windows server 2008 r2 interview questions and answers Part1

How do you load the DNS zone changes on other site before the scheduled replication happens?
Refresh the Zone on the DNS server in the site you want to see the changes.

How do you restore a deleted OU in AD?

Do an authoritative restore of the selective OU that is deleted.

How to apply DesktopLockDown/Restrictions policy to selective AD OUs?
Apply the DesktopLockDown/Restrictions policy to selective OUs. In case you need to apply for all but not to a particular OU, apply the policy at the domain level and block the policy inheritance at the OU that you need to exclude.

How to apply DesktopLockDown/Restrictions policy to selective AD Security Groups?
Apply the DesktopLockDown/Restrictions policy to OU and Deny the Policy to the selected AD Security Group.

What permissions required for installing an application that updates AD Schema?
One has to be a Schema Administrator for installing such an application as well as he should be have administrator rights on the system where he is installing it.

How do you provide the DNS zone details?
Use dnscmd /ZoneExport command to have all the zone data exported to file formats.

Dnscmd.exe: DNS Server Troubleshooting Tool

This command-line tool assists administrators in Domain Name System (DNS) management.
DNSCmd displays and changes the properties of DNS servers, zones, and resource records. It manually modifies these properties, creates and deletes zones and resource records, and forces replication events between DNS server physical memory and DNS databases and data files. Some operations of this tool work at the DNS server level while others work at the zone level.

References:

• Dnscmd
• Dnscmd Examples: Domain Name System(DNS)

How do you allow users a domain be able to modify entries in one AD integrated DNS zone but not in the other?

You need to modify the permissions on DNS server via DNS Manager to let users modify that DNS zone.

How do you remove/uninstall AD DS role?

Run Dcpromo.exe and Choose Remove AD DS role

What are various Options available to Remove/Uninstall AD DS Role?

• Run Dcpromo and choose Remove options. For automation, you can use an answer file.
• Goto Server Manager, Roles and uninstall AD DS Role

How do you configure AD FS such that AD FS tokens contain information from AD? Or How do you integrate AD FS with AD for populating the information from AD into AD FS tokens?

You need to Add and Configure a new Account Store in AD FS Trust Policy

How do you ensure that only Authenticated users are allowed to update Host (A) records in DNS zones?

One has to convert or setup such a DNS zone as Active Directory Integrated Zone. AD Integrated Zones allow only Authenticated users to update the Host records. 

How do you configure your Online Responder server to issue Certificate Revocation List (CRLs) for enterprise root CA?

1. Import the Enterprise root CA certificate.
2. Import the OCSP Response Signing Certificate.
3. 
   
4. 
   

How do you configure the Change Auditing for a Standalone Certificate Authority (CA)?

Since the CA is a standalone server, that is it’s not part of your domain, so you can’t apply auditing from a domain GPO rather you need to achieve the same via Local Group Policies. Here are the steps for configuring the same:

1. Enable the Audit Object Access setting in Local Security Policy on the CA server
2. Configure the Auditing in Certification Authority snap-in
3. 
   

What are the possible ways to decommission a 2008 domain controller server and remove a child domain of a Forest?

In order to decommission a child domain and it’s DC, first you have to move/migrate all the required AD objects out from that domain to the parent domain or wherever needed.  Then use need to uninstall the AD DS role on the DC. This can be done via

1. Server Manager, Uninstall the AD DS server role
2. Run Dcpromo.exe , Choose Remove Option. You can run the same tool using an answer file for automated uninstall of AD DS role.
3. 
   
4. 
   

How do you configure your Windows 2008 R2 environment to allow Zone transfers to a UNIX-based DNS server?
In DNS Manager Console, choose the zone to be allowed for transfers to Unix server and enable the BIND Secondaries

What are the steps involved in creating a New AD Site and Establishing Replication between two AD Sites?

1. Create new AD Site
2. Install and Add a new Domain Controller to the new Site
3. There will be a Default IP Site Link created for the replication with other AD sites in the domain
4. On the new DC, In AD Sites and Services Console, Create a new IP Subnet to the new Site
5. Move the DC Object to the new Site
6. 
   

How do you Launch AD Schema Snap-in?
AD Schema snap-in isn’t registered default for the user to find it readily, in view of it’s security. However, one can have it launched by manually registering the Schmmgmt.dll file.

Read More

windows server 2008 r2 interview questions and answers

Active Directory Domain Services

Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), formerly known as Active Directory Directory Services, is the central location for configuration information, authentication requests, and information about all of the objects that are stored within your forest. Using Active Directory, you can efficiently manage users, computers, groups, printers, applications, and other directory-enabled objects from one secure, centralized location.

