Interview Questions

Low Level
1. Features of windows2003
ACTIVE DIRECTORY
Easier Deployment and Management
ADMT version 2.0—migrates password from NT4 to 2000 to 20003 or from 2000 to 2003
Domain Rename--- supports changing Domain Name System and/or NetBios name
Schema Redefine--- Allows deactivation of attributes and class definitions in the Active directory
schema
AD/AM--- Active directory in application mode is a new capability of AD that addresses certain
deployment scenarios related to directory enabled applications
Group Policy Improvements----introduced GPMC tool to manage group policy
UI—Enhanced User Interface
Grater Security
Cross-forest Authentication
Cross-forest Authorization
Cross-certification Enhancements
IAS and Cross-forest authentication
Credential Manager
Software Restriction Policies
Improved Performance and Dependability
Easier logon for remote offices
Group Membership replication enhancements
Application Directory Partitions
Install Replica from media
Dependability Improvements--- updated Inter-Site Topology Generator (ISTG) that scales better
by supporting forests with a greater number of sites than Windows 2000.
FILE AND PRINT SERVICES
Volume shadow copy service
NTFS journaling file system
EFS
Improved CHDSK Performance
Enhanced DFS and FRS
Shadow copy of shared folders
Enhanced folder redirection
Remote document sharing (WEBDAV)
IIS
Fault-tolerant process architecture----- The IIS 6.0 fault-tolerant process architecture isolates Web sites and
applications into self-contained units called application pools
Health Monitoring---- IIS 6.0 periodically checks the status of an application pool with automatic restart on
failure of the Web sites and applications within that application pool, increasing application availability. IIS
6.0 protects the server, and other applications, by automatically disabling Web sites and applications that
fail too often within a short amount of time

Automatic Process Recycling--- IIS 6.0 automatically stops and restarts faulty Web sites and applications
based on a flexible set of criteria, including CPU utilization and memory consumption, while queuing
requests

Rapid-fail Protection---- If an application fails too often within a short amount of time, IIS 6.0 will
automatically disable it and return a "503 Service Unavailable" error message to any new or queued
requests to the application
Edit-While-Running

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http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/overview/technologies/default.mspx

2. Difference between NT & 2000

NT SAM database is a flat database. Where as in windows 2000 active directory database is a hierarchical
database.
In Windows NT only PDC is having writable copy of SAM database but the BDC is only read only
database. In case of Windows 2000 both DC and ADC is having write copy of the database
Windows NT will not support FAT32 file system. Windows 2000 supports FAT32

Default authentication protocol in NT is NTLM (NT LAN manager). In windows 2000 default
authentication protocol is Kerberos V5.
Windows 2000 depends and Integrated with DNS. NT user Netbios names
Active Directory can be backed up easily with System state data

3. Difference between 2000 & 2003

Application Server mode is introduced in windows 2003
Possible to configure stub zones in windows 2003 DNS
Volume shadow copy services is introduced
Windows 2003 gives an option to replicate DNS data b/w all DNS servers in forest or All DNS servers in
the domain.
Refer Question 1 for all Enhancements

4. Difference between PDC & BDC

PDC contains a write copy of SAM database where as BDC contains read only copy of SAM database. It is
not possible to reset a password or create objects with out PDC in Windows NT.

5. Difference between DC & ADC

There is no difference between in DC and ADC both contains write copy of AD. Both can also handles
FSMO roles (If transfers from DC to ADC). It is just for identification. Functionality wise there is no
difference.

6. What is DNS & WINS

DNS is a Domain Naming System, which resolves Host names to IP addresses. It uses fully qualified
domain names. DNS is a Internet standard used to resolve host names
WINS is a Windows Internet Name Service, which resolves Netbios names to IP Address. This is
proprietary for Windows

7. Types of DNS Servers

We can configure 7 types of DNS servers in windows.
Primary DNS
Secondary DNS
Active Directory Integrated DNS
Root DNS
Forwarder
Master
Caching only DNS

8. If DHCP is not available what happens to the client

Client will not get IP and it cannot be participated in network. If client already got the IP and having lease
duration it use the IP till the lease duration expires.

9. what are the different types of trust relationships

Implicit Trusts
Explicit Trusts—NT to Win2k or Forest to Forest

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10. what is the process of DHCP for getting the IP address to the client
There is a four way negotiation process b/w client and server
DHCP Discover (Initiated by client)
DHCP Offer (Initiated by server)
DHCP Select (Initiated by client)
DHCP Acknowledgement (Initiated by Server)
DHCP Negative Acknowledgement (Initiated by server if any issues after DHCP offer)

11. Difference between FAT,NTFS & NTFSVersion5

NTFS Version 5 features
Encryption is possible
We can enable Disk Quotas
File compression is possible
Sparse files
Indexing Service
NTFS change journal

In FAT file system we can apply only share level security. File level protection is not possible. In NTFS we
can apply both share level as well as file level security
NTFS supports large partition sizes than FAT file systems
NTFS supports long file names than FAT file systems

12. What are the port numbers for FTP, Telnet, HTTP, DNS
FTP-21, Telnet – 23, HTTP-80, DNS-53, Kerberos-88, LDAP-389,https:441,NNTP:119.

