INTERVIEWS QUESTION & ANSWER

Windows Server Support Interview Questions and Answers (L2) Part 2

2012-12-13T12:55:00.001+05:30

How to manually configure FSMO Roles to separate DC’s

How can I determine who are the current FSMO Roles holders in my domain/forest?

Windows 2000/2003 Active Directory domains utilize a Single Operation Master method called FSMO (Flexible Single Master Operation), as described in Understanding FSMO Roles in Active Directory.

The five FSMO roles are:

• Schema master - Forest-wide and one per forest.

• Domain naming master - Forest-wide and one per forest.

• RID master - Domain-specific and one for each domain.

• PDC - PDC Emulator is domain-specific and one for each domain.

• Infrastructure master - Domain-specific and one for each domain.

In most cases an administrator can keep the FSMO role holders (all 5 of them) in the same spot (or actually, on the same DC) as has been configured by the Active Directory installation process. However, there are scenarios where an administrator would want to move one or more of the FSMO roles from the default holder DC to a different DC. The transferring method is described in the Transferring FSMO Roles article, while seizing the roles from a non-operational DC to a different DC is described in the Seizing FSMO Roles article.

In order to better understand your AD infrastructure and to know the added value that each DC might possess, an AD administrator must have the exact knowledge of which one of the existing DCs is holding a FSMO role, and what role it holds. With that knowledge in hand, the administrator can make better arrangements in case of a scheduled shut-down of any given DC, and better prepare him or herself in case of a non-scheduled cease of operation from one of the DCs.

How to find out which DC is holding which FSMO role? Well, one can accomplish this task by many means. This article will list a few of the available methods.

Method #1: Know the default settings

The FSMO roles were assigned to one or more DCs during the DCPROMO process. The following table summarizes the FSMO default locations:

FSMO Role Number of DCs holding this role Original DC holding the FSMO role
Schema One per forest The first DC in the first domain in the forest (i.e. the Forest Root Domain)
Domain Naming One per forest
RID One per domain The first DC in a domain (any domain, including the Forest Root Domain, any Tree Root Domain, or any Child Domain)
PDC Emulator One per domain
Infrastructure One per domain

Method #2: Use the GUI

The FSMO role holders can be easily found by use of some of the AD snap-ins. Use this table to see which tool can be used for what FSMO role:

FSMO Role Which snap-in should I use?
Schema Schema snap-in
Domain Naming AD Domains and Trusts snap-in
RID AD Users and Computers snap-in
PDC Emulator
Infrastructure

Finding the RID Master, PDC Emulator, and Infrastructure Masters via GUI

To find out who currently holds the Domain-Specific RID Master, PDC Emulator, and Infrastructure Master FSMO Roles:

1. Open the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in from the Administrative Tools folder.
2. Right-click the Active Directory Users and Computers icon again and press Operation Masters.
3. Select the appropriate tab for the role you wish to view.
4. When you're done click close.

Finding the Domain Naming Master via GUI

To find out who currently holds the Domain Naming Master Role:
1. Open the Active Directory Domains and Trusts snap-in from the Administrative Tools folder.
2. Right-click the Active Directory Domains and Trusts icon again and press Operation Masters.
3. When you're done click close.

Finding the Schema Master via GUI

To find out who currently holds the Schema Master Role:
1. Register the Schmmgmt.dll library by pressing Start > RUN and typing:
2. Press OK. You should receive a success confirmation.
3. From the Run command open an MMC Console by typing MMC.
4. On the Console menu, press Add/Remove Snap-in.
5. Press Add. Select Active Directory Schema.
6. Press Add and press Close. Press OK.
7. Click the Active Directory Schema icon. After it loads right-click it and press Operation Masters.
8. Press the Close button.

Method #3: Use the Ntdsutil command

The FSMO role holders can be easily found by use of the Ntdsutil command.

Caution: Using the Ntdsutil utility incorrectly may result in partial or complete loss of Active Directory functionality.
1. On any domain controller, click Start, click Run, type Ntdsutil in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Type roles, and then press ENTER.

Note: To see a list of available commands at any of the prompts in the Ntdsutil tool, type ?, and then press ENTER.
3. Type connections, and then press ENTER.
4. Type connect to server , where is the name of the server you want to use, and then press ENTER.
5. At the server connections: prompt, type q, and then press ENTER again.
6. At the FSMO maintenance: prompt, type Select operation target, and then press ENTER again.

At the select operation target: prompt, type List roles for connected server, and then press ENTER again.

select operation target: List roles for connected server

Server "server100" knows about 5 roles

Schema - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER100,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=C

onfiguration,DC=dpetri,DC=net

Domain - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER100,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=C

onfiguration,DC=dpetri,DC=net

PDC - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER100,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Conf

iguration,DC=dpetri,DC=net

RID - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER100,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Conf

iguration,DC=dpetri,DC=net

Infrastructure - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER100,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Si

tes,CN=Configuration,DC=dpetri,DC=net

select operation target:

8. Type q 3 times to exit the Ntdsutil prompt.

Note: You can download THIS nice batch file that will do all this for you (1kb).

Another Note: Microsoft has a nice tool called Dumpfsmos.cmd, found in the Windows 2000 Resource Kit (and can be downloaded here: Download Free Windows 2000 Resource Kit Tools). This tool is basically a one-click Ntdsutil script that performs the same operation described above.

Method #4: Use the Netdom command

The FSMO role holders can be easily found by use of the Netdom command.

Netdom.exe is a part of the Windows 2000/XP/2003 Support Tools. You must either download it separately (from here Download Free Windows 2000 Resource Kit Tools) or by obtaining the correct Support Tools pack for your operating system. The Support Tools pack can be found in the \Support\Tools folder on your installation CD (or you can Download Windows 2000 SP4 Support Tools, Download Windows XP SP1 Deploy Tools).

1. On any domain controller, click Start, click Run, type CMD in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. In the Command Prompt window, type netdom query /domain: fsmo (where is the name of YOUR domain).

Close the CMD window.

Note: You can download THIS nice batch file that will do all this for you (1kb).

Method #5: Use the Replmon tool

The FSMO role holders can be easily found by use of the Netdom command.

Just like Netdom, Replmon.exe is a part of the Windows 2000/XP/2003 Support Tools. Replmon can be used for a wide verity of tasks, mostly with those that are related with AD replication. But Replmon can also provide valuable information about the AD, about any DC, and also about other objects and settings, such as GPOs and FSMO roles. Install the package before attempting to use the tool.

1. On any domain controller, click Start, click Run, type REPLMON in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Right-click Monitored servers and select Add Monitored Server.
3. In the Add Server to Monitor window, select the Search the Directory for the server to add. Make sure your AD domain name is listed in the drop-down list.
4. In the site list select your site, expand it, and click to select the server you want to query. Click Finish.
5. Right-click the server that is now listed in the left-pane, and select Properties.
6. Click on the FSMO Roles tab and read the results.
7. Click Ok when you're done.

How can I forcibly transfer (seize) some or all of the FSMO Roles from one DC to another?

Windows 2000/2003 Active Directory domains utilize a Single Operation Master method called FSMO (Flexible Single Master Operation), as described in Understanding FSMO Roles in Active Directory.

The five FSMO roles are:

• Schema master - Forest-wide and one per forest.
• Domain naming master - Forest-wide and one per forest.
• RID master - Domain-specific and one for each domain.
• PDC - PDC Emulator is domain-specific and one for each domain.
• Infrastructure master - Domain-specific and one for each domain.

In most cases an administrator can keep the FSMO role holders (all 5 of them) in the same spot (or actually, on the same DC) as has been configured by the Active Directory installation process. However, there are scenarios where an administrator would want to move one or more of the FSMO roles from the default holder DC to a different DC.

Moving the FSMO roles while both the original FSMO role holder and the future FSMO role holder are online and operational is called Transferring, and is described in the Transferring FSMO Roles article.

However, when the original FSMO role holder went offline or became non operational for a long period of time, the administrator might consider moving the FSMO role from the original, non-operational holder, to a different DC. The process of moving the FSMO role from a non-operational role holder to a different DC is called Seizing, and is described in this article.

If a DC holding a FSMO role fails, the best thing to do is to try and get the server online again. Since none of the FSMO roles are immediately critical (well, almost none, the loss of the PDC Emulator FSMO role might become a problem unless you fix it in a reasonable amount of time), so it is not a problem to them to be unavailable for hours or even days.

If a DC becomes unreliable, try to get it back on line, and transfer the FSMO roles to a reliable computer. Administrators should use extreme caution in seizing FSMO roles. This operation, in most cases, should be performed only if the original FSMO role owner will not be brought back into the environment. Only seize a FSMO role if absolutely necessary when the original role holder is not connected to the network.

What will happen if you do not perform the seize in time? This table has the info:

FSMO Role Loss implications

Schema The schema cannot be extended. However, in the short term no one will notice a missing Schema Master unless you plan a schema upgrade during that time.

Domain Naming Unless you are going to run DCPROMO, then you will not miss this FSMO role.

RID Chances are good that the existing DCs will have enough unused RIDs to last some time, unless you're building hundreds of users or computer object per week.

PDC Emulator Will be missed soon. NT 4.0 BDCs will not be able to replicate, there will be no time synchronization in the domain, you will probably not be able to change or troubleshoot group policies and password changes will become a problem.

Infrastructure Group memberships may be incomplete. If you only have one domain, then there will be no impact.

Important: If the RID, Schema, or Domain Naming FSMOs are seized, then the original domain controller must not be activated in the forest again. It is necessary to reinstall Windows if these servers are to be used again.

The following table summarizes the FSMO seizing restrictions:
FSMO Role Restrictions
Schema Original must be reinstalled
Domain Naming
RID
PDC Emulator Can transfer back to original
Infrastructure

Another consideration before performing the seize operation is the administrator's group membership, as this table lists:
FSMO Role Administrator must be a member of
Schema Schema Admins
Domain Naming Enterprise Admins
RID Domain Admins
PDC Emulator
Infrastructure

To seize the FSMO roles by using Ntdsutil, follow these steps:

Caution: Using the Ntdsutil utility incorrectly may result in partial or complete loss of Active Directory functionality.

1. On any domain controller, click Start, click Run, type Ntdsutil in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Type roles, and then press ENTER.

Note: To see a list of available commands at any of the prompts in the Ntdsutil tool, type ?, and then press ENTER.

3. Type connections, and then press ENTER.
4. Type connect to server , where is the name of the server you want to use, and then press ENTER.
5. At the server connections: prompt, type q, and then press ENTER again.
6. Type seize , where is the role you want to seize. For example, to seize the RID Master role, you would type seize rid master:

Options are:

7. You will receive a warning window asking if you want to perform the seize. Click on Yes.
fsmo maintenance: Seize infrastructure master
Attempting safe transfer of infrastructure FSMO before seizure.
ldap_modify_sW error 0x34(52 (Unavailable).
Ldap extended error message is 000020AF: SvcErr: DSID-03210300, problem 5002 (UNAVAILABLE)
data 1722
Win32 error returned is 0x20af(The requested FSMO operation failed. The current FSMO holde

r could not be contacted.)
)

Depending on the error code this may indicate a connection,

ldap, or role transfer error.
Transfer of infrastructure FSMO failed, proceeding with seizure ...
Server "server100" knows about 5 roles
Schema - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER200,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=dpetri,DC=netDomain - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER100,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=dpetri,DC=net
PDC - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER100,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=dpetri,DC=net
RID - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER200,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=dpetri,DC=net
Infrastructure - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER100,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=dpetri,DC=net

fsmo maintenance:

Note: All five roles need to be in the forest. If the first domain controller is out of the forest then seize all roles. Determine which roles are to be on which remaining domain controllers so that all five roles are not on only one server.

8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until you've seized all the required FSMO roles.
9. After you seize or transfer the roles, type q, and then press ENTER until you quit the Ntdsutil tool.

Note: Do not put the Infrastructure Master (IM) role on the same domain controller as the Global Catalog server. If the Infrastructure Master runs on a GC server it will stop updating object information because it does not contain any references to objects that it does not hold. This is because a GC server holds a partial replica of every object in the forest.

Windows Server Support Interview Questions and Answers (L2) Part 2

2012-11-25T18:49:00.003+05:30

How to manually configure FSMO Roles to separate DC’s

How can I determine who are the current FSMO Roles holders in my domain/forest?

Windows 2000/2003 Active Directory domains utilize a Single Operation Master method called FSMO (Flexible Single Master Operation), as described in Understanding FSMO Roles in Active Directory.

The five FSMO roles are:

• Schema master - Forest-wide and one per forest.

• Domain naming master - Forest-wide and one per forest.

• RID master - Domain-specific and one for each domain.

• PDC - PDC Emulator is domain-specific and one for each domain.

• Infrastructure master - Domain-specific and one for each domain.

In most cases an administrator can keep the FSMO role holders (all 5 of them) in the same spot (or actually, on the same DC) as has been configured by the Active Directory installation process. However, there are scenarios where an administrator would want to move one or more of the FSMO roles from the default holder DC to a different DC. The transferring method is described in the Transferring FSMO Roles article, while seizing the roles from a non-operational DC to a different DC is described in the Seizing FSMO Roles article.

In order to better understand your AD infrastructure and to know the added value that each DC might possess, an AD administrator must have the exact knowledge of which one of the existing DCs is holding a FSMO role, and what role it holds. With that knowledge in hand, the administrator can make better arrangements in case of a scheduled shut-down of any given DC, and better prepare him or herself in case of a non-scheduled cease of operation from one of the DCs.

How to find out which DC is holding which FSMO role? Well, one can accomplish this task by many means. This article will list a few of the available methods.

Method #1: Know the default settings

The FSMO roles were assigned to one or more DCs during the DCPROMO process. The following table summarizes the FSMO default locations:

FSMO Role Number of DCs holding this role Original DC holding the FSMO role
Schema One per forest The first DC in the first domain in the forest (i.e. the Forest Root Domain)
Domain Naming One per forest
RID One per domain The first DC in a domain (any domain, including the Forest Root Domain, any Tree Root Domain, or any Child Domain)
PDC Emulator One per domain
Infrastructure One per domain

Method #2: Use the GUI

The FSMO role holders can be easily found by use of some of the AD snap-ins. Use this table to see which tool can be used for what FSMO role:

FSMO Role Which snap-in should I use?
Schema Schema snap-in
Domain Naming AD Domains and Trusts snap-in
RID AD Users and Computers snap-in
PDC Emulator
Infrastructure

Finding the RID Master, PDC Emulator, and Infrastructure Masters via GUI

To find out who currently holds the Domain-Specific RID Master, PDC Emulator, and Infrastructure Master FSMO Roles:

1. Open the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in from the Administrative Tools folder.
2. Right-click the Active Directory Users and Computers icon again and press Operation Masters.
3. Select the appropriate tab for the role you wish to view.
4. When you're done click close.

Finding the Domain Naming Master via GUI

To find out who currently holds the Domain Naming Master Role:
1. Open the Active Directory Domains and Trusts snap-in from the Administrative Tools folder.
2. Right-click the Active Directory Domains and Trusts icon again and press Operation Masters.
3. When you're done click close.

Finding the Schema Master via GUI

To find out who currently holds the Schema Master Role:
1. Register the Schmmgmt.dll library by pressing Start > RUN and typing:
2. Press OK. You should receive a success confirmation.
3. From the Run command open an MMC Console by typing MMC.
4. On the Console menu, press Add/Remove Snap-in.
5. Press Add. Select Active Directory Schema.
6. Press Add and press Close. Press OK.
7. Click the Active Directory Schema icon. After it loads right-click it and press Operation Masters.
8. Press the Close button.

Method #3: Use the Ntdsutil command

The FSMO role holders can be easily found by use of the Ntdsutil command.

Caution: Using the Ntdsutil utility incorrectly may result in partial or complete loss of Active Directory functionality.
1. On any domain controller, click Start, click Run, type Ntdsutil in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Type roles, and then press ENTER.

Note: To see a list of available commands at any of the prompts in the Ntdsutil tool, type ?, and then press ENTER.
3. Type connections, and then press ENTER.
4. Type connect to server , where is the name of the server you want to use, and then press ENTER.
5. At the server connections: prompt, type q, and then press ENTER again.
6. At the FSMO maintenance: prompt, type Select operation target, and then press ENTER again.

At the select operation target: prompt, type List roles for connected server, and then press ENTER again.

select operation target: List roles for connected server

Server "server100" knows about 5 roles

Schema - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER100,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=C

onfiguration,DC=dpetri,DC=net

Domain - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER100,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=C

onfiguration,DC=dpetri,DC=net

PDC - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER100,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Conf

iguration,DC=dpetri,DC=net

RID - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER100,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Conf

iguration,DC=dpetri,DC=net

Infrastructure - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER100,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Si

tes,CN=Configuration,DC=dpetri,DC=net

select operation target:

8. Type q 3 times to exit the Ntdsutil prompt.

Note: You can download THIS nice batch file that will do all this for you (1kb).

Another Note: Microsoft has a nice tool called Dumpfsmos.cmd, found in the Windows 2000 Resource Kit (and can be downloaded here: Download Free Windows 2000 Resource Kit Tools). This tool is basically a one-click Ntdsutil script that performs the same operation described above.

Method #4: Use the Netdom command

The FSMO role holders can be easily found by use of the Netdom command.

Netdom.exe is a part of the Windows 2000/XP/2003 Support Tools. You must either download it separately (from here Download Free Windows 2000 Resource Kit Tools) or by obtaining the correct Support Tools pack for your operating system. The Support Tools pack can be found in the \Support\Tools folder on your installation CD (or you can Download Windows 2000 SP4 Support Tools, Download Windows XP SP1 Deploy Tools).

1. On any domain controller, click Start, click Run, type CMD in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. In the Command Prompt window, type netdom query /domain: fsmo (where is the name of YOUR domain).

Close the CMD window.

Note: You can download THIS nice batch file that will do all this for you (1kb).

Method #5: Use the Replmon tool

The FSMO role holders can be easily found by use of the Netdom command.

Just like Netdom, Replmon.exe is a part of the Windows 2000/XP/2003 Support Tools. Replmon can be used for a wide verity of tasks, mostly with those that are related with AD replication. But Replmon can also provide valuable information about the AD, about any DC, and also about other objects and settings, such as GPOs and FSMO roles. Install the package before attempting to use the tool.

1. On any domain controller, click Start, click Run, type REPLMON in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Right-click Monitored servers and select Add Monitored Server.
3. In the Add Server to Monitor window, select the Search the Directory for the server to add. Make sure your AD domain name is listed in the drop-down list.
4. In the site list select your site, expand it, and click to select the server you want to query. Click Finish.
5. Right-click the server that is now listed in the left-pane, and select Properties.
6. Click on the FSMO Roles tab and read the results.
7. Click Ok when you're done.

How can I forcibly transfer (seize) some or all of the FSMO Roles from one DC to another?

Windows 2000/2003 Active Directory domains utilize a Single Operation Master method called FSMO (Flexible Single Master Operation), as described in Understanding FSMO Roles in Active Directory.

The five FSMO roles are:

• Schema master - Forest-wide and one per forest.
• Domain naming master - Forest-wide and one per forest.
• RID master - Domain-specific and one for each domain.
• PDC - PDC Emulator is domain-specific and one for each domain.
• Infrastructure master - Domain-specific and one for each domain.

In most cases an administrator can keep the FSMO role holders (all 5 of them) in the same spot (or actually, on the same DC) as has been configured by the Active Directory installation process. However, there are scenarios where an administrator would want to move one or more of the FSMO roles from the default holder DC to a different DC.

Moving the FSMO roles while both the original FSMO role holder and the future FSMO role holder are online and operational is called Transferring, and is described in the Transferring FSMO Roles article.

However, when the original FSMO role holder went offline or became non operational for a long period of time, the administrator might consider moving the FSMO role from the original, non-operational holder, to a different DC. The process of moving the FSMO role from a non-operational role holder to a different DC is called Seizing, and is described in this article.

If a DC holding a FSMO role fails, the best thing to do is to try and get the server online again. Since none of the FSMO roles are immediately critical (well, almost none, the loss of the PDC Emulator FSMO role might become a problem unless you fix it in a reasonable amount of time), so it is not a problem to them to be unavailable for hours or even days.

If a DC becomes unreliable, try to get it back on line, and transfer the FSMO roles to a reliable computer. Administrators should use extreme caution in seizing FSMO roles. This operation, in most cases, should be performed only if the original FSMO role owner will not be brought back into the environment. Only seize a FSMO role if absolutely necessary when the original role holder is not connected to the network.

What will happen if you do not perform the seize in time? This table has the info:

FSMO Role Loss implications

Schema The schema cannot be extended. However, in the short term no one will notice a missing Schema Master unless you plan a schema upgrade during that time.

Domain Naming Unless you are going to run DCPROMO, then you will not miss this FSMO role.

RID Chances are good that the existing DCs will have enough unused RIDs to last some time, unless you're building hundreds of users or computer object per week.

PDC Emulator Will be missed soon. NT 4.0 BDCs will not be able to replicate, there will be no time synchronization in the domain, you will probably not be able to change or troubleshoot group policies and password changes will become a problem.

Infrastructure Group memberships may be incomplete. If you only have one domain, then there will be no impact.

Important: If the RID, Schema, or Domain Naming FSMOs are seized, then the original domain controller must not be activated in the forest again. It is necessary to reinstall Windows if these servers are to be used again.
The following table summarizes the FSMO seizing restrictions:
FSMO Role Restrictions
Schema Original must be reinstalled
Domain Naming
RID
PDC Emulator Can transfer back to original
Infrastructure

Another consideration before performing the seize operation is the administrator's group membership, as this table lists:
FSMO Role Administrator must be a member of
Schema Schema Admins
Domain Naming Enterprise Admins
RID Domain Admins
PDC Emulator
Infrastructure

To seize the FSMO roles by using Ntdsutil, follow these steps:

Caution: Using the Ntdsutil utility incorrectly may result in partial or complete loss of Active Directory functionality.

1. On any domain controller, click Start, click Run, type Ntdsutil in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Type roles, and then press ENTER.

Note: To see a list of available commands at any of the prompts in the Ntdsutil tool, type ?, and then press ENTER.

3. Type connections, and then press ENTER.
4. Type connect to server , where is the name of the server you want to use, and then press ENTER.
5. At the server connections: prompt, type q, and then press ENTER again.
6. Type seize , where is the role you want to seize. For example, to seize the RID Master role, you would type seize rid master:

Options are:

7. You will receive a warning window asking if you want to perform the seize. Click on Yes.
fsmo maintenance: Seize infrastructure master
Attempting safe transfer of infrastructure FSMO before seizure.
ldap_modify_sW error 0x34(52 (Unavailable).
Ldap extended error message is 000020AF: SvcErr: DSID-03210300, problem 5002 (UNAVAILABLE)
data 1722
Win32 error returned is 0x20af(The requested FSMO operation failed. The current FSMO holde

r could not be contacted.)
)

Depending on the error code this may indicate a connection,

ldap, or role transfer error.
Transfer of infrastructure FSMO failed, proceeding with seizure ...
Server "server100" knows about 5 roles
Schema - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER200,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=dpetri,DC=netDomain - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER100,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=dpetri,DC=net
PDC - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER100,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=dpetri,DC=net
RID - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER200,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=dpetri,DC=net
Infrastructure - CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER100,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=dpetri,DC=net

fsmo maintenance:

Note: All five roles need to be in the forest. If the first domain controller is out of the forest then seize all roles. Determine which roles are to be on which remaining domain controllers so that all five roles are not on only one server.

8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until you've seized all the required FSMO roles.
9. After you seize or transfer the roles, type q, and then press ENTER until you quit the Ntdsutil tool.

Note: Do not put the Infrastructure Master (IM) role on the same domain controller as the Global Catalog server. If the Infrastructure Master runs on a GC server it will stop updating object information because it does not contain any references to objects that it does not hold. This is because a GC server holds a partial replica of every object in the forest.

What is the difference between authoritative and non-authoritative restore

In authoritative restore, Objects that are restored will be replicated to all domain controllers in the domain. This can be used specifically when the entire OU is disturbed in all domain controllers or specifically restore a single object, which is disturbed in all DC’s

In non-authoritative restore, Restored directory information will be updated by other domain controllers based on the latest modification time.

What is Active Directory De-fragmentation?
De-fragmentation of AD means separating used space and empty space created by deleted objects and reduces directory size (only in offline De-fragmentation)

Difference between online and offline de-fragmentation
The size of NTDS.DIT will often be different sizes across the domain controllers in a domain. Remember that Active Directory is a multi-master independent model where updates are occurring in each of the domain controllers with the changes being replicated over time to the other domain controllers.

The changed data is replicated between domain controllers, not the database, so there is no guarantee that the files are going to be the same size across all domain controllers.

Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 servers running Directory Services (DS) perform a directory online defragmentation every 12 hours by default as part of the garbage-collection process. This defragmentation only moves data around the database file (NTDS.DIT) and doesn’t reduce the file’s size - the database file cannot be compacted while Active Directory is mounted.

Active Directory routinely performs online database defragmentation, but this is limited to the disposal of tombstoned objects. The database file cannot be compacted while Active Directory is mounted (or online).

An NTDS.DIT file that has been defragmented offline (compacted), can be much smaller than the NTDS.DIT file on its peers.

However, defragmenting the NTDS.DIT file isn’t something you should really need to do. Normally, the database self-tunes and automatically tombstoning the records then sweeping them away when the tombstone lifetime has passed to make that space available for additional records.

Defragging the NTDS.DIT file probably won’t help your AD queries go any faster in the long run.

So why defrag it in the first place?

One reason you might want to defrag your NTDS.DIT file is to save space, for example if you deleted a large number of records at one time.
To create a new, smaller NTDS.DIT file and to enable offline defragmentation, perform the following steps:
Back up Active Directory (AD).
Reboot the server, select the OS option, and press F8 for advanced options.
Select the Directory Services Restore Mode option, and press Enter. Press
Enter again to start the OS.
W2K will start in safe mode, with no DS running.
Use the local SAM’s administrator account and password to log on.
You’ll see a dialog box that says you’re in safe mode. Click OK.
From the Start menu, select Run and type cmd.exe
In the command window, you’ll see the following text. (Enter the commands in bold.)
C:\> ntdsutil
ntdsutil: files
file maintenance:info

....
file maintenance:compact to c:\temp

You’ll see the defragmentation process. If the process was successful, enter quit to return to the command prompt.

Then, replace the old NTDS.DIT file with the new, compressed version. (Enter the commands in bold.)

C:\> copy c:\temp\ntds.dit %systemroot%\ntds\ntds.dit

Restart the computer, and boot as normal.

SQL Server DBA (Database Administration) - Interview Questions & Answers

2012-11-18T19:40:00.002+05:30

1-How To Concatenate Two Binary Strings Together?

SQL Server 2005 allows to concatenate two binary strings into a single string with the (+) operator. The following tutorial exercise shows you some binary string concatenation examples:

-- Concatenating two binary string literals
SELECT 0x57656C636F6D6520746F20
+ 0x46594963656E7465722E636F6D;
GO
0x57656C636F6D6520746F2046594963656E7465722E636F6D

-- Watch out: This is not a binary string concatenation
SELECT '0x57656C636F6D6520746F20'
+ '0x46594963656E7465722E636F6D';
GO
0x57656C636F6D6520746F200x46594963656E7465722E636F6D

-- Concatenating two binary strings
SELECT CONVERT(VARBINARY(40),'Welcome to ')
+ CONVERT(VARBINARY(40),'GlobalGuideLine.com');
GO
0x57656C636F6D6520746F2046594963656E7465722E636F6D

-- Binary strings can not be concatenated
with character strings
SELECT 'Welcome to '
+ 0x46594963656E7465722E636F6D;
GO
Msg 402, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
The data types varchar and varbinary are incompatible
in the add operator.

