Frequently Asked Unix System Administrator Interview Questions

A UNIX system administrator is a person who manages the multi-user computer system in an organization. He or she supports, monitors, tests and troubleshoots hardware and software problems. They also install new software releases, upgrade the system, perform procedures to prevent the spread of viruses, evaluate and install patches and resolve software related problems.

An interview is a recruitment process in which an interviewer asks questions related to the job from an interviewee. It is a two way communication process. Given below are some common interview questions that come up again and again during interviews for this post.

1. What do you understand by semaphore?
A semaphore is a kind of inter process communication resource which is used for synchronization and mutual exclusion between any two asynchronous processes.

2. How will you define a COM?
COM is the short form for Component Object Model. It is a Microsoft platform for software components which is used to enable cross-application communication and dynamic object creation in any programming language that supports the technology. COM is often used in the software development world as an umbrella term that encompasses the OLE, ActiveX, COM+ and DCOM technologies.

3. What do you mean by UNIX?
UNIX developed by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs. It runs on a range of computers from microprocessors to the largest mainframes.

4. Define some of the functions of a kernel?
The kernel is a part of the Operating System that interacts directly with the hardware of computer, through device drivers that are built into the kernel. It provides set of services that can be used by programs, insulating these programs from the underlying hardware. A kernel is responsible for managing computer memory, allocating resource of the computer, controlling access to the computer, maintaining file system and handling interrupts and errors.

5. What skills will you bring to our organization?
Well, I am familiar with Sun, Solaris and Cisco Hardware, TCP/IP, Jumpstart, VERITAS Volume Manager, C-shell, Perl Oracle 8i, My SQL, Solaris Production, Apache, Sun Server, UNIX and Linux.

6. What occupation specific tasks have you undertaken in your previous organization?
In my previous organization I used to monitor and tune system, develop and maintain the documents, library and procedural documents and install and configure the modem, routers, hubs and LAN terminal servers.

These are some of the important interview questions that are frequently asked. Do not forget to say “thank you” to the person or people who interviewed you.

70-647: What are the training materials available for Windows server 2008, enterprise administrator examination?

70-647 examination is also called as windows server 2007, enterprise administrator examination, one of the IT certifications from Microsoft. This examination is designed for the professionals who are in information technology background. Any candidates from any specialization in IT background are eligible to apply / write for this certification examination. Since Microsoft certification is valid in all parts of the world, certification examinations can be written in various languages apart from English. This option from Microsoft will be very helpful to the candidates who are from non- English speaking country zone. The language options available to the candidates are French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Korean, Japanese and Chinese etc.

Topic outlines / exam objectives for 70-647 examination:

The following are the topic outlines / exam objectives for 70-647 examination and percentage of questions asked from each section. They are:

1) Planning application services and network services- 23% questions
2) Designing the components of access management and core identity- 25% questions
3) Designing the components of access management and support identity- 29% questions
4) Designing for data availability as well as business continuity- 23% questions
Training sessions for 70-647 exam:

Training sessions are more important for the candidates during their practice for the exams. Recommended training programs available to the candidates from Microsoft are as follows:

1) Classroom training:

Classroom training can be said as one of the best training sessions for getting effective practice for the exam. The recommended training sessions from Microsoft are: 6437A (designing windows 2008 server application infrastructure), 6435A (designing windows 2008 server network infrastructure) and 6436A (designing windows 2008 server active directory service and infrastructure).

2) E- learning:

The recommended E- learning trainin r this exam from Microsoft is 10271AE (windows 2008 server enterprise administrator). The duration for this program is 26 hours.

3) Practice test:

Candidates can make use of free online practice test available in the internet. By doing continuous practice, candidates can get more efficient and also it helps them to score good marks in the examination. Time duration is more important during the examination and candidates should complete the exam within the mentioned time. Only by doing continuous practice, candidates can complete the exam within the time frame.

MCITP Self-Paced Training Kit : Windows Server® 2008 Enterprise Administrator Core Requirements

Product Description
Your all-in-one kit for the skills measured by the core exams for Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Enterprise Administrator certification and on the job. Covering Exams 70-640, 70-642, 70-643, and 70-647, these four official Microsoft® study guides provide in-depth exam prep plus practice tests to help maximize your performance.

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MCITP Self-Paced Training Kit : Windows Server® 2008 Enterprise Administrator Core Requirements