DNS Interview Questions and answers

JANUARY 7, 2010 BY VASIM MEMON 11 COMMENTS

DNS Interview Questions and Answer 1. Secure services in your network require reverse name resolution to make it more difficult to launch successful attacks against the services. To set this up, you configure a reverse lookup zone and proceed to add records. Which record types do you need to create? 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. What is the main purpose of a DNS server? SOA records must be included in every zone. What are they used for? By default, if the name is not found in the cache or local hosts file, what is the first step the client takes to resolve the FQDN name into an IP address? What is the main purpose of SRV records? Before installing your first domain controller in the network, you installed a DNS server and created a zone, naming it as you would name your AD domain. However, after the installation of the domain controller, you are unable to locate infrastructure SRV records anywhere in the zone. What is the most likely cause of this failure? 7. 8. 9. Which of the following conditions must be satisfied to configure dynamic DNS updates for legacy clients? At some point during the name resolution process, the requesting party received authoritative reply. Which further actions are likely to be taken after this reply? Your company uses ten domain controllers, three of which are also used as DNS servers. You have one companywide AD-integrated zone, which contains several thousand resource records. This zone also allows dynamic updates, and it is critical to keep this zone up-to-date. Replication between domain controllers takes up a significant amount of bandwidth. You are looking to cut bandwidth usage for the purpose of replication. What should you do? 10. You are administering a network connected to the Internet. Your users complain that everything is slow. Preliminary research of the problem indicates that it takes a considerable amount of time to resolve names of resources on the Internet. What is the most likely reason for this? Answers. 1. 2. 3. PTR Records DNS servers are used to resolve FQDN hostnames into IP addresses and vice versa SOA records contain a TTL value, used by default in all resource records in the zone. SOA records contain the email address of the person who is responsible for maintaining the zone. SOA records contain the current serial number of the zone, which is used in zone transfers. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Performs a recursive search through the primary DNS server based on the network interface configuration SRV records are used in locating hosts that provide certain network services. The zone you created was not configured to allow dynamic updates. The local interface on the DNS server was not configured to allow dynamic updates. The zone to be used for dynamic updates must be configured to allow dynamic updates. The DHCP server must support, and be configured to allow, dynamic updates for legacy clients. After receiving the authoritative reply, the resolution process is effectively over. Change the replication scope to all DNS servers in the domain. have been corrupted on the server.

10. DNS servers are not caching replies.. Local client computers are not caching replies The cache.dns file may

11. How can you authenticate between forests? Four types of authentication are used across forests: (1) Kerberos and NTLM network logon for remote access to a server in another forest; (2) Kerberos and NTLM interactive logon for physical logon outside the user s home forest; (3) Kerberos delegation to N-tier application in another forest; and (4) user principal name (UPN) credentials.

DNS Interview Questions And Answers

1.What is DNS? Domain Naming Services or System: - used for resolving host names to IPs and IPs to Host Names. 2.What is NBNS? NetBIOS Naming System, ex. - WINS, 2k access resources using DNS naming Conventions 3.What is a Forward Lookup? Resolving Host Names to IP Addresses 4.What is Reverse Lookup? Its a file contains host names to IP mapping information. 5.What is a Resource Record? It is a record provides the information about the resources available in the N/W infrastructure. 6.What are the diff. DNS Roles? Standard Primary, Standard Secondary, & AD Integrated. 7.What is a Zone? Zone is a sub tree of DNS database. 8.What is primary, Secondary, stub & AD Integrated Zone? Primary Zone: - zone which is saved as normal text file with filename (.dns) in DBS folder. Maintains a read, write copy of zone database Secondary Zone: - maintains a read only copy of zone database on another DNS server. Provides fault tolerance and load balancing by acting as backup server to primary server. Stub zone: - contains a copy of name server and SOA records used for reducing the DNS search orders. Provides fault tolerance and load balancing. 9.What does a zone consist of & why do we require a zone? Zone consists of resource records and we require zone for representing sites.

