Windows Networking Interview Questions

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?

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Active Directory Interview Questiions

1. How can you restrict running certain applications on a machine? Via group policy, security settings for the group, then Software Restriction Policies.
2. You need to automatically install an app, but MSI file is not available. What do you do? A .zap text file can be used to add applications using the Software Installer, rather than the Windows Installer.
3. What’s the difference between Software Installer and Windows Installer? The former has fewer privileges and will probably require user intervention. Plus, it uses .zap files.
4. What can be restricted on Windows Server 2003 that wasn’t there in previous products? Group Policy in Windows Server 2003 determines a users right to modify network and dial-up TCP/IP properties. Users may be selectively restricted from modifying their IP address and other network configuration parameters.
5. How frequently is the client policy refreshed? 90 minutes give or take.
6. Where is secedit? It’s now gpupdate.
7. You want to create a new group policy but do not wish to inherit. Make sure you check Block inheritance among the options when creating the policy.
8. What is “tattooing” the Registry? The user can view and modify user preferences that are not stored in maintained portions of the Registry. If the group policy is removed or changed, the user preference will persist in the Registry.
9. How do you fight tattooing in NT/2000 installations? You can’t.
10. How do you fight tattooing in 2003 installations? User Configuration - Administrative Templates - System - Group Policy - enable - Enforce Show Policies Only.

Network Infrastructure Interview Question

1. Describe how the DHCP lease is obtained.
   It’s a four-step process consisting of (a) IP request, (b) IP offer, © IP selection and (d) acknowledgement.
2. I can’t seem to access the Internet, don’t have any access to the corporate network and on ipconfig my address is 169.254.*.*. What happened?
   The 169.254.*.* netmask is assigned to Windows machines running 98/2000/XP if the DHCP server is not available. The name for the technology is APIPA (Automatic Private Internet Protocol Addressing).
3. We’ve installed a new Windows-based DHCP server, however, the users do not seem to be getting DHCP leases off of it. The server must be authorized first with the Active Directory.
4. How can you force the client to give up the dhcp lease if you have access to the client PC?
   ipconfig /release
5. What authentication options do Windows 2000 Servers have for remote clients?
   PAP, SPAP, CHAP, MS-CHAP and EAP.
6. What are the networking protocol options for the Windows clients if for some reason you do not want to use TCP/IP? NWLink (Novell), NetBEUI, AppleTalk (Apple).
7. What is data link layer in the OSI reference model responsible for? Data link layer is located above the physical layer, but below the network layer.
   Taking raw data bits and packaging them into frames. The network layer will be responsible for addressing the frames, while the physical layer is reponsible for retrieving and sending raw data bits.
8. What is binding order?
   The order by which the network protocols are used for client-server communications. The most frequently used protocols should be at the top.
9. How do cryptography-based keys ensure the validity of data transferred across the network?
   Each IP packet is assigned a checksum, so if the checksums do not match on both receiving and transmitting ends, the data was modified or corrupted.
10. Should we deploy IPSEC-based security or certificate-based security?
    They are really two different technologies. IPSec secures the TCP/IP communication and protects the integrity of the packets. Certificate-based security ensures the validity of authenticated clients and servers.
11. What is LMHOSTS file?
    It’s a file stored on a host machine that is used to resolve NetBIOS to specific IP addresses.
12. What’s the difference between forward lookup and reverse lookup in DNS?
    Forward lookup is name-to-address, the reverse lookup is address-to-name.
13. How can you recover a file encrypted using EFS?
    Use the domain recovery agent.

Windows system admin 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?

