Windows Active Directory Interview Questions

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Windows Active Directory Interview Questions !

>What is Active Directory ?

Active Directory is a Meta Data. Active Directory is a data base which store a data baselike your user information, computer information and also other network object info. Ithas capabilities to manage and administor the complite Network which connect with AD.

>What is domain ?Windows NT and Windows 2000, a domain is a set of network resources (applications, printers, and so forth) for a group of users. The user need only to log in to the domain togain access to the resources, which may be located on a number of different servers in thenetwork. The 'domain' is simply your computer address not to confused with an URL. Adomain address might look something like 211.170.469.

>What is domain controller ?A Domain controller (DC) is a server that responds to security authentication requests(logging in, checking permissions, etc.) within the Windows Server domain. A domain isa concept introduced in Windows NT whereby a user may be granted access to a number of computer resources with the use of a single username and password combination.

>What is LDAP ?Lightweight Directory Access Protocol LDAP is the industry standard directory access protocol, making Active Directory widely accessible to management and queryapplications. Active Directory supports LDAPv3 and LDAPv2.

>What is KCC ?KCC ( knowledge consistency checker ) is used to generate replication topology for inter site replication and for intrasite replication.with in a site replication traffic is done viaremote procedure calls over ip, while between site it is done through either RPC or SMTP.

>Where is the AD database held? What other folders are related to AD?The AD data base is store in c:\windows\ntds\NTDS.DIT.

>What is the SYSVOL folder?The sysVOL folder stores the server's copy of the domain's public files. The contents

such as group policy, users etc of the sysvol folder are replicated to all domain controllersin the domain.

>What are the Windows Server 2003 keyboard shortcuts ? Winkey opens or closes the Start menu. Winkey + BREAK displays the SystemProperties dialog box. Winkey + TAB moves the focus to the next application in thetaskbar. Winkey + SHIFT + TAB moves the focus to the previous application in thetaskbar. Winkey + B moves the focus to the notification area. Winkey + D shows the


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desktop. Winkey + E opens Windows Explorer showing My Computer. Winkey + Fopens the Search panel. Winkey + CTRL + F opens the Search panel with Search for Computers module selected. Winkey + F1 opens Help. Winkey + M minimizes all.Winkey + SHIFT+ M undoes minimization. Winkey + R opens Run dialog. Winkey + Uopens the Utility Manager. Winkey + L locks the computer.

>Where are the Windows NT Primary Domain Controller (PDC) and its BackupDomain Controller (BDC) in Server 2003 ? The Active Directory replaces them. Now all domain controllers share a multimaster peer-to-peer read and write relationship that hosts copies of the Active Directory.

>I am trying to create a new universal user group. Why cant I ?Universal groups are allowed only in native-mode Windows Server 2003 environments. Native mode requires that all domain controllers be promoted to Windows Server 2003Active Directory.

>What is LSDOU ?Its group policy inheritance model, where the policies are applied toLocalmachines,Sites,Domains andO rganizationalUnits.

>Why doesnt LSDOU work under Windows NT ? If the NTConfig.pol file exist, it has the highest priority among the numerous policies.

>Whats the number of permitted unsuccessful logons on Administratoraccount? Unlimited. Remember, though, that its the Administrator account, not anyaccount thats part of the Administrators group.

> Whats the difference between guest accounts in Server 2003 and other editions?More restrictive in Windows Server 2003.

> How many passwords by default are remembered when you check "EnforcePassword History Remembered"? Users last 6 passwords.

> Can GC Server and Infrastructure place in single server If not explain why ? No, As Infrastructure master does the same job as the GC. It does not work together.

> Which is service in your windows is responsible for replication of Domain

controller to another domain controller.KCC generates the replication topology.Use SMTP / RPC to replicate changes.

> What Intrasite and Intersite Replication ?Intrasite is the replication with in the same site & intersite the replication between sites.


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> What is lost & found folder in ADS ?Its the folder where you can find the objects missed due to conflict.Ex: you created a user in OU which is deleted in other DC & when replication happedADS didnt find the OU then it will put that in Lost & Found Folder.

> What is Garbage collection ?Garbage collection is the process of the online defragmentation of active directory. Ithappens every 12 Hours.

> What System State data contains ?Contains Startup files,RegistryCom + Registration DatabaseMemory Page fileSystem filesAD information

Cluster Service informationSYSVOL Folder

Windows Active Directory Interview Questions

>What is the difference between Windows 2000 Active Directory and Windows 2003Active Directory? Is there any difference in 2000 Group Polices and 2003 GroupPolices? What is meant by ADS and ADS services in Windows 2003?Windows 2003 Active Directory introduced a number of new security features, as well asconvenience features such as the ability to rename a domain controller and even an entiredomain

Windows Server 2003 also introduced numerous changes to the default settings that can be affected by Group Policy - you can see a detailed list of each available setting andwhich OS is required to support it by downloading the Group Policy Settings Reference.

ADS stands for Automated Deployment Services, and is used to quickly roll outidentically-configured servers in large-scale enterprise environments. You can get moreinformation from the ADS homepage.

