COMMON HR INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

COMMON HR INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

1. Tell me about yourself:

The most often asked question in interviews. You need to have a short statement prepared in your mind. Be careful that it does not sound rehearsed. Limit it to work-related items unless instructed otherwise. Talk about things you have done and jobs you have held that relate to the position you are interviewing for. Start with the item farthest back and work up to the present.

2. Why did you leave your last job?

Stay positive regardless of the circumstances. Never refer to a major problem with management and never speak ill of supervisors, co-workers or the organization. If you do, you will be the one looking bad. Keep smiling and talk about leaving for a positive reason such as an opportunity, a chance to do something special or other forward-looking reasons.

3. What experience do you have in this field?

Speak about specifics that relate to the position you are applying for. If you do not have specific experience, get as close as you can.

4. Do you consider yourself successful?

You should always answer yes and briefly explain why. A good explanation is that you have set goals, and you have met some and are on track to achieve the others.

5. What do co-workers say about you?

Be prepared with a quote or two from co-workers. Either a specific statement or a paraphrase will work. Jill Clark, a co-worker at Smith Company, always said I was the

hardest workers she had ever known. It is as powerful as Jill having said it at the interview herself.

6. What do you know about this organization?

This question is one reason to do some research on the organization before the interview. Find out where they have been and where they are going. What are the current issues and who are the major players?

7. What have you done to improve your knowledge in the last year?

Try to include improvement activities that relate to the job. A wide variety of activities can be mentioned as positive self-improvement. Have some good ones handy to mention.

8. Are you applying for other jobs?

Be honest but do not spend a lot of time in this area. Keep the focus on this job and what you can do for this organization. Anything else is a distraction.

9. Why do you want to work for this organization?

This may take some thought and certainly, should be based on the research you have done on the organization. Sincerity is extremely important here and will easily be sensed. Relate it to your long-term career goals.

10. Do you know anyone who works for us?

Be aware of the policy on relatives working for the organization. This can affect your answer even though they asked about friends not relatives. Be careful to mention a friend only if they are well thought of.

11. What kind of salary do you need?

A loaded question. A nasty little game that you will probably lose if you answer first. So, do not answer it. Instead, say something like, That’s a tough question. Can you tell me the range for this position? In most cases, the interviewer, taken off guard, will tell you. If not, say that it can depend on the details of the job. Then give a wide range.

12. Are you a team player?

You are, of course, a team player. Be sure to have examples ready. Specifics that show you often perform for the good of the team rather than for yourself are good evidence of your team attitude. Do not brag, just say it in a matter-of-fact tone. This is a key point.

13. How long would you expect to work for us if hired?

Specifics here are not good. Something like this should work: I’d like it to be a long time. Or As long as we both feel I’m doing a good job.

14. Have you ever had to fire anyone? How did you feel about that?

This is serious. Do not make light of it or in any way seem like you like to fire people. At the same time, you will do it when it is the right thing to do. When it comes to the organization versus the individual who has created a harmful situation, you will protect the organization. Remember firing is not the same as layoff or reduction in force.

15. What is your philosophy towards work?

The interviewer is not looking for a long or flowery dissertation here. Do you have strong feelings that the job gets done? Yes. That’s the type of answer that works best here. Short and positive, showing a benefit to the organization.

16. If you had enough money to retire right now, would you?

Answer yes if you would. But since you need to work, this is the type of work you prefer. Do not say yes if you do not mean it.

17. Have you ever been asked to leave a position?

If you have not, say no. If you have, be honest, brief and avoid saying negative things about the people or organization involved.

18. Explain how you would be an asset to this organization

You should be anxious for this question. It gives you a chance to highlight your best points as they relate to the position being discussed. Give a little advance thought to this relationship.

19. Why should we hire you?

Point out how your assets meet what the organization needs. Do not mention any other candidates to make a comparison.

20. Tell me about a suggestion you have made

Have a good one ready. Be sure and use a suggestion that was accepted and was then considered successful. One related to the type of work applied for is a real plus.

21. What irritates you about co-workers?

This is a trap question. Think real hard but fail to come up with anything that irritates you. A short statement that you seem to get along with folks is great.

22. What is your greatest strength?

Numerous answers are good, just stay positive. A few good examples: Your ability to prioritize, Your problem-solving skills, Your ability to work under pressure,

Your ability to focus on projects, Your professional expertise, Your leadership skills, Your positive attitude.

23. Tell me about your dream job.

Stay away from a specific job. You cannot win. If you say the job you are contending for is it, you strain credibility. If you say another job is it, you plant the suspicion that you will be dissatisfied with this position if hired. The best is to stay genetic and say something like: A job where I love the work, like the people, can contribute and can’t wait to get to work.

24. Why do you think you would do well at this job?

Give several reasons and include skills, experience and interest.

25. What are you looking for in a job?

See answer # 23

26. What kind of person would you refuse to work with?

Do not be trivial. It would take disloyalty to the organization, violence or lawbreaking to get you to object. Minor objections will label you as a whiner.

27. What is more important to you: the money or the work?

Money is always important, but the work is the most important. There is no better answer.

28. What would your previous supervisor say your strongest point is?

There are numerous good possibilities: Loyalty, Energy, Positive attitude, Leadership, Team player, Expertise, Initiative, Patience, Hard work, Creativity, Problem solver

29. Tell me about a problem you had with a supervisor

Biggest trap of all. This is a test to see if you will speak ill of your boss. If you fall for it and tell about a problem with a former boss, you may well below the interview right there. Stay positive and develop a poor memory about any trouble with a supervisor.

30. What has disappointed you about a job?

Don’t get trivial or negative. Safe areas are few but can include: Not enough of a challenge. You were laid off in a reduction Company did not win a contract,

which would have given you more responsibility.

31. Tell me about your ability to work under pressure.

You may say that you thrive under certain types of pressure. Give an example that relates to the type of position applied for.

32. Do your skills match this job or another job more closely?

Probably this one. Do not give fuel to the suspicion that you may want another job more than this one.

33. What motivates you to do your best on the job?

This is a personal trait that only you can say, but good examples are: Challenge, Achievement, Recognition

34. Are you willing to work overtime? Nights? Weekends?

This is up to you. Be totally honest.

35. How would you know you were successful on this job?

Several ways are good measures: You set high standards for yourself and meet them. Your outcomes are a success.Your boss tell you that you are successful

36. Would you be willing to relocate if required?

You should be clear on this with your family prior to the interview if you think there is a chance it may come up. Do not say yes just to get the job if the real answer is no. This can create a lot of problems later on in your career. Be honest at this point and save yourself future grief.

37. Are you willing to put the interests of the organization ahead of your own?

This is a straight loyalty and dedication question. Do not worry about the deep ethical and philosophical implications. Just say yes.

38. Describe your management style.

Try to avoid labels. Some of the more common labels, like progressive, salesman or consensus, can have several meanings or descriptions depending on which management expert you listen to. The situational style is safe, because it says you will manage according to the situation, instead of one size fits all.

39. What have you learned from mistakes on the job?

Here you have to come up with something or you strain credibility. Make it small, well intentioned mistake with a positive lesson learned. An example would be working too far ahead of colleagues on a project and thus throwing coordination off.

40. Do you have any blind spots?

Trick question. If you know about blind spots, they are no longer blind spots. Do not reveal any personal areas of concern here. Let them do their own discovery on your bad points. Do not hand it to them.

41. If you were hiring a person for this job, what would you look for?

Be careful to mention traits that are needed and that you have.

42. Do you think you are overqualified for this position?

Regardless of your qualifications, state that you are very well qualified for the position.

43. How do you propose to compensate for your lack of experience?

First, if you have experience that the interviewer does not know about, bring that up: Then, point out (if true) that you are a hard working quick learner.

44. What qualities do you look for in a boss?

Be generic and positive. Safe qualities are knowledgeable, a sense of humor, fair, loyal to subordinates and holder of high standards. All bosses think they have these traits.

45. Tell me about a time when you helped resolve a dispute between others.

Pick a specific incident. Concentrate on your problem solving technique and not the dispute you settled.

46. What position do you prefer on a team working on a project?

Be honest. If you are comfortable in different roles, point that out.

47. Describe your work ethic.

Emphasize benefits to the organization. Things like, determination to get the job done and work hard but enjoy your work are good.

48. What has been your biggest professional disappointment?

Be sure that you refer to something that was beyond your control. Show acceptance and no negative feelings.

49. Tell me about the most fun you have had on the job.

Talk about having fun by accomplishing something for the organization.

50. Do you have any questions for me?

Always have some questions prepared. Questions prepared where you will be an asset to the organization are good. How soon will I be able to be productive? and What type of projects will I be able to assist on? are examples.

Linux Interview Questions

Item Title Hits What is the minimum number of partitions you need to install Linux?
What command can you use to review boot messages?
What command you execute to display the last five commands you have entered?
Which partitions might you create on mail server HDDs other than the root, swap and boot partitions?
Which partitioning tool is available in all distributions?
Which two commands can you use to delete directories?
Which file defines all users on your system?
our wish to print the file vacations with 60 lines to a page. Which command will accomplish this?
To move /home/ben/memos dir in /home/bob/memos, what is the result by mv /home/ben/memos /home/bob
What is the command to list ALL (hidden also) files of current directory & it’s subdirectories?
Do you know the correct sequence of fields in /etc/passwd file?
When you create a new partition, in what terms you need to designate its size
What command you use for cpio to create a backup called backup.cpio of all the users’ home dirs?
What file defines the levels of messages written to system log files?
List all the files with ‘.mem’ extension in reverse alphabetical order in a particular directory?
When you issue the command ls -l, what signifies the first character of the resulting display file? 701 What command can you use to determine the purpose of any command?
How can I only see the last 5 lines of a file?
How can I only see the first 14 lines of a file?
How do you change permissions on a directory of file?
How can you view a file?
Explain the read, write, and execute permissions on a UNIX directory
Where is standard output usually directed?
What account is created when you install Linux?
What can you type at a command line to determine which shell you are using?
Why you shouldn’t use the root login?
How big should the swap-space partition be?
What is Write Command?
In Linux OS, what is the file server?
What is the main advantage of creating links to a file instead of copies of the file? What are two subtle differences in using the more and the pg commands?
What is the use of thread over process?
What is segmentation fault?
What is the use of proc structure?
What are the signals we have in Linux?
Who owns data dictionary?
How Many People Use Linux?
How Does One Pronounce Linux?
How the Linux is licensed?
Who is Linus Torvalds?
What exactly is this Linux?
Is the Linux as same as Unix?
 