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Windows Server 2003 interview Question and Answer

1. How do you double-boot a Win 2003 server box? The Boot.ini file is set as read-only, system, and hidden to prevent unwanted editing. To change the Boot.ini timeout and default settings, use the System option in Control Panel from the Advanced tab and select Startup.
2. What do you do if earlier application doesn’t run on Windows Server 2003? When an application that ran on an earlier legacy version of Windows cannot be loaded during the setup function or if it later malfunctions, you must run the compatibility mode function. This is accomplished by right-clicking the application or setup program and selecting Properties –> Compatibility –> selecting the previously supported operating system.
3.  If you uninstall Windows Server 2003, which operating systems can you revert to? Win ME, Win 98, 2000, XP. Note, however, that you cannot upgrade from ME and 98 to Windows Server 2003.
4. How do you get to Internet Firewall settings? Start –> Control Panel –> Network and Internet Connections –> Network Connections.
5. What are the Windows Server 2003 keyboard shortcuts? Winkey opens or closes the Start menu. Winkey + BREAK displays the System Properties dialog box. Winkey + TAB moves the focus to the next application in the taskbar. Winkey + SHIFT + TAB moves the focus to the previous application in the taskbar. Winkey + B moves the focus to the notification area. Winkey + D shows the desktop. Winkey + E opens Windows Explorer showing My Computer. Winkey + F opens the Search panel. Winkey + CTRL + F opens the Search panel with Search for Computers module selected. Winkey + F1 opens Help. Winkey + M minimizes all. Winkey + SHIFT+ M undoes minimization. Winkey + R opens Run dialog. Winkey + U opens the Utility Manager. Winkey + L locks the computer.
6. What is Active Directory? Active Directory is a network-based object store and service that locates and manages resources, and makes these resources available to authorized users and groups. An underlying principle of the Active Directory is that everything is considered an object—people, servers, workstations, printers, documents, and devices. Each object has certain attributes and its own security access control list (ACL).
7. Where are the Windows NT Primary Domain Controller (PDC) and its Backup Domain Controller (BDC) in Server 2003? The Active Directory replaces them. Now all domain controllers share a multimaster peer-to-peer read and write relationship that hosts copies of the Active Directory.
8. How long does it take for security changes to be replicated among the domain controllers? Security-related modifications are replicated within a site immediately. These changes include account and individual user lockout policies, changes to password policies, changes to computer account passwords, and modifications to the Local Security Authority (LSA).
9. What’s new in Windows Server 2003 regarding the DNS management? When DC promotion occurs with an existing forest, the Active Directory Installation Wizard contacts an existing DC to update the directory and replicate from the DC the required portions of the directory. If the wizard fails to locate a DC, it performs debugging and reports what caused the failure and how to fix the problem. In order to be located on a network, every DC must register in DNS DC locator DNS records. The Active Directory Installation Wizard verifies a proper configuration of the DNS infrastructure. All DNS configuration debugging and reporting activity is done with the Active Directory Installation Wizard.
10. When should you create a forest? Organizations that operate on radically different bases may require separate trees with distinct namespaces. Unique trade or brand names often give rise to separate DNS identities. Organizations merge or are acquired and naming continuity is desired. Organizations form partnerships and joint ventures. While access to common resources is desired, a separately defined tree can enforce more direct administrative and security restrictions.
11. How can you authenticate between forests? Four types of authentication are used across forests: (1) Kerberos and NTLM network logon for remote access to a server in another forest; (2) Kerberos and NTLM interactive logon for physical logon outside the user’s home forest; (3) Kerberos delegation to N-tier application in another forest; and (4) user principal name (UPN) credentials.
