myITforum.com Community Forum myITforum.com Community Forum

Home  Forums  Blogs  Live Support chat  Search Articles  Wiki  FAQ  Email Lists  Register  Login  My Profile  Inbox  Address Book  My Subscription  My Forums 

Photo Gallery  Member List  Search  Calendars  FAQ  Ticket List  Log Out

All Forums RSS Feed Subscription:


           



SMS Admin Interview Questions...

 
View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest
  Printable Version
All Forums >> [Management Products] >> Microsoft Systems Management Server >> SMS 2.0 >> SMS Admin Interview Questions... Page: [1]
Login
Message << Older Topic   Newer Topic >>
SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 10/15/2004 9:57:12 AM   
admin


Posts: 863
Score: 50
Joined: 6/1/2002
From: admin@myITforum.com
Status: offline 		I' d like to start a thread that can be captured into a document for posting to the site. Frequently, I receive emails asking for a list of questions to ask SMS 2.0 interviewees, and it would be nice to gather the best questions and make them available on the site.

Post your best interview questions here...
Post #: 1
RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 10/15/2004 10:57:35 AM   
tbrennan


Posts: 1352
Score: 121
Joined: 8/6/2003
From: Salem, Oregon
Status: offline 		I would tell them to bring a SMS installer/wise package they built (If they have built one)on CD and have them explain what it did...piece by piece.

Ask what SMS had problems they had seen, and what have they done to fix it.

I' d ask what would they say were their daily, weekly, and monthly maintanance tasks for SMS.

Personally I wouldnt go into a lot of technical questions (such as whats in the so-and-so.box) but thats just me
Thats not to say I wouldnt ask any...

I' d be more concerned if they can administer the system.

I mentioned at an interview once after they had bombarded me with technical questions, that if I knew all the break/fix things they asked me off the top of my head, it would mean all I did was break things! So its one thing to have experienced/caused a lot of disasters its another to know how to go about preventing them and fixing them as needed.

Ask if they use any forums (myitforum) as a reference when troubleshooting ...to that end if they do they/we can probably fix most things anyone can come up with!

Ask how to back a SMS system up and how to restore

Perhaps how to make a collection/advertisement/package

My 2 cents!









(in reply to admin)
Post #: 2
RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 10/15/2004 1:11:01 PM   
ssimon885


Posts: 731
Score: 37
Joined: 12/15/2003
From: Illinois
Status: offline 		Personally, I spend more time maintaining client health, developing package scripts and making sure package distribution is hitting intended targets.

Interviewees should have a solid fundamental understanding of how SMS scales to meet the requirements of the organization in which it is used. They should be able to troubleshoot common issues, recover a primary or secondary site, understand data flows between sites and clients, be versed in security and know how to use the flowcharts.

Beyond these concepts are many technical questions. Bombarding Tom with a lot of these gave the interviewer(s) a look at how Tom handles pressure. SMS provides plenty of pressure. But, what we dont know technically is where we need to be able to use other resources, such as MyITForum. A question related to what one does when an answer is not readily available is a good question.



_____________________________

Scott Simon
System Administrator
Nalco Company
Naperville, Illinois
mailto: ssimon@nalco.com
" I have not failed. I' ve just found 10,000 ways that won' t work."
- Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)


(in reply to admin)
Post #: 3
RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 10/15/2004 1:16:13 PM   
gjones


Posts: 599
Score: 41
Joined: 6/5/2001
From: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Status: offline 		I took a few mintes and this is what I came up with. What do you think?

1) Describe some of the major difference between SMS 2.0 and SMS 2003?

- Advanced client
- Updated Web report
- BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service)


2) What is a MIF file? What are the problem(s) associated with MIF files?

- MIF = Machine information file
- MIF file are static, therefore the information is only valid when the file was created.
- SMS 2003 do not automatically collect MIF files.


3) You need to update the McAfee engine and DAT files on 400 client PCs. What program and command line would you run to force the update of both with no client interaction?

- Sdat????.exe /q /f
- Superdat.exe /q /f


4) You have been asked to collect the local printer information for every workstation using SMS. What would you do?

- Edit the SMS_DEF.MOF to enable the collecting of local printer information.

5) What is KIX32 and what is it normally used for?

- Logon scripts

6) You have been asked to create a report on free hard drive space of every workstation with a Pentium 3 CPU. You know that your manager will ask for this report several times. What do you do to reduce your work load?

- Create a Web report.

7) What log file would you look at to find out if a client has reported their Hardware inventory to the primary site server on the site server?