13. what are the different types of profiles in 2000

Local Profiles
Roaming profiles
Mandatory Profiles

14. what is the database files used for Active Directory

NTDS.DIT

15. What is the location of AD Database

%System root%/NTDS/NTDS>DIT

16. What is the authentication protocol used in NT

NTLM (NT LAN Manager)

17. What is subnetting and supernetting

Subnetting is the process of borrowing bits from the host portion of an address to provide bits for
identifying additional sub-networks

Supernetting merges several smaller blocks of IP addresses (networks) that are continuous into one larger
block of addresses. Borrowing network bits to combine several smaller networks into one larger network
does supernetting

18. what is the use of terminal services

Terminal services can be used as Remote Administration mode to administer remotely as well as
Application Server Mode to run the application in one server and users can login to that server to user that
application.

19. what is the protocol used for terminal services

RDP

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20. what is the port number for RDP
3389

Medium Level

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

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

3. How to monitor replication

We can user Replmon tool from support tools

4. Brief explanation of RAID Levels

RAID 0 – Striping
RAID 1- Mirroring (minimum 2 HDD required)
RAID 5 – Striping With Parity (Minimum 3 HDD required)
RAID levels 1 and 5 only gives redundancy

5. What are the different backup strategies are available

Normal Backup
Incremental Backup
Differential Backup
Daily Backup
Copy Backup

6. What is a global catalog

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

7. What is Active Directory and what is the use of it

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

8. what is the physical and logical structure of AD

Active directory physical structure is a hierarchal structure which fallows Forests—Trees—Domains—
Child Domains—Grand Child—etc
Active directory is logically divided into 3 partitions
1.Configuration partition 2. Schema Partition 3. Domain partition 4. Application Partition (only in windows
2003 not available in windows 2000)

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

9. What is the process of user authentication (Kerberos V5) in windows 2000

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

10. what are the port numbers for Kerberos, LDAP and Global catalog
Kerberos – 88, LDAP – 389, Global Catalog – 3268

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

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

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

13. what is the role responsible for time synchronization

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

14. what is TTL & how to set TTL time in DNS

TTL is Time to Live setting used for the amount of time that the record should remain in cache when name
resolution happened.
We can set TTL in SOA (start of authority record) of DNS

15. How to take DNS and WINS,DHCP backup

%System root%/system32/dns
%System root%/system32/WINS
%System root%/system32/DHCP

16. What is recovery console

Recovery console is a utility used to recover the system when it is not booting properly or not at all
booting. We can perform fallowing operations from recovery console
We can copy, rename, or replace operating system files and folders
Enable or disable service or device startup the next time that start computer
Repair the file system boot sector or the Master Boot Record
Create and format partitions on drives

17. What is DFS & its usage

DFS is a distributed file system used to provide common environment for users to access files and folders
even when they are shared in different servers physically.
There are two types of DFS domain DFS and Stand alone DFS. We cannot provide redundancy for stand
alone DFS in case of failure. Domain DFS is used in a domain environment which can be accessed by
/domain name/root1 (root 1 is DFS root name). Stand alone DFS can be used in workgroup environment

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 which can be accessed through /server name/root1 (root 1 is DFS root name). Both the cases we need to
create DFS root ( Which appears like a shared folder for end users) and DFS links ( A logical link which is
pointing to the server where the folder is physically shared)
The maximum number of Dfs roots per server is 1.
The maximum numbers of Dfs root replicas are 31.
The maximum number of Dfs roots per domain is unlimited.
The maximum number of Dfs links or shared folders in a Dfs root is 1,000

18. What is RIS and what are its requirements

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

19. How many root replicas can be created in DFS

31

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

High Level

1. Can we establish trust relationship between two forests

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

2. What is FSMO Roles

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

3. Brief all the FSMO Roles

Domain Naming master and schema master are forest level roles. PDC emulator, Infrastructure master and
RID master are Domain level roles;
First server in the forest performs all 5 roles by default. Later we can transfer the roles

Domain Naming Master: Domain naming master is responsible for maintaining the relation ship between
the domains. With out this role it is not possible to add or remove any domain.

Schema Master: Schema contains set of classes and attributes. eg User, computer, printer are the objects in
AD which are having their own set of attributes.. Schema master is responsible for maintaining this
schema. Changes to the schema will affect entire forest.

PDC Emulator: Server, which is performing this role, acts as a PDC in a mixed mode to synchronize
directory information between windows 2000 DC to Windows NT BDC. Server, which is performing this

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 role, will contain latest password information. This role is also responsible for time synchronization in the
forest.
Infrastructure Master: It is responsible for managing group membership information in the domain. This
role is responsible for updating DN when name or location of the object is modified.

RID Master: Server, which is performing this role, will provide pool of RID to other domain controllers in
the domain. SID is the combination of SID and RID SID=SID+RID where SID is Security identifier common
for all objects in the domain and RID is relative identifier unique for each object

4. How to manually configure FSMO Roles to separate DC’s

We can configure manually by two ways
Through MMC
We can configure Domain Naming Master role through Active directory domains and trusts
We can configure Schema Master role through Active Directory schema
Other Three roles we can configure by Active directory users and computers
Through command promt
By using command NTDSUTIL—type ROLES—type CONNECTIONS—CONNECT TO SERVER
SERVERNAME where server name is the name of the domain controller that you want to assign role----
Type transfer role, where role is the role that you want to transfer. For a list of roles that you can transfer,
type ? at the fsmo maintenance prompt, and then press ENTER, or see the list of roles at the start of this
article. For example, to transfer the RID master role, type transfer rid master. The one exception is for the
PDC emulator role, whose syntax is transfer pdc, not transfer pdc emulator.