12. What snap-in administrative tools are available for Active Directory? Active Directory Domains and Trusts Manager, Active Directory Sites and Services Manager, Active Directory Users and Group Manager, Active Directory Replication (optional, available from the Resource Kit), Active Directory Schema Manager (optional, available from adminpak)
13. What types of classes exist in Windows Server 2003 Active Directory? 
    • Structural class. The structural class is important to the system administrator in that it is the only type from which new Active Directory objects are created. Structural classes are developed from either the modification of an existing structural type or the use of one or more abstract classes.
    • Abstract class. Abstract classes are so named because they take the form of templates that actually create other templates (abstracts) and structural and auxiliary classes. Think of abstract classes as frameworks for the defining objects.
    • Auxiliary class. The auxiliary class is a list of attributes. Rather than apply numerous attributes when creating a structural class, it provides a streamlined alternative by applying a combination of attributes with a single include action.
    • 88 class. The 88 class includes object classes defined prior to 1993, when the 1988 X.500 specification was adopted. This type does not use the structural, abstract, and auxiliary definitions, nor is it in common use for the development of objects in Windows Server 2003 environments.
14. How do you delete a lingering object? Windows Server 2003 provides a command called Repadmin that provides the ability to delete lingering objects in the Active Directory. 
15. What is Global Catalog? The Global Catalog authenticates network user logons and fields inquiries about objects across a forest or tree. Every domain has at least one GC that is hosted on a domain controller. In Windows 2000, there was typically one GC on every site in order to prevent user logon failures across the network.
16. How is user account security established in Windows Server 2003? When an account is created, it is given a unique access number known as a security identifier (SID). Every group to which the user belongs has an associated SID. The user and related group SIDs together form the user account’s security token, which determines access levels to objects throughout the system and network. SIDs from the security token are mapped to the access control list (ACL) of any object the user attempts to access.
17. If I delete a user and then create a new account with the same username and password, would the SID and permissions stay the same? No. If you delete a user account and attempt to recreate it with the same user name and password, the SID will be different. 
18. What do you do with secure sign-ons in an organization with many roaming users? Credential Management feature of Windows Server 2003 provides a consistent single sign-on experience for users. This can be useful for roaming users who move between computer systems. The Credential Management feature provides a secure store of user credentials that includes passwords and X.509 certificates.
19. Anything special you should do when adding a user that has a Mac? "Save password as encrypted clear text" must be selected on User Properties Account Tab Options, since the Macs only store their passwords that way.
20. What remote access options does Windows Server 2003 support? Dial-in, VPN, dial-in with callback.
21. Where are the documents and settings for the roaming profile stored? All the documents and environmental settings for the roaming user are stored locally on the system, and, when the user logs off, all changes to the locally stored profile are copied to the shared server folder. Therefore, the first time a roaming user logs on to a new system the logon process may take some time, depending on how large his profile folder is.
22. Where are the settings for all the users stored on a given machine? \Document and Settings\All Users
23. What languages can you use for log-on scripts? JavaScipt, VBScript, DOS batch files (.com, .bat, or even .exe)

