Interview Questions for Network Support

Networking Interview Questions and Answers :-

 

1. What is an Object server?

With an object server, the Client/Server application is written as a set of communicating objects. Client object communicate with server objects using an Object Request Broker (ORB). The client invokes a method on a remote object. The ORB locates an instance of that object server class, invokes the requested method and returns the results to the client object. Server objects must provide support for concurrency and sharing. The ORB brings it all together.

2. What is a Transaction server?

With a transaction server, the client invokes remote procedures that reside on the server with an SQL database engine. These remote procedures on the server execute a group of SQL statements. The network exchange consists of a single request/reply message. The SQL statements either all succeed or fail as a unit.

3. What is a Database Server?

With a database server, the client passes SQL requests as messages to the database server. The results of each SQL command are returned over the network. The server uses its own processing power to find the request data instead of passing all the records back to the client and then getting it find its own data. The result is a much more efficient use of distributed processing power. It is also known as SQL engine.

  4. What are the most typical functional units of the Client/Server applications?

• User interface
• Business Logic and
• Shared data.

5. What are all the Extended services provided by the OS?

• Ubiquitous communications
• Network OS extension
• Binary large objects (BLOBs)
• Global directories and Network yellow pages
• Authentication and Authorization services
• System management
• Network time
• Database and transaction services
• Internet services
• Object- oriented services

6. What are Triggers and Rules?

Triggers are special user defined actions usually in the form of stored procedures, that are automatically invoked by the server based on data related events. It can perform complex actions and can use the full power of procedural languages.
A rule is a special type of trigger that is used to perform simple checks on data.

7. What is meant by Transparency?

Transparency really means hiding the network and its servers from the users and even the application programmers.

8. What are TP-Lite and TP-Heavy Monitors?

TP-Lite is simply the integration of TP Monitor functions in the database engines. TP-Heavy are TP Monitors which supports the Client/Server architecture and allow PC to initiate some very complex multiserver transaction from the desktop.

9. What are the two types of OLTP?

TP lite, based on stored procedures. TP heavy, based on the TP monitors.

10. What is a Web server?

This new model of Client/Server consists of thin, protable, "universal" clients that talk to superfat servers. In the simplet form, a web server returns documents when clients ask for them by name. The clients and server communicate using an RPC-like protocol called HTTP.
11. What are Super servers?

These are fully-loaded machines which includes multiprocessors, high-speed disk arrays for intervive I/O and fault tolerant features.

12. What is a TP Monitor?

There is no commonly accepted definition for a TP monitor. According to Jeri Edwards' a TP Monitor is "an OS for transaction processing".

13. TP Monitor does mainly two things extremely well. They are Process management and Transaction management.?

They were originally introduced to run classes of applications that could service hundreds and sometimes thousands of clients. TP Monitors provide an OS - on top of existing OS - that connects in real time these thousands of humans with a pool of shared server processes.

14. What is meant by Asymmetrical protocols?

There is a many-to-one relationship between clients and server. Clients always initiate the dialog by requesting a service. Servers are passively awaiting for requests from clients.

15. What are the types of Transparencies?

The types of transparencies the NOS middleware is expected to provide are:-

• Location transparency
• Namespace transparency
• Logon transparency
• Replication transparency
• Local/Remote access transparency
• Distributed time transparency
• Failure transparency and
• Administration transparency.

16. What is the difference between trigger and rule?

The triggers are called implicitly by database generated events, while stored procedures are called explicitly by client applications.

17. What are called Transactions?

The grouped SQL statements are called Transactions (or) A transaction is a collection of actions embused with ACID properties.

18. What are the building blocks of Client/Server?

• The client
• The server and
• Middleware.

19. Explain the building blocks of Client/Server?

The client side building block runs the client side of the application.
The server side building block runs the server side of the application.

20. The middleware buliding block runs on both the client and server sides of an application. It is broken into three categories:-

• Transport stack
• Network OS
• Service-specific middleware.

21. What are all the Base services provided by the OS?

• Task preemption
• Task priority
• Semaphores
• Interprocess communications (IPC)
• Local/Remote Interprocess communication
• Threads
• Intertask protection
• Multiuser
• High performance file system
• Efficient memory management and
• Dynamically linked Run-time extensions.

22. What are the roles of SQL?

• SQL is an interactive query language for ad hoc database queries.
• SQL is a database programming language.
• SQL is a data definition and data administration language.
• SQL is the language of networked database servers
• SQL helps protect the data in a multi-user networked environment.
• Because of these multifacted roles it plays, physicists might call SQL as "The grand unified theory of database".