- Dataldr.log


8) Name a few Web sites that you use to trouble shoot SMS problems

- www.myitforum.com
- http://www.momcommunity.com/
- http://faqshop.com/
- http://www.microsoft.com/technet/default.mspx
- http://www.microsoft.com/smserver/community/default.mspx

9) Tell us about a problem that you had with a workstation and what did you do to fix it and why



_____________________________

Garth@enhansoft.com

For a List of my Articles
http://www.myitforum.com/contrib/default.asp?cid=116
Blogs:
http://smsug.ca/blogs/garth_jones/default.aspx
http://myitforum.com/blog/gjones/


(in reply to admin)
Post #: 4
RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 10/15/2004 1:22:30 PM   
mcarriere893


Posts: 3618
Score: 300
Joined: 4/12/2002
From: Manitoba, Canada
Status: offline 		Technical:
Ask them about their programming skills (vbscript, SQL/WMI queries). I' ve lost count as to how many I' ve made for both s/w distributions, and " real time" machine queries.

Their understanding of your network from bandwidth, DNS, DHCP, servers, workstations, etc.

Their understanding of different OS' s utilized in your network, AD, gpo' s, etc

Competence:
Definitely questions and examples pertaining to working with other departments (gotta be able to deal with developers and app support staff when creating packages).


_____________________________

Mark Carriere
Microsoft MVP-SMS
www.SMSUG.ca

(in reply to admin)
Post #: 5
RE: RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 10/15/2004 1:23:41 PM   
gjones


Posts: 599
Score: 41
Joined: 6/5/2001
From: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Status: offline 		Here is a related question.

Assuming you are hiring from internal staff only. (Helpdesk level 1)

In your option how long should it take someone working with SMS daily to have a good understanding of SMS at a level 2/3?


_____________________________

Garth@enhansoft.com

For a List of my Articles
http://www.myitforum.com/contrib/default.asp?cid=116
Blogs:
http://smsug.ca/blogs/garth_jones/default.aspx
http://myitforum.com/blog/gjones/


(in reply to ssimon885)
Post #: 6
RE: RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 10/15/2004 1:28:17 PM   
gjones


Posts: 599
Score: 41
Joined: 6/5/2001
From: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: mcarriere893
Technical:
Ask them about their programming skills (vbscript, SQL/WMI queries). I' ve lost count as to how many I' ve made for both s/w distributions, and " real time" machine queries.


Good point.

quote:


Their understanding of your network from bandwidth, DNS, DHCP, servers, workstations, etc.


Would you give them a diagram and asked them some questions about it?



_____________________________

Garth@enhansoft.com

For a List of my Articles
http://www.myitforum.com/contrib/default.asp?cid=116
Blogs:
http://smsug.ca/blogs/garth_jones/default.aspx
http://myitforum.com/blog/gjones/


(in reply to mcarriere893)
Post #: 7
RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 10/15/2004 1:35:33 PM   
mcarriere893


Posts: 3618
Score: 300
Joined: 4/12/2002
From: Manitoba, Canada
Status: offline 		I' ve someitmes supplied a portion of our network diagram and asked them specifics (like explain what some of the boxes and lines mean), and have also just asked if they know what some of the connections speeds are like between different areas, or what type of connections do we have (fibre, T1, frame relay, etc).

We have a bit of a mix with static and DHCP (servers static, worksations DHCP), so a simple question asking an interviewee like what has what, or explain nslookkup, nbtstat, ping, etc.



_____________________________

Mark Carriere
Microsoft MVP-SMS
www.SMSUG.ca

(in reply to admin)
Post #: 8
RE: RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 10/15/2004 1:41:04 PM   
fracine


Posts: 1609
Score: 23
Joined: 11/17/2001
From: Québec, Canada
Status: offline 		MIF=Management Information Format

quote:

3) You need to update the McAfee engine and DAT files on 400 client PCs. What program and command line would you run to force the update of both with no client interaction?


or

" %commonprogramfiles%\Network Associates\mcupdate\mcupdate.exe" /task update /quiet
" %commonprogramfiles%\Network Associates\mcupdate\mcupdate.exe" /task upgrade /quiet


My questions:

1. What are your knowledge of SMS and what are the functionality

2. Did you already wrote some procedure and how would you evaluate your ease to write something?

3. What are GPO' s?

4. What is the HAL?

5. What is the difference between a Ghost image and a sysprep image?

6. What is the Wake-On-Lan

7. Which conditions a computer should meet to make the WOL working on this computer?

8. What is PXE?

9. What is RIS?

10. Your service has a bootable cd and it needs to be update. The one responsible to update that CD does not have the time to do so. How will you react?

11. What is WMI?

12. You are packaging a software to install it silently and unattended to a computer. When you are logging in as an administrator, the software is working but not if you are logging in as a restricted user (no rights).

