Microsoft Active Directory Job Interview Questions & Answers

a lot of times during the interview process you might be asked to describe dns dns stands for domain name system and this is the system to look up between domain names and ip addresses which uses port 53 for tcp protocol and is also available on udp if you type google.com in your internet browser computer doesn't know what is google.com and it asks dns server to do the lookup dns system makes it possible for us to type google.com and instead get connected to ip address to 16.58 that 192.174. by the way you can make a cool experiment and type this ap address right in your browser and when you hit enter you will get right into google.com but i bet you might realize that it's much easier by just typing google.com dns architecture on the internet is very sophisticated and it consists of four different layers dns recurser root server tld namespaces as well as authoritative name server microsoft windows server provides dns app to help manage dns in windows active directory architecture inside dns app you can configure forward lookup zones reverse lookup zones trust points conditional forwarders and a lot of other things the query to translate website name into ip address is only one type of queries the dns provides in addition to this query dns allows for recursive queries iterative queries and non-recursive queries dns is extremely fascinating topic if you're interested in dns i recommend you type in google this additional queries for dns security dns zones dns root server primary and secondary dns as well as reverse dns a lot of times you might be asked the question during the interview process what is active directory active directory is the directory service which contains the database which was designed and created by microsoft initially it was only used for centralized domain management but over the years it became an umbrella title for the broad range of directory based services in addition for storing user accounts computers printers and all other connected devices information in active directory it also became a place for centralized security and network configuration management active directory stores all information organized in organizational units each organizational unit contains user groups computers and other devices information organizational units are stored hierarchically and allow easy management by network administrators a lot of times you might be asked the question where is active directory databases located on windows server to make active directory services possible multiple files are involved but all of these files are located in the system root ntds folder which is typically c windows ntds to navigate to this folder you need to log in with administrative account to windows server go to drive c navigate to windows find ntds folder and open the database files keep in mind that sometimes your extensions to the files may not be visible to enable extensions you need to click view in the file explorer select options navigate to view and choose the right set of options for you to see everything you would like to see a lot of times during the interview process you might be asked the question how do you install windows server even though there are multiple ways you can utilize to install windows server including attended and unattended installations one of the most common and easiest way is to install using virtualization software for example you can pick among multiple different choices available for virtualization software like vmware workstation pro virtualbox from oracle or microsoft's virtual machine download trial version from microsoft and install windows server in the virtual environment to download windows server trial in google all you need to do is type the keyword in google and it will take you to the right place because we're trying to download and install on the desktop this is considered on-premises option and we need to click download free trial option that's relevant to that option depending upon what you're trying to accomplish you can download windows server installer in three different formats iso files is mimicking dvd file so it's an equivalent of you getting virtual dvd azure will give you the file for azure environment and the hd option will give you the file for hyper-v keep in mind that there are also other options available for windows server we've selected the basic options for windows server 2019 but there is also windows server 2019 essentials hyper-v as well as the admin center application that complements windows server installation because i will be installing windows server on vmware workstation pro i will choose iso option and download the iso image if you do not own the license to vmware workstation pro you can in a very similar way by typing keywords vmware workstation pro trial find the link to the trial download the latest version of vmware workstation pro at the time of this recording is version 16 but i will be using the version 15.5 because this is what i have license for you can complete windows server installation in four steps fourth step is optional but definitely recommended you start installation by downloading trials if you do not have virtualization environment trial you can try vmware workstation pro or use other software that's available to you you can also download microsoft windows server trial for the purposes of this demo i downloaded iso file in step 2 you need to configure virtual machine to configure virtual machine you need to go step by step through the virtual machine creation process wizard to start the process you click on the create new virtual machine button most of the time i choose custom option because it allows me the most control on this screen you need to choose compatibility options of the virtual machine that you are creating because i'm using the most recent version of vmware workstation 15.5 i'm okay choosing the latest compatibility but if you are concerned and only have access to the previous versions of vmware you choose the option here which is the best for you on this screen i typically choose i will install the operating system later because it allows the best control and i will be able to adjust and change settings if necessary before starting the installation here you choose the version of operating system that you're trying to install in addition to windows vmware workstation pro can also install linux as well as vmware esx or other operating systems if you choose the version that you're trying to install vmware will try to pre-select and download template with remaining settings because there is no option of windows server 2019 the closest option will be windows server 2016 and this is what i will choose here for this installation on this screen you can give your virtual machine a name and choose where virtualization files will be located during windows server installation you need to make one of four choices you have two server editions standard and data center and you have two server forms desktop experience and server core i will be installing standard edition with desktop experience and to be able to quickly identify my virtual machine i'm giving it the name that most describes what's in this virtual machine windows server standard 2019 with desktop experience on the firmware screen i choose uefi uefi is the more modern replacement of bios when you choose uefi one of the biggest benefits is that it provides secure boot as well as it allows you to