CCNA Interview Questions

Some Network Question

what is a Firewall:
Firewalls are of two types:
-Hardware Firewall
-Software Firewall.
Firewall in simple manner is bascially the utility to provide the security over the network. These are the security measures that prevents the network’s in and out traffic to pass through the specific Security filters so that the unwanted and unsecure data can be stopped from entering into the network..
further… as a security measure it also depends on the network designer and implementer that how to use a Firewall mean to say the security measures like how to present the content filtering and Url filtering which type of firewall should be used and where to put it..

 

Well.. firt of all one should know what a protocol actually means:
A Protocol is bascially set of rules designed and developed for the internetwork or can say intranetwork Communications. the need of Tcp had been rised in early years when like.. IBM Mainframe were not able to Communicate with the Burroughs mainframe.. means if you wish to connect 2 or more computers they should be same with everything from manufacturer to designer and implementer…then TCP imerged as a solution-for-ever..
EARLIER it was NCP( Network Control Protocal) but later it refined into TCP( Transmission Control Protocol) and IP(Internet Protocol)on jan.1,1983..

Some General roles of TCP/IP are:
1. Independence from particular vendor or network.
2. very low data overhead
3. good failure recovery.
and if the thinghs are taken seprately.. then
TCP is bascially responsible for proper data transmission by assuring data integrity it is a connection oriented protocol that follows the under scenerio
1. Handshaking.
2. Packect Sequencing
3. Flow Control.
4. Error handling.
IP : Since the data to be sent must be put somewhere the IP works here .. the required data is packaged in an IP packet.

 

Layers

7 Application
6 Presentation Upper Layers
5 Session

4 Transport
3 Network
2 Data Link Lower Layers
1 Physical

 

The application, presentation, and session layers are all application-oriented in that they are responsible for presenting the application interface to the user. All three are independent of the layers below them and are totally oblivious to the means by which data gets to the application. These three layers are called the upper layers.
The lower four layers deal with the transmission of data, covering the packaging, routing, verification, and transmission of each data group. The lower layers don’t worry about the type of data they receive or send to the application, but deal simply with the task of sending it. They don’t differentiate between the different applications in any way.
The following sections explain each layer to help you understand the architecture of the OSI-RM (and later contrast it with the architecture of TCP/IP).

The Application Layer

The application layer is the end-user interface to the OSI system. It is where the applications, such as electronic mail, USENET news readers, or database display modules, reside. The application layer’s task is to display received information and send the user’s new data to the lower layers.
In distributed applications, such as client/server systems, the application layer is where the client application resides. It communicates through the lower layers to the server.

The Presentation Layer

The presentation layer’s task is to isolate the lower layers from the application’s data format. It converts the data from the application into a common format, often called the canonical representation. The presentation layer processes machine-dependent data from the application layer into a machine-independent format for the lower layers.
The presentation layer is where file formats and even character formats (ASCII and EBCDIC, for example) are lost. The conversion from the application data format takes place through a “common network programming language” (as it is called in the OSI Reference Model documents) that has a structured format.
The presentation layer does the reverse for incoming data. It is converted from the common format into application-specific formats, based on the type of application the machine has instructions for. If the data comes in without reformatting instructions, the information might not be assembled in the correct manner for the user’s application.

The Session Layer

The session layer organizes and synchronizes the exchange of data between application processes. It works with the application layer to provide simple data sets called synchronization points that let an application know how the transmission and reception of data are progressing. In simplified terms, the session layer can be thought of as a timing and flow control layer.
The session layer is involved in coordinating communications between different applications, letting each know the status of the other. An error in one application (whether on the same machine or across the country) is handled by the session layer to let the receiving application know that the error has occurred. The session layer can resynchronize applications that are currently connected to each other. This can be necessary when communications are temporarily interrupted, or when an error has occurred that results in loss of data.

The Transport Layer

The transport layer, as its name suggests, is designed to provide the “transparent transfer of data from a source end open system to a destination end open system,” according to the OSI Reference Model. The transport layer establishes, maintains, and terminates communications between two machines.
The transport layer is responsible for ensuring that data sent matches the data received. This verification role is important in ensuring that data is correctly sent, with a resend if an error was detected. The transport layer manages the sending of data, determining its order and its priority.

The Network Layer

The network layer provides the physical routing of the data, determining the path between the machines. The network layer handles all these routing issues, relieving the higher layers from this issue.
The network layer examines the network topology to determine the best route to send a message, as well as figuring out relay systems. It is the only network layer that sends a message from source to target machine, managing other chunks of data that pass through the system on their way to another machine.

The Data Link Layer

The data link layer, according to the OSI reference paper, “provides for the control of the physical layer, and detects and possibly corrects errors that can occur.” In practicality, the data link layer is responsible for correcting transmission errors induced during transmission (as opposed to errors in the application data itself, which are handled in the transport layer).
The data link layer is usually concerned with signal interference on the physical transmission media, whether through copper wire, fiber optic cable, or microwave. Interference is common, resulting from many sources, including cosmic rays and stray magnetic interference from other sources.

The Physical Layer

The physical layer is the lowest layer of the OSI model and deals with the “mechanical, electrical, functional, and procedural means” required for transmission of data, according to the OSI definition. This is really the wiring or other transmission form.
When the OSI model was being developed, a lot of concern dealt with the lower two layers, because they are, in most cases, inseparable. The real world treats the data link layer and the physical layer as one combined layer, but the formal OSI definition stipulates different purposes for each. (TCP/IP includes the data link and physical layers as one layer, recognizing that the division is more academic than practical.)

User(s) are complaining of delays when using the network. What would you do?

- get the user(s) to demonstrate the problem

- determine how many other users are affected

- ensure desktop hardware and configuration is OK

- trace all connections (they may be on another subnet)

- commence some monitoring or diagnostics

- determine problem (if there is one)

- provide solution

 Can I connect two computers to internet using same line.

Yes, we can connect two or more system using many types of mathodes..

1.Remote Help Invitations.. if you have high or medium speed internet connection you can access the system..
2. VPN.. using the Virtual Private Network this is technology which is use to make virtual network between any remote location. VPN make a tunnel type connection for fast & secure communication.
3. Using third party software we have many type of VPN softwares.

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User(s) are complaining of delays when using  the network. What would you do?
Network slow problem create by many reasions like.. Spyware, Virus, Spool Virus, NetBios, or may be any machine infected with a Virus or Worm..This problem may be genrate by defected HUB/Switch or Carbon in Jack or female RJ45 connector.so you have update your antivirus or firewall software or desible the NetBios in Wins Configurations.

What are some of the problems associated with operating a switched LAN?
A switched LAN (Local Area Network) may use a Gigabit Ethernet switch that includes different ports connected to PCs and to layer 3 routers. The routers connected to different switch ports can not immediately identify failures either of other routers or of the ports and links by which they are connected to the switch. The routers currently have to rely on slow timeout mechanisms, such as missed hello packets, to detect failures on other links connected to the switch.Thus, the time required to detect failures can and often does dominate the time required for a routing algorithm to determine a new network topology around a detected failure (convergence time).

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Some Questions

1.How to take the bios backup?
2.How to disable the ports (usb,com and serial ports)?
3.Difference between cold booting and warm booting?
4.Explain Dr.Watson?

1.  What is the difference between layer 2 and layer 3 in the OSI model?
2. What is the difference between a hub, switch, and router?
3. What is a VLAN?
4. What is the difference between TCP and UDP?
5. How do you distinguish a DNS problem from a network problem?
6. What is a runt, Giant, and collision?
7. What is a broadcast storm?
8. What is the purpose of VRRP?
9. What is a VPN?
10. What information about a peer would I need to establish a VPN?
11. What is a full-class C in CIDR notation?
12. What is a default route?
13. What is a metric?
14. What is a MAC address?
15. What is ARP/RARP?
16. Describe a TCP connection sequence
17. What is MTU?
18. What other TCP setting can you modify besides MTU to shorten packets?

19.    What is the difference between TCP and UDP

20.  TCP is a connection oriented protocol, which means that everytime a packet is sent say from host A to B, we will get an acknowledgement. Whereas UDP on the other hand, is a connection less protocol.

21.  Where will it be used : TCP -> Say you have a file transfer and you need to ensure that the file reaches intact, and time is not a factor, in such a case we can use TCP.

22.  UDP-> Media Streaming, question is say you are watching a movie…would you prefer that your movie comes..perfectly….but u need to wait a long time before you see the next frame ?..or would you prefer the movie to keep streaming…Yes…The second option is definely better….This is when we need UDP

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What is a MAC address?

MAC is a machines Physical address, The internet is addressed based on a logical addressing approach. Say,when the packet reaches say the bridge connection a LAN, the question is..how does it identify, which computer it needs to send the packet to. For this it uses the concept of ARP, Address Resolution Protocol, which it uses over time to build up a table mapping from the Logical addresses to the Physical addresses. Each computer is identified using its MAC/Physical address ( u can use the ipconfig -all option to get ur MAC address).

