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Networking Interview Questions

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What is UTP?
UTP — Unshielded twisted pair 10BASE-T is the preferred Ethernet medium of the 90s. It is based on a
star topology and provides a number of advantages over coaxial media:
It uses inexpensive, readily available copper phone wire. UTP wire is much easier to install and debug than
coax. UTP uses RG-45 connectors, which are cheap and reliable.
What is a router? What is a gateway?
Routers are machines that direct a packet through the maze of networks that stand between its source and
destination. Normally a router is used for internal networks while a gateway acts a door for the packet to
reach the ‘outside’ of the internal network.
What are LAN and WAN? How do they differ?
LAN stands for Local Area Network. This type of networking system is used to connect the computers over a
short range of area the examples would be a network inside office, school, and home and occasionally
between buildings etc. WAN stands for Wide Area Network. This type ofnetworking system is used to
connect the computer over large range of area; the best example could be the Internet which connects
different computer across the world.
What is MAC Address and IP Address?
MAC Address is the physical identifier of a network adapter and IP address represents a logical device
address on Internet Protocol Networks. Address Resolution Protocol of IP translates IP addresses to MAC
addresses.
What is Network Topology? Which is commonly used?
Network Topology is the style or way in which the networking is done. There are different types
of topologies like:
• Ring
• Star
• Extended Star
• Hub
• Spoke
• Mesh
• Bus
What is VPN?
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. It is a private network that makes use of publicnetwork like internet
but still it maintains security and privacy of private network through encryption and security procedures.
How many ways u can configure the Router?
The ways to configure the Router are:
• Console
• Telnet
• Auxiliary(AUX)
How to create Proxy server?
Proxy Server can be created using third party software. A proxy server acts as store and forward caches. It
receives the requests from different clients for web pages and it finds those pages and forwards it to the
client machines.
How to use software that is installed in the server?
One can use Terminal services to connect to the server and run the software. Even clients can use remote
desktop connection to access the software.
What is RAID?
RAID stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives. It is a technology that uses two or more hard disk
drives to replicate data among multiple hard disk drives. RAID provides greater levels of performance,
reliability and larger data volumes sizes. It is used for mirroring.
What is VoIP and how it works?
VoIP is nothing but Voice over Internet Protocol. It converts voice into digital signal which is transmitted
through internet. If we are calling a regular phone then the signal is converted to regular telephone signal
before reaching to destination. VoIP allows us to make call directly from a computer.
What is VLAN?
VLAN is nothing but Virtual LAN. It is a network of computers that act as if they are connected to the
same network even though they may actually be physically located in different segments of LAN. VLANs are
configures through software than hardware. The advantages of VLAN are that even if we move the computer
physically it can stay on the same VLAN without requiring any hardware reconfiguration.
What is the difference between L-2 Devices and L-3 Devices?
L-2 Devices works on MAC Address and L-3 Devices works on IP Address. L-2 Devices are much faster when
compared to L-3 Devices.
What is default gateway?
Default gateway is basically the entry point from one network and exit from the other networkwhich often
routes through the router network.
Explain the disadvantages of circular login?
In circular login method the event of corrupt database, only the last back up data can be restored.
Mention few standard port numbers for SMTP, POP3, LADAP, IMAP4, Global catalog?
SMTP – 25, POP3 – 110, IMAP4 – 143, RPC – 135, LDAP – 389, Global Catalog – 3268
Q: What are the seven layers of the OSI model?
A: The layers are physical, data link, network, transport, session, presentation, and applicationlayers.
Q: In the TCP client-servel model, how does the three-way handshake work in opening
connection?
A: The client first sends a packet with sequence “x” to the server. When the server receives this packet, the
server will send back another packet with sequence “y”, acknowledging the request of the client. When the
client receives the acknowledgement from the server, the client will then send an acknowledge back to the
server for acknowledging that sequence “y” has been received.
Q: What is the purpose of exchanging beginning sequence numbers during the the connection
in the TCP client-server model?
A: To ensure that any data lost during data transfer can be retransmitted.