10.What is Caching Only Server? When we install 2000 & 2003 server it is configured as caching only server where it maintains the frequently accessed sites information and again when we access the same site for next time it is obtain from cached information instead of going to the actual site. 11.What is forwarder? When one DNS server cant receive the query it can be forwarded to another DNS once configured as forwarder. 12.What is secondary DNS Server? It is backup for primary DNS where it maintains a read only copy of DNS database. 13.How to enable Dynamic updates in DNS? Start>Program>Admin tools> DNS >Zone properties. 14.What are the properties of DNS server? INTERFACES, FORWARDERS, ADVANCED, ROUTINGS, SECURITY, MONITORING, LOGGING, DEBUG LOGGING. 15.Properties of a Zone? General, SOA, NAMESERVER, WINS, Security, and ZONE Transfer. 16.What is scavenging? Finding and deleting unwanted records. 17.What are SRV records? SRV are the service records, there are 6 service records. They are useful for locating the services. 18.What are the types of SRV records? MSDCS:Contains DCs information TCP:Contains Global Catalog, Kerberos & LDAP information. UDP:Contains Sites information Sites:Contains Sites information Domain DNS Zone:Conations domains DNS specific information Forest DNS zone:Contains Forests Specific Information. 19.Where does a Host File Reside? c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc.

20.What is SOA? Start of Authority: useful when a zone starts. Provides the zone startup information 21.What is a query? A request made by the DNS client to provide the name server information. 22.What are the diff. types of Queries? Recursion, iteration 23.Tools for troubleshooting DNS? DNS Console, NSLOOKUP, DNSCMD, IPCONFIG, Logs, PM.

What must be done to an AD forest before Exchange can be deployed? Setup.exe /forestprep What are the required components of Windows Server 2003 for installing Exchange 2003? ASP.NET, SMTP, NNTP, W3SVC What Exchange process is responsible for communication with AD? DSACCESS What 3 types of domain controller does Exchange access? Normal Domain Controller, Global Catalog, Configuration Domain Controller What connector type would you use to connect to the Internet, and what are the two methods of sending mail over that connector? SMTP Connector: Forward to smart host or use DNS to route to each address How would you optimise Exchange 2003 memory usage on a Windows Server 2003 server with more than 1Gb of memory? Add /3Gb switch to boot.ini Name the process names for the following: System Attendant? MAD.EXE, Information Store STORE.EXE, SMTP/POP/IMAP/OWA INETINFO.EXE What is the maximum amount of databases that can be hosted on Exchange 2003 Enterprise? 20 databases. 4 SGs x 5 DBs.

What is the use of NNTP with exchange? This protocol is used the news group in exchange.

What is DHCP? How we configure DHCP? DHCP is the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. (Port 67 and 68). It means asiging Dynamic IP

address to the devices on a network. (Next Doc) What are the ways to configure DNS & Zones? DNS = Domain Name System. It can be configured by clicking the Start button, pointing to the Programs, pointing to Administrative Toolsand clicking DNS Manager (which has two zones, namely the Forward Lookup Zone and the Reverse Lookup Zone). When the DNS Server Configuration Wizard starts, click Next. If it does not auto-start, it can be started by right-clicking the user's server name object in the DNS Manager console and choosing the Configure Your Server option. Zones = The next step is to choose to add a forward lookup zone, click Next and ensure whether the new forward lookup zone is a primary zone or not. It can only accept dynamic updates if it is a primary zone. Click Primary, and then click Next. It must be ensured that the zone name must either be the same as the user's Active Directory Domain name or the same as the suffix for all the computers on the network which are to be registered with the DNS server (in case of a stand-alone or workgroup environment). Type the name of the zone and then click Next. The default name is accepted for the new zone file. Then click Next. Choose to add a reverse lookup zone now and click Next. Click Primary and then click Next. Type the name of the zone and then click Next. The zone name should be the same as the Network ID of your local subnet. Accept the default name for the new zone file and click Next. Then click Finish to complete the Server Configuration Wizard. What are the types of backup? Explain each? FULL, Incremental and Differential. Full backup is as it says, it s a full backup of available data. Incremental backup stores all files changed since the last FULL, DIFFERENTIAL OR INCREMENTAL backup. The advantage of an incremental backup is that it takes the least time to complete. Differential backup contains all files that have changed since the last FULL backup . The advantage of a differential backup is that it shortens restore time compared to a full backup or an incremental backup. What are Levels of RAID 0, 1, 5? Which one is better & why? Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) is the combining of several hard drives into a single unit. Level 0 is used for applications, which do not require redundancy or striping. Which, means the contents of the files are spread out over the multiple disks. One of the common uses for level 0 is in editing digital video. Level 0 there is not falut redundancy, and if one drive happens to fail all the data is lost. Level 1 is used for applications, which include critical data and referred to as mirroring. RAID 1 is fault tolerant in situations when a drive fails the system will continue to work. Level 1 provides twice the transaction rate of single disks. Level 5 is used when fault tolerance is needed and uses block level striping and distributed parity. When one disk drive in RAID 5 goes down the data is recovered using the remaining drives. RAID 5 is considered, to be the most popular RAID level in use today, because of it'sperformance, redundancy and storage efficiency. What are FMSO Roles? List them. FSMO (Flexible Single Master Operation Role) are used to avoid conflicts in our active directory as AD provides lot of flexibility for users to do some kind of changes, thus increases chances of conflicts. Schma Master Role Domain Naming Master Role RID - Relative Identifier. PDC Emulator. Infrastructure.