5. What is the difference between authoritative and non-authoritative restore

In authoritative restore, Objects that are restored will be replicated to all domain controllers in the domain.
This can be used specifically when the entire OU is disturbed in all domain controllers or specifically
restore a single object, which is disturbed in all DC’s
In non-authoritative restore, Restored directory information will be updated by other domain controllers
based on the latest modification time.

6. what is Active Directory De-fragmentation

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

7. Difference between online and offline de-fragmentation

Online De-fragmentation will be performed by garbage collection process, which runs for every 12 hours
by default which separate used space and white space (white space is the space created because of object
deletion in AD eg User) and improves the efficiency of AD when the domain controller up and running

Offline defragmentation can be done manually by taking domain controller into Restoration mode. We can
only reduce the file size of directory database where as the efficiency will be same as in online
defragmentation

8. What is tombstone period

Tombstones are nothing but objects marked for deletion. After deleting an object in AD the objects will not
be deleted permanently. It will be remain 60 days by default (which can be configurable) it adds an entry as
marked for deletion on the object and replicates to all DC’s. After 60 days object will be deleted
permanently from all Dc’s.

9. what is white space and Garbage collection

refer question 7

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10. What are the monitoring tools used for Server and Network Heath. How to define alert mechanism
Spot Light, SNMP Need to enable.

11. How to deploy the patches and what are the software’s used for this process
Using SUS (Software update services) server we can deploy patches to all clients in the network. We need
to configure an option called “Synchronize with Microsoft software update server” option and schedule
time to synchronize in server. We need to approve new update based on the requirement. Then approved
update will be deployed to clients
We can configure clients by changing the registry manually or through Group policy by adding WUAU
administrative template in group policy

12. What is Clustering. Briefly define & explain it

Clustering is a technology, which is used to provide High Availability for mission critical applications. We
can configure cluster by installing MCS (Microsoft cluster service) component from Add remove programs,
which can only available in Enterprise Edition and Data center edition.

In Windows we can configure two types of clusters

NLB (network load balancing) cluster for balancing load between servers. This cluster will not provide
any high availability. Usually preferable at edge servers like web or proxy.
Server Cluster: This provides High availability by configuring active-active or active-passive cluster. In 2
node active-passive cluster one node will be active and one node will be stand by. When active server fails
the application will FAILOVER to stand by server automatically. When the original server backs we need
to FAILBACK the application

Quorum: A shared storage need to provide for all servers which keeps information about clustered
application and session state and is useful in FAILOVER situation. This is very important if Quorum disk
fails entire cluster will fails
Heartbeat: Heartbeat is a private connectivity between the servers in the cluster, which is used to identify
the status of other servers in cluster.

13. How to configure SNMP

SNMP can be configured by installing SNMP from Monitoring and Management tools from Add and
Remove programs.
For SNMP programs to communicate we need to configure common community name for those machines
where SNMP programs (eg DELL OPEN MANAGER) running. This can be configured from
services.msc--- SNMP service -- Security

14. Is it possible to rename the Domain name & how?

In Windows 2000 it is not possible. In windows 2003 it is possible. On Domain controller by going to
MYCOMPUTER properties we can change.

15. What is SOA Record

SOA is a Start of Authority record, which is a first record in DNS, which controls the startup behavior of
DNS. We can configure TTL, refresh, and retry intervals in this record.

16. What is a Stub zone and what is the use of it.

Stub zones are a new feature of DNS in Windows Server 2003 that can be used to streamline name resolution,
especially in a split namespace scenario. They also help reduce the amount of DNS traffic on your network,
making DNS more efficient especially over slow WAN links.

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17. What are the different types of partitions present in AD
Active directory is divided into three partitions
Configuration Partition—replicates entire forest
Schema Partition—replicates entire forest
Domain Partition—replicate only in domain
Application Partition (Only in Windows 2003)

18. What are the (two) services required for replication

File Replication Service (FRS)
Knowledge Consistency Checker (KCC)

19. Can we use a Linux DNS Sever in 2000 Domain

We can use, but the BIND version should be 8 or greater

20. What is the difference between IIS Version 5 and IIS Version 6
Refer Question 1

21. What is ASR (Automated System Recovery) and how to implement it

ASR is a two-part system; it includes ASR backup and ASR restore. The ASR Wizard, located in Backup,
does the backup portion. The wizard backs up the system state, system services, and all the disks that are
associated with the operating system components. ASR also creates a file that contains information about
the backup, the disk configurations (including basic and dynamic volumes), and how to perform a restore.

You can access the restore portion by pressing F2 when prompted in the text-mode portion of setup. ASR
reads the disk configurations from the file that it creates. It restores all the disk signatures, volumes, and
partitions on (at a minimum) the disks that you need to start the computer. ASR will try to restore all the
disk configurations, but under some circumstances it might not be able to. ASR then installs a simple
installation of Windows and automatically starts a restoration using the backup created by the ASR
Wizard.

22. What are the different levels that we can apply Group Policy
We can apply group policy at SITE level---Domain Level---OU level

23. What is Domain Policy, Domain controller policy, Local policy and Group policy
Domain Policy will apply to all computers in the domain, because by default it will be associated with
domain GPO, Where as Domain controller policy will be applied only on domain controller. By default
domain controller security policy will be associated with domain controller GPO. Local policy will be
applied to that particular machine only and effects to that computer only.