Q: How does Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) work?
A: ATM works by transmitting all traffic in small, fixed-sized cells. These small, fixed-size cells reduces
queuing delay and can be switched quickly. ATM fits into layer 2 of the OSI model and provides functions for
framing and error correction. At the port interface, ATM switches convert cells into frames, and vice versa.
ATM provides Quality of Service and traffic shaping.
Q: Given a Class B Network with subnet mask of 255.255.248.0 and a packet addressed to
130.40.32.16, what is the subnet address?
A: Take the 2 addresses, write them in binary form, then AND them. The answer is 130.40.32.0
Q:What is an IP address?
A.Every device connected to the public Internet is assigned a unique number known as an Internet Protocol
(IP) address. IP addresses consist of four numbers separated by periods (also called a ‘dotted-quad’) and
look something like 127.0.0.1.
In computer networking, an Internet Protocol (IP) address consists of a numerical identification (logical
address) that network management assigns to devices participating in a computernetwork utilizing the
Internet Protocol for communication between its nodes.[1] Although computers store IP addresses as binary
numbers, they often display them in more human-readable notations, such as 192.168.100.1 (for IPv4), and
2001:db8:0:1234:0:567:1:1 (for IPv6). The role of the IP address has been characterized as follows: “A name
indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route indicates how to get there.”
Q:What is ARP? What is ARP Cache Poisoning?
Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is a protocol for mapping an Internet Protocol address (IP address) to a
physical machine address that is recognized in the local network. For example, in IP Version 4, the most
common level of IP in use today, an address is 32 bits long. In an Ethernet local area network, however,
addresses for attached devices are 48 bits long. (The physical machine address is also known as a
Media Access Control or MAC address.) A table, usually called the ARP cache, is used to maintain a
correlation between each MAC address and its corresponding IP address. ARP provides the protocol rules for
making this correlation and providing address conversion in both directions.
Q:What is a default gateway? What happens if I don’t have one?
A:A gateway is a routing device that knows how to pass traffic between different subnets andnetworks. A
computer will know some routes (a route is the address of each node a packet must go through on the
Internet to reach a specific destination), but not the routes to every address on the Internet. It won’t even
know all the routes on the nearest subnets. A gateway will not have this information either, but will at least
know the addresses of other gateways it can hand the traffic off to. Your default gateway is on the same
subnet as your computer, and is the gateway your computer relies on when it doesn’t know how to route
traffic.
The default gateway is typically very similar to your IP address, in that many of the numbers may be the
same. However, the default gateway is not your IP address. To see what default gateway you are using, follow
the steps below for your operating system.
Q:What is Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA)?
A. Windows 98, 98 SE, Me, and 2000 have an Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) feature that will
automatically assign an Internet Protocol address to a computer on which it installed. This occurs when the
TCP/IP protocol is installed, set to obtain it’s IP address automatically from a Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol server, and when there is no DHCP server present or the DHCP server is not available. The Internet
Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) has reserved private IP addresses in the range of 169.254.0.0 –
169.254.255.255 for Automatic Private IP Addressing.
Q:What is CIDR?
Short for Classless Inter-Domain Routing, an IP addressing scheme that replaces the older system based on
classes A, B, and C. With CIDR, a single IP address can be used to designate many unique IP addresses. A
CIDR IP address looks like a normal IP address except that it ends with a slash followed by a number, called
the IP network prefix. For example: 172.200.0.0/16
The IP network prefix specifies how many addresses are covered by the CIDR address, with lower numbers
covering more addresses. An IP network prefix of /12, for example, can be used to address 1,048,576 former
Class C addresses. CIDR addresses reduce the size of routing tables and make more IP addresses available
within organizations. CIDR is also called supernetting
Q:What does the ping 192.168.0.1 -l 1000 -n 100 command do?
A:The ping command will send roundtrip packets to a destination ( other PC, router, printer, etc.) and see
how long it takes. The 192.168.0.1 is the destination ( which, by the way is a typical default IP address of a
router. ) The -l 1000 is how big the packet should be in bytes. The default is 32, if the -l parameter is not
used. And the -n 100 is saying to send, it 100 times. The default is 4, when this parameter is not used.