>I want to setup a DNS server and Active Directory domain. What do I do first? If Iinstall the DNS service first and name the zone 'name.org' can I name the ADdomain 'name.org' too?

Not only can you have a DNS zone and an Active Directory domain with the same name,it's actually the preferred way to go if at all possible. You can install and configure DNS before installing Active Directory, or you can allow the Active Directory InstallationWizard (dcpromo) itself install DNS on your server in the background.

>How do I determine if user accounts have local administrative access?You can use the net localgroup administrators command on each workstation (probablyin a login script so that it records its information to a central file for later review). This


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2 The Domain Name .3 storage location of the database and log file.4 Location of the shared system volume folder.5 DNS config Methode.6 DNS configuration.

>What is LDP?LDP : Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) is often used to establish MPLS LSPs whentraffic engineering is not required. It establishes LSPs that follow the existing IP routing,and is particularly well suited for establishing a full mesh of LSPs between all of therouters on the network.

Windows Active Directory Interview Questions !

>What are the Groups types available in active directory ?Security groups: Use Security groups for granting permissions to gain access to

resources. Sending an e-mail message to a group sends the message to all members of thegroup. Therefore security groups share the capabilities of distribution groups.

Distribution groups: Distribution groups are used for sending e-main messages to groupsof users. You cannot grant permissions to security groups. Even though security groupshave all the capabilities of distribution groups, distribution groups still requires, becausesome applications can only read distribution groups.

>Explain about the groups scope in AD ?Domain Local Group: Use this scope to grant permissions to domain resources that arelocated in the same domain in which you created the domain local group. Domain local

groups can exist in all mixed, native and interim functional level of domains and forests.Domain local group memberships are not limited as you can add members as user accounts, universal and global groups from any domain. Just to remember, nesting cannot be done in domain local group. A domain local group will not be a member of another Domain Local or any other groups in the same domain.

Global Group: Users with similar function can be grouped under global scope and can begiven permission to access a resource (like a printer or shared folder and files) availablein local or another domain in same forest. To say in simple words, Global groups can beuse to grant permissions to gain access to resources which are located in any domain butin a single forest as their memberships are limited. User accounts and global groups can

be added only from the domain in which global group is created. Nesting is possible inGlobal groups within other groups as you can add a global group into another globalgroup from any domain. Finally to provide permission to domain specific resources (like printers and published folder), they can be members of a Domain Local group. Globalgroups exist in all mixed, native and interim functional level of domains and forests.

Universal Group Scope: These groups are precisely used for email distribution and can begranted access to resources in all trusted domain as these groups can only be used as a


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security principal (security group type) in a windows 2000 native or windows server 2003 domain functional level domain. Universal group memberships are not limited likeglobal groups. All domain user accounts and groups can be a member of universal group.Universal groups can be nested under a global or Domain Local group in any domain.

>What is REPLMON ?The Microsoft definition of the Replmon tool is as follows; This GUI tool enablesadministrators to view the low-level status of Active Directory replication, forcesynchronization between domain controllers, view the topology in a graphical format,and monitor the status and performance of domain controller replication.

>What is ADSIEDIT ?ADSIEDIT :ADSIEdit is a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in that acts as alow-level editor for Active Directory. It is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) tool. Network administrators can use it for common administrative tasks such as adding,deleting, and moving objects with a directory service. The attributes for each object can

be edited or deleted by using this tool. ADSIEdit uses the ADSI application programminginterfaces (APIs) to access Active Directory. The following are the required files for using this tool: ADSIEDIT.DLL ADSIEDIT.

>What is NETDOM ? NETDOM is a command-line tool that allows management of Windows domains andtrust relationships. It is used for batch management of trusts, joining computers todomains, verifying trusts, and secure channels.

>What is REPADMIN?This command-line tool assists administrators in diagnosing replication problems

between Windows domain controllers.Administrators can use Repadmin to view thereplication topology (sometimes referred to as RepsFrom and RepsTo) as seen from the perspective of each domain controller. In addition, Repadmin can be used to manuallycreate the replication topology (although in normal practice this should not be necessary),to force replication events between domain controllers, and to view both the replicationmetadata and up-to-dateness vectors.

>How to take backup of AD ?For taking backup of active directory you have to do this : first go START ->PROGRAM ->ACCESORIES -> SYSTEM TOOLS -> BACKUP OR Open run windowand ntbackup and take systemstate backup when the backup screen is flash then take the backup of SYSTEM STATE it will take the backup of all the necessary informationabout the syatem including AD backup , DNS ETC.

>What are the DS* commands ?The following DS commands: the DS family built in utility .DSmod - modify Active Directory attributes.DSrm - to delete Active Directory objects.DSmove - to relocate objects


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Two-way transitive trusts.One-way intransitive trusts.Additional trusts can be created by administrators. These trusts can be:ShortcutWindows Server 2003 offers a new trust type the forest root trust. This type of trust can

be used to connect Windows Server 2003 forests if they are operating at the 2003 forestfunctional level. Authentication across this type of trust is Kerberos based (as opposed to NTLM). Forest trusts are also transitive for all the domains in the forests that are trusted.Forest trusts, however, are not transitive.