24. What is the use of SYSVOL folder

Policies and scripts saved in SYSVOL folder will be replicated to all domain controllers in the domain. FRS
(File replication service) is responsible for replicating all policies and scripts

25. What is folder redirection?

Folder Redirection is a User group policy. Once you create the group policy and link it to the appropriate
folder object, an administrator can designate which folders to redirect and where To do this, the
administrator needs to navigate to the following location in the Group Policy Object:
User Configuration\Windows Settings\Folder Redirection
In the Properties of the folder, you can choose Basic or Advanced folder redirection, and you can designate
the server file system path to which the folder should be redirected.

The %USERNAME% variable may be used as part of the redirection path, thus allowing the system to
dynamically create a newly redirected folder for each user to whom the policy object applies.

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26. What different modes in windows 2003 (Mixed, native & intrim….etc)
Different Active Directory features are available at different functional levels. Raising domain and forest
functional levels is required to enable certain new features as domain controllers are upgraded from
Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 to Windows Server 2003
Domain Functional Levels: Windows 2000 Mixed mode, Windows 2000 Native mode, Windows server
2003 and Windows server 2003 interim ( Only available when upgrades directly from Windows NT 4.0 to
Windows 2003)
Forest Functional Levels: Windows 2000 and Windows 2003

27. Ipsec usage and difference window 2000 & 2003.

Microsoft doesn’t recommend Internet Protocol security (IPSec) network address translation (NAT)
traversal (NAT-T) for Windows deployments that include VPN servers and that are located behind
network address translators. When a server is behind a network address translator, and the server uses
IPSec NAT-T, unintended side effects may occur because of the way that network address translators
translate network traffic

If you put a server behind a network address translator, you may experience connection problems
because clients that connect to the server over the Internet require a public IP address. To reach servers
that are located behind network address translators from the Internet, static mappings must be
configured on the network address translator. For example, to reach a Windows Server 2003-based
computer that is behind a network address translator from the Internet, configure the network address
translator with the following static network address translator mappings:

• Public IP address/UDP port 500 to the server's private IP address/UDP port 500.
• Public IP address/UDP port 4500 to the server's private IP address/UDP port 4500.

These mappings are required so that all Internet Key Exchange (IKE) and IPSec NAT-T traffic that is sent
to the public address of the network address translator is automatically translated and forwarded to the
Windows Server 2003-based computer
28. How to create application partition windows 2003 and its usage?
An application directory partition is a directory partition that is replicated only to specific domain
controllers. A domain controller that participates in the replication of a particular application directory
partition hosts a replica of that partition. Only domain controllers running Windows Server 2003 can host
a replica of an application directory partition.
Applications and services can use application directory partitions to store application-specific data.
Application directory partitions can contain any type of object, except security principals. TAPI is an
example of a service that stores its application-specific data in an application directory partition.

Application directory partitions are usually created by the applications that will use them to store and
replicate data. For testing and troubleshooting purposes, members of the Enterprise Admins group can
manually create or manage application directory partitions using the Ntdsutil command-line tool.

29. Is it possible to do implicit transitive forest to forest trust relation ship in windows 2003?
Implicit Transitive trust will not be possible in windows 2003. Between forests we can create explicit trust
Two-way trust
One-way: incoming
One-way: Outgoing

30. What is universal group membership cache in windows 2003.

Information is stored locally once this option is enabled and a user attempts to log on for the first time. The
domain controller obtains the universal group membership for that user from a global catalog. Once the
universal group membership information is obtained, it is cached on the domain controller for that site

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 indefinitely and is periodically refreshed. The next time that user attempts to log on, the authenticating
domain controller running Windows Server 2003 will obtain the universal group membership information
from its local cache without the need to contact a global catalog.
By default, the universal group membership information contained in the cache of each domain controller
will be refreshed every 8 hours.

31. GPMC & RSOP in windows 2003?

GPMC is tool which will be used for managing group policies and will display information like how many
policies applied, on which OU’s the policies applied, What are the settings enabled in each policy, Who are
the users effecting by these polices, who is managing these policies. GPMC will display all the above
information.

RSoP provides details about all policy settings that are configured by an Administrator, including
Administrative Templates, Folder Redirection, Internet Explorer Maintenance, Security Settings, Scripts,
and Group Policy Software Installation.
When policies are applied on multiple levels (for example, site, domain, domain controller, and
organizational unit), the results can conflict. RSoP can help you determine a set of applied policies and
their precedence (the order in which policies are applied).

32. Assign & Publish the applications in GP & how?

Through Group policy you can Assign and Publish the applications by creating .msi package for that
application
With Assign option you can apply policy for both user and computer. If it is applied to computer then the
policy will apply to user who logs on to that computer. If it is applied on user it will apply where ever he
logs on to the domain. It will be appear in Start menu—Programs. Once user click the shortcut or open any
document having that extension then the application install into the local machine. If any application
program files missing it will automatically repair.
With Publish option you can apply only on users. It will not install automatically when any application
program files are corrupted or deleted.