2-How To Locate and Take Substrings with CHARINDEX() and SUBSTRING() Functions?
Transact-SQL is not a language designed for manipulating strings, but it does have two simple functions to locate and take substrings: CHARINDEX() and SUBSTRING(). The tutorial exercise below assumes two given strings: 'Pages: 18' and 'Words: 3240'. The objective is to calculate the number of words per page. Read the script below to see how this is done by using CHARINDEX() and SUBSTRING() functions:

DECLARE @sPages VARCHAR(40), @sWords VARCHAR(40);
SET @sPages = 'Pages: 18';
SET @sWords = 'Words: 3240';
SET @sPages = SUBSTRING(@sPages, CHARINDEX(':', @sPages)+1, 20);
SET @sWords = SUBSTRING(@sWords, CHARINDEX(':', @sWords)+1, 20);
PRINT 'Number of words per page: '
+ CONVERT(VARCHAR(20), CONVERT(INT, @sWords)/CONVERT(INT, @sPages));
GO
Number of words per page: 180

If you are a PHP developer, you can get this done in a much quick way.
3-

How To Insert New Line Characters into Strings?

If you want to break a string into multiple lines, you need to insert new line characters into the string. With some client tools like SQL Server Management Studio, it is not so easy to insert a new line character. One work around is to use the CHAR(int) function to generated new line character and other special characters with their code values:

* CHAR(9) - Generates the tab character.
* CHAR(10) - Generates the line feed (new line) character.
* CHAR(13) - Generates the carriage return character.

The tutorial examples below gives you a good example

PRINT 'Welcome to '+CHAR(10)+'GlobalGuideLine.com';
PRINT CHAR(10);
PRINT 'Current date and time is '
+CONVERT(VARCHAR(20), GETDATE());
GO

4-

What Are the Character String Functions Supported by SQL Server 2005?

SQL Server 2005 supports 23 character string functions:

* ASCII(char) - Returning the code value of a non-Unicode character.
* CHAR(int) - Returning the non-Unicode character of a code value.
* CHARINDEX(word, string, start_location) - Returning the location of the searched "word" in a string.
* DIFFERENCE(string1, string2) - Returning an integer value that indicates the difference between the SOUNDEX values of two strings.
* LEFT(string, length) - Returning a substring of "length" character from the left hand side.
* LEN(string) - Returning the number of characters in the string.
* LOWER(string) - Returning the same string with all upper case characters converted to lower case.
* LTRIM(string) - Returning the same string with leading spaces removed.
* NCHAR(int) - Returning the Unicode character of a code value.
* PATINDEX(pattern, string) - Returning the location of the "pattern" in a string.
* QUOTENAME(string, quote) - Returning the same string enclosed in "quote".

* REPLICATE(string, number) - Returning the same string repeated "number" of times.
* REVERSE(string) - Returning the same string with all character positions reversed.
* RIGHT(string, length) - Returning a substring of "length" characters from the right hand side.
* RTRIM(string) - Returning the same string with trailing spaces removed.
* SOUNDEX(string) - Returning a four-character (SOUNDEX) code to evaluate the similarity of two strings.
* SPACE(length) - Returning a string of "length" space characters.
* STR(number, precision, scale) - Returning a string representation of a numeric value.
* STUFF(string, start, length, new) - Returning the same string with one part being replaced.
* SUBSTRING(string, start, length) - Returning a substring.
* UNICODE(nchar) - Returning the code value of a Unicode character.
* UPPER(string) - Returning the same string with all lower case characters converted to upper case.

5-

How To Convert a Unicode Strings to Non-Unicode Strings?

Since Unicode character set is different than code page based (non-Unicode) character set, converting Unicode strings to non-Unicode strings may result in wrong characters or missing characters. So you should avoid converting Unicode strings to non-Unicode strings. If you really want to, there are 3 ways to convert a Unicode string to a non-Unicode string:

* Implicit conversion by assignment operations - When a Unicode string is assigned to a variable, a column, or a parameter of a non-Unicode string data type, SQL Server will implicitly convert the Unicode string to a non-Unicode string.
* Explicit conversion using the CAST() function - A Unicode string can be explicitly converted to non-Unicode string using the CAST(Unicode_string AS VARCHAR(size)) function.
* Explicit conversion using the CONVERT() function - A Unicode string can be explicitly converted to non-Unicode string using the CONVERT(VARCHAR(size), Unicdoe_string) function.

Some numeric data type conversion examples are provided in the tutorial exercise below:

-- Implicit conversion by an assignment operation
DECLARE @regcode VARCHAR(40);
SET @regcode = N'Some Unicode characters: '
+ NCHAR(9733)+NCHAR(9734)+NCHAR(9792)+NCHAR(9794);
SELECT @regcode;
GO
Some Unicode characters: ????

-- Explicit conversion by CAST()
SELECT CAST(N'Some Unicode characters: '
+ NCHAR(9733)+NCHAR(9734)+NCHAR(9792)+NCHAR(9794)
AS VARCHAR(40));
GO
Some Unicode characters: ????

-- Explicit conversion by CONVERT()
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(40), N'Some Unicode characters: '
+ NCHAR(9733)+NCHAR(9734)+NCHAR(9792)+NCHAR(9794));
GO
Some Unicode characters: ????

6-

What Happens When Unicode Strings Concatenate with Non-Unicode Strings?

If a Unicode string NVARCHAR is concatenated with a non-Unicode string VARCHAR, SQL Server will implicitly convert the non-Unicode string to Unicode string for concatenation.

DECLARE @regcode VARCHAR(40);
DECLARE @unicode NVARCHAR(40);
SET @regcode = 'Some Unicode characters: '
SET @unicode = NCHAR(9733)+NCHAR(9734)+NCHAR(9792)
+NCHAR(9794);
SELECT @regcode + @unicode;
SELECT DATALENGTH(@regcode);
SELECT DATALENGTH(@unicode);
SELECT DATALENGTH(@regcode + @unicode);
Some Unicode characters: ????
25
8
58

Note that the non-Unicode string @regcode has been converted to a Unicode string. The number of bytes of @regcode changed from 25 to 50. With 8 bytes from @unicode, the number of bytes of the concatenated string becomes 58.

7-

How To Concatenate Two Character Strings Together?

Concatenating two character strings together is most commonly used string operation. SQL Server 2005 allows to concatenate two character strings into a single string with the (+) operator. The following tutorial exercise shows you some string concatenation examples:

DECLARE @site VARCHAR(40);
SET @site = 'GlobalGuideLine.com';
SELECT 'Welcome to '+@site;
SELECT 'Current date and time is '
+CONVERT(VARCHAR(20), GETDATE());
GO
Welcome to GlobalGuideLine.com
Current date and time is May 19 2007 5:18PM

DECLARE @start INT, @end INT, @total INT;
SET @start = 21;
SET @end = 30;
SET @total = 728;
SELECT 'Search result '
+ CONVERT(VARCHAR(20),@start)
+ ' - '
+ CONVERT(VARCHAR(20),@end)
+ ' of '
+ CONVERT(VARCHAR(20),@total);
GO
Search result 21 - 30 of 728

8-

How To Generate Random Numbers with the RAND() Function in MS SQL Server?

Random numbers are very useful for generating test data, passwords, or other security related data. SQL Server 2005 offers you the random number generator function RAND in two format: * RAND(seed) - Starting a new sequence of random numbers based on the given integer "seed" and returning the first random number in FLOAT(53) from the sequence. * RAND() - Returning the next random number in FLOAT(53) from the current sequence. If there has been no current sequence, SQL Server will start a new sequence with a random "seed". Note that calling RAND(seed) with the same seed will start the same sequence and return the same number. To avoid this repeating pattern, you should always call RAND() without any seed and let the server to randomly pickup a sequence. The tutorial exercise below shows some good examples on how to generate random numbers: SELECT RAND(100), RAND(), RAND(); -- new sequence SELECT RAND(100), RAND(), RAND(); -- same sequence again SELECT RAND(), RAND(), RAND(); SELECT RAND(), RAND(), RAND(); GO 0.715436657367485 0.28463380767982 0.0131039082850364 0.715436657367485 0.28463380767982 0.0131039082850364 0.28769876521071 0.100505471175005 0.292787286982702 0.868829058415689 0.370366365964781 0.58334760467751 -- Random integer between 0 and 100 SELECT FLOOR(100RAND()); SELECT FLOOR(100RAND()); SELECT FLOOR(100RAND()); SELECT FLOOR(100RAND()); GO 68 29 20 82

How To Round a Numeric Value To a Specific Precision?

Sometimes you need to round a numeric value to a specific precision. For example, you may want to round values in your financial statement to the precision of 1000.00. This can be done by the ROUND() function with the following syntax:

ROUND(value, precision, type)

value: The input value to be rounded.

precision: The location of the precision digit relative
to the decimal point.

type: 0 - Round to nearest value;
1 - Truncate to a lower value.

The tutorial exercise below gives some good examples of how to use the ROUND() function:

SELECT ROUND(1234.5678, 0, 0);
SELECT ROUND(1234.5678, -3, 0);
SELECT ROUND(1234.5678, -4, 0);
SELECT ROUND(1234.5678, 3, 0);
SELECT ROUND(1234.5678, 3, 1);
GO
1235.0000
1000.0000
0.0000
1234.5680
1234.5670

10-

How To Convert Numeric Values to Integers in MS SQL Server?

Sometimes you need to round a numeric value into an integer. SQL Server 2005 offers you a number of ways to do this: * FLOOR(value) - Returning the largest integer less than or equal to the input value. The returning data type is the same as the input value. * CEILLING(value) - Returning the smallest integer greater than or equal to the input value. The returning data type is the same as the input value. * ROUND(value, 0, 0) - Returning the integer most close to the input value. The returning data type is the same as the input value. * CAST(value AS INT) - Returning the largest integer less than or equal to the input value. The returning data type is INT. * CONVERT(INT, value) - Returning the largest integer less than or equal to the input value. The returning data type is INT. The tutorial exercise below gives some good examples of converting numeric values to integers: SELECT FLOOR(1234.5678); SELECT CEILING(1234.5678); SELECT ROUND(1234.5678, 0, 0); SELECT CAST(1234.5678 AS INT); SELECT CONVERT(INT, 1234.5678); GO 1234 1235 1235.0000 1234 1234

Windows Server Support Interview Questions and Answers (L2) Part 1

2012-11-18T19:19:00.001+05:30

What is the difference between Authorized DHCP and Non Authorized DHCP?
To avoid problems in the network causing by mis-configured DHCP servers, server in windows 2000 must be validate by AD before starting service to clients. If an authorized DHCP finds any DHCP server in the network it stop serving the clients

Difference between inter-site and intra-site replication. Protocols using for replication.
Intra-site replication can be done between the domain controllers in the same site. Inter-site replication can be done between two different sites over WAN links
BHS (Bridge Head Servers) is responsible for initiating replication between the sites. Inter-site replication can be done B/w BHS in one site and BHS in another site.
We can use RPC over IP or SMTP as a replication protocols where as Domain partition is not possible to replicate using SMTP

How to monitor replication
We can user Replmon tool from support tools

Brief explanation of RAID Levels
Microsoft Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 offer two types of disk storage: basic and dynamic.

Basic Disk Storage
Basic storage uses normal partition tables supported by MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me), Microsoft Windows NT, Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP. A disk initialized for basic storage is called a basic disk. A basic disk contains basic volumes, such as primary partitions, extended partitions, and logical drives. Additionally, basic volumes include multidisk volumes that are created by using Windows NT 4.0 or earlier, such as volume sets, stripe sets, mirror sets, and stripe sets with parity. Windows XP does not support these multidisk basic volumes. Any volume sets, stripe sets, mirror sets, or stripe sets with parity must be backed up and deleted or converted to dynamic disks before you install Windows XP Professional.

Dynamic Disk Storage
Dynamic storage is supported in Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003. A disk initialized for dynamic storage is called a dynamic disk. A dynamic disk contains dynamic volumes, such as simple volumes, spanned volumes, striped volumes, mirrored volumes, and RAID-5 volumes. With dynamic storage, you can perform disk and volume management without the need to restart Windows.

Note: Dynamic disks are not supported on portable computers or on Windows XP Home Edition-based computers.
You cannot create mirrored volumes or RAID-5 volumes on Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, or Windows XP 64-Bit Edition-based computers. However, you can use a Windows XP Professional-based computer to create a mirrored or RAID-5 volume on remote computers that are running Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, or Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, or the Standard, Enterprise and Data Center versions of Windows Server 2003.

Storage types are separate from the file system type. A basic or dynamic disk can contain any combination of FAT16, FAT32, or NTFS partitions or volumes.

A disk system can contain any combination of storage types. However, all volumes on the same disk must use the same storage type.

To convert a Basic Disk to a Dynamic Disk:

Use the Disk Management snap-in in Windows XP/2000/2003 to convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Log on as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group.
2. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
3. Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management. You can also right-click My Computer and choose Manage if you have My Computer displayed on your desktop.
4. In the left pane, click Disk Management.
5. In the lower-right pane, right-click the basic disk that you want to convert, and then click Convert to Dynamic Disk. You must right-click the gray area that contains the disk title on the left side of the Details pane.
6. Select the check box that is next to the disk that you want to convert (if it is not already selected), and then click OK.
7. Click Details if you want to view the list of volumes in the disk. Click Convert.
8. Click Yes when you are prompted to convert the disk, and then click OK.

Warning: After you convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk, local access to the dynamic disk is limited to Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003. Additionally, after you convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk, the dynamic volumes cannot be changed back to partitions. You must first delete all dynamic volumes on the disk and then convert the dynamic disk back to a basic disk. If you want to keep your data, you must first back up the data or move it to another volume.

Dynamic Storage Terms
A volume is a storage unit made from free space on one or more disks. It can be formatted with a file system and assigned a drive letter. Volumes on dynamic disks can have any of the following layouts: simple, spanned, mirrored, striped, or RAID-5.
A simple volume uses free space from a single disk. It can be a single region on a disk or consist of multiple, concatenated regions. A simple volume can be extended within the same disk or onto additional disks. If a simple volume is extended across multiple disks, it becomes a spanned volume.
A spanned volume is created from free disk space that is linked together from multiple disks. You can extend a spanned volume onto a maximum of 32 disks. A spanned volume cannot be mirrored and is not fault-tolerant.
A striped volume is a volume whose data is interleaved across two or more physical disks. The data on this type of volume is allocated alternately and evenly to each of the physical disks. A striped volume cannot be mirrored or extended and is not fault-tolerant. Striping is also known as RAID-0.
A mirrored volume is a fault-tolerant volume whose data is duplicated on two physical disks. All of the data on one volume is copied to another disk to provide data redundancy. If one of the disks fails, the data can still be accessed from the remaining disk. A mirrored volume cannot be extended. Mirroring is also known as RAID-1.
A RAID-5 volume is a fault-tolerant volume whose data is striped across an array of three or more disks. Parity (a calculated value that can be used to reconstruct data after a failure) is also striped across the disk array. If a physical disk fails, the portion of the RAID-5 volume that was on that failed disk can be re-created from the remaining data and the parity. A RAID-5 volume cannot be mirrored or extended.
The system volume contains the hardware-specific files that are needed to load Windows (for example, Ntldr, Boot.ini, and Ntdetect.com). The system volume can be, but does not have to be, the same as the boot volume.
The boot volume contains the Windows operating system files that are located in the %Systemroot% and %Systemroot%\System32 folders. The boot volume can be, but does not have to be, the same as the system volume.

RAID 0 – Striping

RAID 1- Mirroring (minimum 2 HDD required)

RAID 5 – Striping With Parity (Minimum 3 HDD required)

RAID levels 1 and 5 only gives redundancy

What are the different backup strategies are available

Normal Backup
Incremental Backup
Differential Backup
Daily Backup
Copy Backup

What is a global catalog
Global catalog is a role, which maintains Indexes about objects. It contains full information of the objects in its own domain and partial information of the objects in other domains. Universal Group membership information will be stored in global catalog servers and replicate to all GC’s in the forest.

What is Active Directory and what is the use of it
Active directory is a directory service, which maintains the relation ship between resources and enabling them to work together. Because of AD hierarchal structure windows 2000 is more scalable, reliable. Active directory is derived from X.500 standards where information is stored is hierarchal tree like structure. Active directory depends on two Internet standards one is DNS and other is LDAP. Information in Active directory can be queried by using LDAP protocol

What is the physical and logical structure of AD?
Active directory physical structure is a hierarchal structure which fallows Forests—Trees—Domains—Child Domains—Grand Child—etc

Active directory is logically divided into 3 partitions

1.Configuration partition 2. Schema Partition 3. Domain partition 4. Application Partition (only in windows 2003 not available in windows 2000)

Out of these Configuration, Schema partitions can be replicated between the domain controllers in the in the entire forest. Where as Domain partition can be replicated between the domain controllers in the same domain

What is the process of user authentication (Kerberos V5) in windows 2000?
After giving logon credentials an encryption key will be generated which is used to encrypt the time stamp of the client machine. User name and encrypted timestamp information will be provided to domain controller for authentication. Then Domain controller based on the password information stored in AD for that user it decrypts the encrypted time stamp information. If produces time stamp matches to its time stamp. It will provide logon session key and Ticket granting ticket to client in an encryption format. Again client decrypts and if produced time stamp information is matching then it will use logon session key to logon to the domain. Ticket granting ticket will be used to generate service granting ticket when accessing network resources

What are the port numbers for Kerberos, LDAP and Global Catalog?

Kerberos – 88, LDAP – 389, Global Catalog – 3268

What is the use of LDAP (X.500 standard?)

LDAP is a directory access protocol, which is used to exchange directory information from server to clients or from server to servers

What are the problems that are generally come across DHCP?
Scope is full with IP addresses no IP’s available for new machines
If scope options are not configured properly eg default gateway
Incorrect creation of scopes etc

What is the role responsible for time synchronization?
PDC Emulator is responsible for time synchronization. Time synchronization is important because Kerberos authentication depends on time stamp information

What is TTL & how to set TTL time in DNS?
TTL is Time to Live setting used for the amount of time that the record should remain in cache when name resolution happened.

We can set TTL in SOA (start of authority record) of DNS

How to take DNS and WINS, DHCP backup
%System root%/system32/dns
%System root%/system32/WINS
%System root%/system32/DHCP

What is recovery console
Recovery console is a utility used to recover the system when it is not booting properly or not at all booting. We can perform fallowing operations from recovery console

We can copy, rename, or replace operating system files and folders
Enable or disable service or device startup the next time that start computer
Repair the file system boot sector or the Master Boot Record
Create and format partitions on drives

What is DFS & its usage

DFS is a distributed file system used to provide common environment for users to access files and folders even when they are shared in different servers physically.
There are two types of DFS domain DFS and Stand alone DFS. We cannot provide redundancy for stand alone DFS in case of failure. Domain DFS is used in a domain environment which can be accessed by /domain name/root1 (root 1 is DFS root name). Stand alone DFS can be used in workgroup environment which can be accessed through /server name/root1 (root 1 is DFS root name). Both the cases we need to create DFS root ( Which appears like a shared folder for end users) and DFS links ( A logical link which is pointing to the server where the folder is physically shared)

The maximum number of Dfs roots per server is 1.
The maximum numbers of Dfs root replicas are 31.
The maximum number of Dfs roots per domain is unlimited.
The maximum number of Dfs links or shared folders in a Dfs root is 1,000

What is RIS and what are its requirements
RIS is a remote installation service, which is used to install operation system remotely.

Client requirements
PXE DHCP-based boot ROM version 1.00 or later NIC, or a network adapter that is supported by the RIS boot disk.
Should meet minimum operating system requirements
Software Requirements
Below network services must be active on RIS server or any server in the network
Domain Name System (DNS Service)
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
Active directory “Directory” service

How many root replicas can be created in DFS?
31

What is the difference between Domain DFS and Standalone DFS?
Refer question 17.

High Level

Can we establish trust relationship between two forests?

In Windows 2000 it is not possible. In Windows 2003 it is possible

What is FSMO Roles

Flexible single master operation (FSMO) roles are
Domain Naming Master
Schema Master
PDC Emulator
Infrastructure Master
RID Master

Brief all the FSMO Roles
Windows 2000/2003 Multi-Master Model

A multi-master enabled database, such as the Active Directory, provides the flexibility of allowing changes to occur at any DC in the enterprise, but it also introduces the possibility of conflicts that can potentially lead to problems once the data is replicated to the rest of the enterprise. One way Windows 2000/2003 deals with conflicting updates is by having a conflict resolution algorithm handle discrepancies in values by resolving to the DC to which changes were written last (that is, "the last writer wins"), while discarding the changes in all other DCs. Although this resolution method may be acceptable in some cases, there are times when conflicts are just too difficult to resolve using the "last writer wins" approach. In such cases, it is best to prevent the conflict from occurring rather than to try to resolve it after the fact.
For certain types of changes, Windows 2000/2003 incorporates methods to prevent conflicting Active Directory updates from occurring.
Windows 2000/2003 Single-Master Model
To prevent conflicting updates in Windows 2000/2003, the Active Directory performs updates to certain objects in a single-master fashion.

In a single-master model, only one DC in the entire directory is allowed to process updates. This is similar to the role given to a primary domain controller (PDC) in earlier versions of Windows (such as Microsoft Windows NT 4.0), in which the PDC is responsible for processing all updates in a given domain.

In a forest, there are five FSMO roles that are assigned to one or more domain controllers. The five FSMO roles are:

Schema Master:

The schema master domain controller controls all updates and modifications to the schema. Once the Schema update is complete, it is replicated from the schema master to all other DCs in the directory. To update the schema of a forest, you must have access to the schema master. There can be only one schema master in the whole forest.
Domain naming master:

The domain naming master domain controller controls the addition or removal of domains in the forest. This DC is the only one that can add or remove a domain from the directory. It can also add or remove cross references to domains in external directories. There can be only one domain naming master in the whole forest.

Infrastructure Master:

When an object in one domain is referenced by another object in another domain, it represents the reference by the GUID, the SID (for references to security principals), and the DN of the object being referenced. The infrastructure FSMO role holder is the DC responsible for updating an object's SID and distinguished name in a cross-domain object reference. At any one time, there can be only one domain controller acting as the infrastructure master in each domain.

Note: The Infrastructure Master (IM) role should be held by a domain controller that is not a Global Catalog server (GC). If the Infrastructure Master runs on a Global Catalog server it will stop updating object information because it does not contain any references to objects that it does not hold. This is because a Global Catalog server holds a partial replica of every object in the forest. As a result, cross-domain object references in that domain will not be updated and a warning to that effect will be logged on that DC's event log. If all the domain controllers in a domain also host the global catalog, all the domain controllers have the current data, and it is not important which domain controller holds the infrastructure master role.

Relative ID (RID) Master:

The RID master is responsible for processing RID pool requests from all domain controllers in a particular domain. When a DC creates a security principal object such as a user or group, it attaches a unique Security ID (SID) to the object. This SID consists of a domain SID (the same for all SIDs created in a domain), and a relative ID (RID) that is unique for each security principal SID created in a domain. Each DC in a domain is allocated a pool of RIDs that it is allowed to assign to the security principals it creates. When a DC's allocated RID pool falls below a threshold, that DC issues a request for additional RIDs to the domain's RID master. The domain RID master responds to the request by retrieving RIDs from the domain's unallocated RID pool and assigns them to the pool of the requesting DC. At any one time, there can be only one domain controller acting as the RID master in the domain.

PDC Emulator:

The PDC emulator is necessary to synchronize time in an enterprise. Windows 2000/2003 includes the W32Time (Windows Time) time service that is required by the Kerberos authentication protocol. All Windows 2000/2003-based computers within an enterprise use a common time. The purpose of the time service is to ensure that the Windows Time service uses a hierarchical relationship that controls authority and does not permit loops to ensure appropriate common time usage.

The PDC emulator of a domain is authoritative for the domain. The PDC emulator at the root of the forest becomes authoritative for the enterprise, and should be configured to gather the time from an external source. All PDC FSMO role holders follow the hierarchy of domains in the selection of their in-bound time partner.
In a Windows 2000/2003 domain, the PDC emulator role holder retains the following functions:
Password changes performed by other DCs in the domain are replicated preferentially to the PDC emulator.
Authentication failures that occur at a given DC in a domain because of an incorrect password are forwarded to the PDC emulator before a bad password failure message is reported to the user.

Account lockout is processed on the PDC emulator.

Editing or creation of Group Policy Objects (GPO) is always done from the GPO copy found in the PDC Emulator's SYSVOL share, unless configured not to do so by the administrator.

The PDC emulator performs all of the functionality that a Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Server-based PDC or earlier PDC performs for Windows NT 4.0-based or earlier clients.

This part of the PDC emulator role becomes unnecessary when all workstations, member servers, and domain controllers that are running Windows NT 4.0 or earlier are all upgraded to Windows 2000/2003. The PDC emulator still performs the other functions as described in a Windows 2000/2003 environment.

At any one time, there can be only one domain controller acting as the PDC emulator master in each domain in the forest.

Exchange server 2003/2007/2010 Interview Questions With Answers part 2

2012-09-20T21:09:00.000+05:30

What is Exchange Server 2007?
Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 is the next version of Microsoft Exchange. Microsoft Exchange is the industry’s leading e-mail, calendaring, and unified messaging server. The release of Exchange Server 2007 is closely aligned with the 2007 Microsoft Office release. Together, these products deliver a best-in-class enterprise messaging and collaboration solution.

What is new in Exchange Server 2007?
Exchange 2007 provides built-in protection to keep the e-mail system up and running and protected from outside threats and lets employees work more productively from wherever they are by using a variety of clients. These clients include Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access, and mobile devices. Exchange Server 2007 makes it easier for IT departments to deliver these new capabilities to their organizations by making the messaging environment easier to manage and more cost-efficient. For more information about Exchange Server 2007.

How does Exchange Server 2007 integrate with Microsoft Office Outlook 2007?
Outlook 2007 provides the most complete e-mail, calendaring, contacts, and tasks functionality available in an e-mail client that is compatible with Exchange. When Outlook 2007 is used with Exchange Server 2007, users benefit from the new Scheduling Assistant that automates time-consuming meeting and resource scheduling, the ability to plan and customize out-of-office communications, and managed e-mail folders that facilitate compliance with internal and regulatory policies. Outlook 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 also combine to enhance security by offering features that are easy to use and let users confidently send and receive sensitive business communications through e-mail. By enabling the Autodiscover service, you can reduce the complexity of client configuration and reduce administrative costs that are associated with troubleshooting connectivity issues for users.

What are the different editions of Exchange Server 2007?
Exchange Server 2007 is offered in two server editions: Standard Edition and Enterprise Edition. Exchange Server 2007 Standard Edition is designed to meet the messaging and collaboration needs of small and medium organizations. It may also be appropriate for specific server roles or branch offices. Exchange Server 2007 Enterprise Edition, designed for large enterprise organizations, enables the creation of multiple storage groups and databases. For more information about Exchange Server 2007 editions and Client Access Licenses

How can I upgrade my current Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003 environment?
When you upgrade to Exchange Server 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 the required data to the new Exchange server. Exchange Server 2007 supports mixed environments that include Exchange 2000 Server, Exchange Server 2003, or both. This allows for an easier and more gradual transition. For more information about how to plan and deploy Exchange Server 2007

Should I map my current routing groups to my current Active Directory sites?
Exchange 2007 is based on Active Directory sites. If your current Microsoft Exchange environment maps as closely as possible to Active Directory sites, your interoperability and migration story will be easier. Additionally, the recommended upgrade path is to upgrade all the Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003 servers in a single routing group before you upgrade the next routing group. This lets you fully decommission a routing group as you upgrade and reduces the complexity of your current routing topology. Mapping the Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003 routing groups to the Exchange 2007 physical topology also makes it easier to plan for an upgrade to Exchange 2007 because the two environments are similarly organized and generally correlate to Active Directory sites.

Exchange server 2003/2007/2010 Interview Questions With Answers part 1

2012-09-20T21:03:00.000+05:30

What are the pre requisites to install Exchange Server 2007?

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?

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?

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

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 non-Exchange 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

Standard Edition
Enterprise Edition

17. What is the difference between standard and Enterprise Edition?

Exchange 2007 functions	Standard Edition	Enterprise Edition
Number of Data Stores Supported	5 includes Mailbox/Public Folder	50 combination of both
Clustering support	No	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 anti-spam 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

Windows Group Policy Interview Questions and Answer

2012-08-21T13:36:00.003+05:30

Windows Group Policy Interview Questions and Answer

What is group policy in active directory ? What are Group Policy objects (GPOs)?
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 Template-based policies, security settings, script files, and information regarding applications that are available for Group PolicySoftware Installation.
The Group Policy template is located in the system volume folder (Sysvol) in the \Policies subfolder for its domain.