>Difference between LDIFDE and CSVDE?CSVDE is a command that can be used to import and export objects to and from the ADinto a CSV-formatted file. A CSV (Comma Separated Value) file is a file easily readablein Excel. I will not go to length into this powerful command, but I will show you some basic samples of how to import a large number of users into your AD. Of course, as withthe DSADD command, CSVDE can do more than just import users. Consult your help

file for more info.LDIFDE is a command that can be used to import and export objects to and from the ADinto a LDIF-formatted file. A LDIF (LDAP Data Interchange Format) file is a file easilyreadable in any text editor, however it is not readable in programs like Excel. The major difference between CSVDE and LDIFDE (besides the file format) is the fact thatLDIFDE can be used to edit and delete existing AD objects (not just users), whileCSVDE can only import and export objects.

>What is tombstone lifetime attribute ?The number of days before a deleted object is removed from the directory services. This

assists in removing objects from replicated servers and preventing restores fromreintroducing a deleted object. This value is in the Directory Service object in theconfiguration NIC.

>What are application partitions? When do I use them ?AN application diretcory partition is a directory partition that is replicated only tospecific domain controller.Only domain controller running windows Server 2003 canhost a replica of application directory partition.Using an application directory partition provides redundany,availability or fault tolerance by replicating data to specific domain controller pr any set of domain controllersanywhere in the forest.

>How do you create a new application partition ?Use the DnsCmd command to create an application directory partition.To do this, use the following syntax:DnsCmd ServerName /CreateDirectoryPartition FQDN of partition

>How do you view all the GCs in the forest?C:\>repadmin /showreps domain_controller where domain_controller is the DC you want


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to query to determine whether it?s a GC.The output will include the text DSA Options: IS_GC if the DC is a GC.

>Can you connect Active Directory to other 3rd-party Directory Services? Name afew options.

Yes, you can use dirXML or LDAP to connect to other directories.In Novell you can use E-directory.

>What is IPSec PolicyIPSec provides secure gateway-to-gateway connections across outsourced private widearea network (WAN) or Internet-based connections using L2TP/IPSec tunnels or pureIPSec tunnel mode. IPSec Policy can be deployed via Group policy to the WindowsDomain controllers 7 Servers.

>What are the different types of Terminal Services ?User Mode & Application Mode.

>What is RsOPRsOP is the resultant set of policy applied on the object (Group Policy).

>What is the System Startup process ?Windows 2K boot process on a Intel architecture.

1. Power-On Self Tests (POST) are run.

2. The boot device is found, the Master Boot Record (MBR) is loaded into memory, andits program is run.

3. The active partition is located, and the boot sector is loaded.

4. The Windows 2000 loader (NTLDR) is then loaded.

The boot sequence executes the following steps:

1. The Windows 2000 loader switches the processor to the 32-bit flat memory model.

2. The Windows 2000 loader starts a mini-file system.

3. The Windows 2000 loader reads the BOOT.INI file and displays the operating systemselections (boot loader menu).

4. The Windows 2000 loader loads the operating system selected by the user. If Windows2000 is selected, NTLDR runs NTDETECT.COM. For other operating systems, NTLDR loads BOOTSECT.DOS and gives it control.


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5. NTDETECT.COM scans the hardware installed in the computer, and reports the list to NTLDR for inclusion in the Registry under theHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE_HARDWARE hive.

6. NTLDR then loads the NTOSKRNL.EXE, and gives it the hardware information

collected by NTDETECT.COM. Windows NT enters the Windows load phases.

Latest Windows Active Directory Interview Questions !

>How do you change the DS Restore admin password ?

In Windows 2000 Server, you used to have to boot the computer whose password youwanted to change in Directory Restore mode, then use either the Microsoft ManagementConsole (MMC) Local User and Groups snap-in or the command net user administrator *to change the Administrator password.Win2K Server Service Pack 2 (SP2) introduced the Setpwd utility, which lets you resetthe Directory Service Restore Mode password without having to reboot the computer.(Microsoft refreshed Setpwd in SP4 to improve the utility?s scripting options.)

In Windows Server 2003, you use the Ntdsutil utility to modify the Directory ServiceRestore Mode Administrator password.

To do so, follow these steps:1. Start Ntdsutil (click Start, Run; enter cmd.exe; then enter ntdsutil.exe).2. Start the Directory Service Restore Mode Administrator password-reset utility byentering the argument ?set dsrm password? at the ntdsutil prompt: ntdsutil: set dsrm password.3. Run the Reset Password command, passing the name of the server on which to changethe password, or use the null argument to specify the local machine.For example, to reset the password on server testing, enter the following argument at theReset DSRM Administrator Password prompt: Reset DSRM Administrator Password:reset password on server testing

To reset the password on the local machine, specify null as the server name:Reset DSRM Administrator Password: reset password on server null

4. You?ll be prompted twice to enter the new password. You?ll see the followingmessages:5. Please type password for DS Restore Mode Administrator Account:6. Please confirm new password:Password has been set successfully.