Benefits

• Lower costs of managing Windows networks.
• Simplify identity management by providing a single view of all user information.
• Boost security with the ability to enable multiple types of security mechanisms within a single network.
•  Improve compliance by using Active Directory as a primary source for audit data.

Active Directory Rights Management Services

Your organization’s intellectual property needs to be safe and highly secure. Active Directory Rights Management Services, a component of Windows Server 2008, is available to help make sure that only those individuals who need to view a file can do so. AD RMS can protect a file by identifying the rights that a user has to the file. Rights can be configured to allow a user to open, modify, print, forward, or take other actions with the rights-managed information. With AD RMS, you can now safeguard data when it is distributed outside of your network.

Active Directory Federation Services

Active Directory Federation Services is a highly secure, highly extensible, and Internet-scalable identity access solution that allows organizations to authenticate users from partner organizations. Using AD FS in Windows Server 2008, you can simply and very securely grant external users access to your organization’s domain resources. AD FS can also simplify integration between untrusted resources and domain resources within your own organization.

Active Directory Certificate Services

Most organizations use certificates to prove the identity of users or computers, as well as to encrypt data during transmission across unsecured network connections. Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) enhances security by binding the identity of a person, device, or service to their own private key. Storing the certificate and private key within Active Directory helps securely protect the identity, and Active Directory becomes the centralized location for retrieving the appropriate information when an application places a request.

Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services

Active Directory Lightweight Directory Service (AD LDS), formerly known as Active Directory Application Mode, can be used to provide directory services for directory-enabled applications. Instead of using your organization’s AD DS database to store the directory-enabled application data, AD LDS can be used to store the data. AD LDS can be used in conjunction with AD DS so that you can have a central location for security accounts (AD DS) and another location to support the application configuration and directory data (AD LDS). Using AD LDS, you can reduce the overhead associated with Active Directory replication, you do not have to extend the Active Directory schema to support the application, and you can partition the directory structure so that the AD LDS service is only deployed to the servers that need to support the directory-enabled application.

Read More

Virtual Hard Disks

Windows 7 has a new feature called VHD Boot. This feature allows you to boot your entire Windows from a Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) file. There are various advantages of this feature, like:

• The configurations and settings of your entire system are included in one file – .VHD file.
• One VHD file can be based on another one. So if you have different systems, you can create a base copy of Windows 7 on a VHD and make all others incremental. This saves a lot of disk space.

But this feature can only be used on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, or later operating systems. The operating systems which came before Windows 7 do not support VHD. With VHD your system suffers a performance decrease of about 3%. Windows' hibernate function and BitLocker configurations are not supported by VHD. BitLocker can be used within the guest VHD, but not on the volume where the VHD resides. Also, with VHD, features like Aero don’t work because the Windows Experience index is not supported.

Types of Virtual Hard Disks:

Three types of VHD files can be created using the disk management tools:

• Fixed hard-disk image - A fixed hard-disk image is a file that is allocated to the size of the virtual disk. For example, if you create a virtual hard disk that is 2 gigabytes (GB) in size, the system will create a host file approximately 2 GB in size. Fixed hard-disk images are used for production servers and working with customer data.
• Dynamic hard-disk image - A dynamic hard-disk image is a file that is as large as the actual data written to it. As more data is written, the file dynamically increases in size. For example, the size of a file backing a virtual 2 GB hard disk is initially around 2 megabytes (MB) on the host file system. As data is written to this image, it grows with a maximum size of 2 GB. Dynamic hard-disk images are beneficial for development and testing environments. Dynamic VHD files are smaller, easier to copy, and expand after mounting.
• Differencing hard-disk image - A differencing hard-disk image describes a modification of a parent image. This type of hard-disk image is not independent, and it depends on another hard-disk image to be fully functional. The parent hard-disk image can be any of the above mentioned hard-disk image types, including another differencing hard-disk image.

Creating a VHD:

Perform these steps to create a VHD file on your Windows 7-based computer:

1. Click Start and then right-click Computer.
2. Click Manage, then in the left pane, right-click Disk Management, and then click Create VHD.
   
   
3. Select a location to save your VHD file. Select the maximum size for your VHD file. You can also choose from either of the two options – Dynamically Expanding, where the size of the VHD expands dynamically to a fixed maximum size, or Fixed Size, where the virtual hard disk uses a fixed amount of space regardless of the size of data stored on it.
   
   
4. The new disk will show in the right pane as unallocated space. Right-click the new unallocated VHD Disk number and click Initialize Disk.
5. You need to choose if you want the new VHD to have Master Boot Record (MBR) or GUID Partition Table (GPT) partition, and click OK.
6. Right-click again on the new unallocated VHD and click New Simple Volume.
7. Type how much of the maximum disk space you want to use for this VHD partition, and click Next.
8. Select the file system for your VHD from either FAT or NTFS, and enter a name for your VHD. Select the Perform a quick format check box, and click Next.
9. Click Finish. The system creates a new simple volume on your VHD, which is already attached.