33. DFS in windows 2003?

Refer Question 17 on level 2

34. How to use recovery console?

The Windows 2000 Recovery Console is a command-line console that you can start from the Windows 2000
Setup program. Using the Recovery Console, you can start and stop services, format drives, read and write
data on a local drive (including drives formatted to use NTFS), and perform many other administrative
tasks. The Recovery Console is particularly useful if you need to repair your system by copying a file from
a floppy disk or CD-ROM to your hard drive, or if you need to reconfigure a service that is preventing your
computer from starting properly. Because the Recovery Console is quite powerful, it should only be used
by advanced users who have a thorough knowledge of Windows 2000. In addition, you must be an
administrator to use the Recovery Console.

There are two ways to start the Recovery Console:

If you are unable to start your computer, you can run the Recovery Console from your Windows 2000
Setup disks or from the Windows 2000 Professional CD (if you can start your computer from your CD-
ROM drive).
As an alternative, you can install the Recovery Console on your computer to make it available in case you
are unable to restart Windows 2000. You can then select the Recovery Console option from the list of
available operating systems

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 35. PPTP protocol for VPN in windows 2003?
Point-to-Point-Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) is a networking technology that supports multiprotocol virtual
private networks (VPN), enableing remote users to access corporate networks securely across the Microsoft
Windows NT® Workstation, Windows® 95, and Windows 98 operating systems and other point-to-point
protocol (PPP)-enabled systems to dial into a local Internet service provider to connect securely to their
corporate network through the Internet

Netdom.exe is domain management tool to rename domain controller

SID history
Netdom.exe is domain management tool to rename domain controller

level
• What are the services installed when RIS is installed. Read about RIS?

• How to trouble shoot if a DHCP client won’t get IP from DHCP Server?

• What the diff is between publish and assign?

• What is tombstone and what is the period of tombstone?

• What is online and offline fragmentations?
• Garbage collections and white spaces?
• Authoritative and non auth restore?

• Tell me one example when Infrastructure master and Global catalog will be on one DC, what is the issue
if both resides on same system?

• When you require a Infrastructure Master?

• What are Windows 2003 modes?

• What are FSMO roles and explain then?
• Stress on PDC emulator?
• 2003 advantages?

• About migration?(W2k to W2k3 and NT to W2k3)?

• Question on System State data Backup?

• Diff types of DNS roles and Zones?
• What are the steps you follow when you are promoting a server as ADC in windows 2003?

• What are the two parameters you run before upgrading the server to an ADC (/forestprep,
/domainprep)?
• What is the authentication process?
• What is the role of GC in authentication process?

• What happens if DNS server fails? Can a user is able to login if the DNS server fails (if you have only one
DNS Server)?

• How do you promote a server to a domain controller (in windows 2003) over a slow wan links.

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A) Take the backup of system state from the DC and restore it in the server where you are promoting using
“dcpromo /adv” and select restore from backup.

Features of windows2003

Automated System Recovery (ASR) provides a facility to get Windows Server 2003 systems back up and
running quickly after a failure occurs.

Internet Information Service 6.0 (By default will not install)

Highly secured and locked down by default, new architectural model that includes features such as process
isolation and a met abase stored in XML format.

Saved Queries: Active Directory Users and Computers now includes a new node named Saved Queries, which
allows an administrator to create a number of predefined queries that are saved for future access.

Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) is a new a new tool for managing Group Policy in Windows
Server 2003. While Group Policy–related elements have typically been found across a range of tools—such as
Active Directory Users And Computers, the Group Policy MMC snap-in, and others—GPMC acts as a single
consolidated environment for carrying out Group Policy–related tasks.

RSoP tool, the administrator could generate a query that would process all the applicable Group Policy
settings for that user for the local computer or another computer on the network. After processing the query,
RSoP would present the exact Group Policy settings that apply to that user, as well as the source Group Policy
object that was responsible for the setting.

Remote Desktop: In Windows Server 2003, Terminal Services Remote Administration mode is known as
Remote Desktop. Remote Desktop connections are enabled via the Remote tab in the System applet in Control
Panel. When connecting to a terminal server using an RDP 5.1 client, many of the local resources are available
within the remote session, including the client file system, smart cards, audio (output), serial ports, printers
(including network), and the clipboard.

Cross-Forest Trust Relationships : Windows Server 2003 supports cross-forest transitive trust relationships to
allow users in one forest to access resources in any domain in another, and vice versa.

Domain Renaming & Domain Controller renaming is possible.

Universal Group Membership Caching: Windows Server 2003 introduces a new feature aimed at reducing the
need for global catalog servers at all remote locations. Universal group membership caching is a new feature
that can be enabled on selected domain controllers, making them capable of caching universal group
information locally without being a full-fledged global catalog server.

Volume shadow copies of shared folders feature makes point-in-time backups of user data to ensure that
previous versions are easily accessible in cases where a user has accidentally deleted a file.

Application Directory Partitions: Active Directory forest has a copy of the schema partition, which defines the
object types that can be created, and their associated properties. Similarly, all domain controllers in the forest
hold a copy of the configuration partition, which holds information about sites and services. Within a domain,
all domain controllers hold a copy of the domain partition, which includes information about the objects
within that particular domain only.

Application directory partition. This new partition is unique in that it allows directory information to be
replicated to certain domain controllers only, on an as-necessary basis. Specifically designed for directory-
enabled applications and services, application directory partitions can contain any type of object, with the
exception of security principals such as users, computers, or security group accounts.

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Distributed File System: DFS is enhanced for Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and Windows Server,
Datacenter Edition by allowing multiple DFS roots on a single server. You can use this feature to host multiple
DFS roots on a single server, reducing administrative and hardware costs of managing multiple namespaces
and multiple replicated namespaces.