boot from the large hard drives drives with sizes 2.2 terabytes or larger and the theoretical limit of uef5 is zettabytes i will not choose uefi secure boot but you can choose your option based on your needs in the processor configuration screen i will choose two processors and one core per processor with the two total cores available to my virtual machine on the memory screen i will choose 2 gigabytes of ram keep in mind that this option can be changed later for example if you feel that your virtual server needs more memory i will choose network address translation to allow my virtual machine to connect to the internet i will go with the lsi logix sas which is the recommended option by vmware because it will provide fastest throughput for my virtual machine and for the disk type i will go with non-volatile memory express option which is the fastest in today's world and recommended by vmware because this is going to be a new installation of windows server i will choose an option create new virtual disk and i will choose the size of 256 gigabyte as well as i will choose the option of storing virtual disk in a single file because this is the fastest option i will also include the size of the drive into the file name so i will be able to quickly identify the size in the file system in the last step i can quickly validate the settings to make sure i selected all the options correctly and customize the hardware if necessary to install windows server on vmware workstation pro we need to insert iso file into the virtual dvd to do that we double click on the cd dvd sata and here there is a room to insert iso image file where you would need to point to the iso file that you've downloaded once you select the file vmware workstation accepts the new path and you need to click ok next step is to power on this virtual machine and follow the installation process windows server installation is done in the form of wizard and most of the common choices are pre-selected for you by microsoft on this screen i would recommend you click next unless you're planning to make any changes here you need to click install now button i'm not planning to enter product key so i will select i do not have a product key option on this screen you need to select the configuration that you're trying to install windows server comes in two editions standard edition and data center edition each of the editions comes in two forms addition was the desktop experience where you have gui interface to manage your windows server or server core where you manage your server from command line for my installation i am going to select windows server 2019 standard edition with desktop experience on this screen i am going to accept license terms and click next i am doing custom brand new installation so i am going to choose custom option and select the option install windows only this option shows us the virtual hard drive that we've created and this will be the destination for windows server installation i'm going to select this hard drive and click next this process triggered the installation and windows is going to in complete installation step by step unlike desktop windows installation windows server installation keeps administrator account enabled in the new step of the wizard you need to configure password for your administrative account once you configure the password by entering it twice you click the finish button to log in into your windows server installation you need to press ctrl alt delete button but because this is a virtual environment pressing ctrl alt delete will do it on the host machine so instead you click on vm and you use send control delete command to the virtual machine once password is entered you push the enter button and it gets you in when you log in into the windows server environment and vmware workstation pro for the first time you see that the screen is small you also see that you do not have a network connection the main reason for that is because windows installation wizard doesn't recognize vmware and you need to install latest vmware tools and drivers vmware provides default way to do it by showing the installation toolbar at the bottom of vmware workstation if you click install tools all it's going to do it's going to insert pretty find iso file into the dvd drive of the virtual workstation i'm going to click install tools button and navigate to the file explorer inside windows server as you can see the virtual dvd was inserted into the virtual dvd drive you can access it by clicking this pc and navigating to the dvd drive once there you can trigger the installation process for vmware tools if you just follow the wizard and use typical installation options you will install all the latest drivers for vmware workstation pro and this would allow you to run the application full screen and get the network connection typically at the end of the process it is good idea to reboot the server to make sure all the driver installations took effect very frequently you might be asked the question during the interview process how do you configure active directory domain controller on windows server you can promote windows server to the main controller in 5 easy steps as a first step you need to select active directory domain services as well as dns server during the installation process you need to select and configure new forest as well as you also will be prompted and you will be required to configure password for directory service restore mode and once all the setup is complete you would need to use installed active directory tools for active directory management to promote windows server into domain controller you need to navigate to the server manager in the upper right corner of the server manager you need to click manage button and select add roles and features you need to click next on the first step of the wizard select role-based or feature-based installation in the next step select the server which in my case i only have one server in this configuration and click next select active directory domain services which will give you a lot of other options that needs to be installed automatically selected for you by windows installer so i am going to select add features here on the screen you also need to select dns server option which will come with additional set of sub options i am going to click add features and move to the next step this message indicates that i do not have static ip configured for this server which in my case i'm only doing this for training purposes so which is going to be okay it might be the same for you or it might be different i'm going to click continue and click next i'm not going to select any additional new features as part of this promotion i'm going to click next this is the confirmation of what we are about to do we are about to promote windows server into active directory server i am going to click next this is additional description of what windows domain controller with dns will be doing i'm going to click next i am going to select this option to restart the destination server automatically if it is required i'm going to click a confirmation yes here and as a last step here i'm going to click install once installation is complete you need to click close button and go through the reboot process after the first reboot server still wasn't promoted to the main controller you need to complete some additional steps to finish the installation of active directory you navigate to addds option in the server