Installing a VHD-Boot Machine:

Perform these steps to install Windows 7 with VHD file:

1. Boot the system with a Windows 7 setup DVD or any other boot media.
2. On the setup screen, don’t choose Install Now, but press Shift-F10 to get into command line mode.
3. Type diskpart on the command line mode to start the partitioning utility.
4. You need to create a new VHD file.  Type the following command to create this file:
   create vdisk file=”D:\pathToVhd.vhd” type=expandable maximum=maxsizeInMegabyte 
5. Select the new VHD and attach it as a physical disk. Use the following command to perform this task:
   select vdisk file=”D:\pathToVhd.vhd”  attach vdisk 
6. Proceed with the normal setup and make sure that you install Windows on the correct disk. You may receive a warning Windows cannot install to this disk. Ignore this warning.
7. At next startup, you’ll see Windows 7 in the boot menu. If you want to add a VHD manually to the boot menu, use this command:
   bcdedit /copy {originalguid} /d "New Windows 7 Installation"
   bcdedit /set {newguid} device vhd=[D:]\Image.vhd
   bcdedit /set {newguid} osdevice vhd=[D:]\Image.vhd
   bcdedit /set {newguid} detecthal on
8. Click Start, right-click Computer, and select Manage.
9. To attach an existing VHD File, in the left pane, right-click Disk Management and then click Attach VHD.
10. Click Browse, navigate to the VHD file location, select the file, and then click Open. If you want the VHD to be read-only, select the check box. Click OK.

Read More

Upgrading Windows Vista to Windows 7

Upgrades to Windows 7 from windows Vista are only supported by Vista Service Pack1 and Service Pack 2 editions. All the Windows Vista device drivers are compatible with Windows 7. Following type of upgrades are supported from Windows Vista to Windows 7:

• Windows Vista Home Basic (SP1, SP2) 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) can be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64).
• Windows Vista Home Premium (SP1, SP2) 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) can be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium and Ultimate 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64).
• Windows Vista Business (SP1, SP2) 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) can be upgraded to Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64).
• Windows Vista Enterprise (SP1, SP2) 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) can be upgraded to Windows 7 Enterprise 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64).
• Windows Vista Ultimate (SP1, SP2) 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64).

Following types of upgrades are not possible from windows Vista to Windows 7:

• Cross-architecture in place upgrades (for example, x86 to x64) are not supported from Vista to windows 7.
• Cross-language in place upgrades (for example, en-us to de-de) are not supported.
• Cross-media type in-place upgrades (for example, from Staged to Unstaged or from Unstaged to Staged) are also not supported.

Follow these steps to upgrade Windows 7 from Windows Vista:

1. Insert the Windows 7 DVD. The DVD does not have an auto run option on the Windows Vista. Open the DVD drive in My Computer and double click setup.exe. (If you are performing an upgrade, the Windows installation process will not delete the old version. It will rename the Windows Root folder.) You can also use other media for installation like a USB drive or the downloaded Windows 7 setup. Click setup.exe file from the media that you are using for installation, to start the installation process.
2. Click Install now on the Install Windows screen begin the installation. You can also check the compatibility of your computer with Windows 7 operating system, by clicking Check Compatibility Online.
3. By selecting Go online to get the latest updates for installation, you can get the latest updates to help ensure a successful installation, and to help protect your computer against security threats. Your computer will need to be connected to the Internet during Windows 7 installation to get these updates.
4. On the Please read the license terms page, click I accept the license terms, and then click Next.
5. On the Which type of installation do you want page, click Upgrade. This will present you with compatibility report. This is used to help you determine what may not work properly after the upgrade.
6. Setup starts installing Windows 7 on your computer by copying the program files to your system. It will prompt you for a Windows login password, and password hint.
7. Type the activation key and Set the date and time.
8. Select the appropriate network settings and create a group depending on the type of Network you have chosen.

Read More

Upgrading Windows XP to Windows 7

Windows 7 does not provide direct in-place upgrade for Windows 7 from Windows XP that will retain user’s applications programs, settings, customizations, personalization and data during the upgrade process.  If you try to upgrade to Windows 7 from a system which is using Windows XP, you will be shown this error report which informs you that direct upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 is not available.

You can perform an upgrade to Windows 7 from windows XP, by using Windows Easy Transfer wizard, that allows you to save Selected User Accounts, Files and folders, Windows settings, Program data files and settings from Windows XP computer and later on restore them on upgraded windows 7.