23. What is Structured Query Langauge (SQL)?

SQL is a powerful set-oriented language which was developed by IBM research for the databases that adhere to the relational model. It consists of a short list of powerful, yet highly flexible, commands that can be used to manipulate information collected in tables. Through SQL, we can manipulate and control sets of records at a time.

24. What are the characteristics of Client/Server?

• Service
• Shared resources
• Asymmentrical protocols
• Transparency of location
• Mix-and-match
• Message based exchanges
• Encapsulation of services
• Scalability
• Integrity

Client/Server computing is the ultimate "Open platform". It gives the freedom to mix-and-match components of almost any level. Clients and servers are loosely coupled systems that interact through a message-passing mechanism.

25. What is Remote Procedure Call (RPC)?

RPC hides the intricacies of the network by using the ordinary procedure call mechanism familiar to every programmer. A client process calls a function on a remote server and suspends itself until it gets back the results. Parameters are passed like in any ordinary procedure. The RPC, like an ordinary procedure, is synchoronous. The process that issues the call waits until it gets the results.

Under the covers, the RPC run-time software collects values for the parameters, forms a message, and sends it to the remote server. The server receives the request, unpack the parameters, calls the procedures, and sends the reply back to the client. It is a telephone-like metaphor.

26. What are the main components of Transaction-based Systems?

• Resource Manager
• Transaction Manager and
• Application Program.

27. What are the three types of SQL database server architecture?

• Process-per-client Architecture. (Example: Oracle 6, Informix )
• Multithreaded Architecture. (Example: Sybase, SQL server)
• Hybrid Architecture (Example: Oracle 7)

28. What are the Classification of clients?

Non-GUI clients - Two types are:-

1. Non-GUI clients that do not need multi-tasking
   (Example: Automatic Teller Machines (ATM), Cell phone)
2. Non-GUI clients that need multi-tasking
   (Example: ROBOTs)
   GUI clients
   OOUI clients

29. What are called Non-GUI clients, GUI Clients and OOUI Clients?

Non-GUI Client: These are applications, generate server requests with a minimal amount of human interaction.
GUI Clients: These are applicatoins, where occassional requests to the server result from a human interacting with a GUI
(Example: Windows 3.x, NT 3.5)
OOUI clients : These are applications, which are highly-iconic, object-oriented user interface that provides seamless access to information in very visual formats.
(Example: MAC OS, Windows 95, NT 4.0)

30. What is Message Oriented Middleware (MOM)?

MOM allows general purpose messages to be exchanged in a Client/Server system using message queues. Applications communicate over networks by simply putting messages in the queues and getting messages from queues. It typically provides a very simple high level APIs to its services.
MOM's messaging and queuing allow clients and servers to communicate across a network without being linked by a private, dedicated, logical connection. The clients and server can run at different times. It is a post-office like metaphor.

31. What is meant by Middleware?

Middleware is a distributed software needed to support interaction between clients and servers. In short, it is the software that is in the middle of the Client/Server systems and it acts as a bridge between the clients and servers. It starts with the API set on the client side that is used to invoke a service and it covers the transmission of the request over the network and the resulting response.
It neither includes the software that provides the actual service - that is in the servers domain nor the user interface or the application login - that's in clients domain.

32. What are the functions of the typical server program?

It waits for client-initiated requests. Executes many requests at the same time. Takes care of VIP clients first. Initiates and runs background task activity. Keeps running. Grown bigger and faster.

33. What is meant by Symmentric Multiprocessing (SMP)?

It treats all processors as equal. Any processor can do the work of any other processor. Applications are divided into threads that can run concurrently on any available processor. Any processor in the pool can run the OS kernel and execute user-written threads.

34. What are Service-specific middleware?

It is needed to accomplish a particular Client/Server type of services which includes:-

• Database specific middleware
• OLTP specific middleware
• Groupware specific middleware
• Object specific middleware
• Internet specific middleware and
• System management specific middleware.

35. What are General Middleware?

It includes the communication stacks, distributed directories, authentication services, network time, RPC, Queuing services along with the network OS extensions such as the distributed file and print services.

36. What is meant by Asymmetric Multiprocessing (AMP)?

It imposses hierarchy and a division of labour among processors. Only one designated processor, the master, controls (in a tightly coupled arrangement) slave processors dedicated to specific functions.