What is the order in which GPOs are applied ?
Group Policy settings are processed in the following order:
1.Local Group Policy object : Each computer has exactly one Group Policyobject 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 POs 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.)

How to backup/restore Group Policy objects ?
Begin the process by logging on to a Windows Server 2008 domain controller, and opening the Group Policy Management console. Now, navigate through the console tree to Group Policy Management | Forest: | Domains | | Group Policy Objects.

When you do, the details pane should display all of the group policy objects that are associated with the domain. In Figure A there are only two group policy objects, but in a production environment you may have many more. The Group Policy Objects container stores all of the group policy objects forthe domain.

Now, right-click on the Group Policy Objects container, and choose the Back Up All command from the shortcut menu. When you do, Windows will open the Back Up Group Policy Object dialog box.

As you can see in Figure B, this dialog box requires you to provide the path to which you want to store the backup files. You can either store the backups in a dedicated folder on a local drive, or you can place them in a folder on a mapped network drive. The dialog box also contains a Description field that you can use to provide a description of the backup that you are creating.

You must provide the path to which you want to store your backup of thegroup policy objects.
To initiate the backup process, just click the Back Up button. When the backup process completes, you should see a dialog box that tells you how manygroup policy objects were successfully backed up. Click OK to close the dialog box, and you're all done.

When it comes to restoring a backup of any Group Policy Object, you have two options. The first option is to right-click on the Group Policy Object, and choose the Restore From Backup command from the shortcut menu. When you do this, Windows will remove all of the individual settings from the Group Policy Object, and then implement the settings found in the backup.

Your other option is to right-click on the Group Policy Object you want to restore, and choose the Import Settings option. This option works more like a merge than a restore.
Any settings that presently reside within the Group Policy Object are retained unless there is a contradictory settings within the file that is being imported.

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

What?s the difference between software publishing and assigning?
Assign Users :The software application is advertised when the user logs on. It is installed when the user clicks on the software application icon via the start menu, or accesses a file that has been associated with the software application.

Assign Computers :The software application is advertised and installed when it is safe to do so, such as when the computer is next restarted.

Publish to users : The software application does not appear on the start menu or desktop. This means the user may not know that the software is available. The software application is made available via the Add/Remove Programs option in control panel, or by clicking on a file that has been associated with the application. Published applications do not reinstall themselves in the event of accidental deletion, and it is not possible to publish to computers.

What are administrative templates?
Administrative Templates are a feature of Group Policy, a Microsoft technology for centralised management of machines and users in an Active Directoryenvironment. Administrative Templates facilitate the management of registry-based policy. An ADM file is used to describe both the user interface presented to the Group Policy administrator and the registry keys that should be updated on the target machines.

An ADM file is a text file with a specific syntax which describes both the interface and the registry values which will be changed if the policy is enabled or disabled.

ADM files are consumed by the Group Policy Object Editor (GPEdit). Windows XP Service Pack 2 shipped with five ADM files (system.adm, inetres.adm, wmplayer.adm, conf.adm and wuau.adm). These are merged into a unified "namespace" in GPEdit and presented to the administrator under the Administrative Templates node (for both machine and user policy).

Can I deploy non-MSI software with GPO?
create the fiile in .zap extension.

Name some GPO settings in the computer and user parts ?
Group Policy Object (GPO) computer=Computer Configuration, User=User ConfigurationName some GPO settings in the computer and user parts.

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?
make sure user not be member of loopback policy as in loopback policy it doesn't effect user settings only computer policy will applicable. if he is member of gpo filter grp or not?
You may also want to check the computers event logs. If you find event ID 1085 then you may want to download the patch to fix this and reboot the computer.

How frequently is the client policy refreshed ?
90 minutes give or take.

Where is secedit ?
It’s now gpupdate.

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.

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.

How does the Group Policy 'No Override' and 'Block Inheritance' work ?

Group Policies can be applied at multiple levels (Sites, domains, organizational Units) and multiple GP's for each level. Obviously it may be that some policy settings conflict hence the application order of Site - Domain - Organization Unit and within each layer you set order for all defined policies but you may want to force some polices to never be overridden (No Override) and you may want some containers to not inherit settings from a parent container (Block Inheritance).

A good definition of each is as follows:

No Override - This prevents child containers from overriding policies set at higher levels

Block Inheritance - Stops containers inheriting policies from parent containers

No Override takes precedence over Block Inheritance so if a child container has Block Inheritance set but on the parent a group policy has No Override set then it will get applied.

Also the highest No Override takes precedence over lower No Override's set.

To block inheritance perform the following:

Start the Active Directory Users and Computer snap-in (Start - Programs - Administrative Tools - Active Directory Users and Computers)
Right click on the container you wish to stop inheriting settings from its parent and select
Select the 'Group Policy' tab
Check the 'Block Policy inheritance' option
Click Apply then OK

To set a policy to never be overridden perform the following:

Start the Active Directory Users and Computer snap-in (Start - - Administrative Tools - Active Directory Users and Computers)
Right click on the container you wish to set a Group Policy to not be overridden and select Properties
Select the 'Group Policy' tab
Click Options
Check the 'No Override' option
Click OK
Click Apply then OK

Oracle Interview Questions and Answers

2012-07-18T11:08:00.009+05:30

Oracle Interview Questions and Answers

Question: 1.(A)

Which SELECT statement should you use if you want to display unique combinations of the POSITION and MANAGER values from the EMPLOYEE table?

A. SELECT DISTINCT position, manager
FROM employee;

B. SELECT position, manager DISTINCT
FROM employee;

C. SELECT position, manager
FROM employee;

D. SELECT position, DISTINCT manager
FROM employee;

Answer: A

Explanation:

To display a unique values in the result you can use the DISTINCT key word this will eliminatethe duplicate values from the result of the query.

Question: 2. (A)

Which two are attributes of /SQL*Plus? (Choose two)

A. /SQL*Plus commands cannot be abbreviated.

B. /SQL*Plus commands are accesses from a browser.

C. /SQL*Plus commands are used to manipulate data in tables.

D. /SQL*Plus commands manipulate table definitions in the database.

E. /SQL*Plus is the Oracle proprietary interface for executing SQL statements.

Answer: C, D

Explanation:

SQL*Plus commands can be used to manipulate data in tables and SQL*Plus commands
manipulate table definitions in the database.

Incorrect Answers

A: SQL*Plus commands can be abbreviated. Like command DESCRIBE can be abbreviated as
DESC, or SELECT as SELE.
B: SQL*Plus commands are not accesses from a browser.
E: SQL*Plus is not only the Oracle proprietary interface for executing SQL statements.

Question: 3. (A)

You need to perform certain data manipulation operations through a view called EMP_DEPT_VU, which you previously created.
You want to look at the definition of the view (the SELECT statement on which the view was create.)
How do you obtain the definition of the view?

A. Use the DESCRIBE command in the EMP_DEPT VU view.

B. Use the DEFINE VIEW command on the EMP_DEPT VU view.

C. Use the DESCRIBE VIEW command on the EMP_DEPT VU view.

D. Query the USER_VIEWS data dictionary view to search for the EMP_DEPT_VU view.

E. Query the USER_SOURCE data dictionary view to search for the EMP_DEPT_VU view.

F. Query the USER_OBJECTS data dictionary view to search for the EMP_DEPT_VU view.

Answer: D

Explanation:

To look on the view definition you need to query the USER_VIEWS data dictionary view and search for the EMP_DEPT_VU view.

Incorrect Answers

A: You cannot see the definition of the view using the DESCRIBE command.
B: There is no DEFINE VIEW command in Oracle.
C: There is no DESCRIBE VIEW command in Oracle.
E: You cannot use the USER_SOURCE data dictionary view to see the definition of your view: it is used to store system objects definitions only.
F: You can find record about view in the USER_OBJECTS, but it does not contain the definition of the view itself.

Question: 4. (A)

Which is an /SQL*Plus command?

A. INSERT

B. UPDATE

C. SELECT

D. DESCRIBE

E. DELETE

F. RENAME

Answer: D

Explanation:

There is only one SQL*Plus command in this list: DESCRIBE. It cannot be used as SQL
command. This command returns a description of tablename, including all columns in that table, the datatype for each column, and an indication of whether the column permits storage of NULL values.

Incorrect Answers

A: INSERT is not a SQL*Plus command. It��s data-manipulation language (DML) command.
B: UPDATE is not a SQL*Plus command. It��s data-manipulation language (DML) command.
C: SELECT is not a SQL*Plus command.
E: DELETE is not a SQL*Plus command. It��s data-manipulation language (DML) command.
F: RENAME is not a SQL*Plus command.

Question: 5. (A)

You need to produce a report for mailing labels for all customers. The mailing label must have only the customer name and address. The CUSTOMERS table has these columns:
CUST_ID NUMBER(4) NOT NULL
CUST_NAME VARCHAR2(100)
CUST_ADDRESS VARCHAR2(150)
CUST_PHONE VARCHAR2(20)
Which SELECT statement accomplishes this task?

A. SELECT*
FROM customers;

B. SELECT name, address
FROM customers;

C. SELECT id, name, address, phone
FROM customers;

D. SELECT cust_name, cust_address
FROM customers;

E. SELECT cust_id, cust_name, cust_address, cust_phone
FROM customers;.

Answer: D

Explanation:

This answer provides correct list of columns for the output.

Incorrect Answers

A: This answer does not provide correct list of columns for the output. It is not required to showall columns of the table. Symbol �� is used in the SELECT command to substitute a list of all columns of the table.
B: This answer does not provide correct list of columns for the output. There are not NAME and ADDRESS columns in the CUSTOMERS table.
C: This answer does not provide correct list of columns for the output. There are not ID, NAME, ADDRESS or PHONE columns in the CUSTOMERS table.
E: This answer does not provide correct list of columns for the output. It is not required to show all columns of the table.

Question: 6. (A)

Evaluate this SQL statement:

SELECT e.EMPLOYEE_ID,e.LAST_NAME,e.DEPARTMENT_ID, d.DEPARTMENT_NAME.
FROM EMP e, DEPARTMENT d
WHERE e.DEPARTMENT_ID = d.DEPARTMENT_ID;
In the statement, which capabilities of a SELECT statement are performed?

A. Selection, projection, join

B.Difference, projection, join

C.Selection, intersection, join

D.Intersection, projection, join

E. Difference, projection, product

Answer: A

Explanation:

Selection, projection and join capabilities of a SELECT statement are performed in this view.

Incorrect Answers

B: Selection is performed in this query, not difference. There is no capability with name difference for a SELECT statement exists.
C: There is no intersection in this SELECT statement used.
D: There is no intersection in this SELECT statement used.
E: There is no difference or product capabilities exist for a SELECT statement.

Question: 7. (A)

Which two statements are true regarding the ORDER BY clause? (Choose two)

A. The sort is in ascending by order by default.

B. The sort is in descending order by default.

C. The ORDER BY clause must precede the WHERE clause.

D. The ORDER BY clause is executed on the client side.

E. The ORDER BY clause comes last in the SELECT statement.

F. The ORDER BY clause is executed first in the query execution.

Answer: A & E

Explanation:

The ORDER BY clause does sort data in ascending order by default. And the ORDER BY clause comes last in the SELECT statement: after FROM or WHERE or GROUP BY clause.

Incorrect Answers

B: The ORDER BY clause does sort data in ascending, not descending order, by default.
C: The ORDER BY clause must be after the WHERE clause in the SQL statement.
D: The ORDER BY clause is executed on the server side as the whole SQL statement is.
F: The ORDER BY clause is executed last in the query execution, after results are limited with the WHERE and GROUP BY clause conditions.

Question: 8. (A)

From SQL*Plus, you issue this SELECT statement:
SELECT* From orders;
You use this statement to retrieve data from a data table for __________. (Choose all that apply)

A. Updating

B. Viewing

C. Deleting

D. Inserting

E. Truncating

Answer: B & D

Explanation:

You can use SELECT statement to display and to insert data into different table.

Incorrect Answers

A: You cannot update data with SELECT statement. Update command is used for this purpose.
C: You cannot delete data with SELECT statement. Delete command is used for this purpose.
E:You cannot truncate data with SELECT statement. Truncate command is used for this
purpose.

Question: 9. (A)

Evaluate this SQL*Plus command:
START delaccount Which task will this command accomplish?

A. It executes the DELACCOUNT PL/SQL routine.

B. It runs the DELACCOUNT.SQL script file.

C. It creates the DELACCOUNT file using the default file extension.

D. It invokes the editor to edit the contents of the DELACCOUNT file.

Answer: B

Explanation:

START is SQL*Plus command which is used to run the already stored script. It will not display the actual command in the script.

Question: 10. (A)

Which SQL SELECT statement performs a projection, a selection, and join when executed?

A. SELECT p.id_number, m.manufacturer_id, m.city
FROM product p, manufacturer m WHERE p.manufacturer_id = m.manufacturer_id
AND m.manufacturer_id = 'NF10032';

B. SELECT id_number, manufacturer_id
FROM product ORDER BY manufacturer_id, id_number;

C. SELECT id_number, manufacturer_id
FROM product WHERE manufacturer_id = 'NF10032';

D. SELECT manufacturer_id, city
FROM manufacturer AND manufacturer_id = 'NF10032'
ORDER BY city;

Answer: A

Explanation:

PROJECTION will select the whole column values of the table while SELECTION will gives you rows of the table and JOIN is joining the two tables on a same column. To get all these task done in one statement you can use this command
SELECT p.id_number, m.manufacturer_id, m.city FROM product p, manufacturer m
WHERE p.manufacturer_id = m.manufacturer_id
AND m.manufacturer_id = 'NF10032';

Exchange 2003 Interview questions and answers

2012-07-18T11:03:00.002+05:30

Exchange 2003 Interview questions and answers

What is Exchange 2003 Forestprep?

Exchange 2003 Forestprep extends the AD schema to include Exchange specific information.

What is Exchange 2003 Domainprep?

Exchange 2003 Domainprep creates the groups and permissions necessary for Exchange servers to read and modify user attributes.

What is a DC?

A DC is a Windows 2000 or 2003 Domain Controller that holds active directory partitions for a domain (used for things like user authentication).

What is a GC?

A GC is a Global Catalog Server. A GC holds a full set of attributes for the domain in which it resides and a subset of attributes for all objects in the Active Directory Forest.
05

What is DDNS and why do I need it?

Dynamic DNS (described in RFC 2136) allows servers to dynamically update and create records in DNS. Dynamic DNS is used by the Exchange server to create server records and other entries used by the Exchange Servers for things like message routing. In a simple Exchange organization, DDNS is not strictly necessary, but makes administration much easier.

What is a border server?

A border server is an Exchange server that communicates with external servers. In a single server organization, your server is by default a border server. In a multi-server configuration, you may have one or more dedicated servers that communicate directly or indirectly with foreign servers and then pass the mail to other internal Exchange servers.

What is a mixed mode Exchange environment?

An Exchange environment which contains Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 and Exchange 5.5 servers.
08

How does an Exchange 5.5 site compare to an Exchange 2003 Routing Group or Administrative Group?

In a mixed mode Exchange environment the Exchange 2003 Administrative Group and Routing Group correspond to the Exchange 5.5 site. In a native Exchange 2000 environment, the Administrative Group is a group of Exchange objects sharing a common set of permissions and routing groups define how those servers communicate with one another. A single Administrative Group can contain several Routing Groups. Example: Your North American Exchange servers might be grouped in a single Administrative Group, but subdivided into several Routing Groups to optimize interserver communication. An Administrative Group contains zero or more Routing Groups.

Where’s the Instant Messaging Server?

The Exchange Instant Messaging Service is being replaced by the Microsoft Office Real-Time Communications (RTC) server. It is no longer a component of the Exchange Server. For more information, see http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/rtcserver/ .

What is OMA?

Outlook Mobile Access and Exchange Server ActiveSync features, formerly found in Microsoft Mobile Information Server 2002, are now built-in with all Exchange Server 2003 Standard installations.

Complementing the Outlook 2003 and Outlook Web Access mobile improvements, Outlook Mobile Access and Exchange Server ActiveSync help enable secure corporate e-mail on a range of mobile devices including browser-based mobile phones, Microsoft Windows Powered Pocket PC, and Microsoft Windows Powered Smartphone devices.

Adding this functionality to the core Exchange Server 2003 product reduces the need to deploy additional mobile server products in the corporate environment, thus lowering the total cost of ownership.

Why should I go to Exchange 2003 now?

There are several reasons. A few are:

1. Opportunity for Server Consolidation From Exchange 5.5 and Exchange 2000 because you can get more mailboxes on an Exchange 2003 Server.

2. Better security features. The server is secure by default and has added things like automatic logoff for an inactive OWA session, Connection filtering, and has more junk mail features like real-time blacklists.

3. Availability enhancements such as End-to-End Outlook Monitoring, Improvements in ESM, Mailbox Recovery Center, and a Recovery Storage Group.

4. Increase in Mobile device support for Pocket PC’s, Pocket PC Phones and Microsoft Windows®-powered Smartphones.

What are the differences between Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003?

Some features that are new in Exchange 2003 are:

Volume Shadow Copy Service for Database Backups/Recovery

Mailbox Recovery Center

Recovery Storage Group

Front-end and back-end Kerberos authentication

Distribution lists are restricted to authenticated users

Real-time Safe and Block lists

Inbound recipient filtering

Attachment blocking in Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access

HTTP access from Outlook 2003

cHTML browser support (i-Mode phones)

xHTML (Wireless Application Protocol [WAP] 2.0) browser support

Queues are centralized on a per-server basis

Move log files and queue data using Exchange System Manager

Multiple Mailbox Move tool

Dynamic distribution lists

1,700 Exchange-specific events using Microsoft Operations Manager (requires Microsoft Operations Manager)

Deployment and migration tools

What is the difference between Exchange 2003 Standard and Exchange 2003 Enterprise editions?

Standard Edition

16 GB database limit

One mailbox store

One public folder store

NEW: Server can act as a front-end (post-Beta 2)

Enterprise Edition

Clustering

Up to 20 databases per server

X.400 Connectors

Both Editions support features such as:

Database snapshot

OMA and ActiveSync

AirMAPI

Recovery Storage Group

Exchange Management Pack for MOM

Note: It is not possible to in-place upgrade Exchange 2000 Enterprise Edition to Exchange 2003 Standard Edition.
14

What’s the difference between Exchange 2003 and Windows 2003?

Windows Server 2003 provides significant enhanced functionality that Exchange 2003 takes advantage of:

Outlook HTTP access
IIS 6.0 and Windows RPC Proxy service in Windows Server 2003 enable communication between Outlook 2003 and Exchange Server 2003 by means of HTTP. Outlook 2003 users can synchronize directly with the server running Exchange Server 2003 over a HTTP or HTTPS connection.

Internet protocol support
IIS 6.0 provides Exchange with its support for many common Internet access protocols that increase the flexibility of the operating system, such as HTTP, Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3), Internet Message Access Protocol version 4 (IMAP4), and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).

Active Directory
Windows provides Active Directory, upon which Exchange depends for user information, mail routing information, user authentication, and LDAP read and write functions.

Support for clustering
Exchange Server 2003 provides better support for clustering, which enables high availability of a company’s infrastructure. Customers can choose to run up to 8-node clusters, with at least one passive node, when running Exchange 2003 on Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition. (In Windows 2000 Advanced Server, clustering was limited to two nodes, one active and one passive; if a company chose to run Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, clustering was limited to four nodes.)

Volume Shadow Copy service
This and Virtual Disk Service are part of a storage framework that provides heterogeneous interoperation of storage hardware, storage software, and applications. Exchange 2003 writes to the Volume Shadow Copy service on Windows Server 2003, reducing dramatically the backup and restore times for Exchange messaging environments. This enables IT departments to support greater numbers of users per server and reduces the total number of servers running Exchange in their environment.

SETUP/UPGRADE

How can I merge multiple directories to create a unified Exchange organization?

Microsoft’s Meta-Directory Services (MMS)

HP’s LDAP Directory Synchronization Utility

CPS Systems’ SimpleSync

ADSI (code, code code)

Can I upgrade from the evaluation edition of Exchange 2003 Enterprise Server to the RTM standard version of Exchange 2003 Server?

No this is technically a downgrade from enterprise to standard. You can only upgrade the evaluation version of Exchange 2003 Enterprise to Exchange 2003 Enterprise RTM.
03

How can you tell how many days remain until the evaluation copy of Exchange 2000 Server expires?

The Exchange Server Setup Progress Log includes the date on which the Exchange server was installed. Take the difference between that date and today’s date and subtract it from 120 to determine how many days remain in your evaluation.
04

My evaluation version has expired! Are my databases toast?

No. Install a full version of Exchange 2000 Enterprise and you can continue to use your existing databases.
05

I plan to run Exchange in a hosted environment, where can I find information on how to configure my Exchange server to host multiple companies

What happened to the M: drive?

The EXIFS (M: drive) feature has been disabled by default. If the feature is still needed, it can be assigned to an available drive letter with a registry setting.
07

Can Exchange 5.5 or Exchange 2000 run on Windows 2003?

NO. Windows 2003 uses IIS 6.0, which has been re-engineered to keep up with best practices and industry standards. Windows 2003 has an IIS 5.0 compatibility mode, however, it is not compatible with Exchange 5.5 or Exchange 2000. Therefore, neither Exchange Systems are compatible with Windows 2003.
08

Can I run Exchange 2000 with an AD infrastructure with Windows 2003 DC’s?

YES, all exchange versions will run in an AD 2003 environment. Exchange 2000 will benefit from some of the new features in AD 2003 and Exchange 5.5 has an ADC specifically for an Exchange 5.5/ AD 2003 environment. If AD 2000 is upgraded to AD 2003, the ADC will need to be upgraded also.*
09

Can I upgrade Exchange 2003 Beta 2 to RTM?

NO. Microsoft will not support any deployment of Beta 2 into a production environment. Their official position is, “Exchange 2003 Beta 2 should not be deployed in a production environment. You can deploy Exchange 2003 Beta 2 in a test environment only.

Can I upgrade Exchange 5.5 in place to Exchange 2003?

NO. In place upgrades to Exchange 2003 must already be Exchange 2000 SP3 and Windows 2000 SP3 or later. The only upgrade paths from 5.5 to 2003 are; an in place upgrade to Exchange 2000 then an in place upgrade to Exchange 2003 or the leap frog migration which requires another server.

How should I upgrade from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2003?

Since Exchange 5.5 can not be upgraded in place, The Active Directory should be upgraded to AD 2003, setup the new ADC and then install a new Exchange 2003 server. Then move users from 5.5 to 2003.

Where’s the Instant Messaging Server?

The Exchange Instant Messaging Service is being replaced by the Microsoft Office Real-Time Communications (RTC) server. It is no longer a component of the Exchange Server.

What are the Supported FE/BE scenarios? (i.e. E2003 FE with E2k BE etc.)

It is not sufficient to simply upgrade front-end servers to Exchange 2003 for users to get the new interface.

You must upgrade back-end servers to Exchange 2003 as well

Interface matrix

Ex2000 FE + Ex2000 BE = Ex2000 OWA
Ex2003 FE + Ex2000 BE = Ex2000 OWA
Ex2000 FE + Ex2003 BE = Not supported (AG protected)
Ex2003 FE + Ex2003 BE = Ex2003 OWA

Ability to Reply and Forward to Messages and Posts in Public Folders is only enabled when the client is using a front-end server. Forms-based authentication (FBA) is functional for deployments where the FE is Exchange 2003, but the mailbox is still on Exchange 2000. However, session timeouts are handled much better if the BE are also Exchange 2003

What do I need to get RPC over HTTP working?

Client

Outlook 2003, Windows XP with Service Pack 1 + Q331320

Server-side

Exchange 2003 on Windows 2003 for FE (if FE is deployed)

Exchange 2003 on Windows 2003 for BE

Exchange 2003 on Windows 2003 for Public Folders

Exchange 2003 on Windows 2003 for System Folders

Windows 2003 for Global Catalog server

When used with the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 RPC Proxy Service and Exchange 2003, Outlook 2003 clients can connect simply using HTTP or HTTPS, thereby reducing the need for virtual private networks (VPNs) or dial-up remote access. If remote users only need to gain access to corporate messaging information, your IT department may not need to deploy VPN infrastructure. VPN-less access reduces costs and provides for increased security by ensuring that remote Outlook users don’t need access to the entire network.

What do I need in order to install Exchange 2003?

A partial list includes:

DNS (preferably DDNS)

Active Directory 2000 or 2003

Permissions to update the Schema

Hardware sufficient to run Exchange 2003

Windows 2000 SP3 applied to all DCs, GC, and all (future) E2K2 servers, or Windows 2003.

I’m running Exchange 5.5 and would like to upgrade to Exchange 2003. Can I upgrade directly?

No. The only supported upgrade in place is from Exchange 2000 SP3 or later. You would need to first upgrade your Exchange 5.5 server to at least Exchange 2000 SP3 and then upgrade in place to Exchange 2003. Another option is to exmerge out your current users and exmerge them into an Exchange 2003 server. And the only other option is called the leap frog migration. You configure the Active Directory Connector (ADC) for Exchange 2003 between the Active Directory and Exchange 5.5 Directory Service. Install a new Exchange 2003 server into the enterprise and move the Exchange 5.5 users to Exchange 2003.
17

Can I install Exchange 2003 on Windows 2000 server?

Yes, but Windows 2000 must have SP3 loaded first.
18

Can I rename or move the default groups created by Exchange during domainprep and forestprep?

Only if you want to horribly break your Exchange installation.

What are the minimum hardware requirements for Exchange 2003?

The minimum practical hardware requirements in our experience are 1.25 times the disk space one would allocate under Exchange 2000, 1GB RAM (4GB minimum if the Exchange server also serves any other function) and the fastest processor(s) you can afford.

Am I better off with one really fast processor or two somewhat slower processors?

You’re better off with two really fast processors. But, with all other things being equal, two processors are better than one with Exchange 2003. In most instances, a 2-processor machine would be preferable.

Can I have multiple Exchange 2003 organizations in a single forest?

No. Only a single E2K3 organization can exist within a single forest. Delegation of administration within the organization can be accomplished using OUs in AD and Administrative/ Routing Groups in the Exchange system manager.

Can an Exchange 2003 organization span multiple forests?

No. All domains in a forest share a common schema and the Exchange organization exists within this configuration naming context. The GC, which provides the Global Address List is populated only with items within the forest
23

What ports does Exchange use?

A partial list of the ports your Exchange server might use is included below

25 SMTP

53 DNS

80 HTTP

88 Kerberos

102 X.400

110 POP3

119 NNTP

135 RPC

137 – NetBIOS Session Service

139 – NetBIOS Name Service

143 IMAP4

379 LDAP (SRS)

389 LDAP

443 HTTP (SSL)

445 – NetBIOS over TCP

465 SMTP (SSL)

563 NNTP (SSL)

636 LDAP (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
24

Exchange Group Policy Notes, what should I do?

A: Do Not delete the Default Domain Policy or Default Domain Controller Policy in your Active Directory.

The Exchange domain prep operation targets a policy with GUID 6AC1786C-016F-11D2-945F-00C04fB984F9 for its operations. If it doesn’t find it, domain prep will fail.

ADMINISTRATION

What happened to the M: drive?

The EXIFS (M: drive) feature has been disabled by default. If the feature is still needed, it can be assigned to an available drive letter with a registry setting.

Do I need Windows XP to use Outlook RPC over HTTP?

Yes. Windows XP with Service Pack 1 + KB331320

When will Exchange 2003 SP1 be available?

When it is ready

How do I configure the Recovery Storage Group?

In Exchange 2003, there is a new feature called the “Recovery Storage Group” (RSG). This is a special instance of ESE (a 5th instance) which can be spun up to provide:
a. Item/Folder/Mailbox level restore without the need for a spare server
b. “Dial tone” (blank mailbox) support if you lose a database and need to get the users quickly up and running for send/receive

To create the RSG, go into Exchange 2003 ESM, right-click on your server object and choose to create a new Recovery Storage Group.
Once the RSG exists, you can add a database to it (any MDB from any Storage Group from any server inside the same Admin Group). Then, use NTBackup or similar to restore a backup into the RSG. Now, you can use ExMerge to extract the data from the RSG and merge it into the production database (for scenario a.), or you can swap the RSG-restored database for the temporary production database (for scenario b).