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7. Exit the password-reset utility by typing ?quit? at the following prompts:8. Reset DSRM Administrator Password: quitntdsutil: quit

>I am upgrading from NT to 2003. The only things that are NT are the PDC andBDCs; everything else is 2000 or 2003 member servers. My question is, when Iupgrade my NT domain controllers to 2003, will I need to do anything else to myWindows 2000/2003 member servers that were in the NT domain ?Your existing member servers, regardless of operating system, will simply becomemember servers in your upgraded AD domain. If you will be using Organizational Unitsand Group Policy (and I hope you are), you'll probably want to move them to a specificOU for administration and policy application, since they'll be in the default "Computers"container immediately following the upgrade.

>How do I use Registry keys to remove a user from a group?In Windows Server 2003, you can use the dsmod command-line utility with the -delmbr switch to remove a group member from the command line. You should also look into thefreeware utilities available from www.joeware.net . ADFind and ADMod areindispensable tools in my arsenal when it comes to searching and modifying ActiveDirectory.

>Why are my NT4 clients failing to connect to the Windows 2000 domain?Since NT4 relies on NetBIOS for name resolution, verify that your WINS server (you dohave a WINS server running, yes?) contains the records that you expect for the 2000domain controller, and that your clients have the correct address configured for the WINSserver.

Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Q&A

>How to add your first Windows 2003 DC to an existing Windows 2000 domain ?

The first step is to install Windows 2003 on your new DC. This is a straighforward process, so we aren?t going to discuss that here.


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To start the snap-in, click ?Start?, point to ?Programs?, point to ?Administrative Tools?,and then click ?Active Directory Sites and Services?.2. In the console tree, double-click ?Sites?, and then double-click ?sitename?.

3. Double-click ?Servers?, click your domain controller, right-click ?NTDS Settings?,

and then click ?Properties?.4. On the General tab, click to select the Global catalog check box to assign the role of global catalog to this server.5. Restart the domain controller.

Make sure you allow sufficient time for the account and the schema information toreplicate to the new global catalog server before you remove the global catalog from theoriginal DC or take the DC offline.

After this is complete, you will want to transfer or seize the FSMO roles for your newserver.

For instructions, read Using Ntdsutil.exe to transfer or seize FSMO roles to a domaincontroller.After this step is complete, we can now run DCPROMO on the Windows 2000 Servers inorder to demote them.

Once this is complete, copy over any files you need to your new server and you shouldhave successfully replaced your Windows 2000 server(s) with a new Windows 2003server.

>How do you view replication properties for AD partitions and DCs?By using replication monitor

go to start > run > type repadmingo to start > run > type replmon

>Why can't you restore a DC that was backed up 4 months ago?Because of the tombstone life which is set to only 60 days.

>Different modes of AD restore ?A nonauthoritative restore is the default method for restoring Active Directory. To perform a nonauthoritative restore, you must be able to start the domain controller inDirectory Services Restore Mode. After you restore the domain controller from backup,replication partners use the standard replication protocols to update Active Directory and

associated information on the restored domain controller.An authoritative restore brings a domain or a container back to the state it was in at thetime of backup and overwrites all changes made since the backup. If you do not want toreplicate the changes that have been made subsequent to the last backup operation, youmust perform an authoritative restore. In this one needs to stop the inbound replicationfirst before performing the An authoritative restore.


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>How do you configure a stand-by operation master for any of the roles?# Open Active Directory Sites and Services.# Expand the site name in which the standby operations master is located to display theServers folder.# Expand the Servers folder to see a list of the servers in that site.

# Expand the name of the server that you want to be the standby operations master todisplay its NTDS Settings.# Right-click NTDS Settings, click New, and then click Connection.# In the Find Domain Controllers dialog box, select the name of the current role holder,and then click OK.# In the New Object-Connection dialog box, enter an appropriate name for theConnection object or accept the default name, and click OK.

>What's the difference between transferring a FSMO role and seizing ?

Seizing an FSMO can be a destructive process and should only be attempted if theexisting server with the FSMO is no longer available.

If you perform a seizure of the FSMO roles from a DC, you need to ensure two things:the current holder is actually dead and offline, and that the old DC will NEVER return tothe network. If you do an FSMO role Seize and then bring the previous holder back online, you'll have a problem.

An FSMO role TRANSFER is the graceful movement of the roles from a live, workingDC to another live DC During the process, the current DC holding the role(s) is updated,so it becomes aware it is no longer the role holder

>I want to look at the RID allocation table for a DC. What do I do?dcdiag /test:ridmanager /s:servername /v (servername is the name of our DC)

>What is BridgeHead Server in AD ?A bridgehead server is a domain controller in each site, which is used as a contact pointto receive and replicate data between sites. For intersite replication, KCC designates oneof the domain controllers as a bridgehead server. In case the server is down, KCCdesignates another one from the domain controller. When a bridgehead server receivesreplication updates from another site, it replicates the data to the other domain controllerswithin its site.

