Job interview

[wesleyw]

A school based close by has asked if I can help them with their interview for a new Network Manager.

Could anyone suggest a quick theory test for them (The practical would be fine if it was my school but I won't have the time to set anything up due to getting there about 30 minutes before they do!

Wes

[mark]

There are some suggestions here: http://edugeek.net/index.php?name=Fo...view+questions

[richard]

When I did the interviews for my tech I gave them a 40 question multiple choice test with teh questions taken from the A+ certification. Though to be honest the head had already decided who she wanted for the post before the interviews and he scored the lowest in the test by some way.

[pete]

I wrote the "technical exam questions" when we were hiring for a replacement pfy / technician. Since he also wanders through these forums, he'll no doubt mention that they were completely _evil_ questions, with a few more generic ones mixed in.

The generic questions were to ensure he had the knowledge to do the job.
The evil questions were aimed at "what else do you know?" / "why should we hire you over someone else?".

Make sure you include questions about managing users and their expectations. We include things like "If you see random_kid closing a browser window when you walk past, what should you do?"

[kingswood]

Good advice.

How did it all go?

[wesleyw]

Fine some excellent answers all round and the candidate they hired was sennsible enough to not try and blag a question he didn't know the answer to and just came out and said he didn't know! If anything I like the fact he said he didn't know more than if he'd got it wrong or possibly even right it's nice to know some people who haven't become really proud and admit to not being perfect! I know this isn't true of most network managers we know everything right? lol


Wes

[kingswood]

Sounds like it went well.

Know everything? If only! lol!

At my interview one of the questions asked was about MS Office. I have to say my MS Office skills are...lacking. Still are. I just told them that if they wanted someone who was an Office person they shouldn't hire me!

Alas I still got the job. :-P

Paul

[E1uSiV3]

At my interview one of the questions asked was about MS Office.

Aint you the lucky one, the place im at now asked me to name the fsmo roles and dns record types amongst other things... musta done ok cus they hired me lol

[Norphy]

Yeesh

I can't remember all the FSMO roles without looking them up and I've done this job for almost three years now and I've got MCPs. Harsh interview

[ChrisH]

My interview questions werent hard particulary as long as you know your stuff. Mind you there was nobody technical interviewing me.

I went for a job at the health service once and the guy was asking me about the 80/20 rule of DHCP etc and lots of other microsoft exam type questions which were mostly easy to answer as I had finished my MCSA not to long before so they were imprinted on my brain.

[tarquel]

FSMO ????
80/20 rule of DHCP ???

I'm gonna be stuffed then while I'm looking for a new job atm...

If anything I like the fact he said he didn't know more than if he'd got it wrong or possibly even right it's nice to know some people who haven't become really proud and admit to not being perfect!

I hope thats true - I think I might be saying alot of "dont knows"

...in interviews near you! - *said with a US army style petition fashion*

*sighs*

Think I'll go for a mindless telephone operator job instead

N.

[ChrisH]

Those questions were just given by someone trying to impress his boss Tarq. The fact that I answered them all meant I didnt get the job

[Geoff]

FSMO ????
80/20 rule of DHCP ???

I'm gonna be stuffed then while I'm looking for a new job atm..

FSMO's first!

To prevent conflicting updates in Windows 2000/2003, the Active Directory performs updates to certain objects in a single-master fashion.

In a single-master model, only one DC in the entire directory is allowed to process updates. This is similar to the role given to a primary domain controller (PDC) in earlier versions of Windows (such as Microsoft Windows NT 4.0), in which the PDC is responsible for processing all updates in a given domain.

In a forest, there are five FSMO roles that are assigned to one or more domain controllers. The five FSMO roles are:

Schema Master:

The schema master domain controller controls all updates and modifications to the schema. Once the Schema update is complete, it is replicated from the schema master to all other DCs in the directory. To update the schema of a forest, you must have access to the schema master. There can be only one schema master in the whole forest.

Domain naming master:

The domain naming master domain controller controls the addition or removal of domains in the forest. This DC is the only one that can add or remove a domain from the directory. It can also add or remove cross references to domains in external directories. There can be only one domain naming master in the whole forest.

Infrastructure Master:

When an object in one domain is referenced by another object in another domain, it represents the reference by the GUID, the SID (for references to security principals), and the DN of the object being referenced. The infrastructure FSMO role holder is the DC responsible for updating an object's SID and distinguished name in a cross-domain object reference. At any one time, there can be only one domain controller acting as the infrastructure master in each domain.


Relative ID (RID) Master:

The RID master is responsible for processing RID pool requests from all domain controllers in a particular domain. When a DC creates a security principal object such as a user or group, it attaches a unique Security ID (SID) to the object. This SID consists of a domain SID (the same for all SIDs created in a domain), and a relative ID (RID) that is unique for each security principal SID created in a domain. Each DC in a domain is allocated a pool of RIDs that it is allowed to assign to the security principals it creates. When a DC's allocated RID pool falls below a threshold, that DC issues a request for additional RIDs to the domain's RID master. The domain RID master responds to the request by retrieving RIDs from the domain's unallocated RID pool and assigns them to the pool of the requesting DC. At any one time, there can be only one domain controller acting as the RID master in the domain.

PDC Emulator:

The PDC emulator is necessary to synchronize time in an enterprise. Windows 2000/2003 includes the W32Time (Windows Time) time service that is required by the Kerberos authentication protocol. All Windows 2000/2003-based computers within an enterprise use a common time. The purpose of the time service is to ensure that the Windows Time service uses a hierarchical relationship that controls authority and does not permit loops to ensure appropriate common time usage.

The PDC emulator of a domain is authoritative for the domain. The PDC emulator at the root of the forest becomes authoritative for the enterprise, and should be configured to gather the time from an external source. All PDC FSMO role holders follow the hierarchy of domains in the selection of their in-bound time partner.

80/20 rule of DHCP is a bit simpler:

The 80/20 rule is a method of providing redundancy on the network. With this configuration, 80% of the IP addresses for the local subnet are added to a scope on the local DHCP server, and the remaining 20% of the IP addresses are added to a scope for the same subnet on another DHCP server. In other words, 80% of the IP addresses are from the local subnet and 20% from a remote subnet. Because both servers have IP addresses available for the same subnet, clients can always obtain an IP address if one of the servers becomes unavailable (until the scope runs out of available addresses).

[mark]

Thanks Geoff!

FSMO: Flexible Single Master Operations

[StewartKnight]

that would only be advantageous is the FSMO with 80% wasn't the fileserver, otherwise, you could get an IP, but not on the domain or your files!

Seems like overkill to me, you'd have to have 3 servers at least!