Improvements in Clustering:
In Datacenter Edition, the maximum supported cluster size has been increased from 4-nodes in Windows 2000,
to 8-nodes in Windows Server 2003.
In Enterprise Edition, the maximum supported cluster size has been increased from 2-nodes in Windows 2000
Advanced Server to 8-nodes in Windows Server 2003.

Server clusters running Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition or Datacenter Edition integrate with the
Microsoft Active Directory® service.
This integration ensures that a "virtual" computer object is registered in Active Directory. This allows
applications to use Kerberos authentication and delegation to highly available services running in a cluster. The
computer object also provides a default location for Active Directory-aware services to publish service control
points.

Server clusters are fully supported on computers running the 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003.
Windows Server 2003 supports Encrypting File System (EFS) on clustered (shared) disks.

RIS server supports to deploy all editions of Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, and all editions of
Windows Server 2003 (except Windows 2000 Datacenter Server and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition.)
In addition, administrators can use RIS servers using Risetup to deploy Windows XP 64-bit Edition and the 64-
bit versions of Windows Server 2003.

Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) : Windows Server 2003 delivers a native PPPoE driver for
making broadband connections to certain Internet service providers (ISPs) without the need for additional
software.
Small businesses or corporate branch offices may also utilize PPPoE's demand dial capabilities to integrate with
the Routing and Remote Access service and NAT.

Internet Connection Firewall (ICF): ICF, designed for use in a small business, provides basic protection on
computers directly connected to the Internet or on local area network (LAN) segments. ICF is available for
LAN, dial-up, VPN, or PPPoE connections. ICF integrates with ICS or with the Routing and Remote Access
service.

Open File Backup: The backup utility included with Windows Server 2003 now supports "open file backup". In
Windows 2000, files had to be closed before initiating backup operations. Backup now uses shadow copies to
ensure that any open files being accessed by users are also backed up.(Need to modify some registry keys)

Stub Zones: This is introduced in windows 2003 DNS. A stub zone is like a secondary zone in that it obtains
its resource records from other name servers (one or more master name servers). A stub zone is also read-only
like a secondary zone, so administrators can't manually add, remove, or modify resource records on it. First,
while secondary zones contain copies of all the resource records in the corresponding zone on the master name
server, stub zones contain only three kinds of resource records:
a. A copy of the SOA record for the zone.
b. Copies of NS records for all name servers authoritative for the zone.
c. Copies of (glue)A records for all name servers authoritative for the zone.

That's it--no CNAME records, MX records, SRV records, or A records for other hosts in the zone. So while a
secondary zone can be quite large for a big company's network, a stub zone is always very small, just a few

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 records. This means replicating zone information from master to stub zone adds almost nil DNS traffic to your
network as the records for name servers rarely change unless you decommission an old name server or deploy
a new one.
Difference between NT & 2000

 Windows NT SAM database is a flat database. And windows 2000 active directory database is a
hierarchical database.

 In Windows NT only PDC is having writable copy of SAM database but the BDC is only having read
only database. In case of Windows 2000 both DC and ADC is having write copy of the database.

 Windows NT will not support FAT32 file system. Windows 2000 supports FAT32.
 Default authentication protocol in NT is NTLM (NT LAN manager). In windows 2000 default
authentication protocol is Kerberos V5.

Features introduced in windows 2000, those are not in Windows NT.

 NTFS v5 supports Disk quotas.
 Remote Installation Service
 Built in VPN & NAT support
 IPv6 supports.
 USB support.
 Distributed File System.
 Clustering support.
 ICS (Internet Connection Sharing)

Difference between PDC & BDC

PDC contains a write copy of SAM database where as BDC contains read only copy of SAM database.
It is not possible to reset a password with out PDC in Windows NT. But both can participate in the user
authentication. If PDC fails, we have to manually promote BDC to PDC from server manger.

Difference between DC & ADC.

There is no difference between in DC and ADC both contains write copy of AD. Both can also handles
FSMO roles (If transfers from DC to ADC). Functionality wise there is no difference. ADC just require for load
balancing & redundancy. If two physical sites are segregated with WAN link come under same domain, better
to keep one ADC in other site, and act as a main domain controller for that site. This will reduce the WAN
traffic and also user authentication performance will increase.

What is DNS & WINS

DNS is a Domain Naming System/Server, use for resolve the Host names to IP addresses and also do the
IP address to host name. It uses fully qualified domain names. DNS is a Internet standard used to resolve
host names. Support up to 256 characters.

WINS is a Windows Internet Name Service, which resolves Netbios names to IP Address and also resolve
the IP address to Netbios names. This is proprietary of Microsoft and meant for windows only. Support up
to 15 characters.

If DHCP server is not available what happens to the client

First time client is trying to get IP address DHCP server, If DHCP server is not found. Client will get the
class C -IP address from APIPA (Automatic Private I P Address) range 192.168.0.1-254.
If client already got the IP and having lease duration it use the IP till the lease duration expires.

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What are the different types of trust relationships

Implicit Trusts ----- Establish trust relationship automatically.