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What is MTU

The MTU is the “Maximum Transmission Unit” used by the TCP protocol. TCP stands for Transmission Control Prototcol. The MTU determines the size of packets used by TCP for each transmission of data. Too large of an MTU size may mean retransmissions if the packet encounters a router along its route that can’t handle that large a packet. Too small of an MTU size means relatively more overhead and more acknowledgements that have to be sent and handled. The MTU is rated in “octets” or groups of 8 bits. The so-called “official” internet standard MTU is 576, but the standard rating for ethernet is an MTU of 1500.

Ques 9: VPN’s
VPN(Virtual Private Network )… these are bascially the logical networks on the physical line… you can have many VPN oveer same line..
Need of VPN arises when your company need to increase the network but don’t want to buy any more switches.. take an eg. your dept. your room is packed with employees and ur company need to add 4 more persons to ur deptt. what will they do.. the solution is to create VPN’s…you can configure the switch ports in other deptts. and create a specific VLAN of ur deptt.so that the persons can sit there and access to the required pcs.

What is a VPN?

A VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. In english it is a direct tunnel into a remote network. It allows users to work with certain applications, printers, network drives and shares as if they where sitting in the office.

 

What is a metric?

Routing tables contain information used by switching software to select the best route.
Routing algorithms have used many different metrics to determine the best route. Sophisticated routing algorithms can base route selection on multiple metrics, combining them in a single (hybrid) metric. All the following metrics have been used:

•Path length

•Reliability

•Delay

•Bandwidth

•Load

•Communication cost

What is a full-class C in CIDR notation?
Ans :
For class A ..default subnet mask is 255.0.0.0 so CIDR notation is /8
For class B ..default subnet mask is 255.255.0.0 so CIDR notation is /16
For class C ..default subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 so CIDR notation is /24

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Private(Reserved) And Public IP’s?
A computer on the Internet is identified by its IP address. In order to avoid address conflicts, IP addresses are publicly registered with the Network Information Centre (NIC). Computers on private TCP/IP LANs however do not need public addresses, since they do not need to be accessed by the public. For this reason, the NIC has reserved certain addresses that will never be registered publicly. These are known as private IP addresses, and are found in the following ranges:
From 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255
From 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255
From 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255

The purpose of the VRRP packet is to communicate to all VRRP routers the priority and the state of the Master router associated with the Virtual Router ID.

VRRP packets are sent encapsulated in IP packets. They are sent to the IPv4 multicast address assigned to VRRP.

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What the Purpose of VLAN?

VLANs can enhance network security.
VLANs increase the number of broadcast domains while decreasing their size.
Network adds, moves, and changes are achieved by configuring a port into the appropriate VLAN.
A group of users needing high security can be put into a VLAN so that no users outside of the VLAN can communicate with them.
As a logical grouping of users by function, VLANs can be considered independent from their physical or geographic locations.

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What is OSPF?

Open Shortest Path First
OSPF) is a non-proprietary link-state routing protocol limited to use with the TCP/IP stack. Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is an open standards routing protocol that’s been implemented by a wide variety of network vendors, including Cisco. If you have multiple routers and not all of them are Cisco, So your remaining options are basically RIPv1, RIPv2, or OSPF. If it’s a large network, then, really, your only options are OSPF

OSPF provides the following features:
Consists of areas and autonomous systems
Minimizes routing update traffic
Allows scalability
Supports VLSM/CIDR
Has unlimited hop count
Allows multi-vendor deployment (open standard)

Characteristic of OSPF
Type of protocol – Link-state
Classless support – Yes
VLSM support – Yes
Auto summarization – No
Manual summarization – Yes
Discontiguous support – Yes
Route propagation – Multicast on change
Path metric – Bandwidth
Hop count limit – None
Convergence – Fast
Peer authentication – Yes
Hierarchical network – Yes (using areas)
Updates Event – Triggered

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What is Spanning Tree protocol?

In a Layer 2 environment (switching or bridging), however, no routing protocols are used, and active redundant paths are neither allowed nor desirable. Instead, some form of bridging provides data transport between networks or switch ports. The Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) provides network link redundancy so that a Layer 2 switched network can recover from failures without intervention in a timely manner. It vigilantly monitors the network to find all links, making sure that no loops occur by shutting down any redundant links. STP uses the spanning-tree algorithm (STA) to first create a topology database, then search out and destroy redundant links.

23 – The Most common interview questions

1. So, tell me a little about yourself.
I’d be very surprised if you haven’t been asked this one at every interview. It’s probably the most asked question because it sets the stage for the interview and it gets you talking. Be careful not to give the interviewer your life story here. You don’t need to explain everything from birth to present day. Relevant facts about education, your career and your current life situation are fine.

2. Why are you looking (or why did you leave you last job)?
This should be a straightforward question to answer, but it can trip you up. Presumably you are looking for a new job (or any job) because you want to advance your career and get a position that allows you to grow as a person and an employee. It’s not a good idea to mention money here, it can make you sound mercenary. And if you are in the unfortunate situation of having been downsized, stay positive and be as brief as possible about it. If you were fired, you’ll need a good explanation. But once again, stay positive.

3. Tell me what you know about this company.
Do your homework before you go to any interview. Whether it’s being the VP of marketing or the mailroom clerk, you should know about the company or business you’re going to work for. Has this company been in the news lately? Who are the people in the company you should know about? Do the background work, it will make you stand out as someone who comes prepared, and is genuinely interested in the company and the job.

4. Why do you want to work at X Company?
This should be directly related to the last question. Any research you’ve done on the company should have led you to the conclusion that you’d want to work there. After all, you’re at the interview, right? Put some thought into this answer before you have your interview, mention your career goals and highlight forward-thinking goals and career plans.

5. What relevant experience do you have?
Hopefully if you’re applying for this position you have bags of related experience, and if that’s the case you should mention it all. But if you’re switching careers or trying something a little different, your experience may initially not look like it’s matching up. That’s when you need a little honest creativity to match the experiences required with the ones you have. People skills are people skills after all, you just need to show how customer service skills can apply to internal management positions, and so on.

6. If your previous co-workers were here, what would they say about you?
Ok, this is not the time for full disclosure. If some people from your past are going to say you’re a boring A-hole, you don’t need to bring that up. Stay positive, always, and maybe have a few specific quotes in mind. “They’d say I was a hard worker” or even better “John Doe has always said I was the most reliable, creative problem-solver he’d ever met.”

7. Have you done anything to further your experience?
This could include anything from night classes to hobbies and sports. If it’s related, it’s worth mentioning. Obviously anything to do with further education is great, but maybe you’re spending time on a home improvement project to work on skills such as self-sufficiency, time management and motivation.

8. Where else have you applied?
This is a good way to hint that you’re in demand, without sounding like you’re whoring yourself all over town. So, be honest and mention a few other companies but don’t go into detail. The fact that you’re seriously looking and keeping your options open is what the interviewer is driving at.

9. How are you when you’re working under pressure?
Once again, there are a few ways to answer this but they should all be positive. You may work well under pressure, you may thrive under pressure, and you may actually PREFER working under pressure. If you say you crumble like aged blue cheese, this is not going to help you get your foot in the door.

10. What motivates you to do a good job?
The answer to this one is not money, even if it is. You should be motivated by life’s noble pursuits. You want recognition for a job well done. You want to become better at your job. You want to help others or be a leader in your field.

11. What’s your greatest strength?
This is your chance to shine. You’re being asked to explain why you are a great employee, so don’t hold back and stay do stay positive. You could be someone who thrives under pressure, a great motivator, an amazing problem solver or someone with extraordinary attention to detail. If your greatest strength, however, is to drink anyone under the table or get a top score on Mario Kart, keep it to yourself. The interviewer is looking for work-related strengths.

12. What’s your biggest weakness?
If you’re completely honest, you may be kicking yourself in the butt. If you say you don’t have one, you’re obviously lying. This is a horrible question and one that politicians have become masters at answering. They say things like “I’m perhaps too committed to my work and don’t spend enough time with my family.” Oh, there’s a fireable offense. I’ve even heard “I think I’m too good at my job, it can often make people jealous.” Please, let’s keep our feet on the ground. If you’re asked this question, give a small, work-related flaw that you’re working hard to improve. Example: “I’ve been told I occasionally focus on details and miss the bigger picture, so I’ve been spending time laying out the complete project every day to see my overall progress.”

13. Let’s talk about salary. What are you looking for?
Run for cover! This is one tricky game to play in an interview. Even if you know the salary range for the job, if you answer first you’re already showing all your cards. You want as much as possible, the employer wants you for as little as you’re willing to take. Before you apply, take a look at salary.com for a good idea of what someone with your specific experience should be paid. You may want to say, “well, that’s something I’ve thought long and hard about and I think someone with my experience should get between X & Y.” Or, you could be sly and say, “right now, I’m more interested in talking more about what the position can offer my career.” That could at least buy you a little time to scope out the situation. But if you do have a specific figure in mind and you are confident that you can get it, I’d say go for it. I have on many occasions, and every time I got very close to that figure (both below and sometimes above).

14. Are you good at working in a team?
Unless you have the I.Q. of a houseplant, you’ll always answer YES to this one. It’s the only answer. How can anyone function inside an organization if they are a loner? You may want to mention what part you like to play in a team though; it’s a great chance to explain that you’re a natural leader.

15. Tell me a suggestion you have made that was implemented.
It’s important here to focus on the word “implemented.” There’s nothing wrong with having a thousand great ideas, but if the only place they live is on your notepad what’s the point? Better still, you need a good ending. If your previous company took your advice and ended up going bankrupt, that’s not such a great example either. Be prepared with a story about an idea of yours that was taken from idea to implementation, and considered successful.

16. Has anything ever irritated you about people you’ve worked with?
Of course, you have a list as long as your arm. But you can’t say that, it shows you as being negative and difficult to work with. The best way to answer this one is to think for a while and then say something like “I’ve always got on just fine with my co-workers actually.”

