Interview questions for Web application developers

1. What is the maximum length of a varchar field in SQL Server?

2. How do you define an integer in SQL Server?
3. How do you separate business logic while creating an ASP.NET application?
4. If there is a calendar control to be included in each page of your application,
and we do not intend to use the Microsoft-provided calendar control, how do
you develop it? Do you copy and paste the code into each and very page of
your application?
5. How do you debug an ASP.NET application?
6. How do you deploy an ASP.NET application?
7. Name a few differences between .NET application and a Java application?
8. Specify the best ways to store variables so that we can access them in
various pages of ASP.NET application?
9. What are the XML files that are important in developing an ASP.NET
application?
10. What is XSLT and what is its use?

Interview questions for ASP

Used by IBM Consulting Services, according to the site visitor.

1. How many objects are there in ASP?

2. Which DLL file is needed to be registered for ASP?
3. If you want to initialize a global variable for an application, which is the right
place to declare it? (like form or some other file).
4. What is diffrence between Server.transfer and Response.redirect.
5. Is there any inbuilt paging(for example shoping cart. which will show next 10
records without refreshing) in ASP? How will you do pating.
6. What does Server.MapPath do?
7. Name at least three methods of response object other than Redirect.
8. Name at least two methods of response object other than Transfer.
9. Tell few programming diffrence between ADO and DAO programming. What is
state?
10. How many types of cookies are there?
11. Tell few steps for optimizing (for speed and resources) ASP page/application .

Interview questions for MS SQL Server

This one always gets asked. For a while the database interview questions were
limited to Oracle and generic database design questions. This is a set of more than a
hundred Microsoft SQL Server interview questions. Some questions are open-ended,
and some do not have answers.