manager and you see that configuration required for active directory domain services when you click more it shows you the remaining steps i'm going to select promote the server to domain controller in this step you need to select add a new forest and put some thoughts and consideration of how are you going to name your domain because i'm only doing it for demonstration purposes i'm going to select the generic name ad.local but your selection on the step might be very different you need to do more research because it is hard to change this particular configuration i'm going to click next in this step i am going with the default choices provided by windows server the only thing i need to enter here is directory services restore mode password i'm going to click next i am going to leave create dns delegation option unchecked and click next i am going to confirm name ad for netbias domain name and click next i'm going to leave the default folders selected by windows server and click next confirm all the settings that i have selected and click next this last step triggered the installation and actual reconfiguration of the server into active directory domain controller windows server provided me with some warnings which i am going to ignore because this is a test environment and i am going to click install to trigger reconfiguration and promotion of the server into windows server domain controller after reboot when you login into the windows server you need to select the option of ad administrator which will indicate that we are signing on into active directory windows server add the tools to manage active directory to access them you need to click the start button navigate to windows administrative tools and select based on what you're trying to accomplish the right tool i'm going to select active directory users and computers because it provides the full visibility to the domain that was just created a lot of times you might be asked the question during the interview process on how windows server is used by the organizations windows server can play different roles based on organizational needs it can be a web server using iis internet information server technology from microsoft it can help companies deploy windows on the workstations using windows deployment services it can play a role of active directory domain controller be a dhcp server dns server provide virtualization using hyper-v technology it can be a print and document service as well as the file server there are multiple ways to see all available roles windows server can play right inside windows server right now i'm inside server manager and i can see available roles by navigating to manage add roles and features i go through the wizard and as one of the steps in the wizard windows server allows me to see the full list of roles available a lot of times you might be asked the question what are the available editions of windows server there are two editions of latest version of windows server that are available standard edition and data center edition there are also two server forms server core and server desktop experience for example this is windows server standard edition with desktop experience to find out what is the addition that we're using we click on the start button type system select system information and we can see that this is microsoft server 2019 standard edition in contrast windows server core will only allow you to access the server through command prompt either using default commands for windows server through command prompt or using powershell during windows server installation user is presented with the screen similar to what you see on the left hand side of the screen you have multiple choices for each edition for example for standard edition you can select server core which is the first choice or you can select standard desktop experience in very similar way you can make selections for data center edition a lot of times you might be asked the question during the interview what is the latest version of windows server you can always check the latest version of windows server by navigating into settings for example if you click start button navigate to settings select system select about and scroll down to windows specifications you can see the addition of your server and version that is currently installed on your server the latest version of windows server at the moment of this video is windows server 2019 it has two editions standard edition and data center edition microsoft continues to improve the server versions though and they continue add additional functionality the latest release microsoft is currently testing is 20 h2 and if you would like to learn more you can type in google windows 20 h2 and a lot of information is available a lot of times you might be asked the question how do you patch windows server with latest security patches and updates also you might be asked why this is important over the years microsoft almost automated the patching process and it happens semi-automatically as an administrator you can postpone and delete a little bit but you cannot stop it unless you use tricks and hacks in the registry to check current status of updates and patches on windows server you click the start button type check for updates and select windows update settings or check for updates depending what you're trying to accomplish as you can see i have updates available and in order for me to install them i can click install now button which triggers update installation to optimize windows update installation based on organizational needs you can change active hours you can view update history and you can view advanced options in advanced options you can customize updates delivery based on your needs you can change update options update notifications and pause updates if this is what you're trying to accomplish there are three main reasons why installing latest updates on windows server is important number one is that updates patch security holes and make your installation of windows more secure hackers take advantage of windows updates and if you don't patch they can access and compromise your system remotely through the network in addition installing latest updates improves user experience and fixes software bugs to improve compatibility this is typically not as important as patching security holes but it does provide some productivity improvements and access to latest features to enhance your windows server experience please consider subscribing to this channel skills that you learn here will be helpful for you now and also in the future you also get opportunity to help other people by answering their questions and helping them solve their challenges if you like the content please give this video a big thumbs up this tells us that you need more content like this thanks for watching and i'll see you in my next video

Channel: Online Training for Everyone

Views: 8,230

Keywords: vadim mikhailenko, active directory tutorial for beginners, active directory interview questions and answers, active directory tutorial, active directory basics, active directory users and computers, active directory domain controller, active directory training, active directory sites and services, active directory, interview questions and answers, master of active directory, active directory interview questions and answers l2, active directory pdf, what is active directory

Id: AzKm0dbWa08

Length: 23min 47sec (1427 seconds)

Published: Tue May 11 2021