17. Is there anyone you just could not work with?
No. Well, unless you’re talking about murderers, racists, rapists, thieves or other dastardly characters, you can work with anyone. Otherwise you could be flagged as someone who’s picky and difficult if you say, “I can’t work with anyone who’s a Bronco’s fan. Sorry.”

18. Tell me about any issues you’ve had with a previous boss.
Arrgh! If you fall for this one you shouldn’t be hired anyway. The interviewer is testing you to see if you’ll speak badly about your previous supervisor. Simply answer this question with exteme tact, diplomacy and if necessary, a big fat loss of memory. In short, you’ve never had any issues.

19. Would you rather work for money or job satisfaction?
It’s not a very fair question is it? We’d all love to get paid a Trump-like salary doing a job we love but that’s rare indeed. It’s fine to say money is important, but remember that NOTHING is more important to you than the job. Otherwise, you’re just someone looking for a bigger paycheck.

20. Would you rather be liked or feared?
I have been asked this a lot, in various incarnations. The first time I just drew a blank and said, “I don’t know.” That went over badly, but it was right at the start of my career when I had little to no experience. Since then I’ve realized that my genuine answer is “Neither, I’d rather be respected.” You don’t want to be feared because fear is no way to motivate a team. You may got the job done but at what cost? Similarly, if you’re everyone’s best friend you’ll find it difficult to make tough decisions or hit deadlines. But when you’re respected, you don’t have to be a complete bastard or a lame duck to get the job done.

21. Are you willing to put the interests of X Company ahead of your own?
Again, another nasty question. If you say yes, you’re a corporate whore who doesn’t care about family. If you say no, you’re disloyal to the company. I’m afraid that you’ll probably have to say yes to this one though, because you’re trying to be the perfect employee at this point, and perfect employees don’t cut out early for Jimmy’s baseball game.

22. So, explain why I should hire you.
As I’m sure you know, “because I’m great” or “I really need a job” are not good answers here. This is a time to give the employer a laundry list of your greatest talents that just so happen to match the job description. It’s also good to avoid taking potshots at other potential candidates here. Focus on yourself and your talents, not other people’s flaws.

23. Finally, do you have any questions to ask me?
I’ll finish the way I started, with one of the most common questions asked in interviews. This directly relates to the research you’ve done on the company and also gives you a chance to show how eager and prepared you are. You’ll probably want to ask about benefits if they haven’t been covered already. A good generic one is “how soon could I start, if I were offered the job of course.” You may also ask what you’d be working on. Specifically, in the role you’re applying for and how that affects the rest of the company. Always have questions ready, greeting this one with a blank stare is a rotten way to finish your interview. Good luck and happy job hunting.

Top 100 Network Admin Interview Questions

1. What are 10Base2, 10Base5 and 10BaseT Ethernet LANs ?
2. What is the difference between an unspecified passive open and a fully specified passive open
3. Explain the function of Transmission Control Block
4. What is a Management Information Base (MIB)
5. What is anonymous FTP and why would you use it?
6. What is a pseudo tty?
7. What is REX?
8. What does the Mount protocol do ?
9. What is External Data Representation?
10. What is the Network Time Protocol?
11. What is a DNS resource record?
12. What protocol is used by DNS name servers?
13. What is the difference between interior and exterior neighbor gateways?
14. What is the HELLO protocol used for?
15. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the three types of routing tables?
16. What is source route?
17. What is RIP (Routing Information Protocol)?
18. What is SLIP (Serial Line Interface Protocol)?
19. What is Proxy ARP?
20. What is OSPF?
21. What is Kerberos?
22. What is a Multi-homed Host?
23. What is NVT (Network Virtual Terminal)?
24. What is Gateway-to-Gateway protocol?
25. What is BGP (Border Gateway Protocol)?
26. What is autonomous system?
27. What is EGP (Exterior Gateway Protocol)?
28. What is IGP (Interior Gateway Protocol)?
29. What is Mail Gateway?
30. What is wide-mouth frog?
31. What are Digrams and Trigrams?
32. What is silly window syndrome?
33. What is region?
34. What is multicast routing?
35. What is traffic shaping?
36. What is packet filter?
37. What is virtual path?
38. What is virtual channel?
39. What is logical link control?
40. Why should you care about the OSI Reference Model?
41. What is the difference between routable and non- routable protocols?
42. What is MAU?
43. Explain 5-4-3 rule.
44. What is the difference between TFTP and FTP application layer protocols?
45. What is the range of addresses in the classes of internet addresses?
46. What is the minimum and maximum length of the header in the TCP segment and IP datagram?
47. What is difference between ARP and RARP?
48. What is ICMP?
49. What are the data units at different layers of the TCP / IP protocol suite?
50. What is Project 802?
51. What is Bandwidth?
52. Difference between bit rate and baud rate?
53. What is MAC address?
54. What is attenuation?
55. What is cladding?
56. What is RAID?
57. What is NETBIOS and NETBEUI?
58. What is redirector?
59. What is Beaconing?
60. What is terminal emulation, in which layer it comes?
61. What is frame relay, in which layer it comes?
62. What do you meant by “triple X” in Networks?
63. What is SAP?
64. What is subnet?
65. What is Brouter?
66. How Gateway is different from Routers?
67. What are the different type of networking / internetworking devices?
68. What is mesh network?
69. What is passive topology?
70. What are the important topologies for networks?
71. What are major types of networks and explain?
72. What is Protocol Data Unit?
73. What is difference between baseband and broadband transmission?
74. What are the possible ways of data exchange?
75. What are the types of Transmission media?
76. What are the types of Transmission media?
77. What is point-to-point protocol?
78. What are the two types of transmission technology available?
79. Difference between the communication and transmission?
80. What is a different between switch and Hub?
81. What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of DHCP?
82. What is Recovery Console?
83. What is ERD(Emergency Repair Disk)?
84. What is the difference between POP3 and IMAP Mail Server?
85. what is .ost file?
86. Whatz the difference between DNS and WINS?
87. How can we create VPN to connect to branch office of the same office.what would be the priliminary requirment?
88. Why should we care about the OSI Reference Model ? What is the main purpose for creating this osi model? why it is a layered model?
89. What is layer-3 switch?
90. What is an email client? what is differnce between email client and web mail?
91. what is the vlan ? how it is work?
92. Name three network tools used to determine where a network connectivity is lost between two sites A&B.
93. Which protocol is used for retrieving mails?
94. What is piggy backing?
95. What is the default subnet mask for an ipv6 address ?
96. What is fragmentation of a packet ?
97. What is MTU of a link ?
98. Name any field of IP header that can prevent a packet to loop infinitely ?
99. Under what situations a packet can go into infinite loop in a network ?
100. Describe a 3-way TCP/IP Handshake.

Network Admin / Engineer Interview Questions

Why should we care about the OSI Reference Model ?
What is the main purpose for creating this osi model?
why it is a layered model?

message’s can transfer from one place to other .and the message not demaged for other . so this model can be create . they have 7 layers r there
1. physical level
2.data level
3.tranport level
4.session level
5.application level
6.network level
7.presentation level

when osi model is nt created no to system of different manufracture can communicate because they all are having different protocols. and osi model give them standard protacols which are universal. hence system manufracture by different companies can easily communicate.

What is a different between switch and Hub?

HUb: limiteded port compare to switch.less speed compare to switch because
more collision.
Switch: To Avoid collision we use switch. In switch Each Port having own collision Domain.

HUB:Hub is a layer-1 device,in this data transmission in the form of bits.
SWITCH:Switch is a layer-2 device,in this data transmission in the form of frames.

 

If you are given the IP address can u tell how many computers can be connected?What do you look at?

Depending on the address given (Class A, Class B, or Class C) you can determine how many hosts are available. This is also subject to whether the address is classless or classful. If it is classful the a Class C address can have 254 valid hosts, a Class B can have 64,534 and a Class A can allow over 16 million hosts!
If the address is classless then more focus is on the subnet mask. To illustrate a quick example, if you had the subnet address 255.255.255.240, you know that it is a Class C address, but the last octet has been subnetted. Converting 240 into binary gives 11110000. This means that 4 bits were used for subnetting (1111) and four bits are left for network addresses (0000). If you did all the possible ranges in binary, starting with 0000 and working all the way til 1111 you see that you get 16 binary instances. Knowing that you cannot use the first and last address you are left with 14, and since the .240 address splits the octet down the middle, you get 14 subnets and 14 valid hosts.

 

What are the two types of transmission technology available

1 synchronous txn
2 asynchronous txn

 

What is RAID

RAID – Redundant Array of Independent / Inexpensive Disks. RAID has many different levels such as 0 1 2 3 4 5 10 01 etc.

We use RAID to protect our data from hardware failure (Hard disk). RAID 5 is used commonly for safeguarding our data.

 

What is the Network Time Protocol

The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is a protocol for synchronising the clocks of computer systems over packet-switched, variable-latency data networks. NTP uses UDP as its transport layer. It is designed particularly to resist the effects of variable latency.

 

Difference between the communication and transmission.
Transmission is a physical movement of information and concern issues like bit polarity, synchronisation, clock etc.
Communication means the meaning full exchange of information between two communication media.

Transmission means the transfer of data from the source to the destination.
Communication is the process of sending and recieving data by means of a dta cable that is connected externally.
transmission:transfer of data only in one direction.
communication:transfer of data from both side…

 

What is subnetting? why is it used?

A portion of a network that shares a common address component. On TCP/IP networks, subnets are defined as all devices whose IP Address have the same prefix. For example, all devices with IP addresses that start with 100.100.100. would be part of the same subnet. Dividing a network into subnets is useful for both security and performance reasons. IP networks are divided using a subnet mask

Supernetting is dividing the Subnet into different subnets each one of them has its particular required needs , such as Number of Networks and Number of Hosts

 

What is a VLAN?What does VLAN provide?