Active Directory and Security questions

1. What’s the difference between local, global and universal groups? Domain local groups assign access permissions to global domain groups for local domain resources. Global groups provide access to resources in other trusted domains. Universal groups grant access to resources in all trusted domains.
2. I am trying to create a new universal user group. Why can’t I? Universal groups are allowed only in native-mode Windows Server 2003 environments. Native mode requires that all domain controllers be promoted to Windows Server 2003 Active Directory.
3. What is LSDOU? It’s group policy inheritance model, where the policies are applied to Local machines, Sites, Domains and Organizational Units.
4. Why doesn’t LSDOU work under Windows NT? If the NTConfig.pol file exist, it has the highest priority among the numerous policies.
5. Where are group policies stored? %SystemRoot%System32\GroupPolicy
6. What is GPT and GPC? Group policy template and group policy container.
7. Where is GPT stored? %SystemRoot%\SYSVOL\sysvol\domainname\Policies\GUID
8. You change the group policies, and now the computer and user settings are in conflict. Which one has the highest priority? The computer settings take priority.
9. You want to set up remote installation procedure, but do not want the user to gain access over it. What do you do? gponame–> User Configuration–> Windows Settings–> Remote Installation Services–> Choice Options is your friend.
10. What’s contained in administrative template conf.adm? Microsoft NetMeeting policies
11. How can you restrict running certain applications on a machine? Via group policy, security settings for the group, then Software Restriction Policies.
12. You need to automatically install an app, but MSI file is not available. What do you do? A .zap text file can be used to add applications using the Software Installer, rather than the Windows Installer.
13. What’s the difference between Software Installer and Windows Installer? The former has fewer privileges and will probably require user intervention. Plus, it uses .zap files.
14. What can be restricted on Windows Server 2003 that wasn’t there in previous products? Group Policy in Windows Server 2003 determines a users right to modify network and dial-up TCP/IP properties. Users may be selectively restricted from modifying their IP address and other network configuration parameters.
15. How frequently is the client policy refreshed? 90 minutes give or take.
16. Where is secedit? It’s now gpupdate.
17. You want to create a new group policy but do not wish to inherit. Make sure you check Block inheritance among the options when creating the policy.
18. What is "tattooing" the Registry? The user can view and modify user preferences that are not stored in maintained portions of the Registry. If the group policy is removed or changed, the user preference will persist in the Registry.
19. How do you fight tattooing in NT/2000 installations? You can’t.
20. How do you fight tattooing in 2003 installations? User Configuration - Administrative Templates - System - Group Policy - enable - Enforce Show Policies Only.
21. What does IntelliMirror do? It helps to reconcile desktop settings, applications, and stored files for users, particularly those who move between workstations or those who must periodically work offline.
22. What’s the major difference between FAT and NTFS on a local machine? FAT and FAT32 provide no security over locally logged-on users. Only native NTFS provides extensive permission control on both remote and local files.
23. How do FAT and NTFS differ in approach to user shares? They don’t, both have support for sharing.
24. Explan the List Folder Contents permission on the folder in NTFS. Same as Read & Execute, but not inherited by files within a folder. However, newly created subfolders will inherit this permission.
25. I have a file to which the user has access, but he has no folder permission to read it. Can he access it? It is possible for a user to navigate to a file for which he does not have folder permission. This involves simply knowing the path of the file object. Even if the user can’t drill down the file/folder tree using My Computer, he can still gain access to the file using the Universal Naming Convention (UNC). The best way to start would be to type the full path of a file into Run… window.
26. For a user in several groups, are Allow permissions restrictive or permissive? Permissive, if at least one group has Allow permission for the file/folder, user will have the same permission.
27. For a user in several groups, are Deny permissions restrictive or permissive? Restrictive, if at least one group has Deny permission for the file/folder, user will be denied access, regardless of other group permissions.
28. What hidden shares exist on Windows Server 2003 installation? Admin$, Drive$, IPC$, NETLOGON, print$ and SYSVOL.
29. What’s the difference between standalone and fault-tolerant DFS (Distributed File System) installations? The standalone server stores the Dfs directory tree structure or topology locally. Thus, if a shared folder is inaccessible or if the Dfs root server is down, users are left with no link to the shared resources. A fault-tolerant root node stores the Dfs topology in the Active Directory, which is replicated to other domain controllers. Thus, redundant root nodes may include multiple connections to the same data residing in different shared folders.
30. We’re using the DFS fault-tolerant installation, but cannot access it from a Win98 box. Use the UNC path, not client, only 2000 and 2003 clients can access Server 2003 fault-tolerant shares.
31. Where exactly do fault-tolerant DFS shares store information in Active Directory? In Partition Knowledge Table, which is then replicated to other domain controllers.
32. Can you use Start->Search with DFS shares? Yes.
33. What problems can you have with DFS installed? Two users opening the redundant copies of the file at the same time, with no file-locking involved in DFS, changing the contents and then saving. Only one file will be propagated through DFS.
34. I run Microsoft Cluster Server and cannot install fault-tolerant DFS. Yeah, you can’t. Install a standalone one.
35. Is Kerberos encryption symmetric or asymmetric? Symmetric.
36. How does Windows 2003 Server try to prevent a middle-man attack on encrypted line? Time stamp is attached to the initial client request, encrypted with the shared key.
37. What hashing algorithms are used in Windows 2003 Server? RSA Data Security’s Message Digest 5 (MD5), produces a 128-bit hash, and the Secure Hash Algorithm 1 (SHA-1), produces a 160-bit hash.
38. What third-party certificate exchange protocols are used by Windows 2003 Server? Windows Server 2003 uses the industry standard PKCS-10 certificate request and PKCS-7 certificate response to exchange CA certificates with third-party certificate authorities.
39. What’s the number of permitted unsuccessful logons on Administrator account? Unlimited. Remember, though, that it’s the Administrator account, not any account that’s part of the Administrators group.
40. If hashing is one-way function and Windows Server uses hashing for storing passwords, how is it possible to attack the password lists, specifically the ones using NTLMv1? A cracker would launch a dictionary attack by hashing every imaginable term used for password and then compare the hashes.
41. What’s the difference between guest accounts in Server 2003 and other editions? More restrictive in Windows Server 2003.
42. How many passwords by default are remembered when you check "Enforce Password History Remembered"? User’s last 6 passwords.