Q:Describe the role of the routing table on a host and on a router.
a:In internetworking, the process of moving a packet of data from source to destination. Routing is usually
performed by a dedicated device called a router. Routing is a key feature of the Internet because it enables
messages to pass from one computer to another and eventually reach the target machine. Each intermediary
computer performs routing by passing along the message to the next computer. Part of this process involves
analyzing a routing table to determine the best path.
(row´ter) (n.) A device that forwards data packets along networks. A router is connected to at least two
networks, commonly two LANs or WANs or a LAN and its ISP’s network. Routers are located at gateways,
the places where two or more networks connect. Routers use headers and forwarding tables to determine the
best path for forwarding the packets, and they use protocols such as ICMP to communicate with each other
and configure the best route between any two hosts.Very little filtering of data is done through routers .
Q:What are routing protocols? Why do we need them? Name a few.
A:Routing protocol is a protocol that specifies how routers communicate with each other to disseminate
information that allows them to select routes between any two nodes on a network. Typically, each router
has a prior knowledge only of its immediate neighbors. A routing protocol shares this information so that
routers have knowledge of the network topology at large.
The term routing protocol may refer more specifically to a protocol operating at Layer 3 of the OSI model
which similarly disseminates topology information between routers. Many routing protocols used in the
public Internet are defined in documents called RFCs.
There are three major types of routing protocols, some with variants: link-state routing protocols, path
vector protocols and distance vector routing protocols.
The specific characteristics of routing protocols include the manner in which they either prevent routing
loops from forming or break routing loops if they do form, and the manner in which they determine
preferred routes from a sequence of hop costs and other preference factors.
• IGRP (Interior Gateway Routing Protocol)
• EIGRP (Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol)
• OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)
• RIP (Routing Information Protocol)
• IS-IS (Intermediate System to Intermediate System)
Q .To monitor ipx traffic on a network, what command would you use?
Show ipx traffic
Q. What command would you use to find out the names of Novell servers on a network?
show ipx servers
Q. “arpa” is used by the Cisco IOS for which encapsulation types?
Ethernet_II
Q. To prevent Service Advertisements (SAPs) from flooding a network, Cisco routers do not
forward them. How are services advertised to other networks?
Each router builds its own SAP table and forwards that every 60 seconds.
Q. Which type of Ethernet framing is used for TCP/IP and AppleTalk?
Ethernet SNAP
Q Which type of Ethernet framing is used for TCP/IP and DECnet?
Ethernet II
Q. Which NetWare protocol works on layer 3–network layer—of the OSI model?
IPX
Q. Which NetWare protocol provides link-state routing?
NLSP
Q. What is the Cisco name for the encapsulation type used on a serial interface?
HDLC
Q. IGRP uses flash updates, poison reverse updates, holddown times, and split horizon. How
often does it broadcast its routing table updates?
90 seconds
Q. When using RIP, routing updates are broadcast every ____ seconds.
30
Q. A default route is analogous to?
Default gateway
Q. What does the command “IP name-server 255.255.255.255″ accomplish?
It sets the domain name lookup to be a local broadcast.
Q. How would you configure one host name that points to two IP addresses?
IP host jacob 1.0.0.5 2.0.0.8
Q. Which IP Address Class can have 64,000 subnets with 64,000 hosts per subnet?
Class B
Q. There are two processes to pair MAC address with IP addresses. Which process finds an IP
address from a MAC address?
RARP
Q. Where would network testing be included in an IP packet?
IP Options field
Q. What field tells the Internet layer how to handle an IP packet?
Type of Service
Q. What is the UDP datagram format?
Source Port – 16 bits, Destination Port – 16 bits, Length – 16 Bits, Checksum – 16 bits, Data
Q. What is the function of DDR on Cisco routers?
DDR is dial-on-demand routing. It provides routing for low volume and periodic traffic. It initiates a call to a
remote site when there is traffic to transmit.