A technology called VLAN (Virtual LAN broadcast domains logically segmented on an Ethernet switch) trunking that was once primarily the domain of network switches has now trickled down to the rest of the Data Center to address these issues. Now it is possible for these multi-homing devices to be multi-homing in function without the need for multiple physical network adapters and the additional infrastructure associated with them. VLAN trunking allows a single network adapter to behave as “n” number of virtual network adapters, where ”n” has a theoretical upper limit of 4096 but is typically limited to 1000 VLAN network segments. In the case where a single gigabit Ethernet adapter is trunked in place of using multiple FastEthernet adapters, higher performance at a lower cost while increasing flexibility can be achieved. This really is the best of all worlds. In this article, I will give you an overview of VLAN trunking, how it works what it is used for.

 

VLAN is a technology by which we can administratively assign different ports of the same layer2 switch to different subnetworks. This is particularly useful when different departments of a company have offices in different floors of the same office. The different departments can be connected via a layer2 switch , which is having configuration for other subnetwork also. So practically the same switch acts as if it is more than one. Packets destined for the specific subnetwork are forwarded to those ports only. But the switch does not make any routing decisions. For interconnecting different subnetworks, routers are needed.
VLAN essentially provides segmentation between different subnetworks.

 

What is PING utility?

PING stands Packet Internet Gopher. This is a utility for ensuring connectivity between computers . ICMP protocol works behind this utility. Under it , sending node sends packets to destination node and reply is received if there is proper communication between two.

PING : Packet Internet Gropper
it’s a diagnostic utility , which diagnose devices connectivity.
it use ICMP: Internet Control Messaging protocol to send echo requests ( usually 4 packets) and receive echo replies (4 packets)

 

What is supernetting?why it is used

upernetting refers to increase host and reduce the subnet’s. It mean reduce the network bits and increase the host bits. We do use supernetting because when the PCs in the network increase where we need the more valid IP’s in the same network.

 

What is the difference between collision domain and broadcast domain

Broadcast Domain: A set of all devices that recieve broadcast frames originating from any device within the set. Broadcast domains are typically bounded by routers (or, in a switched network, by VLANs) because routers do not forward broadcast frames.
Collision Domain: In Ethernet, the network area within which frames that have collided are propagated. Repeaters and Hubs prpagate collisions, LAN switches and bridges do not.

 

What is the difference between physical address and logical address

A Physical address is a 48-bit flat address burned into the ROM of the NIC card which is a Layer1 device of the OSI model. This iis divided into 24-bit vendor code and 24-bit serial address. This is unique for each system and cannot be changed.
A Logical address is a 32- bit address assigned to each system in a network. This works in Layer-3 of OSI Model. This would be generally the IP address.

Simply we can say that Physical address is MAC address (Media Access Control) which inbuilt and Logical Address is the IP which is given manually.

 

How can we configure dhcp features in an switch?

DHCP is only available on newer IOS-based switches. For example, Catalyst 3550 and 3750 offer DHCP.
Let us take Cisco 2611 router running IOS12.2
To begin, connect the router’s Ethernet port to a switch, and connect the switch to a laptop, which will serve as the DHCP client.
To configure Cisco IOS DHCP, follow these steps, which include sample commands:
Configure an IP address on the router’s Ethernet port, and bring up the interface. (On an existing router, you would have already done this.)
Router(config)# interface ethernet0/0
Router(config-if)#ip address 1.1.1.1 255.0.0.0
Router(config-if)# no shutdown
Create a DHCP IP address pool for the IP addresses you want to use.
Router (config)# ip dhcp pool mypool
Specify the network and subnet for the addresses you want to use from the pool.
Router(dhcp-config)# network 1.1.1.0 /8
Specify the DNS domain name for the clients.
Router(dhcp-config)#domain-name mydomain.com
Specify the primary and secondary DNS servers.
Router(dhcp-config)#dns-server 1.1.1.10 1.1.1.11
Specify the default router (i.e., default gateway).
Router(dhcp-config)#default-router 1.1.1.1
Specify the lease duration for the addresses you’re using from the pool.
Router(dhcp-config)#lease 7
Exit Pool Configuration Mode.
Router(dhcp-config)#exit
This takes you back to the global configuration prompt. Next, exclude any addresses in the pool range that you don’t want to hand out.
For example, let’s say that you’ve decided that all IP addresses up to .100 will be for static IP devices such as servers and printers. All IP addresses above .100 will be available in the pool for DHCP clients.
Next, enter the ipconfig /renew command on the laptop to receive an IP address. After you have the IP address, enter the ipconfig /all command.

 

Can we use static and dynamic routing in one network?

we can use static and Dynamic Routing in one network. However Dyanmic Routing is used to have the best path no matter what the status of the physical links.All routing protocols have some sort of shortest-path or lowest-cost or best-choice algorithm to help you weigh all the options available.

Static routing can be used in a small network to reduce the work of the network administrator or to use a particular route only to forward the packet; we need static routing.

 

What is a Bridge? When is it used? How is a bridge configured? What are the software and hardware components of a bridge?

A bridge is an layer 2 device – it works based on mac address. bridge is s/w based.
It is usually used to bridge 2 networks (or even more in recent times)
Bridge is configured by having the the mac address of the switches connected directly to it.

 

What does CIDR stand for?

CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) is a way to allocate and specify the Internet addresses used in inter-domain routing

 

What difference between a directory and active directry

An Directory is the database that holds information about component locations, users, groups, passwords, security, and other COM information. Some of this information is currently stored in the Registry, but will eventually (with Windows 2000) be moved to the Active Directory.

The main difference between of Directory and AD is Directory is the repository of data stored but AD not only stores data but have the services by which stored data can be available to the users.

 

Describe a 3-way TCP/IP Handshake.

To establish a connection, TCP uses a 3-way handshake. Before a client attempts to connect with a server, the server must first bind to a port to open it up for connections: this is called a passive open. Once the passive open is established then a client may initiate an active open. To establish a connection, the 3-way (or 3-step) handshake occurs:

The active open is performed by sending a SYN to the server.
In response, the server replies with a SYN-ACK.
Finally the client sends an ACK back to the server.
At this point, both the client and server have received an acknowledgement of the connection.

 

when we want to connect to server for communication we need to establish a connection between server and client. The procedure used for this is called 3-way handshake…this is described as follows
1. Initillay the server is ready to accept the incoming connection by binding to local port. This is called passive open.
2. The client now can connect to server by sending SYN J segment to server. The server responds with SYN J+1 and ACK K
3. At the end the client sends ACK K+1 to server..
At this stage we say that client and server are connected

 

Under what situations a packet can go into infinite loop in a network ?

if there are more than one way for reaching a particular router from the same source router.

 

Name any field of IP header that can prevent a packet to loop infinitely ?

obviously it s time to live(TTL)
it fixes up a time to reach,if it s not reached within that stipulated time,it is being killed by the auto timer…

 

What is MTU of a link ?

Maximum Transmission Unit is the largest physical packet size, measured in bytes, that a network can transmit. Any messages larger than the MTU are divided into smaller packets before being sent.
Every network has a different MTU, which is set by the network administrator. On Windows 95, you can also set the MTU of your machine. This defines the maximum size of the packets sent from your computer onto the network. Ideally, you want the MTU to be the same as the smallest MTU of all the networks between your machine and a message’s final destination. Otherwise, if your messages are larger than one of the intervening MTUs, they will get broken up (fragmented), which slows down transmission speeds.

Trial and error is the only sure way of finding the optimal MTU, but there are some guidelines that can help. For example, the MTU of many PPP connections is 576, so if you connect to the Internet via PPP, you might want to set your machine’s MTU to 576 too. Most Ethernet networks, on the other hand, have an MTU of 1500, which is the default MTU setting for Windows 95.

 

What is fragmentation of a packet ?

Frames
Packet data unit(PDU)is called
segment at transport layer
packet at a network layer
frame at data link and
bit/bytes at physical layer

 

What is piggy backing?

Piggybacking is gaining access to restricted communication channel by using session that another user has already established. Piggybacking can be defeated by logging off before leaving a workstation or terminal or by initiating a protected mode, such as via a screensaver, that requires re-authentication before access can be resumed.

 

Which protocol is used for retrieving mails?

POP3 and IMAP4 are used to retrieve mails.
IMAP4 stores a copy of message on the server whereas POP3 does not.

 

Name three network tools used to determine where a network connectivity is lost between two sites A&B.

PING
TRACEROUTE
PATHPING

 

What is layer-3 switch?

routing depends on ip address : layer 3 s/w
routing depends on mac- address : layer 2 s/w

 

How can we create VPN to connect to branch office of the same office.what would be the priliminary requirment?

First of all what is VPN.” VPN ” stand for Virtual Private Network .Next how it works and where it is used . VPN works when the IP Conficts and IP is conflict because we dont use the PUBLIC IP means the IP we use is may be used by onther Company or Branch then we use VPN it works in the MAC address principal means it doesnot work on the IP it works Over the IP . And COMPUTER ,INTERNET or INTRANET, DHCP is required for the VPN .
We can connect to branch office of the same office thru a vpn by using backbone network provided by a service provider. ISP will provide till customer premises and customer at both sites shud use routers (CPE) to connect to the provider network. Packets are tranferred over the provider network as if it is a private network i.e packets from a specific customer are never forwarded to an interface of a router on the backbone network which is not configured for that VPN. Although data of many customers are forwarded on the backbone, the end user feels as if it is a private network.
The preliminary requirement is that u must order for a leased / dedicated line from ISP.

 

What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of DHCP?

Advantages
All the IP configuration information gets automatically configured for your client machine by the DHCP server.
If you move your client machine to a different subnet, the client will send out its discover message at boot time and work as usual. However, when you first boot up there you will not be able to get back the IP address you had at your previous location regardless of how little time has passed.
Disadvantage
Your machine name does not change when you get a new IP address. The DNS (Domain Name System) name is associated with your IP address and therefore does change. This only presents a problem if other clients try to access your machine by its DNS name.