>What is the default size of ntds.dit ?10 MB in Server 2000 and 12 MB in Server 2003 .

>Where is the AD database held and What are other folders related to AD ?AD Database is saved in %systemroot%/ntds. You can see other files also in this folder.These are the main files controlling the AD structure.


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ntds.ditedb.logres1.logres2.logedb.chk

When a change is made to the Win2K database, triggering a write operation, Win2K records the transaction in the log file (edb.log). Once written to the log file, the change isthen written to the AD database. System performance determines how fast the systemwrites the data to the AD database from the log file. Any time the system is shut down,all transactions are saved to the database.

During the installation of AD, Windows creates two files: res1.log and res2.log. Theinitial size of each is 10MB. These files are used to ensure that changes can be written todisk should the system run out of free disk space. The checkpoint file (edb.chk) recordstransactions committed to the AD database (ntds.dit). During shutdown, a "shutdown"

statement is written to the edb.chk file.Then, during a reboot, AD determines that all transactions in the edb.log file have beencommitted to the AD database. If, for some reason, the edb.chk file doesn't exist onreboot or the shutdown statement isn't present, AD will use the edb.log file to update theAD database. The last file in our list of files to know is the AD database itself, ntds.dit.By default, the file is located in\NTDS, along with the other files we've discussed

>What FSMO placement considerations do you know of ?Windows 2000/2003 Active Directory domains utilize a Single Operation Master methodcalled FSMO (Flexible Single Master Operation), as described in Understanding FSMO

Roles in Active Directory.In most cases an administrator can keep the FSMO role holders (all 5 of them) in thesame spot (or actually, on the same DC) as has been configured by the Active Directoryinstallation process.

However, there are scenarios where an administrator would want to move one or more of the FSMO roles from the default holder DC to a different DC.Windows Server 2003 Active Directory is a bit different than the Windows 2000 versionwhen dealing with FSMO placement.

In this article I will only deal with Windows Server 2003 Active Directory, but youshould bear in mind that most considerations are also true when planning Windows 2000AD FSMO roles

>What do you do to install a new Windows 2003 R2 DC in a Windows 2003 AD?If you're installing Windows 2003 R2 on an existing Windows 2003 server with SP1installed, you require only the second R2 CD-ROM.


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Insert the second CD and the r2auto.exe will display the Windows 2003 R2 ContinueSetup screen. If you're installing R2 on a domain controller (DC), you must first upgradethe schema to the R2 version (this is a minor change and mostly related to the new Dfsreplication engine).

To update the schema, run the Adprep utility, which you'll find in theComponents\r2\adprep folder on the second CD-ROM.Before running this command, ensure all DCs are running Windows 2003 or Windows2000 with SP2 (or later).

Here's a sample execution of the Adprep /forestprepcommand:D:\CMPNENTS\R2\ADPREP>adprep /forestprepADPREP WARNING:Before running adprep, all Windows 2000 domain controllers in the forest should beupgraded to Windows 2000 Service Pack 1 (SP1) with QFE 265089, or to Windows 2000

SP2 (or later).QFE 265089 (included in Windows 2000 SP2 and later) is required to prevent potentialdomain controller corruption.[User Action] If ALL your existing Windows 2000 domain controllers meet thisrequirement, type C and then press ENTER to continue. Otherwise, type any other keyand press ENT ER to quit.C Opened Connection to SAV

DALDC01 SSPI Bind succeeded Current Schema Version is 30 Upgrading schema toversion 31 Connecting to "SAVDALDC01" Logging in as current user using SSPI

Importing directory from file "C:\WINDOWS\system32\sch31.ldf" Loading entries... 139entries modified successfully.

The command has completed successfully Adprep successfully updated the forest-wideinformation.After running Adprep, install R2 by performing these steps:

1. Click the "Continue Windows Server 2003 R2 Setup" link, as the figureshows.2. At the "Welcome to the Windows Server 2003 R2 Setup Wizard" screen, click Next.3. You'll be prompted to enter an R2 CD key (this is different from your existingWindows 2003 keys) if the underlying OS wasn't installed from R2 media (e.g., a regular

Windows 2003 SP1 installation).Enter the R2 key and click Next. Note: The license key entered for R2 must match theunderlying OS type, which means if you installed Windows 2003 using a volume-licenseversion key, then you can't use a retail or Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) R2 key.4. You'll see the setup summary screen which confirms the actions to be performed (e.g.,Copy files). Click Next.5. After the installation is complete, you'll see a confirmation dialog box. Click Finish


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>What is OU ?Organization Unit is a container object in which you can keep objects such as user accounts, groups, computer, printer . applications and other (OU).In organization unit you can assign specific permission to the user's. organization unit canalso be used to create departmental limitation.

>Name some OU design considerations ?OU design requires balancing requirements for delegating administrative rights -independent of Group Policy needs - and the need to scope the application of GroupPolicy.

The following OU design recommendations address delegation and scope issues:Applying Group Policy An OU is the lowest-level Active Directory container to whichyou can assign Group Policy settings.Delegating administrative authorityusually don't go more than 3 OU levels

>What is sites ? What are they used for ?One or more well-connected (highly reliable and fast) TCP/IP subnets.A site allows administrators to configure Active Directory access and replicationtopology to take advantage of the physical network.