37. What is OLTP?

In the transaction server, the client component usually includes GUI and the server components usually consists of SQL transactions against a database. These applications are called OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) OLTP Applications typically,
Receive a fixed set of inputs from remote clients. Perform multiple pre-compiled SQL comments against a local database. Commit the work and Return a fixed set of results.

38. What is meant by 3-Tier architecture?

In 3-tier Client/Server systems, the application logic (or process) lives in the middle tier and it is separated from the data and the user interface. In theory, the 3-tier Client/Server systems are more scalable, robust and flexible.
Example: TP monitor, Web.

39. What is meant by 2-Tier architecture?

In 2-tier Client/Server systems, the application logic is either burried inside the user interface on the client or within the database on the server.
Example: File servers and Database servers with stored procedures.

40. What is Load balancing?

If the number of incoming clients requests exceeds the number of processes in a server class, the TP Monitor may dynamically start new ones and this is called Load balancing.

41. What are called Fat clients and Fat servers?

If the bulk of the application runs on the Client side, then it is Fat clients. It is used for decision support and personal software.
If the bulk of the application runs on the Server side, then it is Fat servers. It tries to minimize network interchanges by creating more abstract levels of services.

42. What is meant by Horizontal scaling and Vertical scaling?

Horizontal scaling means adding or removing client workstations with only a slight performance impact. Vertical scaling means migrating to a larger and faster server machine or multiservers.

43. What is Groupware server?

Groupware addresses the management of semi-structured information such as text, image, mail, bulletin boards and the flow of work. These Client/Server systems have people in direct contact with other people.

44. What are the two broad classes of middleware?

• General middleware
• Service-specific middleware.

45. What are the types of Servers?

• File servers
• Database servers Transaction servers Groupware servers
• Object servers Web servers.

46. What is a File server?

File servers are useful for sharing files across a network. With a file server, the client passes requests for file records over nerwork to file server.

47. What are the five major technologies that can be used to create Client/Server applications?

• Database Servers
• TP Monitors
• Groupware
• Distributed Objects
• Intranets.

48. What is Client/Server?

Clients and Servers are separate logical entities that work together over a network to accomplish a task. Many systems with very different architectures that are connected together are also called Client/Server.

49. List out the benefits obtained by using the Client/Server oriented TP Monitors?

• Client/Server applications development framework.
• Firewalls of protection.
• High availability.
• Load balancing.
• MOM integration.
• Scalability of functions.
• Reduced system cost.

50. What are the services provided by the Operating System?

Extended services - These are add-on modular software components that are layered on top of base service.

Other Questions and answer :-

Q. Please describe the importance you place on customer service versus technical skills.

A. Most interviewers like to start with big picture questions and then work their way into more technical areas. IT is a service organization and customer service is at its core. In particular, customer service skills are just as important as technical skills, particularly in panic situations when systems are down or the user has just deleted their board presentation that’s due in 30 minutes. We’ve all had these situations. You should be prepared to talk about a specific situation where you’ve excelled and received accolades from an end-user. If they put it in writing, mention that as well.

Q. What steps do you take when troubleshooting a networking issue?

A. As a support technician, your job is to solve problems. This question provides the interviewer with insight into your troubleshooting skills. Of course, the most important part of troubleshooting any problem is to divide the tasks of problem resolution into a systematic process of elimination, like this:

1. Define the problem.

2. Gather detailed information.

3. Consider probable cause for the failure.

4. Devise a plan to solve the problem.

5. Implement the plan.

6. Observe the results of the implementation.

7. Repeat the process if the plan does not resolve the problem.

8. Document the changes made to solve the problem.

Be prepared before the interview, so you can provide an example of these skills in action.

Q. How would you prioritize support issues?

A. It is unlikely that as a network administrator or technician you will receive problem calls one at a time. Typically, when you receive one call, you already have three people waiting for service. For this reason, you must learn to prioritize. Your answer to this question will provide the interviewer with insight into how effectively you prioritize. It’s not a trick question, though sometimes it can feel that way. You probably have a process that you use instinctually. Talk about it. It probably includes many of the following components:

    Total network failure (affects everyone)

    Partial network failure (affects small groups of users)

    Small network failure (affects a small, single group of users)

    Total workstation failure (single user can’t work at all)

    Partial workstation failure (single user can’t do most tasks)

    Minor issue (single user has problems that crop up now and again)

Q. Users can send e-mail locally, but cannot send e-mail to external recipients. How would you troubleshoot this situation?