 

What is point-to-point protocol?

A communications protocol used to connect computers to remote networking services including Internet service providers.

 

What are the types of Transmission media?

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

 

What is difference between baseband and broadband transmission?

In a baseband transmission, the entire bandwidth of the cable is consumed by a single signal. In broadband transmission, signals are sent on multiple frequencies, allowing multiple signals to be sent simultaneously.

 

What are the possible ways of data exchange?

Simplex, Half-duplex, Full-duplex.

What are the different type of networking / internetworking devices?

Repeater:
Also called a regenerator, it is an electronic device that operates only at physical layer. It receives the signal in the network before it becomes weak, regenerates the original bit pattern and puts the refreshed copy back in to the link.

Bridges:
These operate both in the physical and data link layers of LANs of same type. They divide a larger network in to smaller segments. They contain logic that allow them to keep the traffic for each segment separate and thus are repeaters that relay a frame only the side of the segment containing the intended recipent and control congestion.

Routers:
They relay packets among multiple interconnected networks (i.e. LANs of different type). They operate in the physical, data link and network layers. They contain software that enable them to determine which of the several possible paths is the best for a particular transmission.

Gateways:
They relay packets among networks that have different protocols (e.g. between a LAN and a WAN). They accept a packet formatted for one protocol and convert it to a packet formatted for another protocol before forwarding it. They operate in all seven layers of the OSI model.

 

How Gateway is different from Routers?

A gateway operates at the upper levels of the OSI model and translates information between two completely different network architectures or data formats.

 

What is frame relay, in which layer it comes?

Frame relay is a packet switching technology. It will operate in the data link layer.

 

Difference between bit rate and baud rate?

Bit rate is the number of bits transmitted during one second whereas baud rate refers to the number of signal units per second that are required to represent those bits.
baud rate = bit rate / N
where N is no-of-bits represented by each signal shift.

 

What is Bandwidth?

Every line has an upper limit and a lower limit on the frequency of signals it can carry. This limited range is called the bandwidth.

 

What is ICMP?

ICMP is Internet Control Message Protocol, a network layer protocol of the TCP/IP suite used by hosts and gateways to send notification of datagram problems back to the sender. It uses the echo test / reply to test whether a destination is reachable and responding. It also handles both control and error messages.

 

What is difference between ARP and RARP?

The address resolution protocol (ARP) is used to associate the 32 bit IP address with the 48 bit physical address, used by a host or a router to find the physical address of another host on its network by sending a ARP query packet that includes the IP address of the receiver.
The reverse address resolution protocol (RARP) allows a host to discover its Internet address when it knows only its physical address.

 

What is the difference between TFTP and FTP application layer protocols?

The Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) allows a local host to obtain files from a remote host but does not provide reliability or security. It uses the fundamental packet delivery services offered by UDP.
The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the standard mechanism provided by TCP / IP for copying a file from one host to another. It uses the services offered by TCP and so is reliable and secure. It establishes two connections (virtual circuits) between the hosts, one for data transfer and another for control information.

 

Explain 5-4-3 rule.

In a Ethernet network, between any two points on the network, there can be no more than five network segments or four repeaters, and of those five segments only three of segments can be populated.

 

What is the difference between routable and non- routable protocols?

Routable protocols can work with a router and can be used to build large networks. Non-Routable protocols are designed to work on small, local networks and cannot be used with a router.

 

What is logical link control?

One of two sublayers of the data link layer of OSI reference model, as defined by the IEEE 802 standard. This sublayer is responsible for maintaining the link between computers when they are sending data across the physical network connection.

 

What is virtual channel?

Virtual channel is normally a connection from one source to one destination, although multicast connections are also permitted. The other name for virtual channel is virtual circuit.

 

What is packet filter?

Packet filter is a standard router equipped with some extra functionality. The extra functionality allows every incoming or outgoing packet to be inspected. Packets meeting some criterion are forwarded normally. Those that fail the test are dropped.

 

What is traffic shaping?

One of the main causes of congestion is that traffic is often busy. If hosts could be made to transmit at a uniform rate, congestion would be less common. Another open loop method to help manage congestion is forcing the packet to be transmitted at a more predictable rate. This is called traffic shaping

 

What is multicast routing?

Sending a message to a group is called multicasting, and its routing algorithm is called multicast routing.

 

What is IGP (Interior Gateway Protocol)?

It is any routing protocol used within an autonomous system.

 

What is EGP (Exterior Gateway Protocol)?

It is the protocol the routers in neighboring autonomous systems use to identify the set of networks that can be reached within or via each autonomous system.

 

What is Gateway-to-Gateway protocol?

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

 

What is OSPF?

It is an Internet routing protocol that scales well, can route traffic along multiple paths, and uses knowledge of an Internet’s topology to make accurate routing decisions.

 

What is SLIP (Serial Line Interface Protocol)?

It is a very simple protocol used for transmission of IP datagrams across a serial line.

 

What is RIP (Routing Information Protocol)?

It is a simple protocol used to exchange information between the routers

 

What is source route?

It is a sequence of IP addresses identifying the route a datagram must follow. A source route may optionally be included in an IP datagram header.

 

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the three types of routing tables?

The three types of routing tables are fixed, dynamic, and fixed central. The fixed table must be manually modified every time there is a change. A dynamic table changes its information based on network traffic, reducing the amount of manual maintenance. A fixed central table lets a manager modify only one table, which is then read by other devices. The fixed central table reduces the need to update each machine’s table, as with the fixed table. Usually a dynamic table causes the fewest problems for a network administrator, although the table’s contents can change without the administrator being aware of the change.

 

What is the HELLO protocol used for?

The HELLO protocol uses time instead of distance to determine optimal routing. It is an alternative to the Routing Information Protocol.

 

What is anonymous FTP and why would you use it?

Anonymous FTP enables users to connect to a host without using a valid login and password. Usually, anonymous FTP uses a login called anonymous or guest, with the password usually requesting the user’s ID for tracking purposes only. Anonymous FTP is used to enable a large number of users to access files on the host without having to go to the trouble of setting up logins for them all. Anonymous FTP systems usually have strict controls over the areas an anonymous user can access.

Can we have 2 DHCP servers within 1 network ?
If No why ?
If yes IP address will conflict or not.   

 

What is Trojan horse? how to save a system from that?

Trojan horse is a program that claims to rid your Computer of viruses but instead introduces viruses onto your computer. Trojan horses do not replicate themselves but they can be just as destructive.

In order to save the system :

1)Turn off and remove unneeded services.

2)Always keep the patch levels update.

3)Enforce a password policy.

4)Configure your email server to block or remove email that contains file attachments that are commonly used to spread viruses, such as .vbs, .bat, .exe, .pif and .scr files.

5)Isolate infected computers quickly to prevent further compromising your organization. Perform a forensic analysis and restore the computers using trusted media.

6)Do not to open attachments unless you are expecting them. Also, do not execute software that is downloaded from the Internet unless it has been scanned for viruses.

 

What is spanning tree? How it works in VLAN ?

Spanning tree  protocols main taks is to stop network loops from occurring on your layer 2 network.
Network loops create broadcast storms and are responsible for additional overhead on the network

 

Why do we use Subnet mask? What are its uses?

      The main purpose of subnetmasking is to reduce the broadcast domain or in other words to reduce to heavy network traffic.

 

What are all the technical steps behind when data transmission from server to server via a router and switch?

The communication is between two SERVERS. But to a server can communicate with a client only. so if both system are behaving as server then first of all on both system a client should run as well.
Now server on machine M1 will generate message. will be transfer to tcp layer  where the source and destination port no will be added in header and if tcp protocol is being followed then other fields of tcp hearder like sequence no and flags will also be there. then the packet will be delivered to network layer of M1 with destination say M2 ip address.
Now network layer will add neccessay fields like source and destination IP address, TTL value etc. finally using its routing table and ARP protcol it will find out the ip address of the router. now packet will be delivered to data link layer of M1 with mac address of router.
Data link layer will then add its own trailer and header and forward packet through the services of physical layer.
now the packet will be recieved by router and will be transfer to network layer through its data link layer. network layer of router using its routing table and arp will find out the next hop mac address( in this case M2 itself). and will transfer packet to M2.
M2 will receive packet and deliver it the appropriate client process.

 

How is eigrp better than ospf?

I will give you the difference between then you can understand why it is
better

OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) it’s link state protocol which sending hello
packet to it’s neighbours
give best path 6 backup path
it a supports the subnating (classless)
administrative distance 110
using wildcard 0.0.0.0
autonomous 1-65535
using area

Hybrid protocol
eigrp enhance interior gateway protocol
90 administrative distance
supporting subnating
using area
autonomous 1-65535
using area

Key capabilities that distinguish Enhanced IGRP (EIGRP) from other routing
protocols include fast convergence, support for variable-length subnet mask,
support for partial updates, and support for multiple network layer protocols.

Router running EIGRP stores all its neighbors’ routing tables so that it can
quickly adapt to alternate routes. If no appropriate route exists, EIGRP queries
its neighbors to discover an alternate route. These queries propagate until an
alternate route is found.

The support of EIGRP for variable-length subnet masks permits routes to be
automatically summarized on a network number boundary. In addition, EIGRP can be
configured to summarize on any bit boundary at any interface.

In most cases, EIGRP only uses Delay and Bandwidth with Bandwidth taking
precedence. The metric for EIGRP is calculated by multiplying the IGRP metric by
256. So the formula used to calculate the metric is:

EIGRP Metric = 256*((K1*Bw) + (K2*Bw)/(256-Load) +
(K3*Delay)*(K5/(Reliability + K4)))

 

What is intra-vlan How does it work
Why do we use the router in between the two switch?
Where we make vlan if we enable one trunking on each side of switch then why do we uses the router
What is supernating?

