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SMS Admin interview questions... - 10/15/2004 9:57:46 AM

admin

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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 2003 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 3:09:27 PM

dstein

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OK.

1. How many sites and site servers do you have?
2. How many clients do you have (total and average per site)?
3. How do you staff your SMS infrastructure?
4. What feature helps you most?
5. What feature gives you the most headache?

_____________________________

- Dave

software is squishy-squashy, hardware is wishy-washy

(in reply to admin)

Post #: 2

RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 10/15/2004 3:11:19 PM

jterry

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I would ask scenerio based questions. Such as how would you set up an SMS environment with 200 mobiles users, 1000 central users, and 500 remote users in 5 different sites with varying connection speeds. Have them give specifics like how many secondary sites, DPs, MPs, etc would be used or suggested and then have them justify the answer.

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Post #: 3

RE: RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 10/18/2004 3:10:47 PM

hpatel

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Good Questions.
It is very important to get an SMS admin that understands the internals of how SMS works in addition to how, on the surface, to use SMS.

“Describe in technical detail how inventory gets from my laptop to an SMS web report.”

This is one question that allows me to gauge the level of technical proficiency of a SMS Admin candidate. As the candidate starts talking, you will quickly gain an understanding of how much the candidate knows about the internals of how SMS works. You know you have someone good if they start talking specifics about inventory files & folders, MOF, WMI, Provider, SQL & IIS. Additionally, with the exception of follow-on or leading questions that you can ask as they are describing the process, this allows for the candidate to do all the talking.

(in reply to dstein)

Post #: 4

RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 10/18/2004 3:32:59 PM

tmatthews344

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for SMS admins...

I would ask the basics... what are boundaries? What types of sites are there? what is a Sender? What is a proxy management point?... etc.. to do a quick weed out.

I would ask what they have done in the past and formulate questions based off that. " So you setup 20 new secondary sites at your last job, tell me why you would create a secondary site rather than a primary site or just no site at all?" , " At your last job you say the environment was in advanced security mode? How did that help you with you job? What was required for that? How did that change things from regular security?" ...

I would then ask troubleshooting questions, names of log files, experience with doing troubleshooting, where to find info, where things are located, requirements for certain things BITS, MP, RP, etc...

I would then setup a virtual environment (or have them do it) and have them perform several tasks that admins need to perform on a regular basis.

The problem is for companies is that usually if they are looking for a SMS admin that may be because their old one just left and they need soemone new that knows things. In this case it is hard for companies to ask question because the person interviewing usually doesn' t know anything about SMS and neither does anyone left at the company. So really it comes down to stated experience and calling references. Interview the past employers.

T

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Post #: 5

RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 10/18/2004 4:15:59 PM

iflanagan

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Give two examples of how you would uninstall the MP (assuming you have the 2003tookit installed)?

1) via command line (on sms site server) ccmclean.exe /mp
2) from the sms console under site systems uncheck MP...click OK then via smstrace watch the mpsetup.log file

Give different examples of how to automate advanced client installs, and the pros and cons of each one:

-via GPO (can control at granular level) won' t needlessly reinstall the clients
-client push wizard, good because of its effectiveness, but dangerous
-startup-scripts, good because it catches the laptops, but bad because it may take longer to login

the sms client is also dependent on what other windows service? -wmi

you check and notice a few machines have not inventoried recently what might you check for?
-sms agent is running
-wm is running
-the machine was removed from the db and rediscovered
-the client was removed and re-add
-you have a poor automation method and keeps reinstalling the client on this machine daily
-the client didn' t install properly

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Post #: 6

RE: RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 10/21/2004 9:34:40 AM

nnoprog

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You must have someone that has at least a little knowledge on the product to detect who is preaching from a book and who has actually done specfic things with the product.

I tend to disagree with some of the in depth questions on things like setup since sometimes you might run into a different issue on different installs , like when I set up 2003 many issues that were not documented and fixes not found via MS.

I would ask ?s like who do you handle OS, Office updates, reboot methods, have you done anything not in a book that has helped you or your company. I tend to see TOO many people preaching from a book about dlls and alot of things that you dont interact with daily and the like but when a problem arrises it seems like there is no troubla shooting exp. or real world issues.

(in reply to iflanagan)

Post #: 7

RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 11/4/2004 9:39:23 AM

jkappel

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explain roaming

explain the new features of service pack 1

I want to distribute office 2003 to 5000 desktops what would you do?

1000 of those distributions failed how would you go about trouble shooting?

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Post #: 8

RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 11/5/2004 10:29:40 AM

wring

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i have only one thing to add, what would you do when your SMS database becomes SUSPECT. It happens and is not a pretty scenario, but it proves they know how to use the recovery tools, sms backup, SQL commands, services, service accounts, and how not to freak out in an emergency situation....