Follow these steps to upgrade XP to Windows 7:

1. On your Windows XP computer insert Windows 7 DVD.
2. Navigate to Support folder and open migwiz (migration wizard) folder and run migwiz.exe. It opens Windows easy Transfer window which initiates the process of File transfer.
3. It asks you for the media you wish to use to transfer your settings. Select the appropriate media from the options presented by the wizard.
4. It ask whether this is the New computer (in which you wish to copy the settings) or the old computer (from you wish to copy the settings) select old computer. The wizard will now start scanning system for your files.
5. Once scanning is complete it shows the list of user profiles and you can select the files and settings in each profile which needs to be transferred to Windows 7.
6. It asks you to provide a password for the data file. Provide a password for data security. Then press Save. Once the data is saved, Easy transfer tells you the location where the files are stored.
7. Close the Easy Transfer and open the Windows 7 Setup by browsing to the root folder of the DVD, and then double clicking setup.exe.
8. Click Install now on the Install Windows screen begin the installation.
9. By selecting Go online to get the latest updates for installation, you can get the latest updates to help ensure a successful installation, and to help protect your computer against security threats. Your computer will need to be connected to the Internet during Windows 7 installation to get these updates. If you don’t want to check for updates during Setup, click Do not get the latest updates.
10. On the Please read the license terms page, click I accept the license terms, and then click Next.
11. On the Which type of installation do you want page, click Custom (advanced) to perform an upgrade to your existing Windows.
12. In the next step, select the partition where you want to install Windows 7. If you chose to install Windows 7 on a partition where your current Windows XP is installed, it will overwrite and if you have chosen to install on another drive, you can dual boot with XP.
13. Setup copies the program files to your system. Toward the end of the installation process, your system restarts several times, and then Setup updates the registry settings.
14. Windows prompts you to perform some post-installation tasks, like selecting the user name and the computer name.
15. Set the system password for your user account and enter a hint for the password.
16. Type the activation key. Set the date and time.
17. Select the appropriate network settings and create a group depending on the type of Network you have chosen.
18. Once your Windows 7 installation is complete, you can transfer the files that you copied from Windows XP. Boot your new Windows 7. Insert the USB or the external hard disk where you saved the transferred files.
19. Click Start, then click All Programs and then click Accessories.
20. Click System Tools, and then click Windows Easy Transfer. Once Easy transfer opens up, click the next button and select An external hard disk or USB flash drive from the options.
21. Select This is my New computer.
22. It asks you to browse the file which you created while copying data from old computer.
23. Click Transfer to transfer all files and settings.  Once you select the file and click open, Easy Transfer will again scan for the user profiles available in the saved data. You can chose which files need to be migrated for which all users you have saved. You can customize the migration using the customize button below each profile.
24. When the transfer is complete click Close. Now all your files and settings which you saved from your XP installation will be available in Windows 7.

Read More

Pv6 Addressing

IPv6 Addressing Notation

IP addresses change significantly with IPv6. IPv6 addresses are 16 bytes (128 bits) long rather than four bytes (32 bits). This larger size means that IPv6 supports more than

300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

possible addresses! As an increasing number of cell phones and other consumer electronics expand their networking capability and require their own addresses, the smaller IPv4 address space will eventually run out and IPv6 become mandatory. IPv6 addresses are generally written in the following form:

hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh

In this full notation, pairs of IPv6 bytes are separated by a colon and each byte in turns is represented as a pair of hexadecimal numbers, like in the following example:

E3D7:0000:0000:0000:51F4:9BC8:C0A8:6420

As shown above, IPv6 addresses commonly contain many bytes with a zero value. Shorthand notation in IPv6 removes these values from the text representation (though the bytes are still present in the actual network address) as follows:

E3D7::51F4:9BC8:C0A8:6420

Finally, many IPv6 addresses are extensions of IPv4 addresses. In these cases, the rightmost four bytes of an IPv6 address (the rightmost two byte pairs) may be rewritten in the IPv4 notation. Converting the above example to mixed notation yields

E3D7::51F4:9BC8:192.168.100.32

IPv6 addresses may be written in any of the full, shorthand or mixed notation illustrated above.

Read More

List of Server Role services in Windows Server 2008 R2

1. Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS)
2. Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS)
3. Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS)
4. Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS)
5. Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS)
6. Application Server
7. BranchCache
8. DHCP Server
9. DNS Server
10. Fax Server
11. File Services
12. Group Policy
13. Hyper-V
14. Network Policy and Access Services
15. Networking
16. Print and Document Services
17. Remote Desktop Services (Windows Server 2008 R2)
18. Security and Protection
19. Streaming Media Services
20. Terminal Services (Windows Server 2008)
21. UDDI Services (not included in Windows Server 2008 R2)
22. Web Server (IIS)
23. Windows Deployment Services
24. Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)

Read More