Describe the lease process of the DHCP server. DORA D (Discover) : DHCP Client sends a broadcast packets to identify the dhcp server, this packet will contain the source MAC. O (Offer) : Once the packet is received by the DHCP server, the server will send the packet containing Source IP and Source MAC. R (Request) : Client will now contact the DHCP server directly and request for the IP address. A (Acknowledge) : DHCP server will send an ack packet which contains the IP address. Disaster Recovery Plan? A disaster recovery plan (DRP) - sometimes referred to as a business continuity plan (BCP) or business process contingency plan (BPCP) - describes how an organization is to deal with potential disasters. Just as a disaster is an event that makes the continuation of normal functions impossible, a disaster recovery plan consists of the precautions taken so that the effects of a disaster will be minimized and the organization will be able to either maintain or quickly resume mission-critical functions. Typically, disaster recovery planning involves an analysis of business processes and continuity needs; it may also include a significant focus on disaster prevention. What is scope & super scope? scope is a valid range of IP addresses which are available for assignments or lease to client computers on a particular subnet. A superscope is an administrative grouping of scopes that can be used to support multiple logical IP subnets on the same physical subnet. Superscopes only contain a list of member scopes or child scopes that can be activated together. Logical Diagram of Active Directory? What is the difference between child domain & additional domain server? Active directory contains forest, tree, domain and its child domain. Child domian is comes under parent domain and it shares the name space, its names space append the parent domain name. Addtional domain controller is the copy of main domain controller and its for load balancing and fault tolarance. FTP, NNTP, SMTP, KERBEROS, DNS, DHCP, POP3 port numbers? ftp = port 21 nntp = 443 smtp = 25 KERBEROS v4 = 88 KERBEROS v5 = 750 dns = 53 dhcp = 67 pop3 = 110 What is Kerberos? Which version is currently used by Windows? How does Kerberos work? Kerberos is a network authentication protocol. It is designed to provide strong authentication for client/server applications by using secret-key cryptography. A free implementation of this protocol is available from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Kerberos is available in many commercial products as well. Current Version 5.0 Distribution List? A distribution list, also known as a mailing list, is a collection of email addresses that allows you to email multiple people at one time. A distribution list can contain a few addresses, or many. GAL, Routing Group, Stm files, Eseutil & ininteg - what are they used for? GAL = Global Address Book (Address book used by users for Email addresses) Routing Group = A group setup within Exchange to connect to another mailserver ESEUTIL = is the utilities used to managed the information store. What is MIME & MAPI? MIME = Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions

It defines non-ASCII message formats. MAPI = Messaging Application Programming Interface It's the programming interface for email. How would you recover Exchange server when the log file is corrupted? Tell me a bit about the capabilities of Exchange Server. 1) Outlook Anywhere (OWA) 2) Mailbox Can sync with Blackberry Device. 3) Calendar Sharing. 4) MAPI & POP3 Client support 5) RPC Over HTTP. What are the different Exchange 2003 versions? 1. exchange 5.5 2. exchange server 2000 3. exchange server 2003 4. exchange server 2007 What are the major network infrastructure for installing Exchange 2003? 1.Geographical considerations 2.Bandwidth and latency 3.Current usage 4.Current messaging system What is the latest Exchange 2003 Service Pack? Name a few changes in functionality in that SP. SP2 is a cumulative update that enhances your Exchange Server 2003 messaging environment with: Mobile e-mail improvements Better protection against spam Mailbox advancements What are the disk considerations when installing Exchange (RAID types, locations and so on). Server hardware: Four 1 gigahertz (GHz), 1 megabyte (MB) or 2 MB L2 cache processors 4 gigabytes (GB) of Error Correction Code (ECC) RAM Two 100 megabits per second (Mbps) or 1000 Mbps network interface cards RAID-1 array with two internal disks for the Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003 program files Two redundant 64-bit fiber Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) to connect to the Storage Area Network You got a new HP DL380 (2U) server, dual Xeon, 4GB of RAM, 7 SAS disks, 64-bit. What do you do next to install Exchange 2003? (you have AD in place) Why not install Exchange on the same machine as a DC? 1. Redundancy and Stability - if the exchange server fails then Domain Controller also fails and it concludes a big Failuire 2. Overload : It may overload your existing server and that can cause a significant performance problem.

