self test of system administrator to improve your basic knowledge

1. Test for Systems Administrator position.
Please note that some of these questions are fairly advanced and it is not expected that you will know the answers to
everything so don’t get discouraged if you cannot answer everything.
System Administrator Questions and Answers
1. When setting permissions in NTFS for an individual's network drive, which option(s) of the following levels
do you give a default user? Please highlight the correct answer(s).
Full Control / Modify / Read & Execute / Read / Write
http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs-permissions.htm
2. What do administrative shared folder names always end with? Please highlight the correct answer.
1. #
2. $
3. @
4. %
5. ~
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_share
3. Which of the following utilities provides information in the format given below? Please highlight the correct
answer.
1 PING
2 NBTSTAT
3 TRACERT
4 NETSTAT
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/314868
4. On a network using DHCP, what is the easiest way to find out your IP address, DNS server, and DHCP
server? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
ipconfig/all

2. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/314850
5. A user has a laptop and can get to the Internet without any problems but cannot get to any internal
resources. What is the first thing you would check? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
Types of Network connected to such as Domain, Guest Network
6. Which one of the following is equal to 1 kilobyte (KB)? Please highlight the correct answer.
1 512 bytes
2 1000 bytes
3 1024 bytes
4 1028 bytes
5 2048 bytes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilobyte
7. What is a FSMO role, and how many are there in an AD network? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
Flexible Single Master Operation Roles (FSMO) Active Directory has five special roles which are vital for the
smooth running of AD as a multimaster system. Some functions of AD require there is an authoritative master
to which all Domain Controllers can refer to. These roles are installed automatically and there is normally very
little reason to move them, however if you de-commission a DC and DCPROMO fails to run correctly or have a
catastrophic failure of a DC you will need to know about these roles to recover or transfer them to another DC.
There are five FSMO roles, two per forest, three in every Domain.
2 Forest Wide Roles: Schema Master, Domain Naming
3 Domain Wide Roles: Relative ID (RID) Master, PDC Emulator, Infrastructure Master
8. What are the pros/cons of using cache mode in Outlook? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
Pros: Low Bandwidth, Can use Offline
Cons: Needs Larger space on computer, multi-user accounts
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj683103.aspx
9. What is the normal.dot file? Please type answer in red or highlight it.

3. The normal.dot file is the Microsoft Word template that is used to store the default settings such as font, font size, content of a file, etc.
It is used with each of the Microsoft Word files that you open.
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000940.htm
10. A user installs a third-party application which is not behaving properly. You have a hunch that it is a registry problem. When
drilling down into the registry, what would be the first two levels you try? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
HKLM, HKCU
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/256986
11. A user has a program that automatically starts every time she boots and wishes it would go away. Please name the different
methods you could use to potentially disable this program. Please type answer in red or highlight it.
We can disable auto start programs in various ways, one of the common method is by using msconfig in Windows 7 and earlier
Windows OS. In Windows 8 and above we can configure in Startup Tab of Task Manager. Another way to prevent auto start is change
the configuration in such particular program preference. Autoruns from sysinternal , and we can also use third-party software(s) to
block a program from autostart such as ccleaner.
http://www.howtogeek.com/74523/how-to-disable-startup-programs-in-windows/
12. Using a firewall, what is one of the most effective ways to protect against spambots sending out thousands of messages from
people’s PCs? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
First, we need to stop the spam.
a- set our firewall to not allow outbound SMTP/POP except from the email server.
b- set our mail server to not allow outbound relay.
Then, we need to find the problem machine(s).
1- Look at the firewall logs to see which machine(s) are actually trying to do outbound mail and getting blocked. Those machines are
infected.
2- Make sure each machine has current A/V, and do a thorough scan on each machine.
3- We may want to implement the Windows Firewall on each machine.
4- If still not found we will need to use a sniffer.