One of the goals for the Recovery Storage Group

Under Exchange 5.5 I couldn’t restore a single mailbox without 3rd party products. With Exchange 2003, is it any easier to restore a single mailbox or back up a single mailbox?

Yes and no. Under Exchange 2003, a mailbox is not deleted immediately when a Windows account is deleted. Although restores have been greatly improved with the new Recovery Storage Group (RSG) and the Volume Shadow Copy Service, there is no built in mechanism for backing up a single Exchange mailbox. This would still require a 3rd party brick level backup utility.
06

Can I back up the EXIFS drive using NT Backup or another backup application?

You can, but you will be sad. Do NOT back up the EXIFS drive of an Exchange 2003 server. It can result in messages and attachments being inaccessible via the Outlook client.

How can I prevent a user from sending and receiving Internet mail?

Follow the steps outlined below:

1. Create a group called InternalOnly.

2. Create a recipient policy that gives them a fake SMTP address. i.e. @fake.domain. Leave the X400 address alone so they can receive internal mail.

3. Drill down through Routing Groups > Group Name > Connectors > SMTP internet connector(s), choose its properties. Choose the Delivery Restrictions tab, and under “reject”, add this group. Do this for each connector.

4. Follow the steps in KB277872 , regarding Connector Restrictions.
[Now they can't use the SMTP connector(s) to send external mail]
08

What tools are used to administer Exchange 2003?

Active Directory Users & Computers – Used to create users, distribution groups and contacts.

Exchange System Manager – Used to manage the Exchange Server, create address lists, recipient policies, and now does some user level actions…
09

Can I use Exchange 2000 tools to manage Exchange 2003 Servers?

No, the property sheets of the 2003 servers will appear as read-only. You should avoid using Exchange 2000 ESM in environments where Exchange 2003 is installed. Not only will you not be able to access new Exchange 2003 features, but there is also the risk of damage to new objects that Exchange 2000 does not understand. If you must continue to use Exchange 2000 ESM, apply the latest Exchange 2000 SP3 roll-up to your Admin workstation(s) – http://microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E247C80E-8AFA-4C2A-96B3-F46D1808C790&displaylang=en

The roll-up includes support for the msExchMinAdminVersion attribute (also known as ESM versioning). Essentially, each Exchange object in the AD is stamped with a minimum admin version. If ESM detects that the data value is greater than the version of ESM running, it will not allow edits to that object.

Can I use Exchange 2003 tools to manage Exchange 5.5 and Exchange 2000 Servers?

Yes, with the exception of the following Exchange 2000 components; Key Management Server, Exchange Instant Messaging, Chat, MS-Mail / Schedule+ / DirSync / cc:Mail Connectors

I created a user in AD Users and Computers, but in the Exchange system manager it doesn’t appear under Mailbox Store | Mailboxes. What did I do wrong?

Probably nothing. A mailbox will not appear under Mailbox Store | Mailboxes until either someone has logged into the mailbox or the mailbox has received a mail message. Some administrators send a welcome message to a mailbox shortly after it has been created, which would cause it to appear.

I created a secondary Public Folder Hierarchy, but only the original public folder hierarchy appears in Outlook.

Current versions of Outlook only support a single public folder hierarchy. Secondary Public Folder hierarchies can be accessed with the web.

In Exchange 5.5, I could have multiple mailboxes associated with a single user account. How do I do that in Exchange 2003?

Exchange 2003 requires a user object for each mailbox. You can create a disabled user object, associate a mailbox with it, and then grant another user object ‘receive as’ and ‘send as’ permissions to that mailbox.

What is the difference between ‘receive as’ and ‘send as’?

‘Receive as’ allows a user object to open a mailbox. ‘Send as’ allows a user to send out a mail message as the mailbox that has been opened.

How do I restrict a user or domain from sending mail to my users?

First, add the address or domain you wish to filter to the Filtering Tab of the Message Delivery Global Settings. Next, you need to apply the filter to the SMTP virtual server you wish to filter. (Administrative Group | Server | Protocols | SMTP | <SMTP Virtual Server> | Properties | Advanced | <select the IP address for which you wish to enable filtering> | Edit | Apply Filter). Normally, you would only want to apply message filtering to the border SMTP servers (servers that communicate directly with External servers).
16

I’ve created more than one address list. Which list will users see for their GAL?

The following criteria are used when determining what a client will see for the Global Address List.

Which Address List do you have permissions to see?

Which Address List contains your mailbox object as an entry?

If your mailbox appears as an object in more than one address list:

Which of the remaining Address Lists contains more entries?

What do the event IDs mean in the message tracking log?

They are listed in Appendix A

Is Single Instance Storage maintained when moving users between servers | storage groups | databases?

Yes…

In my native E2K3 organization is there any requirement for RPC connectivity between servers?

In order to move users between servers, RPC connectivity is required.

How can I archive messages sent or received by my users?

1. Messages can be archived on a per store basis by enabling the option on the general properties tab of the Mailbox Store in the Exchange System Manager.

2. Use an event sink (either write your own or use the simple one provided by Microsoft and described in “Archive Sink Readme.txt”

3. Use a 3rd party message archival tool.
21

Why when I try to add an additional mailbox store do I receive the following error? This storage group already contains the maximum number of stores allowed. ID no: c1034a7a

You are running the standard version of Exchange 2003 which is limited to a single 16GB private information store.
22

How do I get the Exchange Advanced Tab in Active Directory Users and Computers?

Open Active Directory Users and Computers. Click on the View menu item at the top of the application. Select “Advanced Features” on the menu list. When you open a property page for an Active Directory object that has a mailbox associated with it, you will now see the “Exchange Advanced” tab at the top.
23

How do I control the format of the addresses before the @ sign in a recipient policy?

You can use the following variables: %g Given Name, %s Surname, %i initials in the recipient policy.

Examples:

User: Tommy Lee Jones
Domain: company.com

%g.%s@company.com = Tommy.Jones@company.com
%1g%s@company.com = TJones@company.com
%g%2s@comapny.com = TommyJo@company.com

Less commonly used variables include, %m (alias) and %d (display name).

How do I make Exchange automatically send a welcome message to all newly created users?

There is nothing in the product that will do this. You can create a WELCOME.MSG that you deploy with Outlook, but that only applies the first time Outlook is opened after creating a new profile. Otherwise, you could script mailbox creation and send a message at the end of the script.

Is there any way to append a text message to all out bound email for Exchange 2003?

On a single Exchange server deployment, there is no 100% reliable way to accomplish this with an SMTP Transport Event Sink; even though KB273233 suggests that creating a second SMTP Virtual Server works. However, at startup the Exchange Information Store binds to the SMTP Virtual Server that starts first and you can not rely on the routing of the mail from SMTP VS 1 to SMTP VS 2 as the KB273233 proposes. Also note that under special circumstances the database can become corrupted if you use an SMTP Transport Event Sink to manipulate outgoing (MAPI) message contents. This is currently under investigation by Microsoft and a QFE to prevent the store corruption is under development. ****

There are 3rd party products that will do this too.
26

How do I add a disclaimer to outgoing SMTP messages in Visual Basic/Visual Basic Script?

You can do it, however, see there are limitations. It reliably works only on a border server, which can be either a Windows 2000 or 2003 SMTP Server with or without Exchange 2000/2003 installed. For more information, see KB317327 and KB317680

How can you tell the exact version of Exchange you are running?

Here is a list of build numbers for Exchange 2000/2003:

Exchange 2000

4417.5 = Exchange 2000 RTM

4712.7 = Exchange 2000 SP1

5762.4 = Exchange 2000 SP2

6249.4 = Exchange 2000 SP3

6396.1 = Exchange 2000 Post-SP3 Super Roll-up

63xx/64xx = Exchange 2000 Post-SP3 Hotfixes

Exchange 2003

6728.12 = Exchange 2003 Beta 1

6803.8 = Exchange 2003 Beta 2

6851.10 = Exchange 2003 Release Candidate 0

6895.5 = Exchange 2003 Release Candidate 1 (Candidate)

How do I add a disclaimer to outgoing SMTP messages in Visual Basic?

How To: Add a Disclaimer to Outgoing SMTP Messages in Visual Basic – KB317327

Resource / Conference room scheduling

Outlook 2003 offers basic resource booking functionality through Direct Booking. For more information refer to “Direct Booking of Resource Without a Delegate Account”

There are 3rd party products such as Exchange Resource Manager and AutoAccept Sink for Exchange that will automatically accept/decline meeting requests for conference rooms and other resources.

How do I find an SMTP mail address in Active Directory if Active Directory Users and Computers tells me it is in use when I try to create a new user?

Either open Outlook to create a new message with that SMTP address and hit “CTRL+K” to resolve it, or use a Windows Scripting Host script to find it. For the latter, seehttp://www.cdolive.net/download/adusermanagement.zip (look for FindUserWithADSI.wsf and FindUserWithCDO.wsf)

How do I Enable the Security Tab for the Organization Object?

This tab is not enabled by default. For instructions on how to enable it see KB264733

How do I restrict users from Creating Top-Level Folders?

For Exchange 2000 public folders, you can follow the instructions in this articleKB256131 . But with Exchange 2000, however, any time a new server is added to the organization, these permissions will be reset.

In Exchange 2003 these permission are restricted by default so to install Exchange 2003, you will automatically restrict them.

“Allow create top-level public folder access control entry for everyone” permissions and “allow anonymous logon from the organization container” permissions are removed during the installation of Exchange 2003.*****

Why do the storage quota settings not take effect immediately?

This problem has been fixed in AN Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Post-Service Pack 3 MDB patch. For more information see KB327378

How do I limit which Outlook client versions can access my server?

You need to create the Disable MAPI Clients registry value to disable MAPI client access. For more information, see KB288894

How do I disable the “Automatically update e-mail addresses based on recipient policy” on all users or contacts?

‘ Default setting for “msExchPoliciesExcluded” is empty
‘ Once disabling the automatic e-mail address update it is:
‘ “{26491CFC-9E50-4857-861B-0CB8DF22B5D7}”

‘ Default setting for “msExchPoliciesIncluded” is:
‘ “{26491CFC-9E50-4857-861B-0CB8DF22B5D7}” plus a unique GUID for each applied Recipient Policy separated by a comma
‘ And after turning off the automatic update “msExchPoliciesIncluded” is only:
‘ “{26491CFC-9E50-4857-861B-0CB8DF22B5D7}”

Migration

Can I use Exchange 2003′s OWA to access a mailbox on an Exchange 5.5 or Exchange 2000 server?

Yes and No. Exchange 2003 can access a 2000 back-end server however, it will remain the same as Exchange 2000 OWA. As for Exchange 5.5, the enhanced OWA is built directly into the store technology and only a mailbox residing on an Exchange 2003 server can be accessed using the enhanced OWA interface. Nice try, though.

Can I use Exchange 5.5′s OWA to access a mailbox on an Exchange 2003 server?

Yes. But you will not get the look and feel or the added features from the 2003 servers.

How do I remove the ADC after moving all of my users to an Exchange 2003 server?

First, you need to use the Exchange 5.5 Admin program to delete the directory replication connectors (Org | Site | Configuration | Connections). Once you have deleted the connections, you need to be logged on with an account with Schema Admin privileges to delete the ADC connector.

How many Global Catalog servers should I deploy?

There is no hard and fast rule in this regard. Some potential guidelines include:

1. At least 1 per routing group

2. One for every 4 Exchange servers in a routing group

3. One (or more) for each physical location

Transport

What additional queues have been exposed?

All the system queues like the failed message retry queue, DNS messages pending submission, and messages queued for deferred delivery are now exposed to enhance trouble shooting.

Is there any way to append a text message to all out bound email for Exchange 2003?

There are 3rd party products that will do this too.

How do I add a disclaimer to outgoing SMTP messages in Visual Basic/Visual Basic Script?

Can I view the queues on a per server basis?

Yes, in the new Queue Viewer in the Exchange 2003 System Manager.

How do I move SMTP queues and badmail directories?

Exchange 2003 allows you to change the location of queue directories for SMTP virtual servers and X.400.

The Directions are in the document entitled “Exchange Titanium Getting Started Guide”
06

What do the various queue names mean?

DNS messages pending submission – Contains delivery status notifications (DSN), also known as non-delivery reports that are ready to be delivered by Exchange. The Delete All Messages (no NDR) and Delete All Messages (NDR) functions are unavailable for this queue.

Messages queued for deferred delivery – Contains the messages marked by the client for deferred delivery or messages simply awaiting delivery at a different time.

Failed message retry – Contains messages that have been marked as retry due to a delivery failure. This queue also does not have the NDR functions mention in the DNS messages pending submission queue.

How do I activate the real time safe block list?

Enabling connection filter involves two steps:

1. Create the recipient filter using the Connection Filtering tab on the Message Delivery Properties under Global Settings.

2. Apply the filter at the SMTP virtual server level.

How do I filter incoming mail by subject or attachment?

Exchange 2003 does not have any built-in function to accomplish that. Either look for a third party tool or develop your own Windows SMTP Transport Event Sink.

How do I limit the maximum amount of messages the SMTP queue can hold?

You have to use the MaxMessageObjects registry key.

How do I strip the attachment from an NDR?

You can do this through a registry entry. But there are two drawbacks. Once this is done, the details that are necessary to display the notification in the preview pane are stripped, and the originator of the message cannot use the Send Again option.

How do you restrict Distribution Lists?

Submissions can be restricted to a limited number of security principles though the standard Windows Discretionary Access Control List (DACL). This feature prevents non-trusted senders, such as unauthorized Internet users, from sending mail to an internal only distribution list. An example of this would be an “All Employees” distribution list which should not be available to anyone outside the company (by spoofing or otherwise). Note Restricted distribution lists will only work on the bridgehead servers or SMTP gateway servers running Exchange 2003.

To set restrictions on a distribution list

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then clickActive Directory Users and Computers.

2. Expand your organizational unit container, and double-click Users.

3. Right-click the distribution list for which you want to restrict submissions, and then click Properties.

4. Click the Exchange General tab.

5. Under Message Restrictions, under Accept messages, select one of the following options:

Click From everyone to allow anyone to send to this distribution list. This includes anonymous users from the Internet.

Click From authenticated users only to allow only authenticated users to send mail to this distribution list.

Click Only from to specify a select set of users or groups that can send to this group and then click Add to specify the users or groups that you want to permit to send mail to this distribution list.

Click From everyone except to allow everyone but a select set of users or groups to send to this distribution group and then click Add to specify the list of users or groups that you want to restrict from sending to this distribution list.

STORE

What happened to the M: drive?

The EXIFS (M: drive) feature has been disabled by default. If the feature is still needed, it can be assigned to an available drive letter with a registry setting.

What is the STM file?

the .stm file is part of the information store database that contains the native internet formatted items. It is used to improve the performance of the database.

Why does the size of the EDB file not change when I move users out of that store?

The .edb file will only decrease in size once a database defrag is performed.

How do I move the log files?

The new ESM allows the administrator to move the log files through the GUI.
05

Is there an easier way to move mailboxes grouped by mailbox.store?

Yes, you can now move mailboxes through ESM grouped by mailbox store.

Will an in place upgrade from Exchange 2000 remove the M: drive?

Yes, In both the clean install and upgrade from Exchange 2000 scenarios, Exchange 2003 does not present EXIFS as drive letter M:

If there is still an M: drive mapped, why does the free space number look funny?

The free space number shown on the M: drive is based on the main install drive for Exchange. It is not related to the drive space on the drives where the stores actually exist.
CLUSTERING

Which cluster configuration is preferred?

Microsoft recommends Active/Passive clustering because it:

Scales better

sizes the same way as a stand alone Exchange server

can have up to 8 nodes in the cluster

always fails over to a fresh node

What happened to Active/Active Clustering?

Active/Active clustering is only supported with a 2-node cluster limited to 1900 concurrent connections.

Do I still have to cycle the services on fail back like in 2000 Active/Passive mode?

The Exchange services are automatically shutdown on failover so when fail back happens the services are automatically brought back online for a clean address space.

How many cluster nodes are supported by each version of Exchange?

Exchange 2003 and Windows 2003, Standard Edition will run up to a 4-node cluster. Exchange 2003 and Windows 2003 Enterprise will run an 8-node cluster with at least one passive node.
05

Are there any other differences between Win2k and Win2k3 clustering?

Win2k3 Enterprise and Datacenter both support 8-node clusters. MSCS (Microsoft Clustering Services) is now available for high availability. NLB Manager allows the administrator to configure the NLB service in a central location thus avoiding mistakes from repetitive actions. For more information see the “Technical Overview of Clustering in Windows Server 2003″ and “Windows Server 2003 Server Cluster Architecture” documents.

Why am I getting the 9582′s and what is VM Fragmentation?

VM fragmentation is when the virtual memory becomes fragmented and can prevent stores form mounting. The 9582 event is the event that warns about this condition. For more information refer to “The Extensible Storage Engine Database Engine Contributes to Virtual Memory Fragmentation (324118)”

ADC

What are the new ADC Tools?

The Active Directory Connector management console now contains an ADC Tools option. ADC Tools is a collection of wizards and tools that help you set up connection agreements by scanning your current Active Directory and Exchange 5.5 Directory and organization, and automatically creating the recommended connection agreements. The following wizards are included in the ADC Tools:

Resource Mailbox Wizard This wizard identifies Active Directory accounts that match more than one Exchange 5.5 mailbox. Using this wizard, you can match the appropriate primary mailbox to the Active Directory account and stamp other mailboxes with the NTDSNoMatch attribute, which designates the mailboxes as resource mailboxes. You can either make these changes online or export a commaseparated value (.csv) file that you can update and import into the Exchange 5.5 directory.

Connection Agreement Wizard This wizard recommends connection agreements based on your Exchange 5.5 directory and Active Directory configuration. You can review the list of recommended connection agreements and select those you want the wizard to create.

The Exchange Server Deployment Tools lead you through the process of installing Active Directory Connector and running ADC Tools.

Can I use the Windows 2003 Active Directory connector with Exchange 2003?

No, you need to install the Exchange 2003 ADC.
03

How can I get a list of connection agreements in Exchange 2003 ADC?

Run the ExchDump utility with the /CA switch.

OWA

How do I disable OWA for a single user in Exchange 2000/2003?

In Active Directory Users and Computers (Advanced Features view) open the properties for the user object and choose Exchange Advanced | Protocol Settings | HTTP | Settings | and uncheck the ‘Enable for mailbox’ check box.

How do I make OWA work properly with Extended Characters?

Beginning in Exchange 2000, messages with extended characters are encoded with UTF-8, by default. For more information see KB273615 and KB281745

How do I stop users from going to a bookmarked /LOGON.ASP page after conversion to 2003 OWA?

After converting from Exchange 5.5 OWA to 2000 OWA, all the users had book marked the URL of mail.company.com/exchange/logon.asp, since in 5.5 OWA it automatically would pull the user from the root URL into a logon page (since it used ASP) but now the user only sees the same base URL of mail.company.com/exchange. So once the users used the book mark or in some cases the “autocomplete” feature in IE they would be pulled to a dead address.

Go into the front-end server that is hosting your OWA.

Start up IIS admin and locate the /Exchange virtual directory

Right click on the /Exchange directory and using the “wizard” create a new virtual directory called logon.asp. When it prompts where the content is located just put something like c:inetpubwwwroot

Once the virtual root has been created, right click it, select properties then select the tab labeled “Virtual Directory”

Select the “A redirection to a URL” and then in the “Redirect to” URL enter /exchange/

What happens is when the user hits the virtual root of /exchange/logon.asp it pulls the user back to only /exchange*

How do I activate session timeouts for OWA users?

Outlook Web Access user credentials are now stored in a cookie. When the user logs out of Outlook Web Access, the cookie is cleared and is no longer valid for authentication. Additionally, by default the cookie is set to expire automatically after 20 minutes of user inactivity. See Logon Modifications for OWA Users for the instructions.
06

How do I disable potions of the OWA interface?

Exchange 2000 SP2 introduced the concept of OWA segmentation. This is where you can selectively enable/disable certain features in the web client. Exchange 2003 extends the segmentation options found in Exchange 2000. You can either set global (per server) segmentation via a registry parameter, or set the msExchMailboxFolderSet attribute on user objects. A bit mask determines the functionality available to the user.

What are the new OWA Hot Keys?

Ctrl+N: New Mail (or Post, if in public folders)

Ctrl+R: Reply to currently selected mail in view

Ctrl+Shift+R: Reply all to currently selected mail in view

Ctrl+Shift+F: Forward currently selected mail

Ctrl+U: Mark currently selected message(s) as unread

Ctrl+Q: Mark currently selected message(s) as read .

OMA

Can I deploy OMA in a mixed environment?

In a mixed Exchange environment, you must use Exchange 2003 for both the front-end and back-end servers to gain access to mailboxes through Outlook Mobile Access (OMA) and Exchange ActiveSync. For mailboxes on Exchange 5.5 and 2000, you need to deploy Microsoft Mobile Information Server.

What is OMA?

Outlook Mobile Access and Exchange Server ActiveSync features, formerly found in Microsoft Mobile Information Server 2002, are now built-in with all Exchange Server 2003 Standard installations.

Which devices are supported by Microsoft to be used with OMA?

Device support for Outlook Mobile Access (OMA) Browse is dictated by the Device Update package installed on the Exchange 2003 server. When you run Exchange 2003 Setup today, the DU2 package is silently installed as part of the installation.

Approximately, every 6 months, new Device Update packages are released. This will add support for more devices to your Exchange server.

The current Device Update package is DU4 . The full list of devices and which DU package they are included in is available here .

I have just upgraded and I can’t use OMA, why?

The setting to enable/disable OMA Browse is actually set during ForestPrep. Exchange 2003 ForestPrep will no longer enable OMA Browse by default. Exchange 2003 ForestPrep/Reinstall will keep it enabled if it was already enabled. This means that OMA Browse WON’T be enabled when running ForestPrep to upgrade from Exchange 2000. You can find OMA Browse settings in ESM, under Global Settings -> Mobile Services -> Properties

Note: ActiveSync and AUTD remain unchanged.

I have an Exchange 2003 server on a member server that I promoted to a DC, what happened to my OMA, it no longer works?

Amongst other problems, the ASP.NET account changes which causes OMA to cease functioning.

How do I verify OMA is functioning?

You can verify Outlook Mobile Access (OMA) is functioning from a desktop machine running IE 6.0 Assuming that SERVER1 is running Exchange 2003:

1. From a desktop PC running IE6.0, navigate to http://server1/oma

2. Enter the logon credentials for an existing mailbox which resides on server1

3. Click the OK hyperlink when you receive the warning about your device being unsupported

4. Welcome to OMA!

OUTLOOK 2003

What do I need to get RPC over HTTP working?

Client

Outlook 2003, Windows XP with Service Pack 1 + Q331320

Server-side

Exchange 2003 on Windows 2003 for FE (if FE is deployed)

Exchange 2003 on Windows 2003 for BE

Exchange 2003 on Windows 2003 for Public Folders

Exchange 2003 on Windows 2003 for System Folders

Windows 2003 for Global Catalog server

Do I need Windows XP to use Outlook RPC over HTTP?

Yes. Windows XP with Service Pack 1 + Q331320

How can I enable/disable an attribute used by the Outlook client for ambiguous name resolution

“Registry Modification Required to Allow Write Operations to Schema” – KB216060

“Setting an Attribute’s searchFlags Property to Be Indexed for ANR” – KB243311.

What are the differences in compression between Outlook 2002/2003 and Exchange 2002/2003?

The following tables illustrate how RPC compression and buffer packing works on the wire between the Outlook client and Exchange Server.

Outlook 2003 against Exchange 2003

The compression gain is dictated by the message format and attachment(s) type. Because the compression is performed at the RPC level, all message data is compressed.The compression technology used between Outlook 2003 and Exchange 2003 is called XPRESS(tm) and is based on the Lempel-Ziv (LZ-77) algorithm. This is the same technology that Active Directory uses to perform compression of its’ RPC data when replicating between servers. All data over the size of 1 KB is compressed, and the technology is built into both client and server; therefore the compression is full duplex.

Plain text and HTML messages usually compress between 60% and 80% (on the wire saving)

Rich-text (RTF) messages usually compress up to 20% (on the wire saving)

Word documents compress down better than PowerPoint files

Logon Modifications for OWA Users

You can enable a new logon page for Outlook Web Access that will store the user’s user name and password in a cookie instead of in the browser. When a user closes their browser, the cookie will be cleared. Additionally, after a period of inactivity, the cookie will be cleared automatically. The new logon page requires users to enter either their domain namealias and password or their full UPN e-mail address and password to access their e-mail.

To enable forms-based authentication

1. In Exchange System Manager, expand the Servers node.

2. Expand the Protocols node under the Exchange server for which you wish to enable forms-based authentication.

3. Expand HTTP, and then right-click the Exchange Virtual Server.

4. On the Exchange Virtual Server properties page, select the check box next to Enable Forms Based Authentication for Outlook Web Access.

5. Click Apply, and then click OK.

Cookie Authentication Timeout

The automatic timeout is valuable for keeping a user’s account secure from unauthorized access. Although this timeout does not completely eliminate the possibility that an unauthorized user might access an account if an Outlook Web Access session is accidentally left running on a public computer, it greatly reduces this risk.

Note: Cookie Authentication Timeout is available for the rich experience version of Outlook Web Access only.

The inactivity timeout value can be configured by an administrator to match the security needs of your organization.

Note: The default value for the cookie timeout is 10 minutes. If you want to set this value to something other than 10 minutes, you must modify the registry settings on the server. Warning This section contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about restoring the registry, see the “Restore the Registry” Help topic in Regedit.exe or Regedt32.exe

To set the Outlook Web Access cookie timeout value

1. Click Start, click Run, and type Regedit in the box next to Open. Click OK.

2. Navigate to the following registry key:
HKey_local_machinesystem CurrentControlSetServicesMSExchangeWebOWA

3. Create a new Dword value and name it KeyInterval.

4. Right-click the KeyInterval Dword value and click Modify.

5. In the Base window, click the button next to Decimal.

6. In the Value Data field, enter a value (in minutes) between 1 and 1440.

7. Click OK.

SharePoint Interview Questions with Answers part 2

2012-06-25T00:38:00.001+05:30

SharePoint Interview Questions with Answers

Q.What are the features of the new Content management in Office SharePoint 2007?
Ans: The new and enhanced content management features in Office SharePoint Server 2007 fall within three areas:

* Document management
* Records management.
* Web content managementOffice SharePoint Server 2007 builds on the core document management functionality providedby Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, including check in and check out, versioning, metadata, and role-based granular access controls. Organizations can use this functionality to deliver enhancedauthoring, business document processing, Web content management and publishing, recordsmanagement, policy management, and support for multilingual publishing.

Q.Does a SharePoint Web site include search functionality?
Ans: Yes. SharePoint Team Services provides a powerful text-based search feature that helps you finddocuments and information fast.

Q.What are the benefits of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007?
Ans: * Provide a simple, familiar, and consistent user experience.* Boost employee productivity by simplifying everyday business activities.* Help meet regulatory requirements through comprehensive control over content.* Effectively manage and repurpose content to gain increased business value.* Simplify organization-wide access to both structured and unstructured information acrossdisparate systems.* Connect people with information and expertise.* Accelerate shared business processes across organizational boundaries.* Share business data without divulging sensitive information.* Enable people to make better-informed decisions by presenting business-critical information inone central location.* Provide a single, integrated platform to manage intranet, extranet, and Internet applicationsacross the enterprise.

Q.Will SharePoint Portal Server and Team Services ever merge?
Ans: The products will come together because they are both developed by the Office team.

Q.What does partial trust mean the Web Part developer?
Ans: If an assembly is installed into the BIN directory, the code must be ensured that provides errorhandling in the event that required permissions are not available. Otherwise, unhandled securityexceptions may cause the Web Part to fail and may affect page rendering on the page where theWeb Part appears.

Q.How can I raise the trust level for assemblies installed in the BIN directory?
Ans: Windows SharePoint Services can use any of the following three options from ASP.NET and the CLR to provide assemblies installed in the BIN directory with sufficient permissions. The following table outlines the implications and requirements for each option.

1.Option Pros Cons Increase the trust level for the entire virtual server.
In a development environment,increasing the trust level allows you to test an assembly with increased permissions while allowing you to recompile assemblies directly into the BIN directory without resetting IIS. This option is least secure. This option affects all assemblies used by the virtual server.There is no guarantee the destination server has the required trust level. Therefore, Web Parts may not work once installed on the destination server.