 

what is the difference between packet switched, cell switched and circuit switched technology?

packet switch: here the packets send by the user takes differrent path each time it is send.
circuit switch : here the packets are send through a virtual connection is this every packet from a sender at a particular time is send through that dedicated path only
cell switch : in ATM jargon the packets are called are cells 

 

What is the difference between BRI and PRI Port?

Both BRI (Basic Rate Interface) and PRI (Primary Rate Interface) provide multiple digital bearer channels over which temporary connections can be made and data can be sent.

Features:

ISDN BRI services 2 B channels (64 kbps) and one D channel (16 kbps). The total bandwidth is 144 kbps.

In North America ISDN PRI service is PRI T1 total bandwidth 1.544 Mbps ( 23 B channel with 64 kbps + 1 D channel with 64 Kbps)

In Europe  ISDN PRI service is PRI E1 total bandwidth 2.048 Mbps (30 B channel with 64 kbps + 1 D channel with 64 Kbps)

 

If in a company with 80 computers with wireless network .All are using wireless internet.What is bandwidth per user?

Case:1

The bandwidth per user in a 80 computers in a wireless network depends on the connection speed and no. of the wireless accesspoints and no. of users connected to each access point if the network is a combination of cable and partial wireless. Say, 5 users are actively connected to a single wireless accesspoint which supports a connection speed of 10Mbps, then each user has 10/5 Mbps (2Mbps) connection speed or bandwidth logically.

The point here is to how many accesspoints these 80 computers are connected? So that we can calculate the actual bandwidth per user.

Case:2

One more case, if the wireless network is a bridge type, then the whole scenario changes. The bandwidth of each user in 80 computers network will be a dedicated speed same as the backplane speed of the network

Top Linux system admin Interview questions – Part 2

1. 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? _________
2. Many factors are taken into account when planning a backup strategy. The one most important one is how often does the file ____________.
3. Which one of the following factors does not play a role in choosing the type of backup media to use? Choose one: a. How frequently a file changes b. How long you need to retain the backup c. How much data needs to be backed up d. How frequently the backed up data needs to be accessed
4. When you only back up one partition, this is called a ______ backup. Choose one a. Differential b. Full c. Partial d. Copy
5. When you back up only the files that have changed since the last backup, this is called a ______ backup. Choose one a. Partial b. Differential c. Full d. Copy
6. The easiest, most basic form of backing up a file is to _____ it to another location.
7. When is the most important time to restore a file from your backup? Choose one a. On a regular scheduled basis to verify that the data is available. b. When the system crashes. c. When a user inadvertently loses a file. d. When your boss asks to see how restoring a file works.
8. As a system administrator, you are instructed to backup all the users’ home directories. Which of the following commands would accomplish this? Choose one a. tar rf usersbkup home/* b. tar cf usersbkup home/* c. tar cbf usersbkup home/* d. tar rvf usersbkup home/*
9. What is wrong with the following command? tar cvfb / /dev/tape 20 Choose one a. You cannot use the c option with the b option. b. The correct line should be tar -cvfb / /dev/tape20. c. The arguments are not in the same order as the corresponding modifiers. d. The files to be backed up have not been specified.
10. You need to view the contents of the tarfile called MyBackup.tar. What command would you use? __________
11. After creating a backup of the users’ home directories called backup.cpio you are asked to restore a file called memo.ben. What command should you type?
12. You want to create a compressed backup of the users’ home directories so you issue the command gzip /home/* backup.gz but it fails. The reason that it failed is that gzip will only compress one _______ at a time.
13. You want to create a compressed backup of the users’ home directories. What utility should you use?
14. 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.
15. Which two utilities can you use to set up a job to run at a specified time? Choose one: a. at and crond b. atrun and crontab c. at and crontab d. atd and crond
16. You have written a script called usrs to parse the passwd file and create a list of usernames. You want to have this run at 5 am tomorrow so you can see the results when you get to work. Which of the following commands will work? Choose one: a. at 5:00 wed usrs b. at 5:00 wed -b usrs c. at 5:00 wed -l usrs d. at 5:00 wed -d usrs
17. Several of your users have been scheduling large at jobs to run during peak load times. How can you prevent anyone from scheduling an at job? Choose one: a. delete the file /etc/at.deny b. create an empty file called /etc/at.deny c. create two empty files: /etc/at.deny and /etc/at.allow file d. create an empty file called /etc/at.allow
18. How can you determine who has scheduled at jobs? Choose one: a. at -l b. at -q c. at -d d. atwho
19. When defining a cronjob, there are five fields used to specify when the job will run. What are these fields and what is the correct order? Choose one: a. minute, hour, day of week, day of month, month b. minute, hour, month, day of month, day of week c. minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week d. hour, minute, day of month, month, day of week
20. You have entered the following cronjob. When will it run? 15 * * * 1,3,5 myscript Choose one: a. at 15 minutes after every hour on the 1st, 3rd and 5th of each month. b. at 1:15 am, 3:15 am, and 5:15 am every day c. at 3:00 pm on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th of each month d. at 15 minutes after every hour every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
21. As the system administrator you need to review Bob’s cronjobs. What command would you use? Choose one: a. crontab -lu bob b. crontab -u bob c. crontab -l d. cronq -lu bob
22. In order to schedule a cronjob, the first task is to create a text file containing the jobs to be run along with the time they are to run. Which of the following commands will run the script MyScript every day at 11:45 pm? Choose one: a. * 23 45 * * MyScript b. 23 45 * * * MyScript c. 45 23 * * * MyScript d. * * * 23 45 MyScript
23. Which daemon must be running in order to have any scheduled jobs run as scheduled? Choose one: a. crond b. atd c. atrun d. crontab
24. You want to ensure that your system is not overloaded with users running multiple scheduled jobs. A policy has been established that only the system administrators can create any scheduled jobs. It is your job to implement this policy. How are you going to do this? Choose one: a. create an empty file called /etc/cron.deny b. create a file called /etc/cron.allow which contains the names of those allowed to schedule jobs. c. create a file called /etc/cron.deny containing all regular usernames. d. create two empty files called /etc/cron.allow and /etc/cron.deny
25. You notice that your server load is exceptionally high during the hours of 10 am to 2 noon. When investigating the cause, you suspect that it may be a cron job scheduled by one of your users. What command can you use to determine if your suspicions are correct? Choose one: a. crontab -u b. crond -u c. crontab -l d. crond -l
26. One of your users, Bob, has created a script to reindex his database. Now he has it scheduled to run every day at 10:30 am. What command should you use to delete this job. Choose one: a. crontab -ru bob b. crontab -u bob c. crontab -du bob d. crontab -lu bob
27. What daemon is responsible for tracking events on your system?
28. What is the name and path of the default configuration file used by the syslogd daemon?
29. You have made changes to the /etc/syslog.conf file. Which of the following commands will cause these changes to be implemented without having to reboot your computer? Choose one: a. kill SIGHINT `cat /var/run/syslogd.pid` b. kill SIGHUP `cat /var/run/syslogd.pid` c. kill SIGHUP syslogd d. kill SIGHINT syslogd
30. Which of the following lines in your /etc/syslog.conf file will cause all critical messages to be logged to the file /var/log/critmessages? Choose one: a. *.=crit /var/log/critmessages b. *crit /var/log/critmessages c. *=crit /var/log/critmessages d. *.crit /var/log/critmessages
31. You wish to have all mail messages except those of type info to the /var/log/mailmessages file. Which of the following lines in your /etc/syslogd.conf file would accomplish this? Choose one: a. mail.*;mail!=info /var/log/mailmessages b. mail.*;mail.=info /var/log/mailmessages c. mail.*;mail.info /var/log/mailmessages d. mail.*;mail.!=info /var/log/mailmessages
32. What is the name and path of the main system log?
33. Which log contains information on currently logged in users? Choose one: a. /var/log/utmp b. /var/log/wtmp c. /var/log/lastlog d. /var/log/messages
34. You have been assigned the task of determining if there are any user accounts defined on your system that have not been used during the last three months. Which log file should you examine to determine this information? Choose one: a. /var/log/wtmp b. /var/log/lastlog c. /var/log/utmp d. /var/log/messages
35. You have been told to configure a method of rotating log files on your system. Which of the following factors do you not need to consider? Choose one: a. date and time of messages b. log size c. frequency of rotation d. amount of available disk space
36. What utility can you use to automate rotation of logs?
37. You wish to rotate all your logs weekly except for the /var/log/wtmp log which you wish to rotate monthly. How could you accomplish this. Choose one: a. Assign a global option to rotate all logs weekly and a local option to rotate the /var/log/wtmp log monthly. b. Assign a local option to rotate all logs weekly and a global option to rotate the /var/log/wtmp log monthly. c. Move the /var/log/wtmp log to a different directory. Run logrotate against the new location. d. Configure logrotate to not rotate the /var/log/wtmp log. Rotate it manually every month.
38. You have configured logrotate to rotate your logs weekly and keep them for eight weeks. You are running our of disk space. What should you do? Choose one: a. Quit using logrotate and manually save old logs to another location. b. Reconfigure logrotate to only save logs for four weeks. c. Configure logrotate to save old files to another location. d. Use the prerotate command to run a script to move the older logs to another location.
39. What command can you use to review boot messages?
40. What file defines the levels of messages written to system log files?
41. What account is created when you install Linux?
42. 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.
43. Which file defines all users on your system? Choose one: a. /etc/passwd b. /etc/users c. /etc/password d. /etc/user.conf
44. 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, comment
45. Which of the following user names is invalid? Choose one: a. Theresa Hadden b. thadden c. TheresaH d. T.H.
46. In order to prevent a user from logging in, you can add a(n) ________at the beginning of the password field.
47. The beginning user identifier is defined in the _________ file.
48. Which field is used to define the user’s default shell?
49. 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?
50. Your company has implemented a policy that users’ passwords must be reset every ninety days. Since you have over 100 users you created a file with each username and the new password. How are you going to change the old passwords to the new ones? Choose one: a. Use the chpasswd command along with the name of the file containing the new passwords. b. Use the passwd command with the -f option and the name of the file containing the new passwords. c. Open the /etc/passwd file in a text editor and manually change each password. d. Use the passwd command with the -u option.