A Site object in Active Directory represents a physical geographic location that hostsnetworks. Sites contain objects called Subnets.

Sites can be used to Assign Group Policy Objects, facilitate the discovery of resources,manage active directory replication, and manage network link traffic.

Sites can be linked to other Sites. Site-linked objects may be assigned a cost value thatrepresents the speed, reliability, availability, or other real property of a physical resource.Site Links may also be assigned a schedule.

>Trying to look at the Schema, how can I do that ?register schmmgmt.dll using this commandc:\windows\system32>regsvr32 schmmgmt.dllOpen mmc --> add snapin --> add Active directory schemaname it as schema.mscOpen administrative tool --> schema.msc

>What is the port no of Kerbrose ?88

>What is the port no of Global catalog ?3268


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>What is the port no of LDAP ?389

>Explain Active Directory Schema ?Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 Active Directory uses a database set of rules

called "Schema". The Schema is defines as the formal definition of all object classes, andthe attributes that make up those object classes, that can be stored in the directory. Asmentioned earlier, the Active Directory database includes a default Schema, whichdefines many object classes, such as users, groups, computers, domains, organizationalunits, and so on.

These objects are also known as "Classes". The Active Directory Schema can bedynamically extensible, meaning that you can modify the schema by defining new objecttypes and their attributes and by defining new attributes for existing objects. You can dothis either with the Schema Manager snap-in tool included with Windows 2000/2003Server, or programmatically.

>How can you forcibly remove AD from a server, and what do you do later? ? Can Iget user passwords from the AD database?Dcpromo /forceremoval , an administrator can forcibly remove Active Directory and roll back the system without having to contact or replicate any locally held changes to another DC in the forest. Reboot the server then After you use the dcpromo /forceremovalcommand, all the remaining metadata for the demoted DC is not deleted on the survivingdomain controllers, and therefore you must manually remove it by using the NTDSUTILcommand.

In the event that the NTDS Settings object is not removed correctly you can use the

Ntdsutil.exe utility to manually remove the NTDS Settings object. You will need thefollowing tool: Ntdsutil.exe, Active Directory Sites and Services, Active Directory Usersand Computers

>What are the FSMO roles? Who has them by default? What happens when eachone fails?Flexible Single Master Operation (FSMO) role. Currently there are five FSMO roles:Schema master Domain naming master RID master PDC emulator Infrastructure master

>What is domain tree ?Domain Trees: A domain tree comprises several domains that share a common schemaand configuration, forming a contiguous namespace. Domains in a tree are also linkedtogether by trust relationships. Active Directory is a set of one or more trees.


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Trees can be viewed two ways. One view is the trust relationships between domains. Theother view is the namespace of the domain tree.

>What is forests ?A collection of one or more domain trees with a common schema and implicit trust

relationships between them. This arrangement would be used if you have multiple rootDNS addresses.

>How to Select the Appropriate Restore Method ?You select the appropriate restore method by considering:Circumstances and characteristics of the failure. The two major categories of failure,From an Active Directory perspective, are Active Directory data corruption and hardwarefailure.

Active Directory data corruption occurs when the directory contains corrupt data that has been replicated to all domain controllers or when a large portion of the Active Directory

hierarchy has been changed accidentally (such as deletion of an OU) and this change hasreplicated to other domain controllers.

>Where are the Windows NT Primary Domain Controller (PDC) and its BackupDomain Controller (BDC) in Server 2003?The Active Directory replaces them. Now all domain controllers share a multimaster peer-to-peer read and write relationship that hosts copies of the Active Directory.

>What is Global Catalog?

The Global Catalog authenticates network user logons and fields inquiries about objectsacross a forest or tree. Every domain has at least one GC that is hosted on a domaincontroller. In Windows 2000, there was typically one GC on every site in order to preventuser logon failures across the network.

>How long does it take for security changes to be replicated among the domaincontrollers?Security-related modifications are replicated within a site immediately. These changesinclude account and individual user lockout policies, changes to password policies,

changes to computer account passwords, and modifications to the Local SecurityAuthority (LSA).

>When should you create a forest?Organizations that operate on radically different bases may require separate trees with


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distinct namespaces. Unique trade or brand names often give rise to separate DNSidentities. Organizations merge or are acquired and naming continuity is desired.Organizations form partnerships and joint ventures. While access to common resources isdesired, a separately defined tree can enforce more direct administrative and securityrestrictions.

>Describe the process of working with an external domain name ?If it is not possible for you to configure your internal domain as a subdomain of your external domain, use a stand-alone internal domain. This way, your internal and externaldomain names are unrelated. For example, an organization that uses the domain namecontoso.com for their external namespace uses the name corp.internal for their internalnamespace.

The advantage to this approach is that it provides you with a unique internal domain

name. The disadvantage is that this configuration requires you to manage two separatenamespaces. Also, using a stand-alone internal domain that is unrelated to your externaldomain might create confusion for users because the namespaces do not reflect arelationship between resources within and outside of your network.