What will you do to solve that problem?
Name 2 tools to solve rights problem on a computer?

13. You have to create a package. The software was package with Installshield and there is a setup.exe. How would you get the setup.iss?

14. You have a MIF to copy on some computers. Where would you copy it on a computer running the SMS 2.0 client?
And with a SMS 2003 client?

15. You are sending a package to 400 computers. Once this package is receive, a mif is copy to the noifmif directory. How would you built your collection?
When a computer received that package and ran an hinv, you want the computer to automatically be remove from the collection. How would you built your query? --> sub-select query

16. What is a NT software installation account?




_____________________________

François Racine
Technicien

Please rate my post :)

(in reply to gjones)
Post #: 9
RE: RE: RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 10/15/2004 1:42:57 PM   
gjones


Posts: 599
Score: 41
Joined: 6/5/2001
From: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Status: offline 		How about these questions?



Look at the follow statement

SELECT McAfee_Virus_Scan_DATA.KeyName00, McAfee_Virus_Scan_DATA.szDatDate00, McAfee_Virus_Scan_DATA.szDatVersion00, McAfee_Virus_Scan_DATA.szCurrentVersionNumber00, McAfee_Virus_Scan_DATA.szEngineVer00,
v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.Domain0,
v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.Model0,
v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.Name0,
v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.UserName0, v_GS_WORKSTATION_STATUS.LastHWScan
FROM SMS_GMJ.dbo.McAfee_Virus_Scan_DATA McAfee_Virus_Scan_DATA, SMS_GMJ.dbo.v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM, SMS_GMJ.dbo.v_GS_WORKSTATION_STATUS v_GS_WORKSTATION_STATUS
WHERE v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.ResourceID = v_GS_WORKSTATION_STATUS.ResourceID AND v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.ResourceID = McAfee_Virus_Scan_DATA.MachineID AND ((McAfee_Virus_Scan_DATA.szCurrentVersionNumber00 Is Not Null) AND (McAfee_Virus_Scan_DATA.szEngineVer00<' 4.3.20' ))

11) What language is this?
SQL

12) Name the source of where the data will be retrieved from?
SMS_GMJ

13) What does it do?
Return all client who McAfee engine version is less that 4.3.20 and CurrentVersionNumber is not null.


_____________________________

Garth@enhansoft.com

For a List of my Articles
http://www.myitforum.com/contrib/default.asp?cid=116
Blogs:
http://smsug.ca/blogs/garth_jones/default.aspx
http://myitforum.com/blog/gjones/


(in reply to gjones)
Post #: 10
RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 10/19/2004 8:14:03 AM   
jlaguardia762


Posts: 317
Score: 6
Joined: 9/5/2001
Status: offline 		If your looking for an SMS Admin.. I would stick to SMS skills, Wise and scripting skills are just an added bonus.

As far as SMS skills. I generally ask questions like...

How do you extend the out of the box Hardware inventory of SMS?

How do you extend Software inventory?

Look for someone that knows how to write custom queries.. A basic understanding of SQL queries is required of a good SMS Admin.

Draw up a basic picture that shows your SMS topology.. Look for the individual that starts asking questions like network link speeds, or offers suggestions and possibly questions why you might have a specific component in a specific location.

Have them explain some of the SMS Designs they have done in the past. Large scale deployments of an SMS infrastructure require alot of planning.

Look for the person that has actually implimented and administred an SMS infrastructure. I find that alot of SMS consultants design infrastructures but spend very little time actually administering.

Finally, Ask the interviewee how they would troubleshoot a specific scenario.. Many " good" SMS administrators have been through the SMS Admin Guide Flow charts so many times, they have them memorized. Anyone that can walk you through the SMS Software Distribution process flow off the top of their head is a good find in my opinion.

Just my 2 cents..

_____________________________

Jeff LaGuardia
Technology Consultant
National City Bank
jeff.laguardia@nationalcity.com

(in reply to admin)
Post #: 11
RE: RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 10/19/2004 10:21:21 AM   
fracine


Posts: 1609
Score: 23
Joined: 11/17/2001
From: Québec, Canada
Status: offline 		You are right!

But how many SMS Admin are/aren' t doing packaging?

It seems officially, the job is for an SMS Admin but in fact, it is also a packaging job :)

_____________________________

François Racine
Technicien

Please rate my post :)

(in reply to jlaguardia762)
Post #: 12
RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 10/19/2004 1:08:42 PM   
chayes


Posts: 650
Score: 21
Joined: 10/8/2002
From: CT./RI. Border
Status: offline 		Do you show up to work on time?????????????????????????????????????????