Q. When using access lists, what does a Cisco router check first?
The first thing checked is to see if the packet is routable or bridgeable. If it is not, the packet will be dropped.
Q. What do the following statements in an extended access list accomplish?
access-list 101 deny TCP 172.16.4.0 0.0.0.255 172.16.3.0 0.0.0.255 eq 21
access-list 101 deny TCP 172.16.4.0 0.0.0.255 172.16.3.0 0.0.0.255 eq 20
access-list 101 permit TCP 172.16.4.0 0.0.0.255 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255
This will block ftp traffic since ftp uses ports 20 and 21.
Q. Which protocol for PPP LCP (Link Control Protocol) performs a challenge handshake?
CHAP
Q. Which form of PPP error detection on Cisco routers monitors data dropped on a link?
The Quality protocol monitors data dropped on a link. Magic Number avoids frame looping.
Q. Which protocol for PPP provides load balancing across multiple links?
Multilink Protocol (MP)
Q. Which OSI layer end to end communication, segmentation and re-assembly?
Layer 4 the Transport layer performs this function.
Q. What IP command would you use to test the entire IP stack?
Telnet is an application and it resides at the top of the stack it traverses down the stack and up the stack at
the receiving end.
Q. What is the default bandwidth of a serial connection?
Default bandwidth is T1.
Q. Which OSI layer handles physical address, network topology?
Layer 2 the Data-Link layer performs this function.
Q Which OSI layer establishes, maintains and terminates sessions between hosts?
Layer 5 the Session layer performs this function.
Q. Where Cisco IOS is stored?
By default the Cisco IOS is stored in flash.
Q. Which layer is responsible for providing mechanisms for multiplexing upper-layer
application, session establishment, and tear down of virtual circuits?
The Transport layer does the following: Responsible for end-to-end integrity of data transmission. Handles
multiplexing upper-layer application, session establishment and tear down of virtual circuits. Hides details
of network dependent info from the higher layers by providing transparent data transfer. The ‘windows’
works at this level to control how much information is transferred before an acknowledgement is required.
Q. What’s the default CDP holdtime in seconds for Cisco routers?
Cisco Discovery Protocol is a proprietary protocol to allow you to access configuration information on other
routers and switches with a single command. It uses SNAP at the Data-Link Layer. By default CDP sends out
a broadcast every 60 seconds and it holds this information for 180 seconds. CDP is enabled by default.
Q. How can you force the client to give up the dhcp lease if you have access to the client PC?
ipconfig /release
Q:What authentication options do Windows 2000 Servers have for remote clients?
PAP, SPAP, CHAP, MS-CHAP and EAP.
Q.What are the networking protocol options for the Windows clients if for some reason you
do not want to use TCP/IP?
NWLink (Novell), NetBEUI, AppleTalk (Apple).
Q.What is data link layer in the OSI reference model responsible for? Data link layer is
located above the physical layer, but below the network layer.
Taking raw data bits and packaging them into frames. The network layer will be responsible for addressing
the frames, while the physical layer is responsible for retrieving and sending raw data bits.
Q.What is binding order?
The order by which the network protocols are used for client-server communications. The most frequently
used protocols should be at the top.
Q.How do cryptography-based keys ensure the validity of data transferred across the
network?
Each IP packet is assigned a checksum, so if the checksums do not match on both receiving and transmitting
ends, the data was modified or corrupted.
Q.Should we deploy IPSEC-based security or certificate-based security?
They are really two different technologies. IPSec secures the TCP/IP communication and protects the
integrity of the packets. Certificate-based security ensures the validity of authenticated clients and servers.
Q.What is LMHOSTS file?
It’s a file stored on a host machine that is used to resolve NetBIOS to specific IP addresses.
Q.What’s the difference between forward lookup and reverse lookup in DNS?
Forward lookup is name-to-address, the reverse lookup is address-to-name.
Q.How can you recover a file encrypted using EFS?
Use the domain recovery agent.
Q.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..
Q.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.
Q.What is the difference between TCP and UDP ?
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.
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.
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