In addition, you might have to register two DNS names with an Internet name authority if you want to make the internal domain publicly accessible.

>How do you view all the GCs in the forest?

C:\>repadmin /showreps

domain_controller OR You can use Replmon.exe for the same purpose.OR AD Sites and Services and nslookup gc._msdcs.

To find the in GC from the command line you can try using DSQUERY command.dsquery server -isgc to find all the GCs in the forestyou can try dsquery server -forest -isgc.

> What are the physical components of Active Directory ?Domain controllers and Sites. Domain controllers are physical computers which isrunning Windows Server operating system and Active Directory data base. Sites are anetwork segment based on geographical location and which contains multiple domaincontrollers in each site.

> What are the logical components of Active Directory ?


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Domains, Organizational Units, trees and forests are logical components of ActiveDirectory.

> What are the Active Directory Partitions ?

Active Directory database is divided into different partitions such as Schema partition,Domain partition, and Configuration partition. Apart from these partitions, we can createApplication partition based on the requirement.

> What is group nesting ?

Adding one group as a member of another group is called 'group nesting'. This will helpfor easy administration and reduced replication traffic.

> What is the feature of Domain Local Group ?

Domain local groups are mainly used for granting access to network resources.A Domainlocal group can contain accounts from any domain, global groups from any domain anduniversal groups from any domain. For example, if you want to grant permission to a printer located at Domain A, to 10 users from Domain B, then create a Global group inDomain B and add all 10 users into that Global group. Then, create a Domain local groupat Domain A, and add Global group of Domain B to Domain local group of Domain A,then, add Domain local group of Domain A to the printer(of Domain A) security ACL.

>How will you take Active Directory backup ?

Active Directory is backed up along with System State data. System state data includes

Local registry, COM+, Boot files, NTDS.DIT and SYSVOL folder. System state can be backed up either using Microsoft's default NTBACKUP tool or third party tools such asSymantech NetBackup, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager etc.

> What is Lost and Found Container ?

In multimaster replication method, replication conflicts can happen. Objects withreplication conflicts will be stored in a container called 'Lost and Found' container. Thiscontainer also used to store orphaned user accounts and other objects.

> Do we use clustering in Active Directory ? Why ?

No one installs Active Directory in a cluster. There is no need of clustering a domaincontroller. Because Active Directory provides total redundancy with two or more servers.

> What is Active Directory Recycle Bin ?


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Active Directory Recycle bin is a feature of Windows Server 2008 AD. It helps torestore accidentally deleted Active Directory objects without using a backed up ADdatabase, rebooting domain controller or restarting any services.

> What is RODC ? Why do we configure RODC ?

Read only domain controller (RODC) is a feature of Windows Server 2008 OperatingSystem. RODC is a read only copy of Active Directory database and it can be deployedin a remote branch office where physical security cannot be guaranteed. RODC providesmore improved security and faster log on time for the branch office.

> How do you check currently forest and domain functional levels? Say both GUI andCommand line.

To find out forest and domain functional levels in GUI mode, open ADUC, right click onthe domain name and take properties. Both domain and forest functional levels will be

listed there. TO find out forest and domain functional levels, you can use DSQUERYcommand.

> Which version of Kerberos is used for Windows 2000/2003 and 2008 ActiveDirectory ?

All versions of Windows Server Active Directory use Kerberos 5.

> Name few port numbers related to Active Directory ?

Kerberos 88, LDAP 389, DNS 53, SMB 445

> What is an FQDN ?

FQDN can be expanded as Fully Qualified Domain Name.It is a hierarchy of a domainname system which points to a device in the domain at its left most end. For example insystem.

> Have you heard of ADAC ?

ADAC- Active Directory Administrative Center is a new GUI tool came with WindowsServer 2008 R2, which provides enhanced data management experience to the admin.

ADAC helps administrators to perform common Active Directory object managementtask across multiple domains with the same ADAC instance.

> How many objects can be created in Active Directory? (both 2003 and 2008)

As per Microsoft, a single AD domain controller can create around 2.15 billion objectsduring its lifetime.


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> explain the process between a user providing his Domain credential to his workstationand the desktop being loaded? Or how the AD authentication works ?

When a user enters a user name and password, the computer sends the user name to theKDC. The KDC contains a master database of unique long term keys for every principal

in its realm. The KDC looks up the user's master key (KA), which is based on the user's password. The KDC then creates two items: a session key (SA) to share with the user anda Ticket-Granting Ticket (TGT). The TGT includes a second copy of the SA, the user name, and an expiration time. The KDC encrypts this ticket by using its own master key(KKDC), which only the KDC knows. The client computer receives the information fromthe KDC and runs the user's password through a one-way hashing function, whichconverts the password into the user's KA. The client computer now has a session key anda TGT so that it can securely communicate with the KDC. The client is nowauthenticated to the domain and is ready to access other resources in the domain by usingthe Kerberos protocol.