(in reply to admin)
Post #: 13
RE: RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 10/22/2004 2:39:41 PM   
gjones


Posts: 599
Score: 41
Joined: 6/5/2001
From: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Status: offline 		LOL, but it is true.

_____________________________

Garth@enhansoft.com

For a List of my Articles
http://www.myitforum.com/contrib/default.asp?cid=116
Blogs:
http://smsug.ca/blogs/garth_jones/default.aspx
http://myitforum.com/blog/gjones/


(in reply to chayes)
Post #: 14
RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 10/25/2004 10:36:15 AM   
chayes


Posts: 650
Score: 21
Joined: 10/8/2002
From: CT./RI. Border
Status: offline 		Tell me about it:( we keep hiring people that
1. can' t do the job and bullshit their way into the company
2. don' t show up on time and leave early

can' t spell " who cares" without HR anymore

(in reply to admin)
Post #: 15
RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 11/11/2004 9:09:48 PM   
mschorr


Posts: 378
Score: 12
Joined: 6/5/2001
From: Chicago,IL
Status: offline 		I think some of the scripting, SQL and packaging questions certainly depend on your environment. My first SMS position I was my only SQL contact outside of email lists and other outside resources. I currently have a team I rely on for SQL support and have little time spent with SQL scripting or management of SQL. It leaves me weaker in my SQL skills, but left to focus in other areas as they show up\get assigned.

_____________________________

Mike Schorr
mschor@acehardware.com

Vice-Chairman;
Chicago Systems Management User Group
http://www.smugwire.net





(in reply to admin)
Post #: 16
RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 1/11/2005 1:14:19 PM   
mgaunce


Posts: 345
Score: 12
Joined: 6/5/2001
From: Nova Scotia, Canada
Status: offline 		Never been much good at interview questions and answers, but what I would probably like to do would be to sit them down at an SMS consol (secured, of course) and let them look around for a while. Then get them to describe the infrastructure they' ve been looking at, where would they check for potential problems, what suggestions would they have to improve, etc...

(in reply to admin)
Post #: 17
RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 3/24/2005 9:15:15 AM   
dyarnall

 

Posts: 45
Score: 0
Joined: 3/1/2005
Status: offline 		Do you feel that SMS is the best value for management systems? - This lets you know if the interviewee is really sold on SMS or they just KNOW SMS.

(in reply to admin)
Post #: 18
RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 4/4/2005 9:16:03 PM   
dbyrd739

 

Posts: 7
Score: 1
Joined: 4/4/2005
Status: offline 		Looking for some SMS work, So thanks for the thread. Good read, Now all I need is the interview.


Don

(in reply to admin)
Post #: 19
RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 6/2/2005 12:33:02 PM   
rheuermann

 

Posts: 244
Score: 4
Joined: 7/11/2002
Status: offline 		If they had a previous SMS job I would add, " How many clients were in your previous environment and what was your success ratio in software pushes, if it varied why were some better than others."

This question might be open enough to get a few stories that illustrate their understanding of SMS, packaging and supporting wrapper scripts. Hopefully they will offer how they were able to improve the success rate of SMS software pushes.

The worst answer would be along the lines of " SMS tracks the success of each install" .

Something better would be the understanding that SMS is only a tranport vehicle and there may be a few stories of vendor installs that " told" SMS they were successful when they actually failed.

The best answer would be a story from the interviewee, that they developed a wrapper script that checked the health of the clients and general components that support SMS and possibly handling specific conditions that would support the software being pushed. Added bonus is how they might have increased value, reliability and content of status messages back to SMS or in alternate logging method. Now you know you got someone that can really increase your present success ratio!

(in reply to admin)
Post #: 20
RE: SMS Admin Interview Questions... - 12/13/2005 1:33:42 AM   
amitra

 

Posts: 1
Score: 0
Joined: 12/12/2005
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: admin

I' d like to start a thread that can be captured into a document for posting to the site. Frequently, I receive emails asking for a list of questions to ask SMS 2.0 interviewees, and it would be nice to gather the best questions and make them available on the site.

Post your best interview questions here...

hi,
i am new to the world of system administration basically just started working on AD i need to know about a handy and good book that would start from basic' s of scripting and let me know in and out of it. could you suggest anything.
Thanks
Anurag Mitra

(in reply to admin)
Post #: 21
Page:   [1]
All Forums >> [Management Products] >> Microsoft Systems Management Server >> SMS 2.0 >> SMS Admin Interview Questions... Page: [1]
Jump to:





New Messages No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages Locked w/o New Messages
 Post New Thread
 Reply to Message
 Post New Poll
 Submit Vote
 Delete My Own Post
 Delete My Own Thread
 Rate Posts




Forum Software © ASPPlayground.NET Advanced Edition 2.4.5 ANSI

0.438