William

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Post #: 9

RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 11/18/2004 2:40:48 PM

dhalperin

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All of these are great questions, I think I could answer one or two, OK, maybe 1

Anyone know a website with SMS salaries? I am trying to justify a raise (for me and my collegue) but there aren' t any cataglories in any salary website the specifically mention SMS, except for Computerjobs.com

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Post #: 10

RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 11/18/2004 2:44:52 PM

mcarriere893

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http://myitforum.techtarget.com/forums/tm.asp?m=37081&p=2&tmode=1

_____________________________

Mark Carriere
Microsoft MVP-SMS
www.SMSUG.ca

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Post #: 11

RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 11/18/2004 2:50:38 PM

dhalperin

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Funny, I found that just after I posted this question. But these anwswers are old. I want to find what the current market in my area is. (Boston)

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Post #: 12

RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 12/22/2004 8:59:29 AM

ddivgi810

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I would like to add the following to all the great questions..

What daily maintenance do you do on your site??
What weekly maintenance do you do on your site?
What periodic maintenance do you do on your site??

As they say prevention is better than cure..

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Post #: 13

RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 12/24/2004 3:00:25 AM 1 votes

wsoutherland

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Hard part about sms is that most answers to questions about it really begin with " Well, that depends..." Arguably more important for the prospective SMS admin to know how to look up the answer to MCSE style questions about SMS as for them to know off the top of their head.

By far, the best question to ask a prospective SMS admin is " What motivates you to want this job?." The answer should be similar to, " the thrill of solving complicated technical challenges or problems."

Best to find out what they don' t know, tell them they have 3 hours to do something they don' t know how to do, and check back with them in 3 hours to see how it went. SMS related or not. Give them a computer with access to the internet as a reference and a phone with long distance/international calling enabled(phone a friend).

If they have enought contacts built over the years to be able to call someone and have them walk them through a process they don' t know how to do themselves, hire them. You' ve just hired a resourceful admin and everyone else they have ever met for the price of 1. If they know where to look on the internet to find the answer, hire them. In the case of a forum, you' ve just hired the collective talent, knowledge and experience of the forum.

I' m not saying basic knowledge of SMS isn' t important. You have to be able to understand a question to be able to even really begin to answer or look up an answer.

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RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 12/24/2004 3:14:48 AM

wsoutherland

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Also, you should base raises based on a value assessment of what you do that effects the bottom-line positively. Relatively easy for me to do because I' m the only SMS Admin for 4000 clients worldwide.

Whenever I do a software push corporate wide or to a department(patches, office upgrades, virus scanner upgrades, etc), I get an outside contracting company to quote how much it would cost to contract them to do the same job manually in the same amount of time.

If you can add a feature to SMS like the OS Deployment Feature Pack and show that you are getting much more value from the system now than you did before, salery increase should be easy to justify if not demand. Helping prevent network takedowns through patch management helps too.

< Message edited by wsoutherland -- 12/24/2004 3:15:23 AM >

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RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 1/5/2005 4:58:28 PM

xgene19

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Good questions folks, hope I never have to interview with most of you. To give this a different spin: as the guy going into an interview, I' d obviously try to relate my past experiences and some specific problems I' ve encountered (...perhaps leave out the part how the great folks at MYITForum helped me resolve the issues!)

Honestly, experience should be the key, and a good interviewer should be able to decipher the difference between " BS" - (Book Savy) and " real experience" .

And given SMS' s complexity and possible diversity, I don' t care who you are, you' re not going to know everything about the product and every typical setup \ environment. I' d want someone who is ready to admit that, but looks forward to a possible challenge.

Soft skills should also be on the menu such as persistence, grace under pressure, good communication skills, teamwork etc...

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Post #: 16

RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 2/1/2005 8:25:13 AM

dstein

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I agree with xgene19. I would also try to fit in all the questions I' ve posted on MyItForum that were toughest to answer (or are still in limbo). Hey, why not try to collect some useful knowledge while interviewing? 2 birds with 1 stone.

_____________________________

- Dave

software is squishy-squashy, hardware is wishy-washy

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Post #: 17

RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 5/19/2005 7:46:18 AM

levans809

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some of these questions are pretty tough. i think i know SMS pretty well but dang. i see i need to hit my book again if i ever have to interview.

it good to through tough questions at them tho... they dont always have to answer the question correctly to get a good score. the response and they way the rationalize is a good indication of there thinking skills.