1. What is normalization? - Well a relational database is basically composed of

tables that contain related data. So the Process of organizing this data into
tables is actually referred to as normalization.
2. What is a Stored Procedure? - Its nothing but a set of T-SQL statements
combined to perform a single task of several tasks. Its basically like a Macro
so when you invoke the Stored procedure, you actually run a set of
statements.
3. Can you give an example of Stored Procedure? - sp_helpdb , sp_who2,
sp_renamedb are a set of system defined stored procedures. We can also
have user defined stored procedures which can be called in similar way.
4. What is a trigger? - Triggers are basically used to implement business rules.
Triggers is also similar to stored procedures. The difference is that it can be
activated when data is added or edited or deleted from a table in a database.
5. What is a view? - If we have several tables in a db and we want to view only
specific columns from specific tables we can go for views. It would also suffice
the needs of security some times allowing specfic users to see only specific
columns based on the permission that we can configure on the view. Views
also reduce the effort that is required for writing queries to access specific
columns every time.
6. What is an Index? - When queries are run against a db, an index on that db
basically helps in the way the data is sorted to process the query for faster
and data retrievals are much faster when we have an index.
7. What are the types of indexes available with SQL Server? - There are
basically two types of indexes that we use with the SQL Server. Clustered and
the Non-Clustered.
8. What is the basic difference between clustered and a non-clustered index? - The
difference is that, Clustered index is unique for any given table and we can
have only one clustered index on a table. The leaf level of a clustered index is
the actual data and the data is resorted in case of clustered index. Whereas in
case of non-clustered index the leaf level is actually a pointer to the data in
rows so we can have as many non-clustered indexes as we can on the db.
9. What are cursors? - Well cursors help us to do an operation on a set of data
that we retreive by commands such as Select columns from table. For
example : If we have duplicate records in a table we can remove it by
declaring a cursor which would check the records during retreival one by one
and remove rows which have duplicate values.
10. When do we use the UPDATE_STATISTICS command? - This command is
basically used when we do a large processing of data. If we do a large
amount of deletions any modification or Bulk Copy into the tables, we need to
basically update the indexes to take these changes into account.
UPDATE_STATISTICS updates the indexes on these tables accordingly.
11. Which TCP/IP port does SQL Server run on? - SQL Server runs on port 1433
but we can also change it for better security.
12. From where can you change the default port? - From the Network Utility
TCP/IP properties –> Port number.both on client and the server.
13. Can you tell me the difference between DELETE & TRUNCATE commands? -
Delete command removes the rows from a table based on the condition that
we provide with a WHERE clause. Truncate will actually remove all the rows
from a table and there will be no data in the table after we run the truncate
command.
14. Can we use Truncate command on a table which is referenced by FOREIGN
KEY? - No. We cannot use Truncate command on a table with Foreign Key
because of referential integrity.
15. What is the use of DBCC commands? - DBCC stands for database consistency
checker. We use these commands to check the consistency of the databases,
i.e., maintenance, validation task and status checks.
16. Can you give me some DBCC command options?(Database consistency check)
- DBCC CHECKDB - Ensures that tables in the db and the indexes are
correctly linked.and DBCC CHECKALLOC - To check that all pages in a db are
correctly allocated. DBCC SQLPERF - It gives report on current usage of
 transaction log in percentage. DBCC CHECKFILEGROUP - Checks all tables file
group for any damage.
17. What command do we use to rename a db? - sp_renamedb ‘oldname’ ,
‘newname’
18. Well sometimes sp_reanmedb may not work you know because if some one is
using the db it will not accept this command so what do you think you can do
in such cases? - In such cases we can first bring to db to single user using
sp_dboptions and then we can rename that db and then we can rerun the
sp_dboptions command to remove the single user mode.
19. What is the difference between a HAVING CLAUSE and a WHERE CLAUSE? -
Having Clause is basically used only with the GROUP BY function in a query.
WHERE Clause is applied to each row before they are part of the GROUP BY
function in a query.
20. What do you mean by COLLATION? - Collation is basically the sort order.
There are three types of sort order Dictionary case sensitive, Dictonary - case
insensitive and Binary.
21. What is a Join in SQL Server? - Join actually puts data from two or more
tables into a single result set.
22. Can you explain the types of Joins that we can have with Sql Server? - There
are three types of joins: Inner Join, Outer Join, Cross Join
23. When do you use SQL Profiler? - SQL Profiler utility allows us to basically track
connections to the SQL Server and also determine activities such as which
SQL Scripts are running, failed jobs etc..
24. What is a Linked Server? - Linked Servers is a concept in SQL Server by which
we can add other SQL Server to a Group and query both the SQL Server dbs
using T-SQL Statements.
25. Can you link only other SQL Servers or any database servers such as Oracle?
- We can link any server provided we have the OLE-DB provider from
Microsoft to allow a link. For Oracle we have a OLE-DB provider for oracle that
microsoft provides to add it as a linked server to the sql server group.
26. Which stored procedure will you be running to add a linked server? -
sp_addlinkedserver, sp_addlinkedsrvlogin
27. What are the OS services that the SQL Server installation adds? - MS SQL
SERVER SERVICE, SQL AGENT SERVICE, DTC (Distribution transac co-
ordinator)
28. Can you explain the role of each service? - SQL SERVER - is for running the
databases SQL AGENT - is for automation such as Jobs, DB Maintanance,
Backups DTC - Is for linking and connecting to other SQL Servers
29. How do you troubleshoot SQL Server if its running very slow? - First check the
processor and memory usage to see that processor is not above 80%
utilization and memory not above 40-45% utilization then check the disk
utilization using Performance Monitor, Secondly, use SQL Profiler to check for