How would you prepare the AD Schema in advance before installing Exchange? 1. Make sure all the following are installd and working on the server SMTP, NNTP, ASP.NET, IIS, WWW. This can be installed windos component on Add-Remove program 2. Run Forest Preain Prep 3. Run Domain Prep and you are good to go. What type or permissions do you need in order to install the first Exchange server in a forest? In a domain? you need Schema Admin, Domain Admin and Enterprise Admin Permission. What type of memory optimization changes could you do for Exchange 2003? Add /3GB switch to boot.ini file and you can use upto 3GB memory instead of 1GB by default. How would you check your Exchange configuration settings to see if they're right? Once your exchange server configuration is done run the tool EXBPA.exc .This will give you the correct ficture of your exchange organization. What are the Exchange management tools? How and where can you install them? To install the Exchange System Management Tools 1. On the dedicated management workstation, insert the Exchange 2003 Setup CD into the workstation's CD drive, and then locate : \setup\i386\setup.exe. 2. On the Component Selection page, do the following: --Under Component Name, locate Microsoft Exchange. In the corresponding Action column, select Custom. --Under Component Name, locate Microsoft Exchange System Management Tools. In the corresponding Action column, select Install Microsoft Exchange System Management Tools installation option 3. Click Next, and continue with the wizard. What types of permissions are configurable for Exchange? 1)Exchange full admin full control over the exchange organization including permission 2)Exchange Admin Manage everything within the organization except org permission. 3)Exchange view only administrator read only administrative access to Exchange organization How can you grant access for an administrator to access all mailboxes on a specific server? 1. Start Exchange System Manager. 2. Drill down to your server object within the appropriate Administrative Group. Right-click it and choose Properties. 3. In the Properties window go to the Security tab. 4. Click Add, click the user or group who you want to have access to the mailboxes, and then click OK. 5. Be sure that the user or group is selected in the Name box. 6. In the Permissions list, click Allow next to Full Control, and then click OK. Note: Make sure there is no Deny checkbox selected next to the Send As and Receive As permissions. 7. Click Ok all the way out. What is the Send As permission? Send As Permission means user A will be able to access the mail box of user B and reply back to those mail. Even though user A has replied to the mail, the send address will display user b email. What other management tools are used to manage and control Exchange 2003? Name the tools you'd use. Active Directory Account Cleanup Wizard (adclean.exe) You created a mailbox for a user, yet the mailbox does not appear in ESM. Why?

Genrally, when you create a mailbox for a user. The user's e-mail address will be updated in the GAL. During the regular update interval. But in order for you to be able to view the mail box. The user has to access the Exchange server (either through MS outlook or OWA). Then you will be able to view the user's mail box. What are Query Based Distribution groups? A query-based distribution group is a new additional type of distribution group in Exchange 2003. This new type of distribution group provides the same functionality as a standard distribution group; however, instead of specifying static user memberships, a query-based distribution group allows you to use an LDAP query to dynamically build membership in the distribution group (for example All employees with a special group membership). Using query-based distribution groups we can reduce the administration costs dramatically. However a Query-based Distribution Group needs more Server resources like CPU power and RAM. What type of groups would you use when configuring distribution groups in a multiple domain forest? create a Universal Distribution Group. What are System Public Folders? Where would you find them? In Exchange Server 2003, public folders can be used to share information between a group of users. In smaller organizations where only one Exchange server is typically installed, one public folder instance can exist. Click Start, All Programs, Microsoft Exchange, and then select Exchange System Manager. Exchange System Manager opens. In the left pane, expand the Public Folders container. All existing folders in the public folder tree are displayed. How can you immediately stop PF replication? right-clicking the Organization name in Exchange System Management and clicking Stop Public Folder Content Replication What types of PF management tools might you use? PFDAVADMIN Tool What are the differences between administrative permissions and client permissions in PF? How can you configure PF replication from the command prompt in Exchange 2003? PFMIGRATE allows you to move a bunch of Public Folders from an Exchange Server to an Exchange 2003 Server from the command line.PFMIGRATE.WSF is a Script, which is located on the Exchange 2003 CD and the Exchange 2003 SP1 under SUPPORT\EXDEPLOY. PFMIGRATE requires ONE Exchange 2003 Server in your Enterprise because PFMIGRATE uses specific WMI functions from Exchange 2003.