2.Create a custom policy file for your assemblies. For more information, see "How do I create acustom policy file?" Recommended approach.This option is most secure.An assembly can operate with a unique policy that meets the minimum permission requirementsfor the assembly.By creating a custom security policy, you can ensure the destination server can run your WebParts.

3.Requires the most configuration of all three options.Install your assemblies in the GACEasy to implement.This grants Full trust to your assembly without affecting the trust level of assemblies installed inthe BIN directory.This option is less secure.Assemblies installed in the GAC are available to all virtual servers and applications on a serverrunning Windows SharePoint Services. This could represent a potential security risk as itpotentially grants a higher level of permission to your assembly across a larger scope thannecessaryIn a development environment, you must reset IIS every time you recompile assemblies.Licensing issues may arise due to the global availability of your assembly.

Q. Does SharePoint work with NFS?

Ans: Yes and no.
It can crawl documents on an NFS volume, but the sharepoint database or logs cannotbe stored there.

Q.How is SharePoint Portal Server different from the Site Server?
Ans: Site Server has search capabilities but these are more advanced using SharePoint. SPS uses digital dashboard technology which provides a nice interface for creating web parts and showing them ondashboards (pages). SS doesn't have anything as advanced as that. The biggest difference wouldbe SPS document management features which also integrate with web folders and MS Office.

SharePoint Interview Questions with Answers part 1

2012-06-25T00:37:00.001+05:30

SharePoint Interview Questions with Answers

Q. 1 What is the difference between SharePoint Portal Server and Windows SharePoint Services?

Ans: SharePoint Portal Server is the global portal offering features like global navigation and searching.Windows SharePoint Services is more content management based with document libraries andlists. You apply information to certain areas within your portal from windows sharepoint Services or directly to portal areas.

Q2. What is a document library?

Ans: A document library is where you upload your core documents. They consist of a row and columnview with links to the documents. When the document is updated so is the link on your site. Youcan also track metadata on your documents. Metadata would consist of document properties.

Q3. What is a meeting workspace?

Ans: A meeting workspace is a place to store information, attendees, and tasks related to a specificmeeting.

Q4. What is a document workspace?

Ans: Document workspaces consist of information surrounding a single or multiple documents.

Q5. What is the difference between a document library and a form library?

Ans:Document libraries consist of your core documents. An example would be a word document,excel, Powerpoint, visio, pdf, etc… Form libraries consist of XML forms.

Q6. What is a web part zone?

Ans: Web part zones are what your web parts reside in and help categorize your web parts when designing a page.

Q7. How is security managed in SharePoint?

Ans: Security can be handled at the machine,domain, or sharepoint level.

Q8. How are web parts developed?

Ans: Web parts are developed in Visual Studio .Net. VS.Net offers many web part and page templates and can also be downloaded from the Microsoft Site.

Q9. What is a site definition?

Ans: It’s a methods for providing prepackaged site and list content.

Q 10.What is a template?

A template is a pre-defined set of functions or settings that can be used over time. There are manytemplates within SharePoint,Site Templates, Document Templates, Document Library and ListTemplates.

Q11. How do you install web parts?

Ans: Web Parts should be distributed as a .CAB (cabinet) file using the MSI Installer.

Q 12.What is CAML?

Ans: CAML stands for Collaborative Application Markup Language and is an XML-based languagethat is used in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services to define sites and lists, including, for Eg, fields, views, or forms, but CAML is also used to define tables in the Windows SharePoint Servies database during site provisioning.

Q 13.What is a DWP?

Ans: The file extension of a web part.

Q 14.What is the GAC?

Ans: Global Assembly Cache folder on the server hosting SharePoint. You place your assemblies there for web parts and services to share them.

Q 15.What are the differences between web part page gallery, site gallery,Virtual server galleryand online gallery?

Ans: Web Part Page Gallery is the default gallery that comes installed with SharePoint. Site Gallery isspecific to one site. Virtual Server gallery is specific to that virtual server and online gallery aredownloadable web parts from Microsoft.

Q 16.What is the difference between a site and a web?

Ans: The pages in a web site generally cover one or more topics and are interconnected through hyperlinks. Most Websites have a home page as their starting point. While a Web is simply a blank site with SharePoint functionality built in; meaning you have to create the site from the ground up.

Q17. What is Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services? How is it related to Microsoft OfficeSharePoint Server 2007?

Ans: Windows SharePoint Services is the solution that enables you to create Web site for information sharing and document collaboration. Windows SharePoint Services — a key piece of theinformation worker infrastructure delivered in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 — providesadditional functionality to the Microsoft Office system and other desktop applications, and itserves as a platform for application development.Office SharePoint Server 2007 builds on top of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to provideadditional capabilities including collaboration, portal, search,Enterprise content management,business process and forms, and business intelligence.

Q18. Who is Office SharePoint server 2007 designed for?

Ans: Office SharePoint Server 2007 can be used by information workers, IT administrators, and application developers.

Q19. What are the main benefits of Office SharePoint Server 2007?

Ans: Office SharePoint Server 2007 provides a single integrated platform to manage intranet, extranet,and Internetapplications across the enterprise.

* Business users gain greater control over the storage, security, distribution, and management oftheir electronic content, with tools that are easy to use and tightly integrated into familiar,everyday applications.

* Organizations can accelerate shared business processes with customers and partners acrossorganizational boundaries using InfoPath Forms Services–driven solutions.

* Information workers can find information and people efficiently and easily through thefacilitated information-sharing functionality and simplified content publishing. In addition, accessto back-end data is achieved easily through a browser, and views into this data can bepersonalized.

* Administrators have powerful tools at their fingertips that ease deployment, management, and system administration, so they can spend more time on strategic tasks.

* Developers have a rich platform to build a new class of applications, called Office BusinessApplications, that combine powerful developer functionality with the flexibility and ease ofdeployment of Office SharePoint Server 2007. Through the use of out-of-the-box applicationservices, developers can build richer applications with less code.

Q20. What is the difference between Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet sites and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007?

Ans: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet sites and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server2007 have identical feature functionality. While the feature functionality is similar, the usagerights are different.If you are creating an Internet, or Extranet, facing website, it is recommended that you useMicrosoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet sites which does not require the purchase client access licenses. Websites hosted using an “Internet sites” edition can only be used forInternet facing websites and all content, information, and applications must be accessible to nonemployees.Websites hosted using an “Internet sites” edition cannot be accessed by employees creating, sharing, or collaborating on content which is solely for internal use only, such as an Intranet Portal scenario.

Q21.What suites of the 2007 Microsoft Office system work with Office SharePoint Server 2007?

Ans: Office Outlook 2007 provides bidirectional offline Synchronization with SharePoint documentlibraries, discussion groups, contacts, calendars, and tasks.vabnix.page.tlMicrosoft Office Groove 2007, included as part of Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007, will enablebidirectional offline synchronization with SharePoint document libraries.Features such as the document panel and the ability to publish to Excel Services will only beenabled when using Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007or Office Enterprise 2007.Excel Services will only work with documents saved in the new Office Excel 2007 file format(XLSX).

Q22. How do I invite users to join a Windows SharePoint Services Site? Is the site secure?

Ans: SharePoint-based Web sites can be password-protected to restrict access to registered users, whoare invited to join via e-mail. In addition, the site administrator can restrict certain members' rolesby assigning different permission levels to view post and edit.

Q23. Can I post any kind of document?

Ans: You can post documents in many formats, including .pdf, .htm and .doc. In addition, if you areusing Microsoft Office XP, you can save documents directly to your Windows SharePointServices site.

Q24. Can I create custom templates?

Ans: Yes you can. You can have templates for business plans, doctor's office, lawyer's office etc.

Q25. How can I make My site public?

Ans: By default, all sites are created private.If you want your site to be a public Web site, enable anonymous access for the entire site. Then you can give out your URL to anybody in yourbusiness card, e-mail or any other marketing material. The URL for your Web site will be:http:// yoursitename.wss.bcentral.comHence, please take special care to name your site.These Web sites are ideal for information and knowledge intensive sites and/or sites where youneed to have shared Web workspace.Remember: Under each parent Web site, you can create up to 10 sub-sites each with uniquepermissions, settings and security rights.

Q26. How do the sub sites work?

Ans: You can create a sub site for various categories.

For example:* Departments - finance, marketing, IT* Products - electrical, mechanical, hydraulics* Projects - Trey Research, Department of Transportation, FDA* Team - Retention team, BPR team* Clients - new clients, old clients* Suppliers - Supplier 1, Supplier 2, Supplier 3* Customers - Customer A, Customer B, Customer C* Real estate - property A, property BThe URLs for each will be, for example:* http://yoursitename.wss.bcentral.com/finance* http://yoursitename.wss.bcentral.com/marketingYou can keep track of permissions for each team separately so that access is restricted whilevabnix.page.tlmaintaining global access to the parent site.

Q27.How do I make my site non-restricted?

Ans: If you want your site to have anonymous access enabled (i.e., you want to treat it like any site onthe Internet that does not ask you to provide a user name and password to see the content of thesite), follow these simple steps:

# Login as an administrator

# Click on site settings

# Click on Go to Site Administration

# Click on Manage anonymous access

# Choose one of the three conditions on what Anonymous users can access: Entire Web site Lists and libraries** NothingDefault condition is nothing; your site has restricted access.

The default conditions allow you to create a secure site for your Web site.

Q28. Can I ask users outside of my organization to participate in my Windows SharePointServices site?

Ans: Yes. You can manage this process using the Administration Site Settings. Simply add users via their e-mail alias and assign permissions such as Reader or Contributor.

Q29. Are there any restrictions or requirements for accessing the Windows SharePoint Services?

Ans: No. There are no system or bandwidth limitations for international trial users. Additionallylanguage packs have been installed which allow users to set up sub-webs in languages other thanEnglish. These include: Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian,Japanese, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish and Swedish.

Q30. Are there any browser recommendations?

Ans: Yes. Microsoft recommends using the following browsers for viewing and editing WindowsSharePoint Services sites: Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 with Service Pack 2, MicrosoftInternet Explorer 5.5 with Service Pack 2, Internet Explorer 6, Netscape Navigator

Q31.What security levels are assigned to users?

Ans: Security levels are assigned by the administrator who is adding the user. There are four levels bydefault and additional levels can be composed as necessary.

* Reader - Has read-only access to the Web site.

* Contributor - Can add content to existing document libraries and lists.

* Web Designer - Can create lists and document libraries and customize pages in the Web site.

* Administrator - Has full control of the Web site.

Q32.What is the difference between an Internet and an intranet site?

Ans: An internet site is a normal site that anyone on the internet can access (e.g., www.msn.com, www.microsoft.com, etc.). You can set up a site for your company that can be accessed by anyonewithout any user name and password.An intranet (or internal network), though hosted on the Web, can only be accessed by people whoare members of the network. They need to have a login and password that was assigned to them when they were added to the site by the site administrator.

Q33. What is a workspace?

Ans: A site or workspace is when you want a new place for collaborating on Web pages, lists anddocument libraries. For example, you might create a site to manage a new team or project,collaborate on a document or prepare for a meeting.

Q34.How customizable is the user-to-user access?

Ans: User permissions apply to an entire Web, not to documents themselves. However, you can haveadditional sub webs that can optionally have their own permissions. Each user can be given any offour default roles. Additional roles can be defined by the administrator.

Q35.Can each user have access to their own calendar?

Ans: Yes there are two ways to do this,

* by creating a calendar for each user, or

* by creating a calendar with a view for each user.

Q36. What types of files can I upload / post to the site?

Ans: The only files restricted are those ending with the following extensions: .asa, .asp, .ida, .idc, .idq.Microsoft reserves the right to add additional file types to this listing at any time. Also, no content that violates the terms of service may be uploaded or posted to the site.

Q37.Can SharePoint be linked to an external data source?

Ans: SharePoint data can be opened with Access and Excel as an external data source. Thus, SharePoint can be referenced as an external data source. SharePoint itself cannot reference an external datasource.

Q38. Can SharePoint be linked to a SQL database?

Ans: This is possible via a custom application, but it not natively supported by SharePoint or SQLServer.

Q39.Can I customize my Windows SharePoint Services site?

Ans: YES! Windows SharePoint Services makes updating sites and their content from the browser easier then ever.SharePoint includes tools that let you create custom lists, calendars, page views, etc. You can apply a theme; add List, Survey and Document Library Web Parts to a page; create personalviews; change logos; connect Web Parts and more.To fully customize your site, you can use Microsoft FrontPage 2003. Specifically, you can useFrontPage themes and shared borders, and also use FrontPage to create photo galleries and top tenlists, utilize standard usage reports, and integrate automatic Web content.

Q40. Will Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 run on a 64-bit version of MicrosoftWindows?Ans: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Office SharePoint Server 2007, Office Forms Server 2007, andOffice SharePoint Server 2007 for Search will support 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003.

Q41. What are the features that the portal components of Office SharePoint Server 2007 include?

Ans: The portal components of Office SharePoint Server 2007 include features that are especially useful for designing, deploying, and managing enterprise intranet portals, corporate Internet Websites, and divisional portal sites. The portal components make it easier to connect to people withinthe organization who have the right skills, knowledge, and project experience.

Q42.What are the advanced features of MOSS 2007?

Ans: * User Interface (UI) and navigation enhancements

* Document management enhancements

* The new Workflow engine

* Office 2007 Integration

* New Web Parts

* New Site-type templates

* Enhancements to List technology

* Web Content Management

* Business Data Catalog

* Search enhancements

* Report Center

* Records Management

* Business Intelligence and Excel Server

* Forms Server and InfoPath

* The “Features” feature

* Alternate authentication providers and Forms-based authentication

Linux Interview Questions and Answers part 2

2012-06-24T14:43:00.002+05:30

Linux Interview Questions and Answers part 2

What key combination can you press to suspend a running job and place it in the background?
ctrl-z

Using ctrl-z will suspend a job and put it in the background.

The easiest, most basic form of backing up a file is to _____ it to another location.
copy

The easiest most basic form of backing up a file is to make a copy of that file to another location such as a floppy disk.

What type of server is used to remotely assign IP addresses to machines during the installation process?
A) SMB
B) NFS
C) DHCP
D) FT
E) HTTP

C - You can use a DHCP server to assign IP addresses to individual machines during the installation process. Answers a, b, d, and e list legitimate Linux servers, but these servers do not provide IP addresses. The SMB, or Samba, tool is used for file and print sharing across multi-OS networks. An NFS server is for file sharing across Linux net-works. FTP is a file storage server that allows people to browse and retrieve information by logging in to it, and HTTP is for the Web.

Which password package should you install to ensure that the central password file couldn't be stolen easily?
A) PAM
B) tcp_wrappers
C) shadow
D) securepass
E) ssh

C - The shadow password package moves the central password file to a more secure location. Answers a, b, and e all point to valid packages, but none of these places the password file in a more secure location. Answer d points to an invalid package.

When using useradd to create a new user account, which of the following tasks is not done automatically.
Choose one:
a. Assign a UID.
b. Assign a default shell.
c. Create the user's home directory.
d. Define the user's home directory.

c

The useradd command will use the system default for the user's home directory. The home directory is not created, however, unless you use the -m option.

You want to enter a series of commands from the command-line. What would be the quickest way to do this?
Choose One
a. Press enter after entering each command and its arguments
b. Put them in a script and execute the script
c. Separate each command with a semi-colon (;) and press enter after the last command
d. Separate each command with a / and press enter after the last command

c

The semi-colon may be used to tell the shell that you are entering multiple commands that should be executed serially. If these were commands that you would frequently want to run, then a script might be more efficient. However, to run these commands only once, enter the commands directly at the command line.

You attempt to use shadow passwords but are unsuccessful. What characteristic of the /etc/passwd file may cause this?
Choose one:
a. The login command is missing.
b. The username is too long.
c. The password field is blank.
d. The password field is prefaced by an asterisk.

c

The password field must not be blank before converting to shadow passwords.

When you install a new application, documentation on that application is also usually installed. Where would you look for the documentation after installing an application called MyApp?
Choose one:
a. /usr/MyApp
b. /lib/doc/MyApp
c. /usr/doc/MyApp
d. In the same directory where the application is installed.

c

The default location for application documentation is in a directory named for the application in the /usr/doc directory.

What file would you edit in your home directory to change which window manager you want to use?
A) Xinit
B) .xinitrc
C) XF86Setup
D) xstart
E) xf86init

Answer: B - The ~/.xinitrc file allows you to set which window man-ager you want to use when logging in to X from that account.
Answers a, d, and e are all invalid files. Answer c is the main X server configuration file.

What command allows you to set a processor-intensive job to use less CPU time?
A) ps
B) nice
C) chps
D) less
E) more

Answer: B - The nice command is used to change a job's priority level, so that it runs slower or faster. Answers a, d, and e are valid commands but are not used to change process information. Answer c is an invalid command.

While logged on as a regular user, your boss calls up and wants you to create a new user account immediately. How can you do this without first having to close your work, log off and logon as root?
Choose one:
a. Issue the command rootlog.
b. Issue the command su and type exit when finished.
c. Issue the command su and type logoff when finished.
d. Issue the command logon root and type exit when finished.

Answer: b
You can use the su command to imitate any user including root. You will be prompted for the password for the root account. Once you have provided it you are logged in as root and can do any administrative duties.

There are seven fields in the /etc/passwd file. Which of the following lists all the fields in the correct order?
Choose one:
a. username, UID, GID, home directory, command, comment
b. username, UID, GID, comment, home directory, command
c. UID, username, GID, home directory, comment, command
d. username, UID, group name, GID, home directory, commentAnswer: b
The seven fields required for each line in the /etc/passwd file are username, UID, GID, comment, home directory, command. Each of these fields must be separated by a colon even if they are empty.

Which of the following commands will show a list of the files in your home directory including hidden files and the contents of all subdirectories?
Choose one:
a. ls -c home
b. ls -aR /home/username
c. ls -aF /home/username
d. ls -l /home/username

Answer: b
The ls command is used to display a listing of files. The -a option will cause hidden files to be displayed as well. The -R option causes ls to recurse down the directory tree. All of this starts at your home directory.

In order to prevent a user from logging in, you can add a(n) ________at the beginning of the password field.
Answer: asterick

If you add an asterick at the beginning of the password field in the /etc/passwd file, that user will not be able to log in.

You have a directory called /home/ben/memos and want to move it to /home/bob/memos so you issue the command mv /home/ben/memos /home/bob. What is the results of this action?
Choose one:
a. The files contained in /home/ben/memos are moved to the directory /home/bob/memos/memos.
b. The files contained in /home/ben/memos are moved to the directory /home/bob/memos.
c. The files contained in /home/ben/memos are moved to the directory /home/bob/.
d. The command fails since a directory called memos already exists in the target directory.

Answer: a
When using the mv command to move a directory, if a directory of the same name exists then a subdirectory is created for the files to be moved.

Which of the following tasks is not necessary when creating a new user by editing the /etc/passwd file?
Choose one:
a. Create a link from the user's home directory to the shell the user will use.
b. Create the user's home directory
c. Use the passwd command to assign a password to the account.
d. Add the user to the specified group.

Answer: a
There is no need to link the user's home directory to the shell command. Rather, the specified shell must be present on your system.

You issue the following command useradd -m bobm But the user cannot logon. What is the problem?
Choose one:
a. You need to assign a password to bobm's account using the passwd command.
b. You need to create bobm's home directory and set the appropriate permissions.
c. You need to edit the /etc/passwd file and assign a shell for bobm's account.
d. The username must be at least five characters long.

Answer: a
The useradd command does not assign a password to newly created accounts. You will still need to use the passwd command to assign a password.

You wish to print the file vacations with 60 lines to a page. Which of the following commands will accomplish this? Choose one:
a. pr -l60 vacations | lpr
b. pr -f vacations | lpr
c. pr -m vacations | lpr
d. pr -l vacations | lpr

Answer: a
The default page length when using pr is 66 lines. The -l option is used to specify a different length.

Which file defines all users on your system?
Choose one:
a. /etc/passwd
b. /etc/users
c. /etc/password
d. /etc/user.conf

Answer: a
The /etc/passwd file contains all the information on users who may log into your system. If a user account is not contained in this file, then the user cannot log in.

Which two commands can you use to delete directories?
A) rm
B) rm -rf
C) rmdir
D) rd
E) rd -rf

Answer(s): B, C - You can use rmdir or rm -rf to delete a directory. Answer a is incorrect, because the rm command without any specific flags will not delete a directory, it will only delete files. Answers d and e point to a non-existent command.

Which partitioning tool is available in all distributions?
A) Disk Druid
B) fdisk
C) Partition Magic
D) FAT32
E) System Commander

Answer(s): B - The fdisk partitioning tool is available in all Linux distributions. Answers a, c, and e all handle partitioning, but do not come with all distributions. Disk Druid is made by Red Hat and used in its distribution along with some derivatives. Partition Magic and System Commander are tools made by third-party companies. Answer d is not a tool, but a file system type. Specifically, FAT32 is the file system type used in Windows 98.

Which partitions might you create on the mail server's hard drive(s) other than the root, swap, and boot partitions?
[Choose all correct answers]
A) /var/spool
B) /tmp
C) /proc
D) /bin
E) /home
Answer(s): A, B, E - Separating /var/spool onto its own partition helps to ensure that if something goes wrong with the mail server or spool, the output cannot overrun the file system. Putting /tmp on its own partition prevents either software or user items in the /tmp directory from overrunning the file system. Placing /home off on its own is mostly useful for system re-installs or upgrades, allowing you to not have to wipe the /home hierarchy along with other areas. Answers c and d are not possible, as the /proc portion of the file system is virtual-held in RAM-not placed on the hard drives, and the /bin hierarchy is necessary for basic system functionality and, therefore, not one that you can place on a different partition.

When planning your backup strategy you need to consider how often you will perform a backup, how much time the backup takes and what media you will use. What other factor must you consider when planning your backup strategy? _________

what to backup
Choosing which files to backup is the first step in planning your backup strategy.

What utility can you use to automate rotation of logs?
Answer: logrotate
The logrotate command can be used to automate the rotation of various logs.

In order to display the last five commands you have entered using the history command, you would type___________ .

Answer: history 5
The history command displays the commands you have previously entered. By passing it an argument of 5, only the last five commands will be displayed.

What command can you use to review boot messages?
Answer: dmesg
The dmesg command displays the system messages contained in the kernel ring buffer. By using this command immediately after booting your computer, you will see the boot messages.

What is the minimum number of partitions you need to install Linux?
Answer: 2
Linux can be installed on two partitions, one as / which will contain all files and a swap partition.

What is the name and path of the main system log?
Answer: /var/log/messages
By default, the main system log is /var/log/messages.

Of the following technologies, which is considered a client-side script?
A) JavaScript
B) Java
C) ASP
D) C++

Answer: A - JavaScript is the only client-side script listed. Java and C++ are complete programming languages. Active Server Pages are parsed on the server with the results being sent to the client in HTML

Linux Interview Questions and Answers

2012-06-24T14:42:00.001+05:30

Linux Interview Questions and Answers part 1

You need to see the last fifteen lines of the files dog, cat and horse. What command should you use?tail -15 dog cat horse

The tail utility displays the end of a file. The -15 tells tail to display the last fifteen lines of each specified file.

Who owns the data dictionary?
The SYS user owns the data dictionary. The SYS and SYSTEM users are created when the database is created.

You routinely compress old log files. You now need to examine a log from two months ago. In order to view its contents without first having to decompress it, use the _________ utility.
zcat

The zcat utility allows you to examine the contents of a compressed file much the same way that cat displays a file.

You suspect that you have two commands with the same name as the command is not producing the expected results. What command can you use to determine the location of the command being run?
which

The which command searches your path until it finds a command that matches the command you are looking for and displays its full path.

You locate a command in the /bin directory but do not know what it does. What command can you use to determine its purpose.
whatis

The whatis command displays a summary line from the man page for the specified command.

You wish to create a link to the /data directory in bob's home directory so you issue the command ln /data /home/bob/datalink but the command fails. What option should you use in this command line to be successful.
Use the -F option

In order to create a link to a directory you must use the -F option.

When you issue the command ls -l, the first character of the resulting display represents the file's___________.
type

The first character of the permission block designates the type of file that is being displayed.

What utility can you use to show a dynamic listing of running processes? __________
top

The top utility shows a listing of all running processes that is dynamically updated.

Where is standard output usually directed?
to the screen or display

By default, your shell directs standard output to your screen or display.

You wish to restore the file memo.ben which was backed up in the tarfile MyBackup.tar. What command should you type?
tar xf MyBackup.tar memo.ben

This command uses the x switch to extract a file. Here the file memo.ben will be restored from the tarfile MyBackup.tar.

You need to view the contents of the tarfile called MyBackup.tar. What command would you use?
tar tf MyBackup.tar

The t switch tells tar to display the contents and the f modifier specifies which file to examine.

You want to create a compressed backup of the users' home directories. What utility should you use?
tar

You can use the z modifier with tar to compress your archive at the same time as creating it.

What daemon is responsible for tracking events on your system?
syslogd

The syslogd daemon is responsible for tracking system information and saving it to specified log files.

You have a file called phonenos that is almost 4,000 lines long. What text filter can you use to split it into four pieces each 1,000 lines long?
split

The split text filter will divide files into equally sized pieces. The default length of each piece is 1,000 lines.

You would like to temporarily change your command line editor to be vi. What command should you type to change it?
set -o vi

The set command is used to assign environment variables. In this case, you are instructing your shell to assign vi as your command line editor. However, once you log off and log back in you will return to the previously defined command line editor.

What account is created when you install Linux?
root

Whenever you install Linux, only one user account is created. This is the superuser account also known as root.

What command should you use to check the number of files and disk space used and each user's defined quotas?

repquota

The repquota command is used to get a report on the status of the quotas you have set including the amount of allocated space and amount of used space.

In order to run fsck on the root partition, the root partition must be mounted as readonly

You cannot run fsck on a partition that is mounted as read-write.

In order to improve your system's security you decide to implement shadow passwords. What command should you use?
pwconv

The pwconv command creates the file /etc/shadow and changes all passwords to 'x' in the /etc/passwd file.

Bob Armstrong, who has a username of boba, calls to tell you he forgot his password. What command should you use to reset his command?
passwd boba

The passwd command is used to change your password. If you do not specify a username, your password will be changed.

The top utility can be used to change the priority of a running process? Another utility that can also be used to change priority is ___________?
nice

Both the top and nice utilities provide the capability to change the priority of a running process.

What command should you type to see all the files with an extension of 'mem' listed in reverse alphabetical order in the /home/ben/memos directory.
ls -r /home/ben/memos/*.mem

The -c option used with ls results in the files being listed in chronological order. You can use wildcards with the ls command to specify a pattern of filenames.

What file defines the levels of messages written to system log files?
kernel.h

To determine the various levels of messages that are defined on your system, examine the kernel.h file.

What command is used to remove the password assigned to a group?
gpasswd -r

The gpasswd command is used to change the password assigned to a group. Use the -r option to remove the password from the group.

What command would you type to use the cpio to create a backup called backup.cpio of all the users' home directories?
find /home | cpio -o > backup.cpio

The find command is used to create a list of the files and directories contained in home. This list is then piped to the cpio utility as a list of files to include and the output is saved to a file called backup.cpio.

What can you type at a command line to determine which shell you are using?
echo $SHELL

The name and path to the shell you are using is saved to the SHELL environment variable. You can then use the echo command to print out the value of any variable by preceding the variable's name with $. Therefore, typing echo $SHELL will display the name of your shell.

What type of local file server can you use to provide the distribution installation materials to the new machine during a network installation?
A) Inetd
B) FSSTND
C) DNS
D) NNTP
E) NFS
E - You can use an NFS server to provide the distribution installation materials to the machine on which you are performing the installation. Answers a, b, c, and d are all valid items but none of them are file servers. Inetd is the superdaemon which controls all intermittently used network services. The FSSTND is the Linux File System Standard. DNS provides domain name resolution, and NNTP is the transfer protocol for usenet news.

If you type the command cat dog & > cat what would you see on your display? Choose one:
a. Any error messages only.
b. The contents of the file dog.
c. The contents of the file dog and any error messages.
d. Nothing as all output is saved to the file cat.
d

When you use & > for redirection, it redirects both the standard output and standard error. The output would be saved to the file cat.