> What Is Urgent Replication And When Is It Used ?You probably know how Active Directory core replication works. When theres an objectchanged, the source DC, the one that serviced the change request, notifies its directreplication neighbours that there was a change to some object. The neighbors then startthe replication process by requesting the changes made since the last replication.

Important to know is, that there is a notification delay between the actual change to theobjects in the directory and the notification sent to the replication partners. Server 2003DCs wait 15 seconds before they fire out the change notification. This delay is there toonly send one change notification once the change transaction to the object is done. If

there are multiple changes made to an object, lets say the phone number, the home townand the employeeID of a user and the changes were made in 1 second delay each, weonly send one change notification for those three changes. If there was no notificationdelay and we waited a second between the changes to a users attributes, the source DCwere sending three change notifications to its partners. Too much traffic there! Note thatthe default change notificaction delay in Windows 2000 was 5 minutes (the numbersmay differ depending on installation type (upgrade from 2000 to 2003, forest functionallevel, ).

Given that fact, one can think of several scenarios which may lead to problem since thechange to the directory is not replicated right away: user Password changes, user lockout,Password Policy changed,

For this reason, theres urgent replication. Urgent replication works in the same waynormal replication does, but has no notification delay of a few seconds/minutes. Thatmakes urgent changes that need to be distributed thrughout the sites and DCs to getmore quickly to all edges. Urgent replication takes place in the following cases:

The Password Policy or account lockout policy of a domain has changed


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The LSA secret has changed (thats used for the secure channels betweenmachines and DCs and trusts)

a user or computer is locked out due to a failed logon attempt (in this case, theurgent replication is used to notify the DC with the PDC emulator role first andthen to all others)

the RID master has changedSo if one of the mentioned events take place, urgent replication takes place andtheres no notification delay prior to change notification of neighbour DCs.

> Which FSMO role directly impacting the consistency of Group Policy ?

PDC Emulator.

> I want to promote a new additional Domain Controller in an existing domain.Which are the groups I should be a member of ?

You should be a member of Enterprise Admins group or the Domain Admins group. Alsoyou should be member of local Administrators group of the member server which you aregoing to promote as additional Domain Controller.

> Tell me one easiest way to check all the 5 FSMO roles ?

Use netdom query /domain:YourDomain FSMO command. It will list all the FSMO rolehandling domain controllers

>What is Realm trust ?Use realm trusts to form a trust relationship between a non-Windows Kerberos realm andan Active Directory domain.

> Name few Active Directory Built in groups

SID: S-1-5-32-544 - Name:Administrators - Description: A built-in group. After the initial installation of the operating system, the only member of the group is the

Administrator account. When a computer joins a domain, the Domain Adminsgroup is added to the Administrators group. When a server becomes a domaincontroller, the Enterprise Admins group also is added to the Administrators group.

SID: S-1-5-32-548 - Name:Account Operators - Description: A built-in groupthat exists only on domain controllers. By default, the group has no members. Bydefault, Account Operators have permission to create, modify, and deleteaccounts for users, groups, and computers in all containers and organizationalunits of Active Directory except the Builtin container and the Domain Controllers


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OU. Account Operators do not have permission to modify the Administrators andDomain Admins groups, nor do they have permission to modify the accounts for members of those groups.

SID: S-1-5-32-549 - Name:Server Operators - Description: A built-in groupthat exists only on domain controllers. By default, the group has no members.

Server Operators can log on to a server interactively; create and delete network shares; start and stop services; back up and restore files; format the hard disk of the computer; and shut down the computer.

SID: S-1-5-32-550 - Name:Print Operators - Description: A built-in group thatexists only on domain controllers. By default, the only member is the DomainUsers group. Print Operators can manage printers and document queues.

SID: S-1-5-32-551 - Name:Backup Operators - Description: A built-in group.By default, the group has no members. Backup Operators can back up and restoreall files on a computer, regardless of the permissions that protect those files.Backup Operators also can log on to the computer and shut it down.

In a domain environment these groups are present, and are used for administrative purposes.

SID: S-1-5-21domain -512 - Name:Domain Admins - Description: A globalgroup whose members are authorized to administer the domain. By default, theDomain Admins group is a member of the Administrators group on all computersthat have joined a domain, including the domain controllers. Domain Admins isthe default owner of any object that is created by any member of the group.

SID: S-1-5-21root domain -518 - Name:Schema Admins - Description: Auniversal group in a native-mode domain; a global group in a mixed-modedomain. The group is authorized to make schema changes in Active Directory. By

default, the only member of the group is the Administrator account for the forestroot domain.o SID: S-1-5-21root domain -519 - Name:Enterprise Admins -

Description: A universal group in a native-mode domain; a global group ina mixed-mode domain. The group is authorized to make forest-widechanges in Active Directory, such as adding child domains. By default, theonly member of the group is the Administrator account for the forest rootdomain.

o SID: S-1-5-21domain -520 - Name:Group Policy Creator Owners -Description: A global group that is authorized to create new Group Policyobjects in Active Directory. By default, the only member of the group is

Administrator.

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Windows Active Directory Interview Questions

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