The syntax is simple: To move System Folders PFMIGRATE.WSF /S:SourceServer /T:DestinationServer /SF /A /N :100 /F:C:\LOGFILE.LOG To move Public Folders PFMIGRATE.WSF /S:SourceServer /T:DestinationServer /A /N:100 /F:C:\LOGFILE.LOG To remove Public Folders after succesful Replication PFMIGRATE.WSF /S:SourceServer /T:DestinationServer /D

What are the configuration options in IMF? First of all, IMF needs to be enabled because it's not by default. To enable, from ESM go to Global Settings and right click on Message Delivery. Click on the "Intelligence Nessage Filter" tab, and change from "No Action" to "Archive". Also, enable the IMF on the Virtual SMTP server by right clicking on the default SMTP server and clicking on properties, then Advanced tab, then click on edit. Now you can check on the "Apply IMF" tab. There are two options in configuring Intelligence Message Filter (IMF):Gateway Blocking Configuration - this is where the messages will be blocked at the server, and the users will not even see them. Store Junk E-mail Configuration - this is where the messages will be delivered to the user's Outlook and stored in their Junk Email folder (Outlook 2003 in cached mode only, or OWA). What are virtual servers? When would you use more than one? Exchange Virtual Server is a clustered Exchange installation. When Exchange is installed on a Windows Server 2003 cluster, it is configured as an Exchange Virtual Server that can be passed between cluster nodes transparently to Exchange clients. 1. SMTP Virtual Server, 2. HTTP Virtual Server, 3.POP3 Virtual Server, 4. IMAP4 Virtual Server and so on Name some of the SMTP Virtual Server configuration options. The following table lists important configuration information that Exchange Server 2003 stores for SMTP virtual servers in Active Directory. Important Active Directory attributes for SMTP virtual servers msExchServerBindings -Specifies the Internet Protocol (IP) port binding for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connections. msExchAuthenticationFlags -Indicates which type of authentication this SMTP virtual server accepts. msExchMaxIncomingConnections -Specifies the maximum number of inbound connections allowed for this SMTP virtual server. msExchLogType -Specifies the log formats that this SMTP virtual server uses for protocol logging. msExchAccessSSLFlags -Identifies the type of encrypted channel that this SMTP virtual server supports. What is a Mail Relay? Name a few known mail relay software or hardware options. Often referred to as an e-mail server, a device and/or program that routes an e-mail to the correct destination. Mail relays are typically used within local networks to transmit e-mails among local users. (For example, all of the student and faculty e-mail of a college campus.) Mail relays are particularly useful in e- mail aliasing where multiple e-mail addresses are used but the mail relay forwards all messages to the specified e-mail addresses to one single address. A mail relay is different than an open relay, where an e-mail server processes a mail message that that neither originates or ends with a user that is within the server s local domain (i.e., local IP range). Mail relay Softwares:

1.NoticeWare Email Server 4.3 2. Flash Mailer 20.

What is a Smart Host? Where would you configure it? What are Routing Groups? When would you use them? What are the types of Connectors you can use in Exchange? What is the cost option in Exchange connectors? What is the Link State Table? How would you view it? How would you configure mail transfer security between 2 routing groups? What is the Routing Group Master? Who holds that role? Explain the configuration steps required to allow Exchange 2003 to send and receive email from the Internet (consider a one-site multiple server scenario). What is DS2MB? What is Forms Based Authentication? How would you configure OWA's settings on an Exchange server? What is DSACCESS? What are Recipient Policies? How would you work with multiple recipient policies? What is the "issue" with trying to remove email addresses added by recipient policies? How would you fix that? What is the RUS? When would you need to manually create additional RUS? What are Address Lists? How would you modify the filter properties of one of the default address lists? How can you create multiple GALs and allow the users to only see the one related to them? What is a Front End server? In what scenarios would you use one? What type of authentication is used on the front end servers? When would you use NLB? How would you achieve incoming mail redundancy?