A. The interviewer will run you through a series of questions like this one to see how you would use your troubleshooting skills in a common, real-life situation. He not only gets to see how your mind works, but also begins to get an insight into your technical capabilities. In your answer, be methodical in your approach, identifying the most likely possibility and testing it. Be sure to let the interviewer know that if your first attempt doesn’t work, you know how to move on to the next possibility.

Q. A user complains that when she prints a document in any application, the printer prints garbage. What is the most likely cause of the problem?

A. This question starts the behavioral interviewing questions based on real-life situations that assess your problem-solving skills and your technical skills. They will range from the general (like this question) to very specific technical questions that determine your knowledge level and skill set. Don’t worry if you don’t have all the answers. The interviewer is mostly interested in how you would resolve the situation and what resources you would use to do so.

Q. A user’s roaming profile is not accessible. Describe how you would solve this problem.

A. This question tests your troubleshooting skills. In this situation you may want to talk about which tests you would perform in order to resolve the issue. These may include:

    Ensuring that the path to the profile directory is correct on the user’s account properties.

    Ensuring that the server where the profile resides is accessible.

    Ensuring that the user has Full Control permissions to the Profile directory.

Q. A user has left the company and you need to create a new user with the same rights and permissions. Please describe some of the ways to create the new user.

A. This question tests your ability to get the job done in the most efficient way possible. For example, you can create new accounts from scratch and assign the original rights to the accounts or you can simply rename the old account for the new user, which saves you a lot of time and effort.

Q. What are the first things you check when a user is experiencing problems accessing the network?

A. This question assesses your basic network troubleshooting skills. You can’t miss this one! You should be able to answer it in your sleep. You can liven up the interview by providing a funny story about user errors that you’ve encountered.

Q. What tools do you have available to you for troubleshooting?

A. At this point, the interviewer is testing your resourcefulness. This is a pretty generic question, so make sure that your answer is consistent with the overall theme of the interview. The tools available may include server log files, network analyzers, error messages, README files, telephone support, or vendor technical support web sites or CD-ROMs. Don’t forget to mention vendor-specific resources that you may use, like TechNet Online, or any other subscriptions that you may have in your bag of tricks. The final resource is of course your colleagues who may have run into this situation in the past.

Q. A user cannot access the local intranet. What would you try first in helping to determine how to narrow the problem down to the intranet?

A. Don’t make this question harder than it really is. Sometimes the interviewer will try to trip you up to test your common sense. Go for the obvious, rather than complicating the situation. In this case, simply trying to access the intranet from another workstation would help isolate the problem to the machine.

Q. Several users can’t log in to the server. What would you do to narrow the problem down to the workstations, network, or server?

A. The situation gets a little more interesting. Again, keep it simple, such as checking the server console for user connections to see if other users are able to log into the server. If they can, the problem is most likely related to those users’ workstations. If they can’t, the problem is either the server or network connection.

Q. Which software troubleshooting tool could you use to determine which protocol is configured with the wrong address?

A. Questions like these assess your knowledge of troubleshooting tools that can help you resolve problems faster. In this case, a typical tool used to determine incorrectly configured addresses is a protocol analyzer. It can be used to examine the details of packets as they travel across the wire. This is a sophisticated tool that requires a deeper understanding of network protocols. Any interviewer will be impressed if you’ve used such a tool in troubleshooting.

Q. Which hardware

troubleshooting tool(s) could you use to find out where a cable is routed?

A. Here’s another question regarding troubleshooting tools. In this case you might want to use a tone generator and tone locator to find out where cables are routed. These tools are alternately known as fox and hound devices. These are more advanced tools that represent a higher skill level. Whenever possible, provide an example of a sticky situation where you’ve had to rely on tools such as these for troubleshooting.

Q. Which Windows NT utility do you use to manage the major Windows NT log files?

A. Typically, the interviewer or someone more technical than the IT manager will ask you detailed operating system–specific questions to assess your knowledge of the various products. Alternately, you may be asked to take an assessment exam like Brainbench.

Q. A user calls you, complaining that he can’t access the corporate intranet web server. You try the same address, and you receive a Host Not Found error. Several minutes later, another user reports the same problem. You can still send e-mail and transfer files to another server. What is the most likely cause of the problem?