4. http://www.dr-lex.be/info-stuff/spam.html
13. You are trying to RDP into a server but cannot get in. Name the different things that could be the problem. Please type answer in
red or highlight it.
Depending on the type of error message we see, there are several things we can try:
The remote computer cannot be found, try typing the IP address of the remote computer instead.
Network failure
Not enough memory
Server authentication
The Remote Desktop port (usually 3389) might be blocked by a firewall.
Remote connections might not be enabled on the remote computer.
We can't connect remotely if our user account doesn't have a password.
The remote computer might be accepting connections only from computers that have Network Level Authentication enabled.
The remote computer might be too busy to accept any more connections right now. Wait a while, and then try connecting again.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Why-can-t-I-connect-using-Remote-Desktop-Connection
14. What GPOs do you like most or use most frequently? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
This is quite the loaded question. My suggestion to save time in the long run is we should review a desktop environment with several
staff levels (end user, manager, executive, etc) and see how they like it and test among those groups.
The top 10 Windows group policy settings are
Rename the Local Administrator Account:
Disable the Guest Account:
Disable LM and NTLM v1:
Disable LM hash storage:

5. Minimum password length:
Maximum password age:
Event logs:
Disable anonymous SID enumeration:
Don't let the anonymous account reside in the everyone group:
Enable User Account Control:
If you want to get your most bang for your buck, don't research all 3,700 settings. Just make sure you get the top 10 right.
http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=561524
15. What is spanning tree protocol? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
The Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is a network protocol that ensures a loop-free topology for Ethernet networks. The basic function
of STP is to prevent bridge loops and the broadcast radiation that results from them.
16. What does RAID stand for, and describe the differences between levels 0, 1, and 5. Please type answer in red or highlight it.
RAID (originally redundant array of inexpensive disks, now commonly redundant array of independent disks) is a data storage
virtualization technology that combines multiple physical disk drive components into a single logical unit for the purposes of data
redundancy, performance improvement, or both.
RAID 0 "striping"
RAID 1 "mirroring"
RAID 5 "striping with distributed parity"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_RAID_levels
17. What is 1-to-1 NAT and how is it used? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
1-to-1 NAT (Network Address Translation) is a mode of NAT that maps one internal address to one external address. For example, if
a network has an internal servers at 192.168.1.10, 1:1 NAT can map 192.168.1.10 to 1.2.3.4 where 1.2.3.4 is an additional external IP
address provided by your ISP.

6. We used NAT to exchange private IP to public IP in IPv4 networks.
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Communication_Networks/NAT_and_PAT_Protocols
18. What is the difference between an A Record, C Record, and MX Record? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
A record translates domain name to IP
C record translates an "alias" (similar to a subdomain) to a name
MX record is Mail Exchange, or mail server.
https://support.dnsimple.com/categories/dns/
19. What is the local host, or "home" IP address? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
A localhost is the standard hostname given to the address assigned to the loopback network interface.
IPv4 127.0.0.1
IPv6 ::1
A loopback network interface is a virtual interface used for system management. Applications can also use this virtual interface to
send and receive packets (pieces of data) through, as opposed to using a real interface.
http://whatismyipaddress.com/localhost
20. Below are several IP addresses. They are a mix between public and private, and A, B and C class address. Please follow each
address with whether it is public or private, and the class. Please type answer in red or highlight it.
Example: 192.168.0.1 Private Class C
10.43.179.66 Private Class A
194.168.199.42 Public Class C
172.16.100.243 Private Class B
177.55.0.2 Public Class B
10.242.15.111 Private Class A
187.6.1.1 Public Class B
192.168.250.11 Private Class C
12.87.1.1 Public Class A
Class A: First octet in address is between 0 and 127, inclusive and 10.0.0.0/8 is private

7. Class B: First octet in address is between 128 and 191, inclusive and 172.16.0.0/12 is private
Class C: First octet in address is between 192 and 223, inclusive and 192.168.0.0/16 is private
How many IP addresses are in this network address: 177.199.1.0/24? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
256 IP addresses
254 is usable
177.199.1.0 is network address
177.199.1.255 is broadcast address
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/ip/routing-information-protocol-rip/13788-3.html
21. You have an AD network and work at BigCompany.com. You local AD domain is BigCompany.local. You have a NAT'ed
environment, but when people try to go to www.BigCompany.com or any other resource that ends with BigCompany.com, they can't
connect. why? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
Most likely there is a router or firewall on network that is blocking access.
1. Check that it works locally
2. Open port 80 and try with the public IP
3. Check on NAT
4. Configure the DNS server
5. Test with the domain name
http://www.it-notebook.org/iis/article/public_website.htm
22. What are the pros/cons of using a .local or .lan domain (vs the public domain) in an AD network? Please type answer in red
or highlight it.
Using a local name (.local, .lan, .internal, etc.)
- We don't need to worry about whether or not we will conflict with a public DNS name and cause connectivity issues
- It's easy to manage and we can always create another DNS zone for the public DNS if we want to use it within the network

