1. Maximum number of LUNs that can be attached to a host (ESXi 5.

0)
o

2.

Maximum number of vCPUs that can be assigned to a VM (ESXi 5.0)

o

3.

256

32

What are the uses of ntdsutil tool?

o

Some of the main uses of ntdsutil tool

i.
Authoritative Restore - Authoritatively restores the Active Directory database or AD LDS
instance
ii.

ifm - Create installation media for writable and RODC setups (Offline DC provisioning)

iii.

metadata cleanup - Cleans up objects of decommissioned servers

iv.

roles - Transfers and seizes operations master roles

v.

set DSRM password - Resets DSRM administrator password

vi.
snapshot - Manages snapshots of the volumes that contain the Active Directory database and
log files

4.

FSMO roles and its failure scenarios

o

5.

http://vmwindowsadmin.blogspot.in/2013/07/fsmo-roles-in-nutshell.html

IPv6 addresses and its DNS record

o

128 bit address

Represented as 8 groups of 4 hexadecimel digits seperated by colons

6.

Represented by AAAA record in DNS

Uses DHCP v6 for addressing

Loadbalancer vs Clustering
o

Clustering

i.
Cluster is a group of resources that are trying to achieve a common objective, and are aware of
one another.
ii.
Clustering usually involves setting up the resources (servers usually) to exchange details on a
particular channel (port) and keep exchanging their states, so a resources state is replicated at other
places as well.
iii.

It usually also includes load balancing, wherein, the request is routed to one of the resources in
the cluster as per the load balancing policy
o

Load Balancing

.
Used to forward requests to either one server or other, but one server does not use the other
servers resources. Also, one resource does not share its state with other resources.

7.

Software installation using group policy

o

This can be done using 2 methods

i.

Assigning

ii.

Publishing
o

Assign :

.
If you assign the program to a user, it is installed when the user logs on to the computer. When
the user first runs the program, the installation is completed.
i.
If you assign the program to a computer, it is installed when the computer starts, and it is
available to all users who log on to the computer. When a user first runs the program, the installation is
completed.

Publish :

You can publish a program distribution to users.

i.
When the user logs on to the computer, the published program is displayed in the Add or
Remove Programs dialog box, and it can be installed from there.
o

msi packages are used for installation. Normal exe would not work.

Windows cannot install the software while the user is already logged on. The user need
to log off and log in

8.
Group policy security filtering for users. Which all users are in there by default. Members of
Authenticated Users group

9.

10.

Security filtering is a way of refining which users and computers will receive and apply
the settings in a Group Policy object (GPO)

In order for the GPO to apply to a given user or computer, that user or computer must
have both Read and Apply Group Policy (AGP) permissions on the GPO, either explicitly,
or effectively through group membership

By default, all GPOs have Read and AGP both Allowed for the Authenticated Users
group.

The Authenticated Users group includes both users and computers. This is how all
authenticated users receive the settings of a new GPO when it is applied to an
organizational unit, domain or site

Relevance of host file and its location

o

Came before the concept of DNS

An FQDN is first checked in Host file

Location : C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc

L3 switch vs Routers

11.

12.

L3 switches just have the ethernet ports only whereas the routers have WAN interfaces

QoS is not available with L3 switches whereas in routers it can be enabled

Routers have expansion slots and cards that allow them to use different media types,
like serial connections for T1 and T3 circuits

Routers are more intelligent in handling packets

L3 switches does not support NAT

VLAN vs Subnet
o

VLAN works at layer 2 while subnet is at layer 3

Subnets are more concerned about IP addresses.

VLANs bring more network efficiency

Subnets have weaker security than VLANs as all the subnet uses the same physical
network

Contents of System state backup

o

Registry

COM+ Class Registration database

Boot files, including the system files

System files that are under Windows File Protection

Active Directory directory service (If it is domain controller)

SYSVOL directory (If it is domain controller)

Cluster service information (If it is a part of a cluster)

IIS Metadirectory (If it is an IIS server)

Certificate Services database (If it is a certificate server)

13.

14.

15.

16.

Incremental vs Differential backups

o

Incremental backup - Will take the backup of files whose archive bits are set and resets
it after backup

Differential backup - Will take the backup of files whose archive bits are set but does not
reset it after backup

Robocopy
o

Microsoft tool used for copying files effectively

It has plenty of options to manage the copy process

How do you patch microsoft applications? Frequency of patches released by Microsoft

o

The Microsoft applications can be patched using WSUS

In WSUS, we can create several computer groups to manage this patch process.

MS patches are released once in a month

Explain GPO, GPC & GPT

o

GPO - Group Policy Object : Refers to the policy that is configured at the Active Directory
level and is inherited by the domain member computers. You can configure a GPO at the
site level, domain level or OU level. GPO stores policy settings in two locations GPC and
GPT

GPO behaviour : Local Policy > Site GPO > Domain GPO > OU GPO > Child OU GPO

GPC - Group Policy Container :This is the AD portion of the group policy. This can be
viewed using ADSI edit. It stores version information, status information, and other
policy information. When you create a new GPO, an AD object of class
groupPolicyContainer gets created under the System\Policies container within your AD
domain

17.

