However, getting the foot in the door is just the first step of actually getting the job. In most cases you should now expect to be interviewed by an experienced IT Professional, perhaps even the same one that you're going to replace, or the one you're going to work under.

Most technical interviews will be related to the job-specific tasks you're supposed to apply for, therefore not
all technical interviews are alike. However, applying for a Microsoft-related IT position has some benefits, as most of the information can be found on the Internet.

Here is a part 1 of MCSE/IT Pro/System Administrator job interview questions samples. Note that this is only a sample of what I might ask a potential candidate, however I think that I've covered most of the basic and non-basic issues. Answering this list in a satisfactory way will give you a pretty good chance to impress your potential interviewer, especially if that person really knows a thing or two about these issues.

Right now I am starting to post only Interview questions. Later, we will add the answers and new questions..

Most sub topics start off with relatively easy questions where the candidate is supposed to demonstrate their knowledge on that topic. A few sentences will be enough to show their (lack of) knowledge on the topic.

I know some of these questions might make you feel like I am digging in too deep. Well, although this might be true for some questions, I always proceed with the interview in a dynamic way, which means I will add more questions on a topic or reduce the level of questions based on the candidate's ability to answer previous questions.

In part 1 of this article series we are covering Microsoft Networking issues. If you're using this interview question sample in your own environment please drop me a line telling me how it works for you. Also, placing a link to my site and giving me credit for my work is expected.

Technical Interview Questions – Networking

  • What is an IP address?
  • What is a subnet mask?
  • What is ARP?
  • What is ARP Cache Poisoning?
  • What is the ANDing process?
  • What is a default gateway? What happens if I don't have one?
  • Can a workstation computer be configured to browse the Internet and yet NOT have a default gateway?
  • What is a subnet?
  • What is APIPA?
  • What is an RFC? Name a few if possible (not necessarily the numbers, just the ideas behind them)
  • What is RFC 1918?
  • What is CIDR?
  • You have the following Network ID: 192.115.103.64/27. What is the IP range for your network?
  • You have the following Network ID: 131.112.0.0. You need at least 500 hosts per network. How many networks can you create? What subnet mask will you use?
  • You need to view at network traffic. What will you use? Name a few tools
  • How do I know the path that a packet takes to the destination?
  • What does the ping 192.168.0.1 -l 1000 -n 100 command do?
  • What is DHCP? What are the benefits and drawbacks of using it?
  • Describe the steps taken by the client and DHCP server in order to obtain an IP address.
  • What is the DHCPNACK and when do I get one? Name 2 scenarios.
  • What ports are used by DHCP and the DHCP clients?
  • Describe the process of installing a DHCP server in an AD infrastructure.
  • What is DHCPINFORM?
  • Describe the integration between DHCP and DNS.
  • What options in DHCP do you regularly use for an MS network?
  • What are User Classes and Vendor Classes in DHCP?
  • How do I configure a client machine to use a specific User Class?
  • What is the BOOTP protocol used for, where might you find it in Windows network infrastructure?
  • DNS zones – describe the differences between the 4 types.
  • DNS record types – describe the most important ones.
  • Describe the process of working with an external domain name
  • Describe the importance of DNS to AD.
  • Describe a few methods of finding an MX record for a remote domain on the Internet.
  • What does "Disable Recursion" in DNS mean?
  • What could cause the Forwarders and Root Hints to be grayed out?
  • What is a "Single Label domain name" and what sort of issues can it cause?
  • What is the "in-addr.arpa" zone used for?
  • What are the requirements from DNS to support AD?
  • How do you manually create SRV records in DNS?
  • Name 3 benefits of using AD-integrated zones.
  • What are the benefits of using Windows 2003 DNS when using AD-integrated zones?
  • You installed a new AD domain and the new (and first) DC has not registered its SRV records in DNS. Name a few possible causes.
  • What are the benefits and scenarios of using Stub zones?
  • What are the benefits and scenarios of using Conditional Forwarding?
  • What are the differences between Windows Clustering, Network Load Balancing and Round Robin, and scenarios for each use?
  • How do I work with the Host name cache on a client computer?
  • How do I clear the DNS cache on the DNS server?
  • What is the 224.0.1.24 address used for?
  • What is WINS and when do we use it?
  • Can you have a Microsoft-based network without any WINS server on it? What are the "considerations" regarding not using WINS?
  • Describe the differences between WINS push and pull replications.
  • What is the difference between tombstoning a WINS record and simply deleting it?
  • Name the NetBIOS names you might expect from a Windows 2003 DC that is registered in WINS.
  • Describe the role of the routing table on a host and on a router.
  • What are routing protocols? Why do we need them? Name a few.
  • What are router interfaces? What types can they be?
  • In Windows 2003 routing, what are the interface filters?
  • What is NAT?
  • What is the real difference between NAT and PAT?
  • How do you configure NAT on Windows 2003?
  • How do you allow inbound traffic for specific hosts on Windows 2003 NAT?
  • What is VPN? What types of VPN does Windows 2000 and beyond work with natively?
  • What is IAS? In what scenarios do we use it?
  • What's the difference between Mixed mode and Native mode in AD when dealing with RRAS?
  • What is the "RAS and IAS" group in AD?
  • What are Conditions and Profile in RRAS Policies?
  • What types or authentication can a Windows 2003 based RRAS work with?
  • How does SSL work?
  • How does IPSec work?
  • How do I deploy IPSec for a large number of computers?
  • What types of authentication can IPSec use?
  • What is PFS (Perfect Forward Secrecy) in IPSec?
  • How do I monitor IPSec?
  • Looking at IPSec-encrypted traffic with a sniffer. What packet types do I see?
  • What can you do with NETSH?
  • How do I look at the open ports on my machine?