8. Using a public DNS name (.net, .com, etc.)
- We're going to need to create DNS entries for all our public services that are off-site. For example, we run our local domain and have
AD, DNS, DHCP, but outsource oour webhosting and email. So if these are on our same DNS name (www.example.com and
mail.example.com) our internal clients will look to our DNS server and see that it is authoritative for the zone and if it doesn't have
entries then to them it won't exist. We can get around this by adding DNS entries for these services so it's not a huge issue, just more
manual maintenance.
We will have to worry about things like public nameservers for our domain if it's a public DNS name, whether those are in house or
external, who maintains the records, DNS entries for services such as mail, www, remote access (if we choose to use a DNS name)
and the list goes on.
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/17974.active-directory-domain-naming-considerations.aspx
23. When cloning a disk for a PC refresh, what are some of the considerations you need to take into effect? Please type answer in red
or highlight it.
Maximum limits; Efficiencies; Software capabilities; Hardware purchases planning; Master disk images planning; Source image
preparation; Image deployment; Testing; Tweaking and customizing; Image storage and management:
http://www.techsoupforlibraries.org/cookbook-3/buying-and-deploying-technology/tools/guidelines-for-disk-cloning
24. What are your opinions of locking down desktops, versus leaving them open? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
It is one of the best physical securities and good habit to locking down desktops/computers while we are not using.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1020368,00.asp
25. What are your favorite web sites for technical reference and troubleshooting? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
Seriously? Google.com, Wikipedia.com, Microsoft Technet, SpiceWorks.com
26. What is the difference between a GSM and GPRS signal? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
I'm not big fun of mobile data network but here is my answer
GSM is a relatively old (late 1980s) standard for a second-generation (2G) digital cellular system. It is also the most popular cellular
system deployed today, with perhaps 80% of all cell phones worldwide based on it. GSM supports voice, fax and circuit data -- but not
packet.

9. GPRS (the General Packet Radio Service) comes in. It can be thought of as a packet data overlay on GSM. GPRS is still in service,
but is being replaced by EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution), which yields average performance about three times that
of GPRS. And EDGE itself is being replaced by UMTS (3G) data services, and its evolutionary path HSPA (High-Speed Packet
Access).
And we're not done yet -- 4G is on the way, with the 4G evolution of GSM being LTE (Long-Term Evolution). I'll stop here, but it's
safe to say that wireless has more acronyms than any other field!
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/feature/network-wifi/what-is-difference-between-3g-4g-gprs-e-wi-fi-3509254/
27. Someone says their Blackberry isn't receiving or sending e-mail, yet they get a GPRS signal. What are some of the steps you can
take to fix this? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
Check the signal strength
Verify that you are in a coverage area where email transmission is supported
Check the date and time
Check email settings
Check to see if redirection is enabled
Restart
Check network settings
Disconnect and Connect again from the BlackBerry network
https://kb.iu.edu/d/aona
28. What is the difference between BES and BIS? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
BIS Features -
1. Ability to add up to 10 existing email accounts
Personal - POP3/IMAP4
Business – MS Outlook and Lotus Notes
2. Self-Provisioning via the Handheld or Desktop

10. 3. Attachment Viewing Capabilities
4. Personalized Settings
5. Wireless Reconciliation
6. Mailbox Management
7. Optional email account (i.e. user@carrier.blackberry.com)
8. BlackBerry Internet Service checks the email accounts regularly for new messages, retrieves and sends copies of the new messages
to the handheld
BES -
It integrates your corporate mail which is more secured and provide over the air management for BES Admin. You need hardware
(BES Server) and software (Server Software) for having BES access.
http://crackberry.com/blackberry-101-lecture-2-bes-and-bis-whats-difference
29. In Exchange, what is an off-line defrag, what does it do, and when would you use it? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
Exchange has performed a routine maintenance and any old data that is past the delete thresholds has been deleted from the database.
The space it has left behind has then been converted into “white space”. No difference in the size of the database. This “white space”
will be used by Exchange, before expanding the database any larger.
If the DB is 100 gigs and 1221 says that it has more than 40-50 Gigs free space, it’s worth performing an offline defrag.
Do it if we are running out of disc space or the Database has reached its size limit 75GB (E2K3 STD). If not, just let it run….
http://msexchangeguru.com/2009/09/08/offline-defrag/
30. You are administering Exchange, and the president of your company wants to forward a copy of all incoming e-mail to a Gmail
account. What are the steps you take? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
1. Start the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in.
2. Right-click the mail-enabled user, and then click Properties.
3. Click the Exchange General tab.
4. Click Delivery Options.