Explicit Trusts ----- We have to build manually trust relationship .NT to Win2k or
Forest to Forest
Transitive ----- If A  B  C then A C
Non-Transitive ----- If A  B  C then A is not trusting C
One way ----- One side
Two way ----- two sides

Windows Server 2003 Active Directory supports the following types of trust relationships:
Tree-root trust Tree-root trust relationships are automatically established when you add a new tree root
domain to an existing forest. This trust relationship is transitive and two-way.
Parent-child trust Parent-child trust relationships are automatically established when you add a new child
domain to an existing tree. This trust relationship is also transitive and two-way.
Shortcut trust Shortcut trusts are trust relationships that are manually created by systems administrators.
These trusts can be defined between any two domains in a forest, generally for the purpose of improving
user logon and resource access performance. Shortcut trusts can be especially useful in situations where
users in one domain often need to access resources in another, but a long path of transitive trusts separates
the two domains. Often referred to as cross-link trusts, shortcut trust relationships are transitive and can be
configured as one-way or two-way as needs dictate.
Realm trust Realm trusts are manually created by systems administrators between a non–Windows
Kerberos realm and a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory domain. This type of trust relationship
provides cross-platform interoperability with security services in any Kerberos version 5 realm, such as a
UNIX implementation. Realm trusts can be either transitive or non-transitive, and one-way or two-way as
needs dictate.
External trust External trusts are manually created by systems administrators between Active Directory
domains that are in different forests, or between a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory domain and a
Windows NT 4.0 domain. These trust relationships provide backward compatibility with Windows NT 4.0
environments, and communication with domains located in other forests that are not con-figured to use
forest trusts. External trusts are nontransitive and can be configured as either one-way or two-way as needs
dictate.
Forest trust Forest trusts are trust relationships that are manually created by systems administrators
between forest root domains in two separate forests. If a forest trust relationship is two-way, it effectively
allows authentication requests from users in one forest to reach another, and for users in either forest to
access resources in both. Forest trust relationships are transitive between two forests only and can be
configured as either one-way or two-way as needs dictate.

By default implicit two way transitive trust relationships establish between all domains in the windows
2000/2003 forest.

What is the process of DHCP for getting the IP address to the client?

Discover ----- Client broadcast the packets to find the DHCP server
Offer ----- Server offers
Request for IP address ---- Client request for IP address to the offered server.
Acknowledge ----- Server sends the Acknowledgement to the client

NACK -------- If client not get the IP address after server given offer, then Server sends the Negative
Acknowledgement.

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DHCP Server uses port no.: 67
DHCP Client uses port no.: 68

• Difference between FAT, NTFS, NTFSver5 & NTFS ver6?

• What are the port numbers for FTP, Telnet, HTTP, DNS?

• What are the different types of profiles in 2000?

• What is the database files used for Active Directory?

• What is the location of AD DATABASE?

• What is the authentication protocol used in NT?

• What is sub netting and super netting?

• What is the use of terminal services?

• What is the protocol used for terminal services?

• What is the port number for RDP?

Medium Level

• What is the difference between Authorized DHCP and Non Authorized DHCP?

• Difference between inter-site and intra-site replication. Protocols using for replication?

• How to monitor replication?

• Brief explanation of RAID Levels?

• What are the different backup strategies are available?

• What is a global catalog?

• What is Active Directory and what is the use of it?

• What is the physical and logical structure of AD?

• What is the process of user authentication (Kerberos V5) in windows 2000?

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

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

• What are the problems that are generally come across DHCP?

• What is the role responsible for time synchronization?

• What is TTL & how to set TTL time in DNS?

• How to take DNS and WINS Backup?

• What is recovery console?

17
 • What is DFS & its usage?

• What is RIS and what are its requirements?

• How many root replicas can be created in DFS?

• What is the difference between Domain DFS and Standalone DFS?

High Level

• Can we establish trust relationship between two forests?

• What is FSMO ROLES?

• Brief all the FSMO Roles?

• How to manually configure FSMO Roles to separate DC’s?

• What is the difference between authoritative and non-authoritative restore?

• What is Active Directory De-fragmentation?

• Difference between online and offline de-fragmentation

• What is tombstone period?

• What is white space and Garbage Collection?

• What are the monitoring tools used for Server and Network Heath. How to define alert mechanism?

• How to deploy the patches and what are the software’s used for this process?

• What is Clustering? Briefly define & explain it?

• How to configure SNMP?

• Is it possible to rename the Domain name & how?

• What is SOA Record?

• What is a Stub zone and what is the use of it?

• What are the different types of partitions present in AD?

• What are the (two) services required for replication?

• Can we use a Linux DNS Sever in 2000 Domain?

• What is the difference between IIS Version 5 and IIS Version 6?

• What is ASR (Automated System Recovery) and how to implement it?

• What are the different levels that we can apply Group Policy?

• What is Domain Policy, Domain controller policy, Local policy and Group Policy?

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 • What is the use of SYSVOL FOLDER?

• What is folder redirection?

• What different modes in windows 2003 (Mixed, native & interim….etc)?

• IPSec usage and difference window 2000 & 2003?

• How to create application partition windows 2003 and its usage?

• Is it possible to do implicit transitive forest to forest trust relation ship in windows 2003?
• What is universal group membership cache in windows 2003?
• GPMC & RSOP in windows 2003?
• Assign & Publish the applications in GP & how?
• DFS in windows 2003?
• How to use recovery console?
• PPEP protocol for VPN in windows 2003?

NTDS.DIT ------ New Technology Directory Services. Directory Information Tree

After installing the Domain controller, to know the function of DC...