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Post #: 18

RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 6/7/2005 7:54:21 PM

echapple

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With the multitude of faults in all versions of SMS I see the community has spoken to their experienced stregnths. SMS is no different than any other administrative IT role and thus should not be handled any differently. 9.875321 times out of 10 the individual conducting the interview is not as knowledgable as the prospective employee. This is why bullsh!t somes in pounds.

_____________________________

Erik Chapple
Denver, CO

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Post #: 19

RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 6/14/2005 4:52:18 PM

wring

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three questions

1. Explain how SMS uses IIS to send policy
2. explain how SMS works in a primary/child relationship, (collections, queries, etc)
3. Explain how you would troubleshoot a web reports not working

William

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Post #: 20

RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 8/1/2005 3:50:02 PM

dproctor281

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alot of these questions are really good, however, the two things I learned way back when I was in the USAF were

1) There' s a reason they went to all that trouble to write all those manuals

2) the moment you do a non-rote routine off the top of your head is the moment you do it wrong. (in other words, you can breath without thinking, but you can' t think without breathing)

Personally, I' m more interested in the magnitude of the sites they' ve done. Some of the above questions are great if you' re needing an architect/consultant, others are great if you' re looking for a day-to-day admin. Really, what you ask depends on the position you' re trying to fill. I alos agree that pratical experinece always trumps what' s in the book.

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RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 8/2/2005 10:17:53 AM

spack357

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Hello all,

I am pretty new to SMS 2003. I work with a senior SMS admin that is never in the office to answer simple questions. Can anyone help with this?

I ran a query on all non client machines in SMS. I have tried for a couple of days to do a forced install and letting it use default settings but it still doesnt install the client. What am I doing incorrectly? Please advise

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RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 10/3/2005 2:43:25 PM

btucker789

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Here are good client type questions I ask people who troubleshoot SMS workstations.

1. A workstation is a SMS client and although you have added the workstation to a software deployment group, the application and core advertisement do not install. Describe the steps you would take to troubleshoot the client before you called the SMS Admin.

2. Where can you go to see the success and or failures of an advertised package?

3. How would you know if your management point is down? What logs would you look at and what possible tools would you use?

4. What does the Execmgr.log, CAS.log and LocationServices.log files each tell you?

5. If you are unsure if a particular patch has been applied to the SMS client during the monthly patch deployment, where would you find the log file for a specific KB update on that workstation? Also, what is the name of the log file?

6. What are the proper steps to remove and reinstall the SMS client? Also, where is the client software located?
Say that your entire site is not receiving packages. What do you do?

7. A package has been advertised to one of your SMS clients. The package is set to download to the client but never installs. You notice an error in the CAS.log file where “hash does not meet expected”. What does that mean and how can it be fixed?

8. What does it mean when you go into the Control panel and look in the SMS Run Advertised Programs and the window is blank?

9. What tool(s) can you use to see what the status is of all advertisements on a specified workstation? There are 2 that we use.

10. How can you run an advertisement again for one workstation?

11. What is the SMS Toolkit as provided by Microsoft?

12. An AD group has been created for a new package. You add the first workstation to the group and you notice the SMS collection does not update with the workstation name, thus the package doe not install. What is the most likely reason?

13. When you RIS a workstation that has already been a SMS client, should you delete the workstation in SMS before you RIS the computer?

14. What does it mean when you have a computer that shows up twice and one says it’s “obsolete”? What does Obsolete mean? What if you had 2 workstations listed and neither were obsolete? How would you know which one to keep and which one to delete?

15. What is the default size of the SMS cache on the clients by Microsoft? What does the cache do and how can you increase the size? Why is the size important?

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RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 2/8/2006 12:49:22 PM

mserafine

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How ' bout this question? (I apologize if it' s already been mentioned here)

What is the first thing you do when troubleshooting unfamiliar site system and client problems?

If they don' t answer with, " Review the logs" , I' d be reluctant to hire them.

All too often, I' ve seen people start making changes to site settings, restoring WMI, doing site resets and other things that may prove to be unnecessary if the logs had first been looked at.

I highlighted " unfamiliar" because we all immediately do what' s necessary, without checking logs, if we' ve seen the problem before and know what needs to be done to fix it.

< Message edited by mserafine -- 5/28/2006 3:53:50 PM >

_____________________________

Mark Serafine | Microsoft Corporation

Management Technologies (SMS, MOM, System Center) Premier Field Engineer | Microsoft Premier Support

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RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 7/21/2006 2:16:51 PM

Lohiro

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Here's a different take on the questions; rather than judging technical competency, judge the business competency and using SMS to support that. For example:

1. How would you manage the patch lifecycle for the operating system?
2. How would you manage the application lifecycle (including patch distribution)?
3. How would you configure SMS to support various business groups? ie. order desk, help desk, desktop support, business analysts, management, etc.
4. Workstation imaging/reimaging/recovery...