the users and current SQL activities and jobs running which might be a
problem. Third would be to run UPDATE_STATISTICS command to update the
indexes
30. Lets say due to N/W or Security issues client is not able to connect to server
or vice versa. How do you troubleshoot? - First I will look to ensure that port
settings are proper on server and client Network utility for connections. ODBC
is properly configured at client end for connection ——Makepipe & readpipe
are utilities to check for connection. Makepipe is run on Server and readpipe
on client to check for any connection issues.
31. What are the authentication modes in SQL Server? - Windows mode and
mixed mode (SQL & Windows).
32. Where do you think the users names and passwords will be stored in sql
server? - They get stored in master db in the sysxlogins table.
33. What is log shipping? Can we do logshipping with SQL Server 7.0 -
Logshipping is a new feature of SQL Server 2000. We should have two SQL
Server - Enterprise Editions. From Enterprise Manager we can configure the
logshipping. In logshipping the transactional log file from one server is
automatically updated into the backup database on the other server. If one
server fails, the other server will have the same db and we can use this as the
DR (disaster recovery) plan.
34. Let us say the SQL Server crashed and you are rebuilding the databases
including the master database what procedure to you follow? - For restoring
the master db we have to stop the SQL Server first and then from command
line we can type SQLSERVER –m which will basically bring it into the
maintenance mode after which we can restore the master db.
35. Let us say master db itself has no backup. Now you have to rebuild the db so
what kind of action do you take? - (I am not sure- but I think we have a
command to do it).
36. What is BCP? When do we use it? - BulkCopy is a tool used to copy huge
amount of data from tables and views. But it won’t copy the structures of the
same.
37. What should we do to copy the tables, schema and views from one SQL
Server to another? - We have to write some DTS packages for it.
38. What are the different types of joins and what dies each do?
39. What are the four main query statements?
40. What is a sub-query? When would you use one?
41. What is a NOLOCK?
42. What are three SQL keywords used to change or set someone’s permissions?
43. What is the difference between HAVING clause and the WHERE clause?
44. What is referential integrity? What are the advantages of it?
45. What is database normalization?
46. Which command using Query Analyzer will give you the version of SQL server
and operating system?
47. Using query analyzer, name 3 ways you can get an accurate count of the
number of records in a table?
48. What is the purpose of using COLLATE in a query?
49. What is a trigger?
50. What is one of the first things you would do to increase performance of a
query? For example, a boss tells you that “a query that ran yesterday took 30
seconds, but today it takes 6 minutes”
51. What is an execution plan? When would you use it? How would you view the
execution plan?
52. What is the STUFF function and how does it differ from the REPLACE function?
53. What does it mean to have quoted_identifier on? What are the implications of
having it off?
54. What are the different types of replication? How are they used?
55. What is the difference between a local and a global variable?
56. What is the difference between a Local temporary table and a Global
temporary table? How is each one used?
57. What are cursors? Name four types of cursors and when each one would be
applied?
58. What is the purpose of UPDATE STATISTICS?
59. How do you use DBCC statements to monitor various aspects of a SQL server
installation?
60. How do you load large data to the SQL server database?
61. How do you check the performance of a query and how do you optimize it?
62. How do SQL server 2000 and XML linked? Can XML be used to access data?
63. What is SQL server agent?
64. What is referential integrity and how is it achieved?
65. What is indexing?
66. What is normalization and what are the different forms of normalizations?
67. Difference between server.transfer and server.execute method?
68. What id de-normalization and when do you do it?
69. What is better - 2nd Normal form or 3rd normal form? Why?
70. Can we rewrite subqueries into simple select statements or with joins?
Example?
71. What is a function? Give some example?
72. What is a stored procedure?
73. Difference between Function and Procedure-in general?
74. Difference between Function and Stored Procedure?
75. Can a stored procedure call another stored procedure. If yes what level and
can it be controlled?
76. Can a stored procedure call itself(recursive). If yes what level and can it be
controlled.?
77. How do you find the number of rows in a table?
78. Difference between Cluster and Non-cluster index?
79. What is a table called, if it does not have neither Cluster nor Non-cluster
Index?
80. Explain DBMS, RDBMS?
81. Explain basic SQL queries with SELECT from where Order By, Group By-
Having?
82. Explain the basic concepts of SQL server architecture?
83. Explain couple pf features of SQL server
84. Scalability, Availability, Integration with internet, etc.)?
85. Explain fundamentals of Data ware housing & OLAP?
86. Explain the new features of SQL server 2000?
87. How do we upgrade from SQL Server 6.5 to 7.0 and 7.0 to 2000?
88. What is data integrity? Explain constraints?
89. Explain some DBCC commands?
90. Explain sp_configure commands, set commands?
91. Explain what are db_options used for?
92. What is the basic functions for master, msdb, tempdb databases?
93. What is a job?
94. What are tasks?
95. What are primary keys and foreign keys?
96. How would you Update the rows which are divisible by 10, given a set of
numbers in column?
97. If a stored procedure is taking a table data type, how it looks?
98. How m-m relationships are implemented?
99. How do you know which index a table is using?
100. How will oyu test the stored procedure taking two parameters namely
first name and last name returning full name?
101. How do you find the error, how can you know the number of rows
effected by last SQL statement?
102. How can you get @@error and @@rowcount at the same time?
103. What are sub-queries? Give example? In which case sub-queries are
not feasible?
104. What are the type of joins? When do we use Outer and Self joins?
105. Which virtual table does a trigger use?
106. How do you measure the performance of a stored procedure?
107. Questions regarding Raiseerror?
108. Questions on identity?
109. If there is failure during updation of certain rows, what will be the
state?