A. The interviewer will assess your skills as they relate to all aspects of networking, not just servers. This means you should be prepared to answer questions on web servers as well as local networks. In this case, because other people are experiencing the problem, the problem is most likely either network- or server-related. And because you can transfer files to and from another server, it can’t be the network. Thus, the problem is related to the web server.

Q. You are connecting a cubicle farm to your network. You install NICs in all the workstations and run cables to a workgroup hub. You then connect the MDI port on the workgroup hub to the main hub with a standard patch cable. Upon powering up the cubicle farm computers, none of them can see the servers on the network. What could you replace to solve this problem?

A. Networking devices like hubs, switches, and routers will also be part of the technical interview. It is expected that you can speak fluently on both software and hardware issues.

Q. A user from the marketing department calls complaining that she can’t log in or see any servers on the network. Her computer operates fine otherwise. No other users from the marketing department are reporting any problems. What is the first thing you could check?

A. You should also expect to be assessed on your knowledge of the physical layer of the OSI model.

Q. You are working alone when the following calls come in:

    The CEO can’t access his e-mail.

    Your good friend can’t print.

    A crabby user can’t log in to the network.

    The Internet router goes down.

What would you do in this situation?

A. The interviewer is testing your ability to prioritize very difficult situations. Don’t worry, it’s not a trick question—you just need to apply your prioritization skills. Another critical part of this situation is the proper setting of expectations so the users who don’t end up at the top of the list aren’t upset with you. In providing your answer, don’t forget that you are part of a team. You do have the ability to delegate support to other team members while you handle the most critical task. In this situation, at the top of the list is getting the Internet router back up, because it affects the most number of people. Assisting other people can be delegated to other team members.

Q. You are installing a Windows XP–based TCP/IP network. You accidentally set workstation B to the same IP address as workstation A. Which workstation(s) will receive an error message?

A. This type of question assesses your TCP/IP configuration knowledge. It’s a common problem, but a little tricky based on the configuration mentioned above. The correct answer here is that through broadcasts, both workstations will detect if there is a duplicate IP address on the network and will display error messages to that effect.

Q. Which TCP/IP utility is most often used to test whether an IP host is up and functional?

A. TCP/IP is at the core of just about every network today. You must be familiar with the most often used commands for managing this network environment. This includes Ping, ipconfig, FTP, and tracert. You should also be ready to apply these commands and utilities to various situations, as the next question demonstrates.

Some sample additional questions include:

    Which utility can you use to find the MAC and TCP/IP address of your Windows NT or 2000 workstation?

    Which program can you use to upload and download files to a Unix server?

    Which utility can you use to verify a packet’s path?

Q. You are the network administrator. A user calls you complaining that the performance of the intranet web server is sluggish. When you try to ping the server, it takes several seconds for the server to respond. You suspect the problem is related to a router that is seriously overloaded. Which workstation utility could you use to find out which router is causing this problem?

A. The answer here is the tracert utility, which will tell you which router is having the performance problem and how long it would take to travel between each host. You should be knowledgeable on the application of the most common IP commands for the various operating systems you support. Other questions along this line that you may run into include:

    Which ipconfig switch will display the most complete listing of IP configuration information for that station?

    Which Windows TCP/IP utility could you use to find out whether a server is responding on TCP port 21?

Q. Depending on the Windows client operating system version, which commands can you use to find out what is installed on a system?

A. You may run into operating system–specific questions like this one as you are being interviewed by prospective peers. You should be familiar with the most common commands. Don’t worry about memorizing command syntax. That’s what the /? is for.

Q. Which power condition occurs when the voltage level drops below 120 volts and stays below for an extended period of time?

A. Questions about power conditions don’t rank very high, though they are important. Network support technicians will be faced with many different scenarios. Be familiar with these types of conditions just in case.

Q. You are setting up a workstation for remote access to the office. The office has a modem pool configured, and it is working correctly. The required results are that the workstation and modem bank must establish a connection and that the server at the office must authenticate the workstation. Optionally, the workstation and office must be able to communicate by using a single protocol, and the workstation must be able to access all network devices at the office. The proposed solution is to install a POTS telephone line, modem cable, and modem connected to the workstation. How would you configure the protocols to achieve the desired results?

A. A question like this tests your ability to determine the best protocol solution for a given situation. With so many options available to network engineers, it’s important to understand the benefits and common denominators that will best fit a situation. In this case, TCP/IP would be the best

solution. With TCP/IP installed and configured on the workstation, and TCP/IP with DHCP, as well as IPX, installed and configured on the office server, you have a common protocol for communication.