The SMS admin should be configuring the environment to allow other IT personnel to support the business... most of the people with "book smarts" know how to follow a given process (say the ITMU), but not how to define a process, enforce it, and support it. You can follow up with further questions based on what becomes outlined (i.e. ITMU for patching- what about exception systems used for overnight batch processing?). Technical skills can be acquired/researched, soft skills take a lot longer.

(in reply to mserafine)

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RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 10/10/2006 3:39:46 AM

virasat

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How would you automate the SMS client installaiton on the client machines? When you connect your PC into network, the SMS client must be automatically installed on it?

(in reply to Lohiro)

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RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 6/13/2007 4:44:48 AM

Chaudry

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How to do Mac address based imaging via the SMS server

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RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 7/3/2007 2:05:08 PM

pglyn-williams

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I would ask questions that display some direct knowledge only an experienced SMS admin's would know,
such as

-collecting custom data elements non-standard to SMS with custom scripting
-custom reporting using SQL enterprise / MS Access
-name a couple 3rd party tools that integrate with SMS 2003 (ie. 1E, MonInfo, SMSExpert, SMSClientSpy)
-etc..

On those lines.

I also apologize if this is duplicated somewhere in the above posts.

_____________________________

Pierson Glyn-Williams
Systems Management
Region of Peel (HQ)

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RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 8/22/2007 11:34:55 AM

wkaiser

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Late post, but since the topic's pinned I'll answer anyway.

I disagree with the lengthy in-depth technical questions. Ask a few baseline questions to make sure that the candidate knows the technology and is not just lying flat out on their resume, but that's it. I'm much more concerned with past experience and the quality, aptitude, and personality of the candidate overall. One thing that's critical is that they express the importance of learning and understanding the needs of the business. In the end SMS and IT in general is about supporting the business, and it's absolutely critical to understand what they want and what they need. It kills me to see so many SMS admins so out of tune with their customers.

Another big piece of the puzzle is the SMS admin's willingness to change and learn. I see too many candidates that that want to shut themselfs away in an SMS lab and do things the same way for the next 10 years that they have for the last 5. SMS has a ton of capability, I want someone that is willing to explore that.

Just my .02 cents.

_____________________________

Will

SCOM/SMS/SCCM/Application packaging

http://systemcenterinfo.blogspot.com

(in reply to pglyn-williams)

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RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 11/10/2007 4:49:46 PM

dstein

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I know I've already posted twice, so I'm probably going to be added to a ban list soon :) However, the last post makes sense also. I think I agree too much with everyone. Even myself.

I would probably just ask them to describe, in high level, the process for standing up a single site and deploying clients. See if they understand basic order of things like adding roles, setting the boundaries, configuring agents, discoveries, etc. Then work down to more detailed things if they seem to have a good grasp of it all based on how they answered that first. Of course, if they bring good imported beer to the interview I'd hire them regardless.

_____________________________

- Dave

software is squishy-squashy, hardware is wishy-washy

(in reply to wkaiser)

Post #: 30

RE: SMS Admin interview questions... - 5/5/2008 6:34:13 PM

kpandey

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Few Questions which I have been asked :

1. What do you mean by MIF?

2. The two SMS DPS are on the same lan segment you are distributing one package to both DPs One dp get updated on 2 mins where as the other dp took 8 mins ??? where you goona find out the problem (Answer from SMS perspective no permision issues)

3. If you want to have SMS hierarchy in cross forest infrastucture what all consideration you need to take care ??

4. What remains uncleaned with Ccmclean??? or what all process you goona follow for removing the client from worksation all possibilities with sequence , ccmclean, msiexec /x ect ect

5. Why the backlogs being created in the site server ???

6. what all are WMI classess ??

7. What log you goona check for one software distribution in site server ???

8. what is the relationship of sms and wmi ? how abt this relationship in terms of the SMS client and WMI ??

9. What WMi Version the SMS 2003 Sp2 use or which is the miniumum version of the WMI is required for sms client .

10 The Status messages from the secondary site servers are not coming to the primary site server
case a;- When the status messages from all secondary site servers associated with the particular Primary site server is not coming

Case B : Couple of them are not sending it over

11. In the cross forest design can you configure any site system role in the forest where you dont have sms hierarchy in the place ?? How do you register MP, SLP in WINS database as per one of the requistes in cross forest design .

12 Differences between WBEM and WMI

13. Why the ITMU cab name is changed recently ?? Or otherway around how many records does the new cab support ??

(in reply to dstein)

Post #: 31

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