11. 5. In the Forwarding Address section, click Forward to, and then click Modify.
6. Click the mail-enabled user or the mail-enabled contact. Then, click OK.
Note If you want e-mail to be delivered to the original mailbox as well as the forwarding address, select the Deliver messages to both
forwarding address and mailbox check box.
7. To close Delivery Options and to close Properties, click OK two times.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/281926
or
1. Click on the “Settings” link in the upper right-hand corner of the Gmail interface.
2. Click on “Accounts”
3. See the “Get mail from other accounts” field? Go for it.
4. The address we enter for POP should be the address we go to for webmail, with the “exchange/” post-fix removed. The default port
should be fine.
5. Note that we can opearte to reply to email using the the exchange address. we’ve got Gmail set to do this for mail grabbed from the
exchange account.
6. Also note that we can set imported email to be automatically tagged.
7. Sit back and wait. Gmail will periodically grab email (starting with newest) from the account in 200mb chunks. It might take a
while.
31. Someone is claiming that messages sent to them do not arrive in their inbox. You suspect that this is not entirely true. What do
you do in Exchange to trace the path of a message? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
To track a message by using the Message Tracking Center, follow these steps:
1. Start Exchange System Manager.
2. In the console tree, double-click Tools.
3. Exchange 2000 Server: Right-click Message Tracking Center, and then click Track message.
Exchange Server 2003: Click Message Tracking Center, and then click Track message.
4. Exchange 2000 Server: Under Servers on the General tab, type the name of the server that the message was sent from or delivered
to. To browse a list of available servers, click Browse, and then select a server.

12. Exchange Server 2003: Next to the Server button, type the name of the server that the message was sent from or delivered to. To
browse a list of available servers, click Server, select a server, and then click OK.
To search for a message, we are only required to specify the server that the message was sent from or delivered to. For example, to
search for a message from a specific user, type the user's alias, or if we do not know the user's e-mail address, click Browse to search
for the user in the Active Directory. There are many other search options available in the Message Tracking Center.
http://www.ftitechnology.com/resources/white-papers/digital-discovery-e-evidence-message-forensics
32. What is an EDB? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
EDB is an acronym for Exchange Database. The EDB files are exchange database files that store in-process and non-SMTP messages.
These files are formatted using the b-tree structure. Each EDB file has a corresponding STM file which contains the actual SMTP
messages.
Adobe Photoshop also uses the .edb file extension. In the PhotoShop application, the .edb file suffix is used for extended digital books
that have been created with the application.
The ACT! email also uses the .edb file extension. These EDB files contain email data files that are used by the softwarend ACT!
email data files.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124808(v=exchg.65).aspx
33. What are the pros/cons to allowing PST files? Please type answer in red or highlight it.
PST - Personal Folder Storage - A file that may contain folders, messages, forms, files and other items. We can create any number of
PSTs for use with a single profile. We can also designate a PST as the delivery location for incoming mail.
A local PST must be backed up by the individual owner. One advantage a PST has is the ability to use the remote e-mail features of
the Microsoft Exchange Client, download headers, move or copy messages, delete unwanted messages before downloading, and read
new messages while others are downloading. When we use an OST, the synchronization process is not multi-threaded.
It is better to use OSTs (Outlook configured in cache mode) since we have disadvantages with PSTs like in backups (PSTs are saved
locally and OSTs are just a copy of our mailbox).
Ost file will help to have offline copy of emails and also, there won't be much stress on downloading emails, becuase of only the new
contents will synchronize
Also, Ask the user manually archive the emails periodically and have a good backup at the server side as per company SLA.

13. An OST is the preferred method for offline storage, because it allows us to use public folders and organizational forms while we work
offline. Because an OST acts as a copy of Microsoft Exchange Server-based folders, the data is backed up during the standard
Microsoft Exchange Server backup procedures.