Dcpromo.log c:\windows\system32\dcpromp

Dcdiag, Netdiag, Rename the domains, Rendom, Netdom

AAAA records use for IPv6 as A record

Responsible record in DNS ---- for know the responsible for person.

SYSVOL Consistency Considerations

SYSVOL is a file system folder that stores files that must be available and synchronized among all domain
controllers. SYSVOL contains the NETLOGON share, Group Policy settings, and File Replication service (FRS)
staging directories and files. SYSVOL is required for Active Directory to function properly.
SYSVOL is replicated by the File Replication service (FRS). FRS has a fixed tombstone lifetime of 60 days. Because
you cannot change this interval, any domain controller that is disconnected for more than 60 days potentially has
an outdated SYSVOL. Updating SYSVOL requires performing a non-authoritative restore of SYSVOL.
In addition, SYSVOL replication cannot be synchronized manually. For this reason, ensuring that SYSVOL is
updated prior to disconnecting the domain controller is more difficult than simply updating SYSVOL when the
domain controller is reconnected. Regardless of the length of the disconnection, to
ensure that SYSVOL is synchronized when the domain controller is reconnected, prepare the domain controller to
perform a non-authoritative restore of SYSVOL prior to disconnecting it. When it restarts, non-authoritative restore
of SYSVOL occurs automatically. For information about performing non-authoritative restore of SYSVOL, see
“Restoring and Rebuilding SYSVOL” earlier in this guide.

• What are the RIS SERVICES?

• How to trouble shoot if a DHCP client won’t get IP from DHCP Server?

19
• What the diff is between publish and assign?

• What is tombstone period?

• What is online and offline fragmentations?
• Garbage collections and white spaces?
• Authoritative and non auth restore?

• Tell me one example when Infrastructure master and Global catalog will be on one DC, what is the issue if
both resides on same system?
• 2003 modes?
• FSMO roles?
• Stress on PDC emulator?
• 2003 advantages?

• About migration?(W2k to W2k3 and NT to W2k3)?

• Question on System State data Backup?

• Diff types of DNS roles and Zones?
• What is Bridge Head Server?
• Crisis Management?
• Mail flow in Exchange Server?
• DMZ concept in Firewalls?
• Is NAT uses Port Number if so what is the Port number?
• Difference between Schema Master and Global Catlog?

• Difference between Incremental and Differential Backup? Which is best backup Microsoft has
recommended?
• How DNS and DHCP are integrated?
• If RID master fails what happens?

• Tool used for FSMO?

• Difference between Assigning and Publishing through Group Policy?

• What is the difference between windows 2003 DFS & windows 2000 DFS?

• Compaq Insight Manager Version?

• What are the Classes in Windows 2003 Active directory?

• What is the tool to delete lingering objects in windows 2003?
• Through Compaq Insight Manager can we delete/create Raid?
• What is the difference between ILO & rilo?
• How to authenticate two windows 2003 forests?
• Windows 2003 Features?

20
• SUS implementation steps?
• How to install dual booting in windows 2003 server?
• I have a medium organization? I want to put multiple forests? What are the factors?
• I have deleted one user. Deleted user having some permissions. I want to create the same user name &
same password. Will the permissions remain same & what is the SID status?
• Where the roaming profile is exists?
• What does u can do with Group policy?
• What is server hardening?
• What is the SUS version u r using?

• There is on Scenario. I have one DHCP server and the IP addresses are configured as static. And I want to
get rid of the server. How do I create a new server with same configuration as old?
• How does u transfer Schema master?
• How do get Schema Snap in MMC? What u will do if wont get schema snaps in MMC?
• What are the enhancement advantages of GC in 2003?

• If u change the password in the client, how much times will it takes too update the password in the domain
controller?
• What r the modes in Terminal Server in windows 2003?
• What is the difference between windows 2003 DFS & windows 2000 DFS?

• Compaq Insight Manager Version?

• What are the Classes in Windows 2003 Active directory?

• What is the tool to delete lingering objects in windows 2003?
• Through Compaq Insight Manager can we delete/create Raid?
• What is the difference between ILO & rilo?
• How to authenticate two windows 2003 forests?
• Windows 2003 Features?
• SUS implementation steps?
• How to install dual booting in windows 2003 server?
• I have a medium organization? I want to put multiple forests? What are the factors?
• I have deleted one user. Deleted user having some permissions. I want to create the same user name &
same password. Will the permissions remain same & what is the SID status?
• Where the roaming profile is exists?
• What does u can do with Group policy?
• What is server hardening?
• What is the SUS version u r using?

21
 • There is on Scenario. I have one DHCP server and the IP address is configured as static. And I want to
get rid of the server. How do I create a new server with same configuration as old?
• How does u transfer Schema master?
• How do get Schema Snap in MMC? What u will do if wont get schema snaps in MMC?
• What are the enhancement advantages of GC in 2003?

• If u change the password in the client, how much times will it takes too update the password in the
domain controller?
• What r the modes in Terminal Server in windows 2003?

How to find SAM Database in Windows 2000

I have a problem of finding Security Accounts Manager (SAM) database in windows 2000.

I think it should be in c:\winnt\system32 folder

But I want to know the exact file name of SAM Database.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/reskit/distrib/dsbg_dat_udnu.mspx?mfr=tr
ue

Windows questioner

http://www.simulationexams.com/SampleQuestions/w2k/windows-server/server-questions-3.htm

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