GPT - Group Policy Template : The GPT is where the GPO stores the actual settings. It
stores software policy script, and deployment information.

GPT is stored in SYSVOL share (\\DomainNameHere\SYSVOL\Policies) whereas GPC is

stored in the AD

What is CPU affinity in VMware? Its impact on DRS?

o

CPU refers to a logical processor on a hyperthreaded system and refers to a core on a

non-hyperthreaded system

By setting CPU affinity for each VM, you can restrict the assignment of VMs to a subset
of available processors

The main use of setting CPU affinity is when there are display intensive workloads which
requires additional threads with vCPUs.

DRS will not work with CPU affinity

http://frankdenneman.nl/2011/01/11/beating-a-dead-horse-using-cpu-affinity/

18.

VMversion 4 vs VMversion 7
o

Version 4

i.

Runs on ESX 3.x

ii.

Max supported RAM 64 GB

iii.

Max vCPUs 4

iv.

MS cluster is not supported

v.

4 NICs/VM

vi.

No USB Support
o

Version 7

Runs on vSphere 4.x

i.

Max supported RAM 256 GB

ii.

Max vCPUs 8

iii.

MS cluster is supported

iv.

10 NICs/VM

v.

USB support

19.

What happens to the VMs if a standalone host is taken to maintenance mode?

o

In case of standalone servers , VMware recommends that VMs should be powered off
before putting the server in maintenance mode

If we put the standalone host in maintenance mode without powering off the VMs, it
will remain in the entering maintenance mode state until the VMs are all shutdown

When all the VMs are powered down, the host status changes to under maintenance

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-4-esxvcenter/index.jsp#using_drs_clusters_to_manage_resources/c_using_maintenance_mode.html

20.

What is new in Windows server 2012

o

Server core improvements: no need of fresh installation, you can add/remove GUI from
server manager

Remotely manage servers , add/remove roles etc using Server manager-manage 2008
and 2008 R2 with WMF 3.0 installation, installed by default in Server 2012

Remote server administration tools available for windows 8 to manage Windows server
2012 infrastructure

Powershell v3

Hyper-V 3.0

i.

supports upto 64 processors and 1 TB RAM per virtual machine

ii.

upto 320 logical hardware processors and 4 TB RAM per host

iii.

Shared nothing live migration, move around VMs without shared storage

21.

22.

23.

ReFS(Resilient file system), upgraded version of NTFS- supports larger file and directory
sizes. Removes the 255 character limitation on long file names and paths, the limit on
the path/filename size is now 32K characters!

Improved CHKDSK utility that will fix disk corruptions in the background without
disruption

How does the backup software recognize that a file has changed since last backup?
o

The files use a bit called archive bit for tracking any change in the file.

The backup softwares normally checks the archive bit of the file to determine whether
the file has to be backed up or not

How can you edit a vm template?

o

The VM templates cannot be modified as such

First , the VM template have to be converted to a virtual machine

After making necessary machines in the virtual machine, convert the virtual machine
back to template

VMware configuration maximums

o

i.

ESXi 5.1

VMs
1. vCPUs - 64
2. RAM - 1 TB
3. vNICs - 10
4. vmdk size - 1TB

ii.

Hosts
1. LUNs - 256
2. LUN size - 64TB
3. Distributed vSwitches - 128
4. Ports in a switch - 4096
5. Logical CPUs - 160
6. Memory - 2 TB
7. Virtual machines - 512

i.

ESXi 5.0

VMs
1. vCPUs - 32
2. RAM - 1 TB
3. vNICs - 10
4. vmdk size - 1TB

ii.

Hosts
1. LUNs - 256
2. LUN size - 64TB
3. Distributed vSwitches - 32
4. Ports in a switch - 4096
5. Logical CPUs - 160
6. Memory - 2 TB

7. Virtual machines - 512

o

ESXi 4.x
ii.

VMs
1. vCPUs - 8
2. RAM - 255GB
3. vNICs - 10
4. vmdk size - 256GB/512GB/1TB/2TB for 1/2/4/8 block sizes

ii.

Hosts
1. LUNs - 256
2. LUN size - 64TB
3. vSwitches - 32
4. Virtual machines - 320
5. Ports in a switch - 4096

24.
What is the major difference between Windows server 2008 and windows server 2012 in
terms of AD promotion?

In Win 2012, dcpromo has been depreciated.In Order to make a Windows server 2012 to a
domain controller, the ADDS service has to be installed from the server manager. After installation, run
the post-deployment configuration wizard from server manager to promote the server as AD

25.

VMware hardware version comparison