You are covering for another system administrator and one of the users asks you to restore a file for him. You locate the correct tarfile by checking the backup log but do not know how the directory structure was stored. What command can you use to determine this?
Choose one:
a. tar fx tarfile dirname
b. tar tvf tarfile filename
c. tar ctf tarfile
d. tar tvf tarfile

d

The t switch will list the files contained in the tarfile. Using the v modifier will display the stored directory structure.

You have the /var directory on its own partition. You have run out of space. What should you do? Choose one:
a. Reconfigure your system to not write to the log files.
b. Use fips to enlarge the partition.
c. Delete all the log files.
d. Delete the partition and recreate it with a larger size.

d

The only way to enlarge a partition is to delete it and recreate it. You will then have to restore the necessary files from backup.

You have a new application on a CD-ROM that you wish to install. What should your first step be?
Choose one:
a. Read the installation instructions on the CD-ROM.
b. Use the mount command to mount your CD-ROM as read-write.
c. Use the umount command to access your CD-ROM.
d. Use the mount command to mount your CD-ROM as read-only.

d

Before you can read any of the files contained on the CD-ROM, you must first mount the CD-ROM.

When you create a new partition, you need to designate its size by defining the starting and ending_____________.
cylinders

When creating a new partition you must first specify its starting cylinder. You can then either specify its size or the ending cylinder.

Desktop Engineer - IT Interview Questions

2012-05-15T18:00:00.000+05:30

Desktop Engineer - IT Interview Questions

1) What is Active Directory?
A central component of the Windows platform, Active Directory directory service provides the means to manage the identities and relationships that make up network environments. For example we can create, manage and administrator users, computers and printers in the network from active directory.

2) What is DNS? Why it is used? What is "forward lookup" and "reverse lookup" in DNS? What are A records and mx records?
DNS is domain naming service and is used for resolving names to IP address and IP addresses to names. The computer understands only numbers while we can easily remember names. So to make it easier for us what we do is we assign names to computers and websites. When we use these names (Like yahoo.com) the computer uses DNS to convert to IP address (number) and it executes our request.

Forward lookup: Converting names to IP address is called forward lookup.

Reverse lookup: Resolving IP address to names is called reverse lookup.

'A' record: Its called host record and it has the mapping of a name to IP address. This is the record in DNS with the help of which DNS can find out the IP address of a name.

'MX' Record: its called mail exchanger record. Its the record needed to locate the mail servers in the network. This record is also found in DNS.

3) What id DHCP? Why it is used? What are scopes and super scopes?

DHCP: Dynamic host configuration protocol. Its used to allocate IP addresses to large number of PCs in a network environment. This makes the IP management very easy.

Scope: Scope contains IP address like subnet mask, gateway IP, DNS server IP and exclusion range which a client can use to communicate with the other PCs in the network.

Superscope: When we combine two or more scopes together its called super scope.

4) What are the types of LAN cables used? What is a cross cable?
Types of LAN cables that are in use are "Cat 5" and "Cat 6". "Cat 5" can support 100 Mbps of speed and "CAT 6" can support 1Gbps of speed.

Cross cable: Its used to connect same type of devices without using a switch/hub so that they can communicate.

5) What is the difference between a normal LAN cable and cross cable? What could be the maximum length of the LAN cable?
The way the paired wires are connected to the connector (RJ45) is different
in cross cable and normal LAN cable.
The theoretical length is 100 meters but after 80 meters you may see drop in speed due to loss of signal.

6) What would you use to connect two computers without using switches?
Cross cable.

7) What is IPCONFIG command? Why it is used?
IPCONFIG command is used to display the IP information assigned to a computer. From the output we can find out the IP address, DNS IP address, gateway IP address assigned to that computer.

8) What is APIPA IP address? Or what IP address is assigned to the computer when the DHCP server is not available?
When DHCP server is not available the Windows client computer assigns an automatic IP address to itself so that it can communicate with the network computers. This ip address is called APIPA. ITs in the range of 169.254.X.X.
APIPA stands for Automatic private IP addressing. Its in the range of 169.254.X.X.

9) What is a DOMAIN? What is the difference between a domain and a workgroup?
Domain is created when we install Active Directory. It's a security boundary which is used to manage computers inside the boundary. Domain can be used to centrally administrator computers and we can govern them using common policies called group policies.
We can't do the same with workgroup.

10) Do you know how to configure outlook 2000 and outlook 2003 for a user?
Please visit the link below to find out how to configure outlook 2000 and outlook 2003. IT: Help Desk: Quick Guide: Configuring Outlook 2003 for Exchange Server

11) What is a PST file and what is the difference between a PST file and OST file? What file is used by outlook express?
PST file is used to store the mails locally when using outlook 2000 or 2003. OST file is used when we use outlook in cached exchanged mode. Outlook express used odb file.

12) What is BSOD? What do you do when you get blue screen in a computer? How do you troubleshoot it?
BSOD stands for blue screen of Death. when there is a hardware or OS fault due to which the windows OS can run it give a blue screen with a code. Best way to resolve it is to boot the computer is "Last known good configuration".
If this doesn't work than boot the computer in safe mode. If it boots up than the problems with one of the devices or drivers.

13) What is RIS? What is Imaging/ghosting?
RIS stands for remote installation services. You save the installed image on a windows server and then we use RIS to install the configured on in the new hardware. We can use it to deploy both server and client OS. Imaging or ghosting also does the same job of capturing an installed image and then install it on a new hardware when there is a need. We go for RIS or imaging/ghosting because installing OS every time using a CD can be a very time consuming task. So to save that time we can go for RIS/Ghosting/imaging.

14) What is VPN and how to configure it?
VPN stands for Virtual private network. VPN is used to connect to the corporate network to access the resources like mail and files in the LAN. VPN can be configured using the steps mentioned in the KB: How to configure a VPN connection to your corporate network in Windows XP Professional

15) Your computer slowly drops out of network. A reboot of the computer
fixes the problem. What to do to resolve this issue?
Update the network card driver.

16) Your system is infected with Virus? How to recover the data?
Install another system. Install the OS with the lates patches, Antivirus with latest updates. Connect the infected HDD as secondary drive in the system. Once done scan and clean the secondary HDD. Once done copy the files to the new system.

17) How to join a system to the domain? What type of user can add a system to the domain?
Please visit the article below and read "Adding the Workstation to the Domain" http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...003/technologi /directory/

18) What is the difference between a switch and a hub?
Switch sends the traffic to the port to which its meant for. Hub sends the traffic to all the ports.

19) What is a router? Why we use it?
Router is a switch which uses routing protocols to process and send the traffic. It also receives the traffic and sends it across but it uses the routing protocols to do so.

20) What are manageable and non manageable switches?
Switches which can be administered are called manageable switches. For example we can create VLAN for on such switch. On no manageable switches we can't do so.

Software Testing Basics - Software Testing Interview Questions and Answers

2012-05-15T17:49:00.002+05:30

Software Testing Basics - Software Testing Interview Questions and Answers

1. Can you explain the PDCA cycle and where testing fits in?

Software testing is an important part of the software development process. In normal software development there are four important steps, also referred to, in short, as the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) cycle.

Let's review the four steps in detail.

Plan: Define the goal and the plan for achieving that goal.

Do/Execute: Depending on the plan strategy decided during the plan stage we do execution accordingly in this phase.

Check: Check/Test to ensure that we are moving according to plan and are getting the desired results.

Act: During the check cycle, if any issues are there, then we take appropriate action accordingly and revise our plan again.

So developers and other stakeholders of the project do the "planning and building," while testers do the check part of the cycle. Therefore, software testing is done in check part of the PDCA cyle.

2. What is the difference between white box, black box, and gray box testing?

Black box testing is a testing strategy based solely on requirements and specifications. Black box testing requires no knowledge of internal paths, structures, or implementation of the software being tested.

White box testing is a testing strategy based on internal paths, code structures, and implementation of the software being tested. White box testing generally requires detailed programming skills.

There is one more type of testing called gray box testing. In this we look into the "box" being tested just long enough to understand how it has been implemented. Then we close up the box and use our knowledge to choose more effective black box tests.
The above figure shows how both types of testers view an accounting application during testing. Black box testers view the basic accounting application. While during white box testing the tester knows the internal structure of the application. In most scenarios white box testing is done by developers as they know the internals of the application. In black box testing we check the overall functionality of the application while in white box testing we do code reviews, view the architecture, remove bad code practices, and do component level testing.

3. Can you explain usability testing?

Usability testing is a testing methodology where the end customer is asked to use the software to see if the product is easy to use, to see the customer's perception and task time. The best way to finalize the customer point of view for usability is by using prototype or mock-up software during the initial stages. By giving the customer the prototype before the development start-up we confirm that we are not missing anything from the user point of view.

4. What are the categories of defects?

There are three main categories of defects:

Wrong: The requirements have been implemented incorrectly. This defect is a variance from the given specification.

Missing: There was a requirement given by the customer and it was not done. This is a variance from the specifications, an indication that a specification was not implemented, or a requirement of the customer was not noted properly.

Extra: A requirement incorporated into the product that was not given by the end customer. This is always a variance from the specification, but may be an attribute desired by the user of the product. However, it is considered a defect because it's a variance from the existing requirements.

5. How do you define a testing policy?

The following are the important steps used to define a testing policy in general. But it can change according to your organization. Let's discuss in detail the steps of implementing a testing policy in an organization.

Definition: The first step any organization needs to do is define one unique definition for testing within the organization so that everyone is of the same mindset.

How to achieve: How are we going to achieve our objective? Is there going to be a testing committee, will there be compulsory test plans which need to be executed, etc?.

Evaluate: After testing is implemented in a project how do we evaluate it? Are we going to derive metrics of defects per phase, per programmer, etc. Finally, it's important to let everyone know how testing has added value to the project?.

Standards: Finally, what are the standards we want to achieve by testing? For instance, we can say that more than 20 defects per KLOC will be considered below standard and code review should be done for it.

6. On what basis is the acceptance plan prepared?

In any project the acceptance document is normally prepared using the following inputs. This can vary from company to company and from project to project.

Requirement document: This document specifies what exactly is needed in the project from the customers perspective.

Input from customer: This can be discussions, informal talks, emails, etc.

Project plan: The project plan prepared by the project manager also serves as good input to finalize your acceptance test.

7. What is configuration management?

Configuration management is the detailed recording and updating of information for hardware and software components. When we say components we not only mean source code. It can be tracking of changes for software documents such as requirement, design, test cases, etc.

When changes are done in adhoc and in an uncontrolled manner chaotic situations can arise and more defects injected. So whenever changes are done it should be done in a controlled fashion and with proper versioning. At any moment of time we should be able to revert back to the old version. The main intention of configuration management is to track our changes if we have issues with the current system. Configuration management is done using baselines.

8. How does a coverage tool work?

While doing testing on the actual product, the code coverage testing tool is run simultaneously. While the testing is going on, the code coverage tool monitors the executed statements of the source code. When the final testing is completed we get a complete report of the pending statements and also get the coverage percentage.

9. Which is the best testing model?

In real projects, tailored models are proven to be the best, because they share features from The Waterfall, Iterative, Evolutionary models, etc., and can fit into real life time projects. Tailored models are most productive and beneficial for many organizations. If it's a pure testing project, then the V model is the best.

10. What is the difference between a defect and a failure?

When a defect reaches the end customer it is called a failure and if the defect is detected internally and resolved it's called a defect.

11. Should testing be done only after the build and execution phases are complete?

In traditional testing methodology testing is always done after the build and execution phases.

But that's a wrong way of thinking because the earlier we catch a defect, the more cost effective it is. For instance, fixing a defect in maintenance is ten times more costly than fixing it during execution.

In the requirement phase we can verify if the requirements are met according to the customer needs. During design we can check whether the design document covers all the requirements. In this stage we can also generate rough functional data. We can also review the design document from the architecture and the correctness perspectives. In the build and execution phase we can execute unit test cases and generate structural and functional data. And finally comes the testing phase done in the traditional way. i.e., run the system test cases and see if the system works according to the requirements. During installation we need to see if the system is compatible with the software. Finally, during the maintenance phase when any fixes are made we can retest the fixes and follow the regression testing.

Therefore, Testing should occur in conjunction with each phase of the software development.

12. Are there more defects in the design phase or in the coding phase?

The design phase is more error prone than the execution phase. One of the most frequent defects which occur during design is that the product does not cover the complete requirements of the customer. Second is wrong or bad architecture and technical decisions make the next phase, execution, more prone to defects. Because the design phase drives the execution phase it's the most critical phase to test. The testing of the design phase can be done by good review. On average, 60% of defects occur during design and 40% during the execution phase.

13. What group of teams can do software testing?

When it comes to testing everyone in the world can be involved right from the developer to the project manager to the customer. But below are different types of team groups which can be present in a project.

Isolated test team

Outsource - we can hire external testing resources and do testing for our project.

Inside test team

Developers as testers

QA/QC team.

14. What impact ratings have you used in your projects?

Normally, the impact ratings for defects are classified into three types:

Minor: Very low impact but does not affect operations on a large scale.

Major: Affects operations on a very large scale.

Critical: Brings the system to a halt and stops the show.

15. Does an increase in testing always improve the project?

No an increase in testing does not always mean improvement of the product, company, or project. In real test scenarios only 20% of test plans are critical from a business angle. Running those critical test plans will assure that the testing is properly done. The following graph explains the impact of under testing and over testing. If you under test a system the number of defects will increase, but if you over test a system your cost of testing will increase. Even if your defects come down your cost of testing has gone up.

16. What's the relationship between environment reality and test phases?

Environment reality becomes more important as test phases start moving ahead. For instance, during unit testing you need the environment to be partly real, but at the acceptance phase you should have a 100% real environment, or we can say it should be the actual real environment. The following graph shows how with every phase the environment reality should also increase and finally during acceptance it should be 100% real.

17. What are different types of verifications?

Verification is static type of s/w testing. It means code is not executed. The product is evaluated by going through the code. Types of verification are:

1. Walkthrough: Walkthroughs are informal, initiated by the author of the s/w product to a colleague for assistance in locating defects or suggestions for improvements. They are usually unplanned. Author explains the product; colleague comes out with observations and author notes down relevant points and takes corrective actions.

2. Inspection: Inspection is a thorough word-by-word checking of a software product with the intention of Locating defects, Confirming traceability of relevant requirements etc

18. How do test documents in a project span across the software development lifecycle?

The following figure shows pictorially how test documents span across the software development lifecycle. The following discusses the specific testing documents in the lifecycle:

Central/Project test plan: This is the main test plan which outlines the complete test strategy of the software project. This document should be prepared before the start of the project and is used until the end of the software development lifecycle.

Acceptance test plan: This test plan is normally prepared with the end customer. This document commences during the requirement phase and is completed at final delivery.

System test plan: This test plan starts during the design phase and proceeds until the end of the project.

Integration and unit test plan: Both of these test plans start during the execution phase and continue until the final delivery.

19. Which test cases are written first: white boxes or black boxes?

Normally black box test cases are written first and white box test cases later. In order to write black box test cases we need the requirement document and, design or project plan. All these documents are easily available at the initial start of the project. White box test cases cannot be started in the initial phase of the project because they need more architecture clarity which is not available at the start of the project. So normally white box test cases are written after black box test cases are written.

Black box test cases do not require system understanding but white box testing needs more structural understanding. And structural understanding is clearer i00n the later part of project, i.e., while executing or designing. For black box testing you need to only analyze from the functional perspective which is easily available from a simple requirement document.

20. Explain Unit Testing, Integration Tests, System Testing and Acceptance Testing?

Unit testing - Testing performed on a single, stand-alone module or unit of code.

Integration Tests - Testing performed on groups of modules to ensure that data and control are passed properly between modules.

System testing - Testing a predetermined combination of tests that, when executed successfully meets requirements.

Acceptance testing - Testing to ensure that the system meets the needs of the organization and the end user or customer (i.e., validates that the right system was built).

DBMS Basics - Interview Questions and Answers Part-3

2012-05-01T22:12:00.000+05:30

DBMS Basics - Interview Questions and Answers Part-3

42. What is Functional Dependency?

A Functional dependency is denoted by X Y between two sets of attributes X and Y that are subsets of R specifies a constraint on the possible tuple that can form a relation state r of R. The constraint is for any two tuples t1 and t2 in r if t1[X] = t2[X] then they have t1[Y] = t2[Y]. This means the value of X component of a tuple uniquely determines the value of component Y.

43. What is Lossless join property?

It guarantees that the spurious tuple generation does not occur with respect to relation schemas after decomposition.

44. What is 1 NF (Normal Form)?

The domain of attribute must include only atomic (simple, indivisible) values.

45. What is Fully Functional dependency?

It is based on concept of full functional dependency. A functional dependency X Y is full functional dependency if removal of any attribute A from X means that the dependency does not hold any more.

46. What is 2NF?

A relation schema R is in 2NF if it is in 1NF and every non-prime attribute A in R is fully functionally dependent on primary key.

47. What is 3NF?

A relation schema R is in 3NF if it is in 2NF and for every FD X A either of the following is true

X is a Super-key of R.
A is a prime attribute of R.

In other words, if every non prime attribute is non-transitively dependent on primary key.

48. What is BCNF (Boyce-Codd Normal Form)?

A relation schema R is in BCNF if it is in 3NF and satisfies an additional constraint that for every FD X A, X must be a candidate key.

49. What is 4NF?

A relation schema R is said to be in 4NF if for every Multivalued dependency X Y that holds over R, one of following is true.
1.) X is subset or equal to (or) XY = R.
2.) X is a super key.

50. What is 5NF?

A Relation schema R is said to be 5NF if for every join dependency {R1, R2, ..., Rn} that holds R, one the following is true 1.) Ri = R for some i.
2.) The join dependency is implied by the set of FD, over R in which the left side is key of R.

51. What is Domain-Key Normal Form?

A relation is said to be in DKNF if all constraints and dependencies that should hold on the the constraint can be enforced by simply enforcing the domain constraint and key constraint on the relation.

52. What are partial, alternate,, artificial, compound and natural key?

Partial Key: It is a set of attributes that can uniquely identify weak entities and that are related to same owner entity. It is sometime called as Discriminator.
Alternate Key: All Candidate Keys excluding the Primary Key are known as Alternate Keys.
Artificial Key: If no obvious key, either stand alone or compound is available, then the last resort is to simply create a key, by assigning a unique number to each record or occurrence. Then this is known as developing an artificial key.
Compound Key: If no single data element uniquely identifies occurrences within a construct, then combining multiple elements to create a unique identifier for the construct is known as creating a compound key.
Natural Key: When one of the data elements stored within a construct is utilized as the primary key, then it is called the natural key.

53. What is indexing and what are the different kinds of indexing?

Indexing is a technique for determining how quickly specific data can be found.
Types:

Binary search style indexing
B-Tree indexing
Inverted list indexing
Memory resident table
Table indexing

54. What is system catalog or catalog relation? How is better known as?

A RDBMS maintains a description of all the data that it contains, information about every relation and index that it contains. This information is stored in a collection of relations maintained by the system called metadata. It is also called data dictionary.

55. What is meant by query optimization?

The phase that identifies an efficient execution plan for evaluating a query that has the least estimated cost is referred to as query optimization.

56. What is durability in DBMS?

Once the DBMS informs the user that a transaction has successfully completed, its effects should persist even if the system crashes before all its changes are reflected on disk. This property is called durability.

57. What do you mean by atomicity and aggregation?

Atomicity: Either all actions are carried out or none are. Users should not have to worry about the effect of incomplete transactions. DBMS ensures this by undoing the actions of incomplete transactions.
Aggregation: A concept which is used to model a relationship between a collection of entities and relationships. It is used when we need to express a relationship among relationships.

58. What is a Phantom Deadlock?

In distributed deadlock detection, the delay in propagating local information might cause the deadlock detection algorithms to identify deadlocks that do not really exist. Such situations are called phantom deadlocks and they lead to unnecessary aborts.

59. What is a checkpoint and When does it occur?

A Checkpoint is like a snapshot of the DBMS state. By taking checkpoints, the DBMS can reduce the amount of work to be done during restart in the event of subsequent crashes.

60. What are the different phases of transaction?

Different phases are
1.) Analysis phase,
2.) Redo Phase,
3.) Undo phase.

61. What do you mean by flat file database?

It is a database in which there are no programs or user access languages. It has no cross-file capabilities but is user-friendly and provides user-interface management.

62. What is "transparent DBMS"?

It is one, which keeps its Physical Structure hidden from user.

63. What is a query?

A query with respect to DBMS relates to user commands that are used to interact with a data base. The query language can be classified into data definition language and data manipulation language.

64. What do you mean by Correlated subquery?

Subqueries, or nested queries, are used to bring back a set of rows to be used by the parent query. Depending on how the subquery is written, it can be executed once for the parent query or it can be executed once for each row returned by the parent query. If the subquery is executed for each row of the parent, this is called a correlated subquery.

A correlated subquery can be easily identified if it contains any references to the parent subquery columns in its WHERE clause. Columns from the subquery cannot be referenced anywhere else in the parent query. The following example demonstrates a non-correlated subquery.

Example: Select * From CUST Where '10/03/1990' IN (Select ODATE From ORDER Where CUST.CNUM = ORDER.CNUM)

65. What are the primitive operations common to all record management systems?

Addition, deletion and modification.

66. Name the buffer in which all the commands that are typed in are stored?

'Edit' Buffer.

67. What are the unary operations in Relational Algebra?

PROJECTION and SELECTION.

68. Are the resulting relations of PRODUCT and JOIN operation the same?

No.
PRODUCT: Concatenation of every row in one relation with every row in another.
JOIN: Concatenation of rows from one relation and related rows from another.

69. What is RDBMS KERNEL?

Two important pieces of RDBMS architecture are the kernel, which is the software, and the data dictionary, which consists of the system-level data structures used by the kernel to manage the database You might think of an RDBMS as an operating system (or set of subsystems), designed specifically for controlling data access; its primary functions are storing, retrieving, and securing data. An RDBMS maintains its own list of authorized users and their associated privileges; manages memory caches and paging; controls locking for concurrent resource usage; dispatches and schedules user requests; and manages space usage within its table-space structures.

70. Name the sub-systems of a RDBMS.

I/O, Security, Language Processing, Process Control, Storage Management, Logging and Recovery, Distribution Control, Transaction Control, Memory Management, Lock Management.

71. Which part of the RDBMS takes care of the data dictionary? How?

Data dictionary is a set of tables and database objects that is stored in a special area of the database and maintained exclusively by the kernel.

72. What is the job of the information stored in data-dictionary?

The information in the data dictionary validates the existence of the objects, provides access to them, and maps the actual physical storage location.

73. How do you communicate with an RDBMS?

You communicate with an RDBMS using Structured Query Language (SQL).

74. Define SQL and state the differences between SQL and other conventional programming Languages.

SQL is a nonprocedural language that is designed specifically for data access operations on normalized relational database structures. The primary difference between SQL and other conventional programming languages is that SQL statements specify what data operations should be performed rather than how to perform them.

75. Name the three major set of files on disk that compose a database in Oracle.

There are three major sets of files on disk that compose a database. All the files are binary. These are

1.) Database files
2.) Control files
3.) Redo logs

The most important of these are the database files where the actual data resides. The control files and the redo logs support the functioning of the architecture itself. All three sets of files must be present, open, and available to Oracle for any data on the database to be useable. Without these files, you cannot access the database, and the database administrator might have to recover some or all of the database using a backup, if there is one.

76. What is database Trigger?

A database trigger is a PL/SQL block that can defined to automatically execute for insert, update, and delete statements against a table. The trigger can e defined to execute once for the entire statement or once for every row that is inserted, updated, or deleted. For any one table, there are twelve events for which you can define database triggers. A database trigger can call database procedures that are also written in PL/SQL.

77. What are stored-procedures? And what are the advantages of using them?

Stored procedures are database objects that perform a user defined operation. A stored procedure can have a set of compound SQL statements. A stored procedure executes the SQL commands and returns the result to the client. Stored procedures are used to reduce network traffic.

78. What is Storage Manager?

It is a program module that provides the interface between the low-level data stored in database, application programs and queries submitted to the system.

79. What is Buffer Manager?

It is a program module, which is responsible for fetching data from disk storage into main memory and deciding what data to be cache in memory.

80. What is Transaction Manager?

It is a program module, which ensures that database, remains in a consistent state despite system failures and concurrent transaction execution proceeds without conflicting.

81. What is File Manager?

It is a program module, which manages the allocation of space on disk storage and data structure used to represent information stored on a disk.

82. What is Authorization and Integrity manager?

It is the program module, which tests for the satisfaction of integrity constraint and checks the authority of user to access data.

83. What are stand-alone procedures?

Procedures that are not part of a package are known as stand-alone because they independently defined. A good example of a stand-alone procedure is one written in a SQL*Forms application. These types of procedures are not available for reference from other Oracle tools. Another limitation of stand-alone procedures is that they are compiled at run time, which slows execution.

84. What are cursors give different types of cursors?

PL/SQL uses cursors for all database information accesses statements. The language supports the use two types of cursors
1.) Implicit
2.) Explicit

85. What is cold backup and hot backup (in case of Oracle)?

Cold Backup: It is copying the three sets of files (database files, redo logs, and control file) when the instance is shut down. This is a straight file copy, usually from the disk directly to tape. You must shut down the instance to guarantee a consistent copy. If a cold backup is performed, the only option available in the event of data file loss is restoring all the files from the latest backup. All work performed on the database since the last backup is lost.
Hot Backup: Some sites (such as worldwide airline reservations systems) cannot shut down the database while making a backup copy of the files. The cold backup is not an available option.

86. What is meant by Proactive, Retroactive and Simultaneous Update.

Proactive Update: The updates that are applied to database before it becomes effective in real world.
Retroactive Update: The updates that are applied to database after it becomes effective in real world.
Simulatneous Update: The updates that are applied to database at the same time when it becomes effective in real world.

MICRO PROCESSOR AND ITS APPLICATIONS

2012-05-01T22:02:00.001+05:30

MICRO PROCESSOR AND ITS APPLICATIONS

1.Define Microprocessor?
Microprocessor is a multipurpose, programmable, clock-driven, register based
electronic device that reads binary instructions from a storage device called
memory, accepts binary data as input and processes data according to those
instructions, and provides as output.

2. What is Hardware and Software?
The physical components of the system i.e. computer are called Hardware.
Group of programs is called software.

3. Why the microprocessor is viewed as a programmable Device?
Microprocessor is programmable because it can be instructed to perform given
tasks within its capability. Microprocessor is designed to understand and execute
many binary instructions.

4. What is Central processing Unit ( CPU ) ? And Write the use of it.
CPU is a heart of the computer. Central processing Unit controls the operation
of the computer. In a microcomputer the CPU is a microprocessor. The CPU
fetches binary coded instructions from memory, decodes the instructions into a
series of simple actions and carries out these actions in a sequence of steps.

5. What is a chip?
A chip is also called an integrated circuit. Generally it is a small, thin piece
of silicon onto which the transistors making up the microprocessor have been
etched. A chip might be as large as an inch on a side and can contain tens of
millions of transistors. Simpler processors might consist of a few thousand
transistors etched onto a chip just a few millimeters square.

6. What is System Bus?
The System bus is a communication path between the microprocessor and
peripherals. It is nothing but a group of wires to carry bits.

7. What is Address Bus?
The address bus consists of 16, 20, 24 or 32 parallel signal lines. On these
lines the CPU sends out the address of the memory location that is to be written to
or read from. The number of address lines determines the number of memory
locations that the CPU can address. If the CPU has N address lines, then it can
directly address 2N memory locations. Simply, we can say that Address Bus is
used to carry the address.

8. What is Data Bus?
The data bus consists of 8, 16, or 32 parallel signal lines. The data bus lines
are bidirectional. This means that the CPU can read data in from memory or from
a port on these lines, or it can send data out to memory or to a port on these lines.
Simply we can say that data bus is used to carry the data.

9. What is Assembly Language?
A medium of communication with a computer in which programs are
written in mnemonics. Binary instructions are given abbreviated names called
mnemonics, which form the assembly language for a given processor.

10. What is Machine Language?
The binary medium of communication with a computer through a designed
set of instructions specific to each computer.