MCSE and Systems Administrator Job Interview Questions – Active Directory

As these questions are thorough verbal test for the candidate's knowledge, in most cases, when he or she passes this phase, it is requested to perform an actual hands-on lab based on written exercises.

We will include the answers later.

Technical Interview Questions – Active Directory

  • What is Active Directory?
  • What is LDAP?
  • Can you connect Active Directory to other 3rd-party Directory Services? Name a few options.
  • Where is the AD database held? What other folders are related to AD?
  • What is the SYSVOL folder?
  • Name the AD NCs and replication issues for each NC
  • What are application partitions? When do I use them
  • How do you create a new application partition
  • How do you view replication properties for AD partitions and DCs?
  • What is the Global Catalog?
  • How do you view all the GCs in the forest?
  • Why not make all DCs in a large forest as GCs?
  • Trying to look at the Schema, how can I do that?
  • What are the Support Tools? Why do I need them?
  • What is LDP? What is REPLMON? What is ADSIEDIT? What is NETDOM? What is REPADMIN?
  • What are sites? What are they used for?
  • What's the difference between a site link's schedule and interval?
  • What is the KCC?
  • What is the ISTG? Who has that role by default?
  • What are the requirements for installing AD on a new server?
  • What can you do to promote a server to DC if you're in a remote location with slow WAN link?
  • How can you forcibly remove AD from a server, and what do you do later? • Can I get user passwords from the AD database?
  • What tool would I use to try to grab security related packets from the wire?
  • Name some OU design considerations.
  • What is tombstone lifetime attribute?
  • What do you do to install a new Windows 2003 DC in a Windows 2000 AD?
  • What do you do to install a new Windows 2003 R2 DC in a Windows 2003 AD?
  • How would you find all users that have not logged on since last month?
  • What are the DS* commands?
  • What's the difference between LDIFDE and CSVDE? Usage considerations?
  • What are the FSMO roles? Who has them by default? What happens when each one fails?
  • What FSMO placement considerations do you know of?
  • I want to look at the RID allocation table for a DC. What do I do?
  • What's the difference between transferring a FSMO role and seizing one? Which one should you NOT seize? Why?
  • How do you configure a "stand-by operation master" for any of the roles?
  • How do you backup AD?
  • How do you restore AD?
  • How do you change the DS Restore admin password?
  • Why can't you restore a DC that was backed up 4 months ago?
  • What are GPOs?
  • What is the order in which GPOs are applied?
  • Name a few benefits of using GPMC.
  • What are the GPC and the GPT? Where can I find them?
  • What are GPO links? What special things can I do to them?
  • What can I do to prevent inheritance from above?
  • How can I override blocking of inheritance?
  • How can you determine what GPO was and was not applied for a user? Name a few ways to do that.
  • 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?
  • Name a few differences in Vista GPOs
  • Name some GPO settings in the computer and user parts.
  • What are administrative templates?
  • What's the difference between software publishing and assigning?
  • Can I deploy non-MSI software with GPO?
  • 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?