Top Linux system admin Interview questions – Part 1

1. 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 asterick.
2. You create a new user account by adding the following line to your /etc/passwd file. bobm:baddog:501:501:Bob Morris:/home/bobm:/bin/bash Bob calls you and tells you that he cannot logon. You verify that he is using the correct username and password. What is the problem? Choose one: a. The UID and GID cannot be identical. b. You cannot have spaces in the line unless they are surrounded with double quotes. c. You cannot directly enter the password; rather you have to use the passwd command to assign a password to the user. d. The username is too short, it must be at least six characters long.
3. 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.
4. You create a new user by adding the following line to the /etc/passwd file bobm::501:501:Bob Morris:/home/bobm:/bin/bash You then create the user’s home directory and use the passwd command to set his password. However, the user calls you and says that he cannot log on. What is the problem? Choose one: a. The user did not change his password. b. bobm does not have permission to /home/bobm. c. The user did not type his username in all caps. d. You cannot leave the password field blank when creating a new user.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. You have created special configuration files that you want copied to each user’s home directories when creating new user accounts. You copy the files to /etc/skel. Which of the following commands will make this happen? Choose one: a. useradd -m username b. useradd -mk username c. useradd -k username d. useradd -Dk username
8. Mary has recently gotten married and wants to change her username from mstone to mknight. Which of the following commands should you run to accomplish this? Choose one: a. usermod -l mknight mstone b. usermod -l mstone mknight c. usermod -u mknight mstone d. usermod -u mstone mknight
9. After bob leaves the company you issue the command userdel bob. Although his entry in the /etc/passwd file has been deleted, his home directory is still there. What command could you have used to make sure that his home directory was also deleted? Choose one: a. userdel -m bob b. userdel -u bob c. userdel -l bob d. userdel -r bob
10. All groups are defined in the /etc/group file. Each entry contains four fields in the following order. Choose one: a. groupname, password, GID, member list b. GID, groupname, password, member list c. groupname, GID, password, member list d. GID, member list, groupname, password
11. You need to create a new group called sales with Bob, Mary and Joe as members. Which of the following would accomplish this? Choose one: a. Add the following line to the /etc/group file: sales:44:bob,mary,joe b. Issue the command groupadd sales. c. Issue the command groupadd -a sales bob,mary,joe d. Add the following line to the /etc/group file: sales::44:bob,mary,joe
12. What command is used to remove the password assigned to a group?
13. You changed the GID of the sales group by editing the /etc/group file. All of the members can change to the group without any problem except for Joe. He cannot even login to the system. What is the problem? Choose one: a. Joe forgot the password for the group. b. You need to add Joe to the group again. c. Joe had the original GID specified as his default group in the /etc/passwd file. d. You need to delete Joe’s account and recreate it.
14. You need to delete the group dataproject. Which two of the following tasks should you do first before deleting the group? A. Check the /etc/passwd file to make sure no one has this group as his default group. B. Change the members of the dataproject group to another group besides users. C. Make sure that the members listed in the /etc/group file are given new login names. D. Verify that no file or directory has this group listed as its owner. Choose one: a. A and C b. A and D c. B and C d. B and D
15. When you look at the /etc/group file you see the group kmem listed. Since it does not own any files and no one is using it as a default group, can you delete this group?
16. When looking at the /etc/passwd file, you notice that all the password fields contain ‘x’. What does this mean? Choose one: a. That the password is encrypted. b. That you are using shadow passwords. c. That all passwords are blank. d. That all passwords have expired.
17. In order to improve your system’s security you decide to implement shadow passwords. What command should you use?
18. What file contains the default environment variables when using the bash shell? Choose one: a. ~/.profile b. /bash c. /etc/profile d. ~/bash
19. You have created a subdirectory of your home directory containing your scripts. Since you use the bash shell, what file would you edit to put this directory on your path? Choose one: a. ~/.profile b. /etc/profile c. /etc/bash d. ~/.bash
20. Which of the following interprets your actions when typing at the command line for the operating system? Choose One a. Utility b. Application c. Shell d. Command
21. What can you type at a command line to determine which shell you are using?
22. 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
23. You are entering a long, complex command line and you reach the right side of your screen before you have finished typing. You want to finish typing the necessary commands but have the display wrap around to the left. Which of the following key combinations would achieve this? Choose One a. Esc, /, Enter b. /, Enter c. ctrl-d, enter d. esc, /, ctrl-d
24. After typing in a new command and pressing enter, you receive an error message indicating incorrect syntax. This error message originated from.. Choose one a. The shell b. The operating system c. The command d. The kernel
25. When typing at the command line, the default editor is the _____________ library.
26. You typed the following at the command line ls -al /home/ hadden. What key strokes would you enter to remove the space between the ‘/’ and ‘hadden’ without having to retype the entire line? Choose one a. Ctrl-B, Del b. Esc-b, Del c. Esc-Del, Del d. Ctrl-b, Del
27. You would like to temporarily change your command line editor to be vi. What command should you type to change it?
28. After experimenting with vi as your command line editor, you decide that you want to have vi your default editor every time you log in. What would be the appropriate way to do this? Choose one a. Change the /etc/inputrc file b. Change the /etc/profile file c. Change the ~/.inputrc file d. Change the ~/.profile file
29. You have to type your name and title frequently throughout the day and would like to decrease the number of key strokes you use to type this. Which one of your configuration files would you edit to bind this information to one of the function keys?
30. In your present working directory, you have the files maryletter memo1 MyTelephoneandAddressBook What is the fewest number of keys you can type to open the file MyTelephoneandAddressBook with vi? Choose one a. 6 b. 28 c. 25 d. 4
31. A variable that you can name and assign a value to is called a _____________ variable.
32. You have installed a new application but when you type in the command to start it you get the error message Command not found. What do you need to do to fix this problem? Choose one a. Add the directory containing the application to your path b. Specify the directory’s name whenever you run the application c. Verify that the execute permission has been applied to the command. d. Give everyone read, write and execute permission to the application’s directory.
33. You telnet into several of your servers simultaneously. During the day, you sometimes get confused as to which telnet session is connected to which server. Which of the following commands in your .profile file would make it obvious to which server you are attached? Choose one a. PS1=’\h: \w>’ b. PS1=’\s: \W>’ c. PS1=’\!: \t>’ d. PS1=’\a: \n>’
34. Which of the following environment variables determines your working directory at the completion of a successful login? Choose one a. HOME b. BASH_ENV c. PWD d. BLENDERDIR
35. Every time you attempt to delete a file using the rm utility, the operating system prompts you for confirmation. You know that this is not the customary behavior for the rm command. What is wrong? Choose one a. rm has been aliased as rm -i b. The version of rm installed on your system is incorrect. c. This is the normal behavior of the newest version of rm. d. There is an incorrect link on your system.
36. You are running out of space in your home directory. While looking for files to delete or compress you find a large file called .bash_history and delete it. A few days later, it is back and as large as before. What do you need to do to ensure that its size is smaller? Choose one a. Set the HISTFILESIZE variable to a smaller number. b. Set the HISTSIZE to a smaller number. c. Set the NOHISTFILE variable to true. d. Set the HISTAPPEND variable to true.
37. In order to display the last five commands you have entered using the history command, you would type ___________.
38. In order to display the last five commands you have entered using the fc command, you would type ___________.
39. You previously ran the find command to locate a particular file. You want to run that command again. What would be the quickest way to do this? Choose one a. fc -l find fc n b. history -l find history n c. Retype the command d. fc -n find
40. Using command substitution, how would you display the value of the present working directory? Choose one a. echo $(pwd) b. echo pwd c. $pwd d. pwd | echo
41. You need to search the entire directory structure to locate a specific file. How could you do this and still be able to run other commands while the find command is still searching for your file? Choose one a. find / -name filename & b. find / -name filename c. bg find / -name filename d. &find / -name filename &
42. In order to create a file called DirContents containing the contents of the /etc directory you would type ____________.
43. What would be displayed as the result of issuing the command ps ef? Choose one a. A listing of the user’s running processes formatted as a tree. b. A listing of the stopped processes c. A listing of all the running processes formatted as a tree. d. A listing of all system processes formatted as a tree.
44. What utility can you use to show a dynamic listing of running processes? __________
45. 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 ___________?
46. What key combination can you press to suspend a running job and place it in the background?
47. You issue the command jobs and receive the following output: [1]- Stopped (tty output) pine [2]+ Stopped (tty output) MyScript How would you bring the MyScript process to the foreground? Choose one: a. fg %2 b. ctrl-c c. fg MyScript d. ctrl-z
48. You enter the command cat MyFile | sort > DirList & and the operating system displays [4] 3499 What does this mean? Choose one a. This is job number 4 and the PID of the sort command is 3499. b. This is job number 4 and the PID of the job is 3499. c. This is job number 3499 and the PID of the cat command is 4. d. This is job number 4 and the PID of the cat command is 3499.
49. You attempt to log out but receive an error message that you cannot. When you issue the jobs command, you see a process that is running in the background. How can you fix this so that you can logout? Choose one a. Issue the kill command with the PID of each running command of the pipeline as an argument. b. Issue the kill command with the job number as an argument. c. Issue the kill command with the PID of the last command as an argument. d. Issue the kill command without any arguments.
50. You have been given the job of administering a new server. It houses a database used by the sales people. This information is changed frequently and is not duplicated anywhere else. What should you do to ensure that this information is not lost? Choose one a. Create a backup strategy that includes backing up this information at least daily. b. Prepare a proposal to purchase a backup server c. Recommend that the server be made part of a cluster. d. Install an additional hard drive in the server.