11. What is Bit-Slice processor?
For some Applications , general purpose CPUs such as the 8080 and 6800
are not fast enough or do not have suitable instruction sets. For these
applications ,several manufacturers produce devices which can be used to build
the custom CPU. This family includes 4 bit ALUs, multiplexers, sequencers and
other parts needed for custom building a CPU. The term slice comes from the
fact that these parts can be connected in parallel to work with 8 bit words, 16-
bit words, or 32 bit words.

12. What is microcontroller?
Microcontroller is a Device that includes microprocessor, memory and
I/O signal lines on a single chip, fabricated using VLSI technology.

13. List the main applications of 8 bit microprocessors?
8 bit microprocessors is used in a variety of applications such as
appliances, automobiles, industrial process and control applications.

14. Write the uses of microprocessors in Medical Instrumentation field?
Patient Monitoring in Intensive Care Unit, Pathological Analysis and the
measurement of parameters like blood pressure and temperature.

15. Define Real Time Systems :
Real Time Systems are those in which timeliness is as important as the
correctness of the outputs, although this does not mean that they have to be “fast
systems”.

16. List the limitations of 8 bit microprocessor:
• Lower Execution Speed
• It can address less memory size
• Few instructions are available

17. What do you mean ‘ Data Width’?
Data Width is the width of the ALU. An 8 bit ALU can add / subtract/
multiply etc.. two 8 bit numbers . In many cases, the external data bus is the
same width as the ALU, but not always. The 8088 had a 16 bit ALU and 8 bit
bus , while the modern Pentiums fetch data 64 bits at a time for their 32 bit
ALUs.

18. Draw and specify the complete bit configuration of 8085 flag Register?
D7 D6 D5 D4 D3 D2 D1 D0
S Z AC P CY
S- Sign Flag . If D7 =1 , then sign flag is set, otherwise rest.
Z-Zero flag. If ALU operation results in zero, then this flag is set,
Otherwise it is reset.
AC-Auxilliary flag. In an arithmetic operation ,when a carry is generated
by digit D3 and passed on to digit D4, the AC flag is set.
Otherwise it is reset.
P-Parity Flag. If the result of an arithmetic or logic operation has an even
number of 1’s then this flag is set. Otherwise it is reset.
CY-Carry Flag. If an arithmetic operation results in a carry, the carry flag
is set. Otherwise it is reset.

19. List the four operations commonly performed by MPU( Micro processing
Unit)?
• Memory Read : Reads data (or instructions) from memory.
• Memory Write: Writes Data (or instructions) into memory.
• I/O Read: Accepts data from input devices.
• I/O Write: Sends data to output devices.

20. Write about RST pins in 8085?
In 8085 ,three RST pins are available, such as RST 7.5 ,RST 6.5 , RST
5.5. RST represents Restart Interrupts. These are vectored interrupts that
transfer the program control to specific memory locations. They have higher
priorities than the INTR interrupt. Among these three, the priority order is
7.5,6.5,5.5.

21. List the control and status signals available in 8085.
ALE , RD, WR, IO/M, S1, S2
ALE-Address Latch Enable
RD – Read Control Signal
WR – Write Control Signal
IO/M - To specify I/O or memory operation
S1 , S2 – Status signals

22. What are the limitations of 8085 MPU?
(i) The lower order address bus of the 8085 microprocessor is multiplexed
(time shared) with the data bus. The buses need to be demultiplexed.
(ii) Appropriate control signals need to be generated to interface memory
and I/O with the 8085.

23. Compare the 8 bit microprocessors 8080A and 8085.
8080A is the predecessor of 8085. 8085 has the instruction set of
8080A plus some additional ones. Program written for 8080A will be executed
by 8085. 8085 and 8080A are not pin compatible. Both require a +5V power
supply.

24. Define Register Relative Addressing Mode.
Register Relative Addressing Mode : The Effective Address is Calculated
by the sum of 8- or 16 bit displacement and the contents of a base Register or an
index Register.
E.A. = content of(BX or BP or SI or DI) + (8 bit displacement (sign
extended ) or 16 bit displacement
Physical Address = E.A +(DS)*1610

25. Define Immediate Addressing.
An 8 bit or 16 bit immediate data follows the instruction. For e.g MOV
AX,5020H instruction transfers a word 5020H to the AX register .

26. Define Direct Addressing mode :
A 16 bit offset address of the data memory location is specified with
reference to the DS segment starting address.
For.E.g MOV [1020H],5020H instruction transfers a word 5020H to the data memory
location at 11020H if DS=1000H.

27. Define Relative based indexed addressing mode:
Relative Based Indexed Addressing Mode : Effective Address is calculated by the
sum of 8- or 16 bit displacement and a based indexed address.
E.A.= (BX or BP) + (SI or DI) +( 8 bit displacement (sign extended ) or 16 bit
displacement)
Physical Address= E.A + (DS)*1610

28. List the branch related addressing mode:
• Intra segment Direct
• Intra segment Indirect
• Inter segment Direct
• Inter Segment Indirect

29. List the functions of Bus Interface Unit in 8086.
• Sends out addresses
• Fetches instructions from memory
• Reads data from ports and memory
• Writes data to port and memory

30. Write any two advantages of segment registers in 8086
a. It allows the memory capacity to be 1MB even though the address
associated with individual instructions are 16 bits wide.
b. It allows the instruction,data, or stack portion of a program to be more
than 64KB long by using more than one code, data, or stack segment

31. What is the use of Instruction pointer in 8086 ?
Instruction pointer holds the 16 bit address of the next code byte within the
code segment. The value contained in the IP is called effective address or offset.
It contains the distance from the base address to the next instruction byte to be
fetched.

32. Write about the auxiliary carry flag used in 8086 ?
It is set if there is a carry out of bit 3 during an addition or a borrow by bit
3 during a subtraction. This flag is used exclusively for BCD arithmetic.

33. When the Overflow flag is set ?
For addition of 16 bits, this flag is set when there is a carry into the MSB
and no carry out of the MSB.

34. Define Register addressing mode:
Datum is in the register that is specified by the instruction
E.g : MOV CX,AX (16 bit operand)
MOV CL,AL ( 8 bit operand)

35. Define Register Indirect Addressing mode:
Effective address of the datum is in the base register BX or an index
register that is specified by the instruction.

36. Define Register relative addressing mode:
The effective address is the sum of an 8- or 16 bit displacement and the
contents of a base register or an index register.

37. Define Based Indexed addressing mode:
The effective address is the sum of a base register and an index register ,
both of which are specified by the instruction. It is also called as Base related
Indexed addressing.

38. Define Intra segment direct addressing mode:
The effective branch address is the sum of an 8- or 16 bit displacement
and the current contents of IP.

39. Define Intra segment Indirect addressing mode:
The effective branch address is the contents of a register or memory
location that is accessed using any of the data related addressing modes except
the immediate mode. The contents of IP are replaced by the effective branch
address.

40. Define Inter segment addressing mode:
It replaces the contents of IP with part of the instruction and the contents
of CS with another part of the instruction.

DBMS Basics - Interview Questions and Answers Part-2

2012-04-08T01:08:00.000+05:30

DBMS Basics - Interview Questions and Answers

42. What is Functional Dependency?

43. What is Lossless join property?

It guarantees that the spurious tuple generation does not occur with respect to relation schemas after decomposition.

44. What is 1 NF (Normal Form)?

The domain of attribute must include only atomic (simple, indivisible) values.

45. What is Fully Functional dependency?

It is based on concept of full functional dependency. A functional dependency X Y is full functional dependency if removal of any attribute A from X means that the dependency does not hold any more.

46. What is 2NF?

A relation schema R is in 2NF if it is in 1NF and every non-prime attribute A in R is fully functionally dependent on primary key.

47. What is 3NF?

A relation schema R is in 3NF if it is in 2NF and for every FD X A either of the following is true

X is a Super-key of R.

A is a prime attribute of R.

In other words, if every non prime attribute is non-transitively dependent on primary key.

48. What is BCNF (Boyce-Codd Normal Form)?

A relation schema R is in BCNF if it is in 3NF and satisfies an additional constraint that for every FD X A, X must be a candidate key.

49. What is 4NF?

A relation schema R is said to be in 4NF if for every Multivalued dependency X Y that holds over R, one of following is true.

1.) X is subset or equal to (or) XY = R.
2.) X is a super key.

50. What is 5NF?

A Relation schema R is said to be 5NF if for every join dependency {R1, R2, ..., Rn} that holds R, one the following is true 1.) Ri = R for some i.

2.) The join dependency is implied by the set of FD, over R in which the left side is key of R.

51. What is Domain-Key Normal Form?

52. What are partial, alternate,, artificial, compound and natural key?

Partial Key: It is a set of attributes that can uniquely identify weak entities and that are related to same owner entity. It is sometime called as Discriminator.

Alternate Key: All Candidate Keys excluding the Primary Key are known as Alternate Keys.

Artificial Key: If no obvious key, either stand alone or compound is available, then the last resort is to simply create a key, by assigning a unique number to each record or occurrence. Then this is known as developing an artificial key.

Compound Key: If no single data element uniquely identifies occurrences within a construct, then combining multiple elements to create a unique identifier for the construct is known as creating a compound key.

Natural Key: When one of the data elements stored within a construct is utilized as the primary key, then it is called the natural key.

53. What is indexing and what are the different kinds of indexing?

Indexing is a technique for determining how quickly specific data can be found.

Types:

Binary search style indexing

B-Tree indexing

Inverted list indexing

Memory resident table

Table indexing

54. What is system catalog or catalog relation? How is better known as?

55. What is meant by query optimization?

The phase that identifies an efficient execution plan for evaluating a query that has the least estimated cost is referred to as query optimization.

56. What is durability in DBMS?

57. What do you mean by atomicity and aggregation?

Atomicity: Either all actions are carried out or none are. Users should not have to worry about the effect of incomplete transactions. DBMS ensures this by undoing the actions of incomplete transactions.

Aggregation: A concept which is used to model a relationship between a collection of entities and relationships. It is used when we need to express a relationship among relationships.

58. What is a Phantom Deadlock?

59. What is a checkpoint and When does it occur?

A Checkpoint is like a snapshot of the DBMS state. By taking checkpoints, the DBMS can reduce the amount of work to be done during restart in the event of subsequent crashes.

60. What are the different phases of transaction?

Different phases are
1.) Analysis phase,
2.) Redo Phase,
3.) Undo phase.

21. What is an attribute?

It is a particular property, which describes the entity.

22. What is a Relation Schema and a Relation?

A relation Schema denoted by R(A1, A2, ..., An) is made up of the relation name R and the list of attributes Ai that it contains. A relation is defined as a set of tuples. Let r be the relation which contains set tuples (t1, t2, t3, ..., tn). Each tuple is an ordered list of n-values t=(v1,v2, ..., vn).

23. What is degree of a Relation?

It is the number of attribute of its relation schema.

24. What is Relationship?

It is an association among two or more entities.

25. What is Relationship set?

The collection (or set) of similar relationships.

26. What is Relationship type?

Relationship type defines a set of associations or a relationship set among a given set of entity types.

27. What is degree of Relationship type?

It is the number of entity type participating.

28. What is DDL (Data Definition Language)?

A data base schema is specifies by a set of definitions expressed by a special language called DDL.

29. What is VDL (View Definition Language)?

It specifies user views and their mappings to the conceptual schema.

30. What is SDL (Storage Definition Language)?

This language is to specify the internal schema. This language may specify the mapping between two schemas.

31. What is Data Storage - Definition Language?

The storage structures and access methods used by database system are specified by a set of definition in a special type of DDL called data storage-definition language.

32. What is DML (Data Manipulation Language)?

This language that enable user to access or manipulate data as organised by appropriate data model.

Procedural DML or Low level: DML requires a user to specify what data are needed and how to get those data.

Non-Procedural DML or High level: DML requires a user to specify what data are needed without specifying how to get those data.

33. What is DML Compiler?

It translates DML statements in a query language into low-level instruction that the query evaluation engine can understand.

34. What is Query evaluation engine?

It executes low-level instruction generated by compiler.

35. What is DDL Interpreter?

It interprets DDL statements and record them in tables containing metadata.

36. What is Record-at-a-time?

The Low level or Procedural DML can specify and retrieve each record from a set of records. This retrieve of a record is said to be Record-at-a-time.

37. What is Set-at-a-time or Set-oriented?

The High level or Non-procedural DML can specify and retrieve many records in a single DML statement. This retrieve of a record is said to be Set-at-a-time or Set-oriented.

38. What is Relational Algebra?

It is procedural query language. It consists of a set of operations that take one or two relations as input and produce a new relation.

39. What is Relational Calculus?

It is an applied predicate calculus specifically tailored for relational databases proposed by E.F. Codd. E.g. of languages based on it are DSL ALPHA, QUEL.

40. How does Tuple-oriented relational calculus differ from domain-oriented relational calculus?

The tuple-oriented calculus uses a tuple variables i.e., variable whose only permitted values are tuples of that relation. E.g. QUEL

The domain-oriented calculus has domain variables i.e., variables that range over the underlying domains instead of over relation. E.g. ILL, DEDUCE.

41. What is normalization?

It is a process of analysing the given relation schemas based on their Functional Dependencies (FDs) and primary key to achieve the properties

(1).Minimizing redundancy, (2). Minimizing insertion, deletion and update anomalies.

DBMS Basics - Interview Questions and Answers

2012-04-08T01:00:00.002+05:30

DBMS Basics - Interview Questions and Answers

1. What is database?

A database is a logically coherent collection of data with some inherent meaning, representing some aspect of real world and which is designed, built and populated with data for a specific purpose.

2. What is DBMS?

It is a collection of programs that enables user to create and maintain a database. In other words it is general-purpose software that provides the users with the processes of defining, constructing and manipulating the database for various applications.

3. What is a Database system?

The database and DBMS software together is called as Database system.

4. What are the advantages of DBMS?

Redundancy is controlled.
Unauthorised access is restricted.
Providing multiple user interfaces.
Enforcing integrity constraints.
Providing backup and recovery.

5. What are the disadvantage in File Processing System?

Data redundancy and inconsistency.
Difficult in accessing data.
Data isolation.
Data integrity.
Concurrent access is not possible.
Security Problems.

6. Describe the three levels of data abstraction?

The are three levels of abstraction:

Physical level: The lowest level of abstraction describes how data are stored.
Logical level: The next higher level of abstraction, describes what data are stored in database and what relationship among those data.
View level: The highest level of abstraction describes only part of entire database.

7. Define the "integrity rules"?

There are two Integrity rules.

Entity Integrity: States that "Primary key cannot have NULL value"
Referential Integrity: States that "Foreign Key can be either a NULL value or should be Primary Key value of other relation.

8. What is extension and intension?

Extension: It is the number of tuples present in a table at any instance. This is time dependent.
Intension: It is a constant value that gives the name, structure of table and the constraints laid on it.

9. What is System R? What are its two major subsystems?

System R was designed and developed over a period of 1974-79 at IBM San Jose Research Center. It is a prototype and its purpose was to demonstrate that it is possible to build a Relational System that can be used in a real life environment to solve real life problems, with performance at least comparable to that of existing system.
Its two subsystems are

Research Storage
System Relational Data System.

10. How is the data structure of System R different from the relational structure?

Unlike Relational systems in System R

Domains are not supported
Enforcement of candidate key uniqueness is optional
Enforcement of entity integrity is optional
Referential integrity is not enforced

11. What is Data Independence?

Data independence means that "the application is independent of the storage structure and access strategy of data". In other words, The ability to modify the schema definition in one level should not affect the schema definition in the next higher level.
Two types of Data Independence:

Physical Data Independence: Modification in physical level should not affect the logical level.
Logical Data Independence: Modification in logical level should affect the view level.

NOTE: Logical Data Independence is more difficult to achieve

12. What is a view? How it is related to data independence?

A view may be thought of as a virtual table, that is, a table that does not really exist in its own right but is instead derived from one or more underlying base table. In other words, there is no stored file that direct represents the view instead a definition of view is stored in data dictionary.

Growth and restructuring of base tables is not reflected in views. Thus the view can insulate users from the effects of restructuring and growth in the database. Hence accounts for logical data independence.

13. What is Data Model?

A collection of conceptual tools for describing data, data relationships data semantics and constraints.

14. What is E-R model?

This data model is based on real world that consists of basic objects called entities and of relationship among these objects. Entities are described in a database by a set of attributes.

15. What is Object Oriented model?

This model is based on collection of objects. An object contains values stored in instance variables with in the object. An object also contains bodies of code that operate on the object. These bodies of code are called methods. Objects that contain same types of values and the same methods are grouped together into classes.

16. What is an Entity?

It is a 'thing' in the real world with an independent existence.

17. What is an Entity type?

It is a collection (set) of entities that have same attributes.

18. What is an Entity set?

It is a collection of all entities of particular entity type in the database.

19. What is an Extension of entity type?

The collections of entities of a particular entity type are grouped together into an entity set.

20. What is Weak Entity set?

An entity set may not have sufficient attributes to form a primary key, and its primary key compromises of its partial key and primary key of its parent entity, then it is said to be Weak Entity set.

SQL Server 2008 - Interview Questions and Answers

2012-03-22T12:44:00.000+05:30

1. What are the basic functions for master, msdb, model, tempdb and resource databases?

The master database holds information for all databases located on the SQL Server instance and is theglue that holds the engine together. Because SQL Server cannot start without a functioning masterdatabase, you must administer this database with care.
The msdb database stores information regarding database backups, SQL Agent information, DTS packages, SQL Server jobs, and some replication information such as for log shipping.
The tempdb holds temporary objects such as global and local temporary tables and stored procedures.
The model is essentially a template database used in the creation of any new user database created in the instance.
The resoure Database is a read-only database that contains all the system objects that are included with SQL Server. SQL Server system objects, such as sys.objects, are physically persisted in the Resource database, but they logically appear in the sys schema of every database. The Resource database does not contain user data or user metadata.

2. What is Service Broker?

Service Broker is a message-queuing technology in SQL Server that allows developers to integrate SQL Server fully into distributed applications. Service Broker is feature which provides facility to SQL Server to send an asynchronous, transactional message. it allows a database to send a message to another database without waiting for the response, so the application will continue to function if the remote database is temporarily unavailable.

3. Where SQL server user names and passwords are stored in SQL server?

They get stored in System Catalog Views sys.server_principals and sys.sql_logins.

4. What is Policy Management?

Policy Management in SQL SERVER 2008 allows you to define and enforce policies for configuring and managing SQL Server across the enterprise. Policy-Based Management is configured in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). Navigate to the Object Explorer and expand the Management node and the Policy Management node; you will see the Policies, Conditions, and Facets nodes.

5. What is Replication and Database Mirroring?

Database mirroring can be used with replication to provide availability for the publication database. Database mirroring involves two copies of a single database that typically reside on different computers. At any given time, only one copy of the database is currently available to clients which are known as the principal database. Updates made by clients to the principal database are applied on the other copy of the database, known as the mirror database. Mirroring involves applying the transaction log from every insertion, update, or deletion made on the principal database onto the mirror database.

6. What are Sparse Columns?

A sparse column is another tool used to reduce the amount of physical storage used in a database. They are the ordinary columns that have an optimized storage for null values. Sparse columns reduce the space requirements for null values at the cost of more overhead to retrieve nonnull values.

7. What does TOP Operator Do?

The TOP operator is used to specify the number of rows to be returned by a query. The TOP operator has new addition in SQL SERVER 2008 that it accepts variables as well as literal values and can be used with INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETES statements.

8. What is CTE?

CTE is an abbreviation Common Table Expression. A Common Table Expression (CTE) is an expression that can be thought of as a temporary result set which is defined within the execution of a single SQL statement. A CTE is similar to a derived table in that it is not stored as an object and lasts only for the duration of the query.

9. What is MERGE Statement?

MERGE is a new feature that provides an efficient way to perform multiple DML operations. In previous versions of SQL Server, we had to write separate statements to INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE data based on certain conditions, but now, using MERGE statement we can include the logic of such data modifications in one statement that even checks when the data is matched then just update it and when unmatched then insert it. One of the most important advantages of MERGE statement is all the data is read and processed only once.

10. What is Filtered Index?

Filtered Index is used to index a portion of rows in a table that means it applies filter on INDEX which improves query performance, reduce index maintenance costs, and reduce index storage costs compared with full-table indexes. When we see an Index created with some where clause then that is actually a FILTERED INDEX.

11. Which are new data types introduced in SQL SERVER 2008?

The GEOMETRY Type: The GEOMETRY data type is a system .NET common language runtime (CLR) data type in SQL Server. This type represents data in a two-dimensional Euclidean coordinate system.
The GEOGRAPHY Type: The GEOGRAPHY datatype’s functions are the same as with GEOMETRY. The difference between the two is that when you specify GEOGRAPHY, you are usually specifying points in terms of latitude and longitude.
New Date and Time Datatypes: SQL Server 2008 introduces four new datatypes related to date and time: DATE, TIME, DATETIMEOFFSET, and DATETIME2.

DATE: The new DATE type just stores the date itself. It is based on the Gregorian calendar and handles years from 1 to 9999.
TIME: The new TIME (n) type stores time with a range of 00:00:00.0000000 through 23:59:59.9999999. The precision is allowed with this type. TIME supports seconds down to 100 nanoseconds. The n in TIME (n) defines this level of fractional second precision, from 0 to 7 digits of precision.
The DATETIMEOFFSET Type: DATETIMEOFFSET (n) is the time-zone-aware version of a datetime datatype. The name will appear less odd when you consider what it really is: a date + a time + a time-zone offset. The offset is based on how far behind or ahead you are from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) time.
The DATETIME2 Type: It is an extension of the datetime type in earlier versions of SQL Server. This new datatype has a date range covering dates from January 1 of year 1 through December 31 of year 9999. This is a definite improvement over the 1753 lower boundary of the datetime datatype. DATETIME2 not only includes the larger date range, but also has a timestamp and the same fractional precision that TIME type provides

12. What are the Advantages of using CTE?

Using CTE improves the readability and makes maintenance of complex queries easy.
The query can be divided into separate, simple, logical building blocks which can be then used to build more complex CTEs until final result set is generated.
CTE can be defined in functions, stored procedures, triggers or even views.
After a CTE is defined, it can be used as a Table or a View and can SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE Data.

13. What is CLR?

In SQL Server 2008, SQL Server objects such as user-defined functions can be created using such CLR languages. This CLR language support extends not only to user-defined functions, but also to stored procedures and triggers. You can develop such CLR add-ons to SQL Server using Visual Studio 2008.

14. What are synonyms?

Synonyms give you the ability to provide alternate names for database objects. You can alias object names; for example, using the Employee table as Emp. You can also shorten names. This is especially useful when dealing with three and four part names; for example, shortening server.database.owner.object to object.

15. What is LINQ?

Language Integrated Query (LINQ) adds the ability to query objects using .NET languages. The LINQ to SQL object/relational mapping (O/RM) framework provides the following basic features:

Tools to create classes (usually called entities) mapped to database tables
Compatibility with LINQ's standard query operations
The DataContext class, with features such as entity record monitoring, automatic SQL statement generation, record concurrency detection, and much more

16. What is Isolation Levels?

Transactions specify an isolation level that defines the degree to which one transaction must be isolated from resource or data modifications made by other transactions. Isolation levels are described in terms of which concurrency side-effects, such as dirty reads or phantom reads, are allowed.

Transaction isolation levels control:

Whether locks are taken when data is read, and what type of locks are requested.
How long the read locks are held.
Whether a read operation referencing rows modified by another transaction:

Blocks until the exclusive lock on the row is freed.
Retrieves the committed version of the row that existed at the time the statement or transaction started.
Reads the uncommitted data modification.

17. What is use of EXCEPT Clause?

EXCEPT clause is similar to MINUS operation in Oracle. The EXCEPT query and MINUS query returns all rows in the first query that are not returned in the second query. Each SQL statement within the EXCEPT query and MINUS query must have the same number of fields in the result sets with similar data types.

18. How would you handle error in SQL SERVER 2008?

SQL Server now supports the use of TRY...CATCH con handling. TRY...CATCH lets us build error handling at the level we need, in the way w to, by setting a region where if any error occurs, it will break out of the region and head to an error handler.

The basic structure is as follows:
BEGIN TRY
stmts..
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
stmts..
END CATCH

19. What is RAISEERROR?

RaiseError generates an error message and initiates error processing for the session. RAISERROR can either reference a user-defined message stored in the sys.messages catalog view or build a message dynamically. The message is returned as a server error message to the calling application or to an associated CATCH block of a TRY | CATCH construct.

20. How to rebuild Master Database?

Master database is system database and it contains information about running server's configuration. When SQL Server 2005 is installed it usually creates master, model, msdb, tempdb resource and distribution system database by default. Only Master database is th one which is absolutely must have database. Without Master database SQL Server cannot be started. This is the reason it is extremely important to backup Master database.

To rebuild the Master database, Run Setup.exe, verify, and repair a SQL Server instance, and rebuild the system databases. This procedure is most often used to rebuild the master database for a corrupted installation of SQL Server.

21. What is XML Datatype?

The xml data type lets you store XML documents and fragments in a SQL Server database. An XML fragment is an XML instance that is missing a single top-level element. You can create columns and variables of the xml type and store XML instances in them. The xml data type and associated methods help integrate XML into the relational framework of S Server.

22. What is Data Compression?

In SQL SERVE 2008 Data Compression comes in two flavors:

Row Compression: Row compression changes the format of physical storage of data. It minimize the metadata (column information, length, offsets etc) associated with each record. Numeric data types and fixed length strings are stored in variable-length storage format, just like Varchar.
Page Compression: Page compression allows common data to be shared between rows for a given page. Its uses the following techniques to compress data:

Row compression.
Prefix Compression. For every column in a page duplicate prefixes are identified. These prefixes are saved in compression information headers (CI) which resides after page header. A reference number is assigned to these prefixes and that reference number is replaced where ever those prefixes are being used.

Dictionary Compression: Dictionary compression searches for duplicate values throughout the page and stores them in CI. The main difference between prefix and dictionary compression is that prefix is only restricted to one column while dictionary is applicable to the complete page.

23. What is Catalog Views?

Catalog views return information that is used by the SQL Server Database Engine. Catalog Views are the most general interface to the catalog metadata and provide the most efficient way to obtain, transform, and present customized forms of this information. All user- available catalog metadata is exposed through catalog views.

24. What is PIVOT and UNPIVOT?

A Pivot Table can automatically sort, count, and total the data stored in one table or spreadsheet and create a second table displaying the summarized data. The PIVOT operator turns the values of a specified column into column names, effectively rotating a table.

UNPIVOT table is reverse of PIVOT Table.

25. What is Dirty Read ?

A dirty read occurs when two operations say, read and write occurs together giving the incorrect or unedited data. Suppose, A has changed a row, but has not committed the changes. B reads the uncommitted data but his view of the data may be wrong so that is Dirty Read.

26. What is Aggregate Functions?

Aggregate functions perform a calculation on a set of values and return a single value. Aggregate functions ignore NULL values except COUNT function. HAVING clause is used, along with GROUP BY, for filtering query using aggregate values.

Following functions are aggregate functions.

AVG, MIN CHECKSUM_AGG, SUM, COUNT, STDEV, COUNT_BIG, STDEVP, GROUPING, VAR, MAX. VARP

27. What do you mean by Table Sample?

TABLESAMPLE allows you to extract a sampling of rows from a table in the FROM clause. The rows retrieved are random and they are not in any order. This sampling can be based on a percentage of number of rows. You can use TABLESAMPLE when only a sampling of rows is necessary for the application instead of a full result set.

28. What is the difference between UNION and UNION ALL?

UNION The UNION command is used to select related information from two tables, much like the JOIN command. However, when using the UNION command all selected columns need to be of the same data type. With UNION, only distinct values are selected.
UNION ALL The UNION ALL command is equal to the UNION command, except that UNION ALL selects all values.

The difference between Union and Union all is that Union all will not eliminate duplicate rows, instead it just pulls all rows from all tables fitting your query specifics and combines them into a table.

29. What is B-Tree?

The database server uses a B-tree structure to organize index information. B-Tree generally has following types of index pages or nodes:

root node: A root node contains node pointers to branch nodes which can be only one.
branch node: A branch node contains pointers to leaf nodes or other branch nodes which can be two or more.
leaf nodes: A leaf node contains index items and orizantal pointers to other leaf nodes which can be many.

SQL Server - Common Interview Questions and Answers part-2

2012-03-22T12:41:00.001+05:30

19. What is the difference between a Local and a Global temporary table?

A local temporary table exists only for the duration of a connection or, if defined inside a compound statement, for the duration of the compound statement.
A global temporary table remains in the database permanently, but the rows exist only within a given connection. When connection is closed, the data in the global temporary table disappears. However, the table definition remains with the database for access when database is opened next time.

20. What is the STUFF function and how does it differ from the REPLACE function?

STUFF function is used to overwrite existing characters. Using this syntax, STUFF (string_expression, start, length, replacement_characters), string_expression is the string that will have characters substituted, start is the starting position, length is the number of characters in the string that are substituted, and replacement_characters are the new characters interjected into the string. REPLACE function to replace existing characters of all occurrences. Using the syntax REPLACE (string_expression, search_string, replacement_string), where every incidence of search_string found in the string_expression will be replaced with replacement_string.

21. What is PRIMARY KEY?

A PRIMARY KEY constraint is a unique identifier for a row within a database table. Every table should have a primary key constraint to uniquely identify each row and only one primary key constraint can be created for each table. The primary key constraints are used to enforce entity integrity.

22. What is UNIQUE KEY constraint?

A UNIQUE constraint enforces the uniqueness of the values in a set of columns, so no duplicate values are entered. The unique key constraints are used to enforce entity integrity as the primary key constraints.

23. What is FOREIGN KEY?

A FOREIGN KEY constraint prevents any actions that would destroy links between tables with the corresponding data values. A foreign key in one table points to a primary key in another table. Foreign keys prevent actions that would leave rows with foreign key values when there are no primary keys with that value. The foreign key constraints are used to enforce referential integrity.

24. What is CHECK Constraint?

A CHECK constraint is used to limit the values that can be placed in a column. The check constraints are used to enforce domain integrity.

25. What is NOT NULL Constraint?

A NOT NULL constraint enforces that the column will not accept null values. The not null constraints are used to enforce domain integrity, as the check constraints.

26. How to get @@ERROR and @@ROWCOUNT at the same time?

If @@Rowcount is checked after Error checking statement then it will have 0 as the value of @@Recordcount as it would have been reset. And if @@Recordcount is checked before the error-checking statement then @@Error would get reset. To get @@error and @@rowcount at the same time do both in same statement and store them in local variable.

SELECT @RC = @@ROWCOUNT, @ER = @@ERROR

27. What is a Scheduled Jobs or What is a Scheduled Tasks?

Scheduled tasks let user automate processes that run on regular or predictable cycles. User can schedule administrative tasks, such as cube processing, to run during times of slow business activity. User can also determine the order in which tasks run by creating job steps within a SQL Server Agent job. E.g. back up database, Update Stats of Tables. Job steps give user control over flow of execution. If one job fails, user can configure SQL Server Agent to continue to run the remaining tasks or to stop execution.

28. What are the advantages of using Stored Procedures?

Stored procedure can reduced network traffic and latency, boosting application performance.
Stored procedure execution plans can be reused, staying cached in SQL Server's memory, reducing server overhead.
Stored procedures help promote code reuse.
Stored procedures can encapsulate logic. You can change stored procedure code without affecting clients.
Stored procedures provide better security to your data.

29. What is a table called, if it has neither Cluster nor Non-cluster Index? What is it used for?

Unindexed table or Heap. Microsoft Press Books and Book on Line (BOL) refers it as Heap. A heap is a table that does not have a clustered index and, therefore, the pages are not linked by pointers. The IAM pages are the only structures that link the pages in a table together. Unindexed tables are good for fast storing of data. Many times it is better to drop all indexes from table and then do bulk of inserts and to restore those indexes after that.

30. Can SQL Servers linked to other servers like Oracle?

SQL Server can be linked to any server provided it has OLE-DB provider from Microsoft to allow a link. E.g. Oracle has an OLE-DB provider for oracle that Microsoft provides to add it as linked server to SQL Server group.

31. What is BCP? When does it used?

BulkCopy is a tool used to copy huge amount of data from tables and views. BCP does not copy the structures same as source to destination. BULK INSERT command helps to import a data file into a database table or view in a user-specified format.

32. How to implement one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many relationships while designing tables?

One-to-One relationship can be implemented as a single table and rarely as two tables with primary and foreign key relationships. One-to-Many relationships are implemented by splitting the data into two tables with primary key and foreign key relationships. Many-to-Many relationships are implemented using a junction table with the keys from both the tables forming the composite primary key of the junction table.

33. What is an execution plan? When would you use it? How would you view the execution plan?

An execution plan is basically a road map that graphically or textually shows the data retrieval methods chosen by the SQL Server query optimizer for a stored procedure or ad- hoc query and is a very useful tool for a developer to understand the performance characteristics of a query or stored procedure since the plan is the one that SQL Server will place in its cache and use to execute the stored procedure or query. From within Query Analyzer is an option called "Show Execution Plan" (located on the Query drop-down menu). If this option is turned on it will display query execution plan in separate window when query is ran again.

SQL Server - Common Interview Questions and Answers

2012-03-20T21:04:00.000+05:30

1. Which TCP/IP port does SQL Server run on? How can it be changed?

SQL Server runs on port 1433. It can be changed from the Network Utility TCP/IP properties.

2. What are the difference between clustered and a non-clustered index?

A clustered index is a special type of index that reorders the way records in the table are physically stored. Therefore table can have only one clustered index. The leaf nodes of a clustered index contain the data pages.
A non clustered index is a special type of index in which the logical order of the index does not match the physical stored order of the rows on disk. The leaf node of a non clustered index does not consist of the data pages. Instead, the leaf nodes contain index rows.

3. What are the different index configurations a table can have?

A table can have one of the following index configurations:

No indexes
A clustered index
A clustered index and many nonclustered indexes
A nonclustered index
Many nonclustered indexes

4. What are different types of Collation Sensitivity?

Case sensitivity - A and a, B and b, etc.
Accent sensitivity
Kana Sensitivity - When Japanese kana characters Hiragana and Katakana are treated differently, it is called Kana sensitive.
Width sensitivity - A single-byte character (half-width) and the same character represented as a double-byte character (full-width) are treated differently than it is width sensitive.

5. What is OLTP (Online Transaction Processing)?

In OLTP - online transaction processing systems relational database design use the discipline of data modeling and generally follow the Codd rules of data normalization in order to ensure absolute data integrity. Using these rules complex information is broken down into its most simple structures (a table) where all of the individual atomic level elements relate to each other and satisfy the normalization rules.

6. What's the difference between a primary key and a unique key?

Both primary key and unique key enforces uniqueness of the column on which they are defined. But by default primary key creates a clustered index on the column, where are unique creates a nonclustered index by default. Another major difference is that, primary key doesn't allow NULLs, but unique key allows one NULL only.

7. What is difference between DELETE and TRUNCATE commands?

Delete command removes the rows from a table based on the condition that we provide with a WHERE clause. Truncate will actually remove all the rows from a table and there will be no data in the table after we run the truncate command.

TRUNCATE:

TRUNCATE is faster and uses fewer system and transaction log resources than DELETE.
TRUNCATE removes the data by deallocating the data pages used to store the table's data, and only the page deallocations are recorded in the transaction log.
TRUNCATE removes all rows from a table, but the table structure, its columns, constraints, indexes and so on, remains. The counter used by an identity for new rows is reset to the seed for the column.
You cannot use TRUNCATE TABLE on a table referenced by a FOREIGN KEY constraint. Because TRUNCATE TABLE is not logged, it cannot activate a trigger.
TRUNCATE cannot be rolled back.
TRUNCATE is DDL Command.
TRUNCATE Resets identity of the table

DELETE:

DELETE removes rows one at a time and records an entry in the transaction log for each deleted row.
If you want to retain the identity counter, use DELETE instead. If you want to remove table definition and its data, use the DROP TABLE statement.
DELETE Can be used with or without a WHERE clause
DELETE Activates Triggers.
DELETE can be rolled back.
DELETE is DML Command.
DELETE does not reset identity of the table.

8. When is the use of UPDATE_STATISTICS command?

This command is basically used when a large processing of data has occurred. If a large amount of deletions any modification or Bulk Copy into the tables has occurred, it has to update the indexes to take these changes into account. UPDATE_STATISTICS updates the indexes on these tables accordingly.

9. What is the difference between a HAVING CLAUSE and a WHERE CLAUSE?

They specify a search condition for a group or an aggregate. But the difference is that HAVING can be used only with the SELECT statement. HAVING is typically used in a GROUP BY clause. When GROUP BY is not used, HAVING behaves like a WHERE clause. Having Clause is basically used only with the GROUP BY function in a query whereas WHERE Clause is applied to each row before they are part of the GROUP BY function in a query.

10. What are the properties and different Types of Sub-Queries?

Properties of Sub-Query

A sub-query must be enclosed in the parenthesis.
A sub-query must be put in the right hand of the comparison operator, and
A sub-query cannot contain an ORDER-BY clause.
A query can contain more than one sub-query.

Types of Sub-Query

Single-row sub-query, where the sub-query returns only one row.
Multiple-row sub-query, where the sub-query returns multiple rows,. and
Multiple column sub-query, where the sub-query returns multiple columns

11. What is SQL Profiler?

SQL Profiler is a graphical tool that allows system administrators to monitor events in an instance of Microsoft SQL Server. You can capture and save data about each event to a file or SQL Server table to analyze later. For example, you can monitor a production environment to see which stored procedures are hampering performances by executing too slowly.

Use SQL Profiler to monitor only the events in which you are interested. If traces are becoming too large, you can filter them based on the information you want, so that only a subset of the event data is collected. Monitoring too many events adds overhead to the server and the monitoring process and can cause the trace file or trace table to grow very large, especially when the monitoring process takes place over a long period of time.

12. What are the authentication modes in SQL Server? How can it be changed?

Windows mode and Mixed Mode - SQL and Windows. To change authentication mode in SQL Server click Start, Programs, Microsoft SQL Server and click SQL Enterprise Manager to run SQL Enterprise Manager from the Microsoft SQL Server program group. Select the server then from the Tools menu select SQL Server Configuration Properties, and choose the Security page.

13. Which command using Query Analyzer will give you the version of SQL server and operating system?

SELECT SERVERPROPERTY ('productversion'), SERVERPROPERTY ('productlevel'), SERVERPROPERTY ('edition').

14. What is SQL Server Agent?

SQL Server agent plays an important role in the day-to-day tasks of a database administrator (DBA). It is often overlooked as one of the main tools for SQL Server management. Its purpose is to ease the implementation of tasks for the DBA, with its full- function scheduling engine, which allows you to schedule your own jobs and scripts.

15. Can a stored procedure call itself or recursive stored procedure? How much level SP nesting is possible?

Yes. Because Transact-SQL supports recursion, you can write stored procedures that call themselves. Recursion can be defined as a method of problem solving wherein the solution is arrived at by repetitively applying it to subsets of the problem. A common application of recursive logic is to perform numeric computations that lend themselves to repetitive evaluation by the same processing steps. Stored procedures are nested when one stored procedure calls another or executes managed code by referencing a CLR routine, type, or aggregate. You can nest stored procedures and managed code references up to 32 levels.

16. What is Log Shipping?

Log shipping is the process of automating the backup of database and transaction log files on a production SQL server, and then restoring them onto a standby server. Enterprise Editions only supports log shipping. In log shipping the transactional log file from one server is automatically updated into the backup database on the other server. If one server fails, the other server will have the same db and can be used this as the Disaster Recovery plan. The key feature of log shipping is that it will automatically backup transaction logs throughout the day and automatically restore them on the standby server at defined interval.

17. Name 3 ways to get an accurate count of the number of records in a table?

SELECT * FROM table1
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table1
SELECT rows FROM sysindexes WHERE id = OBJECT_ID(table1) AND indid < 2

18. What does it mean to have QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON? What are the implications of having it OFF?

When SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER is ON, identifiers can be delimited by double quotation marks, and literals must be delimited by single quotation marks. When SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER is OFF, identifiers cannot be quoted and must follow all Transact-SQL rules for identifiers.

SQL Server - Interview Questions and Answers

2012-03-20T20:59:00.000+05:30

What is RDBMS?

Relational Data Base Management Systems (RDBMS) are database management systems that maintain data records and indices in tables. Relationships may be created and maintained across and among the data and tables. In a relational database, relationships between data items are expressed by means of tables. Interdependencies among these tables are expressed by data values rather than by pointers. This allows a high degree of data independence. An RDBMS has the capability to recombine the data items from different files, providing powerful tools for data usage.

2. What are the properties of the Relational tables?

Relational tables have six properties:

Values are atomic.

Column values are of the same kind.

Each row is unique.

The sequence of columns is insignificant.

The sequence of rows is insignificant.

Each column must have a unique name.

3. What is Normalization?

Database normalization is a data design and organization process applied to data structures based on rules that help building relational databases. In relational database design, the process of organizing data to minimize redundancy is called normalization. Normalization usually involves dividing a database into two or more tables and defining relationships between the tables. The objective is to isolate data so that additions, deletions, and modifications of a field can be made in just one table and then propagated through the rest of the database via the defined relationships.

4. What is De-normalization?

De-normalization is the process of attempting to optimize the performance of a database by adding redundant data. It is sometimes necessary because current DBMSs implement the relational model poorly. A true relational DBMS would allow for a fully normalized database at the logical level, while providing physical storage of data that is tuned for high performance. De-normalization is a technique to move from higher to lower normal forms of database modeling in order to speed up database access.

5. What are different normalization forms?

1NF: Eliminate Repeating Groups Make a separate table for each set of related attributes, and give each table a primary key. Each field contains at most one value from its attribute domain.

2NF: Eliminate Redundant Data If an attribute depends on only part of a multi-valued key, remove it to a separate table.

3NF: Eliminate Columns Not Dependent On Key If attributes do not contribute to a description of the key, remove them to a separate table. All attributes must be directly dependent on the primary key.

BCNF: Boyce-Codd Normal Form If there are non-trivial dependencies between candidate key attributes, separate them out into distinct tables.

4NF: Isolate Independent Multiple Relationships No table may contain two or more 1:n or n:m relationships that are not directly related.

5NF: Isolate Semantically Related Multiple Relationships There may be practical constrains on information that justify separating logically related many-to-many relationships.

ONF: Optimal Normal Form A model limited to only simple (elemental) facts, as expressed in Object Role Model notation.

DKNF: Domain-Key Normal Form A model free from all modification anomalies is said to be in DKNF.

Remember, these normalization guidelines are cumulative. For a database to be in 3NF, it must first fulfill all the criteria of a 2NF and 1NF database.

6. What is Stored Procedure?

A stored procedure is a named group of SQL statements that have been previously created and stored in the server database. Stored procedures accept input parameters so that a single procedure can be used over the network by several clients using different input data. And when the procedure is modified, all clients automatically get the new version. Stored procedures reduce network traffic and improve performance. Stored procedures can be used to help ensure the integrity of the database.
e.g. sp_helpdb, sp_renamedb, sp_depends etc.

7. What is Trigger?

A trigger is a SQL procedure that initiates an action when an event (INSERT, DELETE or UPDATE) occurs. Triggers are stored in and managed by the DBMS. Triggers are used to maintain the referential integrity of data by changing the data in a systematic fashion. A trigger cannot be called or executed; DBMS automatically fires the trigger as a result of a data modification to the associated table. Triggers can be viewed as similar to stored procedures in that both consist of procedural logic that is stored at the database level. Stored procedures, however, are not event-drive and are not attached to a specific table as triggers are. Stored procedures are explicitly executed by invoking a CALL to the procedure while triggers are implicitly executed. In addition, triggers can also execute stored procedures.

8. What is Nested Trigger?

A trigger can also contain INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE logic within itself, so when the trigger is fired because of data modification it can also cause another data modification, thereby firing another trigger. A trigger that contains data modification logic within itself is called a nested trigger.

9. What is View?

A simple view can be thought of as a subset of a table. It can be used for retrieving data, as well as updating or deleting rows. Rows updated or deleted in the view are updated or deleted in the table the view was created with. It should also be noted that as data in the original table changes, so does data in the view, as views are the way to look at part of the original table. The results of using a view are not permanently stored in the database. The data accessed through a view is actually constructed using standard T-SQL select command and can come from one to many different base tables or even other views.

10. What is Index?

An index is a physical structure containing pointers to the data. Indices are created in an existing table to locate rows more quickly and efficiently. It is possible to create an index on one or more columns of a table, and each index is given a name. The users cannot see the indexes; they are just used to speed up queries. Effective indexes are one of the best ways to improve performance in a database application. A table scan happens when there is no index available to help a query. In a table scan SQL Server examines every row in the table to satisfy the query results. Table scans are sometimes unavoidable, but on large tables, scans have a terrific impact on performance.

11. What is a Linked Server?

Linked Servers is a concept in SQL Server by which we can add other SQL Server to a Group and query both the SQL Server dbs using T-SQL Statements. With a linked server, you can create very clean, easy to follow, SQL statements that allow remote data to be retrieved, joined and combined with local data. Stored Procedure sp_addlinkedserver, sp_addlinkedsrvlogin will be used add new Linked Server.

12. What is Cursor?

Cursor is a database object used by applications to manipulate data in a set on a row-by- row basis, instead of the typical SQL commands that operate on all the rows in the set at one time.

In order to work with a cursor we need to perform some steps in the following order:

Declare cursor

Open cursor

Fetch row from the cursor

Process fetched row

Close cursor

Deallocate cursor

13. What is Collation?

Collation refers to a set of rules that determine how data is sorted and compared. Character data is sorted using rules that define the correct character sequence, with options for specifying case sensitivity, accent marks, kana character types and character width.

14. What is Difference between Function and Stored Procedure?

UDF can be used in the SQL statements anywhere in the WHERE/HAVING/SELECT section where as Stored procedures cannot be. UDFs that return tables can be treated as another rowset. This can be used in JOINs with other tables. Inline UDF's can be thought of as views that take parameters and can be used in JOINs and other Rowset operations.

15. What is sub-query? Explain properties of sub-query?

Sub-queries are often referred to as sub-selects, as they allow a SELECT statement to be executed arbitrarily within the body of another SQL statement. A sub-query is executed by enclosing it in a set of parentheses. Sub-queries are generally used to return a single row as an atomic value, though they may be used to compare values against multiple rows with the IN keyword.

A subquery is a SELECT statement that is nested within another T-SQL statement. A subquery SELECT statement if executed independently of the T-SQL statement, in which it is nested, will return a resultset. Meaning a subquery SELECT statement can standalone and is not depended on the statement in which it is nested. A subquery SELECT statement can return any number of values, and can be found in, the column list of a SELECT statement, a FROM, GROUP BY, HAVING, and/or ORDER BY clauses of a T-SQL statement. A Subquery can also be used as a parameter to a function call. Basically a subquery can be used anywhere an expression can be used.

16. What are different Types of Join?

Cross Join A cross join that does not have a WHERE clause produces the Cartesian product of the tables involved in the join. The size of a Cartesian product result set is the number of rows in the first table multiplied by the number of rows in the second table. The common example is when company wants to combine each product with a pricing table to analyze each product at each price.

Inner Join A join that displays only the rows that have a match in both joined tables is known as inner Join. This is the default type of join in the Query and View Designer.

Outer Join A join that includes rows even if they do not have related rows in the joined table is an Outer Join. You can create three different outer join to specify the unmatched rows to be included:

Left Outer Join: In Left Outer Join all rows in the first-named table i.e. "left" table, which appears leftmost in the JOIN clause are included. Unmatched rows in the right table do not appear.

Right Outer Join: In Right Outer Join all rows in the second-named table i.e. "right" table, which appears rightmost in the JOIN clause are included. Unmatched rows in the left table are not included.

Full Outer Join: In Full Outer Join all rows in all joined tables are included, whether they are matched or not.

Self Join This is a particular case when one table joins to itself, with one or two aliases to avoid confusion. A self join can be of any type, as long as the joined tables are the same. A self join is rather unique in that it involves a relationship with only one table. The common example is when company has a hierarchal reporting structure whereby one member of staff reports to another. Self Join can be Outer Join or Inner Join.

17. What are primary keys and foreign keys?

Primary keys are the unique identifiers for each row. They must contain unique values and cannot be null. Due to their importance in relational databases, Primary keys are the most fundamental of all keys and constraints. A table can have only one Primary key. Foreign keys are both a method of ensuring data integrity and a manifestation of the relationship between tables.

18. What is User Defined Functions? What kind of User-Defined Functions can be created?

User-Defined Functions allow defining its own T-SQL functions that can accept 0 or more parameters and return a single scalar data value or a table data type.
Different Kinds of User-Defined Functions created are:

Scalar User-Defined Function A Scalar user-defined function returns one of the scalar data types. Text, ntext, image and timestamp data types are not supported. These are the type of user-defined functions that most developers are used to in other programming languages. You pass in 0 to many parameters and you get a return value.

Inline Table-Value User-Defined Function An Inline Table-Value user-defined function returns a table data type and is an exceptional alternative to a view as the user-defined function can pass parameters into a T-SQL select command and in essence provide us with a parameterized, non-updateable view of the underlying tables.

Multi-statement Table-Value User-Defined Function A Multi-Statement Table-Value user-defined function returns a table and is also an exceptional alternative to a view as the function can support multiple T-SQL statements to build the final result where the view is limited to a single SELECT statement. Also, the ability to pass parameters into a TSQL select command or a group of them gives us the capability to in essence create a parameterized, non-updateable view of the data in the underlying tables. Within the create function command you must define the table structure that is being returned. After creating this type of user-defined function, It can be used in the FROM clause of a T-SQL command unlike the behavior found when using a stored procedure which can also return record sets.

19. What is Identity?

Identity (or AutoNumber) is a column that automatically generates numeric values. A start and increment value can be set, but most DBA leave these at 1. A GUID column also generates numbers; the value of this cannot be controlled. Identity/GUID columns do not need to be indexed.

20. What is DataWarehousing?

Subject-oriented, meaning that the data in the database is organized so that all the data elements relating to the same real-world event or object are linked together;

Time-variant, meaning that the changes to the data in the database are tracked and recorded so that reports can be produced showing changes over time;

Non-volatile, meaning that data in the database is never over-written or deleted, once committed, the data is static, read-only, but retained for future reporting.

Integrated, meaning that the database contains data from most or all of an organization's operational applications, and that this data is made consistent.

UNIX Memory Management - Interview Questions and Answers part 2

2012-03-11T14:04:00.000+05:30

What are conditions for a machine to support Demand Paging?

Memory architecture must based on Pages,

The machine must support the 'restartable' instructions.

What is "the principle of locality"?

It's the nature of the processes that they refer only to the small subset of the total data space of the process. i.e. the process frequently calls the same subroutines or executes the loop instructions.

What is the working set of a process?

The set of pages that are referred by the process in the last "n", references, where "n" is called the window of the working set of the process.

What is the window of the working set of a process?

The window of the working set of a process is the total number in which the process had referred the set of pages in the working set of the process.

What is called a page fault?

Page fault is referred to the situation when the process addresses a page in the working set of the process but the process fails to locate the page in the working set. And on a page fault the kernel updates the working set by reading the page from the secondary device.

What are data structures that are used for Demand Paging?

Kernel contains 4 data structures for Demand paging. They are,

Page table entries,

Disk block descriptors,

Page frame data table (pfdata),

Swap-use table.

What are the bits that support the demand paging?

Valid, Reference, Modify, Copy on write, Age. These bits are the part of the page table entry, which includes physical address of the page and protection bits.

How the Kernel handles the fork() system call in traditional Unix and in the System V Unix, while swapping?

Kernel in traditional Unix, makes the duplicate copy of the parent's address space and attaches it to the child's process, while swapping. Kernel in System V Unix, manipulates the region tables, page table, and pfdata table entries, by incrementing the reference count of the region table of shared regions.

Difference between the fork() and vfork() system call?

During the fork() system call the Kernel makes a copy of the parent process's address space and attaches it to the child process.

But the vfork() system call do not makes any copy of the parent's address space, so it is faster than the fork() system call. The child process as a result of the vfork() system call executes exec() system call. The child process from vfork() system call executes in the parent's address space (this can overwrite the parent's data and stack ) which suspends the parent process until the child process exits.

What is BSS(Block Started by Symbol)?

A data representation at the machine level, that has initial values when a program starts and tells about how much space the kernel allocates for the un-initialized data. Kernel initializes it to zero at run-time.

What is Page-Stealer process?

This is the Kernel process that makes rooms for the incoming pages, by swapping the memory pages that are not the part of the working set of a process. Page-Stealer is created by the Kernel at the system initialization and invokes it throughout the lifetime of the system. Kernel locks a region when a process faults on a page in the region, so that page stealer cannot steal the page, which is being faulted in.

Name two paging states for a page in memory?

The two paging states are:

The page is aging and is not yet eligible for swapping,

The page is eligible for swapping but not yet eligible for reassignment to other virtual address space.

What are the phases of swapping a page from the memory?

Page stealer finds the page eligible for swapping and places the page number in the list of pages to be swapped.

Kernel copies the page to a swap device when necessary and clears the valid bit in the page table entry, decrements the pfdata reference count, and places the pfdata table entry at the end of the free list if its reference count is 0.

What is page fault? Its types?

Page fault refers to the situation of not having a page in the main memory when any process references it. There are two types of page fault :

Validity fault,

Protection fault.

In what way the Fault Handlers and the Interrupt handlers are different?

Fault handlers are also an interrupt handler with an exception that the interrupt handlers cannot sleep. Fault handlers sleep in the context of the process that caused the memory fault. The fault refers to the running process and no arbitrary processes are put to sleep.

What is validity fault?

If a process referring a page in the main memory whose valid bit is not set, it results in validity fault. The valid bit is not set for those pages:

that are outside the virtual address space of a process,

that are the part of the virtual address space of the process but no physical address is assigned to it.

What does the swapping system do if it identifies the illegal page for swapping?

If the disk block descriptor does not contain any record of the faulted page, then this causes the attempted memory reference is invalid and the kernel sends a "Segmentation violation" signal to the offending process. This happens when the swapping system identifies any invalid memory reference.

What are states that the page can be in, after causing a page fault?

On a swap device and not in memory,

On the free page list in the main memory,

In an executable file,

Marked "demand zero",

Marked "demand fill"

In what way the validity fault handler concludes?

It sets the valid bit of the page by clearing the modify bit.

It recalculates the process priority.

At what mode the fault handler executes?

At the Kernel Mode.

What do you mean by the protection fault?

Protection fault refers to the process accessing the pages, which do not have the access permission. A process also incur the protection fault when it attempts to write a page whose copy on write bit was set during the fork() system call.

How the Kernel handles the copy on write bit of a page, when the bit is set?

In situations like, where the copy on write bit of a page is set and that page is shared by more than one process, the Kernel allocates new page and copies the content to the new page and the other processes retain their references to the old page. After copying the Kernel updates the page table entry with the new page number. Then Kernel decrements the reference count of the old pfdata table entry.

In cases like, where the copy on write bit is set and no processes are sharing the page, the Kernel allows the physical page to be reused by the processes. By doing so, it clears the copy on write bit and disassociates the page from its disk copy (if one exists), because other process may share the disk copy. Then it removes the pfdata table entry from the page-queue as the new copy of the virtual page is not on the swap device. It decrements the swap-use count for the page and if count drops to 0, frees the swap space.

For which kind of fault the page is checked first?

The page is first checked for the validity fault, as soon as it is found that the page is invalid (valid bit is clear), the validity fault handler returns immediately, and the process incur the validity page fault. Kernel handles the validity fault and the process will incur the protection fault if any one is present.

In what way the protection fault handler concludes?

After finishing the execution of the fault handler, it sets the modify and protection bits and clears the copy on write bit. It recalculates the process-priority and checks for signals.

How the Kernel handles both the page stealer and the fault handler?

The page stealer and the fault handler thrash because of the shortage of the memory. If the sum of the working sets of all processes is greater that the physical memory then the fault handler will usually sleep because it cannot allocate pages for a process. This results in the reduction of the system throughput because Kernel spends too much time in overhead, rearranging the memory in the frantic pace.

INTERVIEWS QUESTION & ANSWER: UNIX Memory Management - Interview Questions and Answers

2012-03-08T19:45:00.001+05:30

INTERVIEWS QUESTION & ANSWER: UNIX Memory Management - Interview Questions and Answers