Daniel Petri’s MCSE & System Administrator Job Interview Questions – Part 5 – Exchange Server 2007/2010

After a long delay please welcome my 5th part of my MCSE and System Administrator job interview sample questions article series. See previous parts at:

This article set is targeted at both the interviewer (who needs a pool of valid questions they can ask) and to the candidate (who wants a pool of sample questions they can prepare for). Needless to say, both MUST know what they’re talking about. Also, although I consider these questions as a thorough verbal test for the candidate’s knowledge, in most cases, when he or she passes this phase, I will also ask them to perform an actual hands-on lab based on my written exercises. I might also include these in a future part of this session.

I have deliberately left out the answers to these questions. I want YOU to research them and take the time to actually learn these topics, if you don’t know them already.
Most sub topics start off with relatively easy questions where the candidate is supposed to demonstrate their knowledge on that topic. A few sentences will be enough to show their (lack of) knowledge on the topic.
As always, your comments and feedback are more than welcome. Use the “Comment” form below to send them in. If you’re using this interview question sample in your own environment please drop me a line telling me how it works for you.
For an Exchange 2003 version, see my MCSE and System Administrator Job Interview Questions – Part 3 – Exchange Server 2003 article.
Please note that you are encouraged to use both versions. Start by going through the Exchange Server 2003 version, pick the questions you think will be suited for both versions, and move on from there.
Note that because of the nature of this topic, there may be some questions that will appear twice, once on the Exchange Server 2003 version, and once here.

Technical Interview Questions – Exchange Server 2007/2010

  • What are the Exchange 2007/2010 server roles?
  • What are the benefits of using roles, vs. the way Exchange 2000/2003 worked?
  • What are the Exchange 2003 equivalents of the various Exchange 2007/2010 roles?
  • Name the system prerequisites for installing Exchange 2007/2010 in your existing Active Directory forest.
  • You have an Exchange 5.5 organization and finally decided to move forward and upgrade to Exchange 2007/2010. What’s your next obvious step?
  • You’re looking to install Exchange 2007/2010 and Outlook on the same machine. Should you do that? Why?
  • Where does Exchange store its configuration settings?
  • How do you prepare the AD for Exchange 2007/2010? Name 2 methods.
  • What permissions do you need to prepare the AD for Exchange 2007/2010?
  • How would you verify that the schema was in fact updated?
  • In the installation folder root you see setup.com and setup.exe. Which would you use and when?
  • How would you easily install all the Windows Server 2008/R2 roles and features required for Exchange 2007/2010?
  • How would you check your Exchange configuration settings to see if they’re right?
  • …..
  • What is the latest Exchange 2007 Service Pack? Name a few changes in functionality in that SP.
  • Looking to install Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008. What SP version do you need? And for R2?
  • What’s a Rollup Update? What’s the latest RU for Exchange 2007/2010?
  • How can you easily integrate a RU in the Exchange 2007/2010 installation media?
  • Name a few reasons for using 64-bit hardware and OS version for Exchange 2007/2010.
  • Exchange 2007 came in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Name a couple of reasons for ever needing the 32-bit version.
  • ….
  • Wanting to manage Exchange 2007/2010 from a remote computer, name a few of your management options.
  • Name a few changes that were made in Exchange 2003 Management Console (EMC) when compared to Exchange 2003 System Manager (ESM).
  • What’s PowerShell and why do we care?
  • Name one major benefit of PowerShell v2 over V1.
  • What are the different Exchange Recipient types?
  • What are resource mailboxes? When would you use them?
  • What are Dynamic Distribution groups?
    What type of groups would you use when configuring distribution groups in a multiple domain forest?
  • How can you grant access for an administrator to access all mailboxes in your organization?
  • How can you grant access for an administrator to access all mailboxes on a specific Exchange server?
  • Describe the differences in the permission model between Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2010.
  • ….
  • What are the major changes in the way Exchange 2007 stores work?
  • What’s the difference between the Enterprise and Standard editions of Exchange in relation with the number and size of the stores on the server?
  • What are the major changes in the way Exchange 2010 stores work? Name some of the changes in comparison with Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007.
  • What’s the major difference in store high availability in Exchange 2007?
  • What’s the major difference in store high availability in Exchange 2010?
  • What is the GAL?
  • When would you decide to create more than one GAL?
  • How would you modify the filter properties of one of the default address lists?
  • What is the OAB? When is it used?
  • What are the OAB distribution options?
  • You are at a client’s location, and you see no Public Folders on any of the Mailbox servers. How can that be?
  • You don’t have any Public Folder, but now you’ve got a bunch of laptop users that use Outlook 2003. What issues would you see? How would you fix these issues?
  • …..
  • In Exchange 2007, what are the minimum requirements for implementing a high availability topology, in relation to the server roles and server numbers?
  • In Exchange 2010, what are the minimum requirements for implementing a high availability topology, in relation to the server roles and server numbers?
  • Describe the concept behind Log Shipping.
  • What’s the difference between LCR, CCR and SCR?
  • What’s SCC?
  • You’ve installed Exchange 2007 RTM and are looking to enable SCR but cannot find the option to do so in the EMC or in PS. Why?
  • Describe DAG in Exchange 2010.
  • Considering DAGs in Exchange 2010, why does Microsoft claim that you can run “Raidless”?
  • Would you run “Raidless” even when implementing DAGs in Exchange 2010? Why?
  • Would you run “Backup-less” even when implementing DAGs in Exchange 2010? Why?
  • How do you enable LCR?
  • Why does Microsoft suggest using NTFS mount points when using LCR?
  • What Exchange edition version do you need for LCR? What Windows edition version do you need for LCR?
  • How do you recover from a store corruption when using LCR? Name the procedures you would use.
  • ….
  • What are streaming backups?
  • What are VSS backups?
  • How would you backup Exchange 2007/2010 on a Windows Server 2008/R2 machine without using 3rd-party tools?
  • What’s a Brick-Level backup?
  • What backup solutions are you familiar with in Exchange 2007/2010?
  • What’s a Recovery Storage Group? How do you work with one?
  • Can you use Exmerge in Exchange 2007/2010? Why?
  • How do you export a mailbox content in Exchange 2007/2010?
  • What’s a Dial Tone recovery?
  • What built-in tool do you have to allow you to manage Exchange store recoveries?
  • What’s the difference between online and offline defrag?
  • In Exchange 2010, is there any change in the way online and offline defrags are used (or should be used)?
  • What is Eseutil?
  • What is Isinteg?
  • Name a few scenarios for using both tools?
  • What are the major considerations for using these tools?
  • Where does Exchange 2007/2010 get its routing topology from?
  • What protocol is used for the Mailbox to HT transport?
  • How would you achieve incoming mail redundancy?
  • Name all the client connection options in Exchange 2007/2010.
  • What happened to OMA?
  • Name some of the major changes in OWA in relation to Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2003? And in relation to Exchange 2010 and Exchange 2007?
  • What’s the ECP in Exchange 2010 OWA?
  • A user opens an OWA session from an external computer. Which role does that user connect to?
  • What are the major changes in Outlook 2010 in relation to Exchange 2010, when compared to Outlook 2007/Exchange 2007?
  • What’s a mailbox move request in Exchange 2010?
  • What is Online Mailbox Move in Exchange 2010?
  • Describe the issues you’re facing when attempting to obtain a digital certificate for Exchange 2007.
  • What’s one of the changes that was made to the digital certificate request process in Exchange 2010 in relation to Exchange 2007?
  • What are SAN certificates?
  • Name a few commercial CAs you could use to obtain digital certificates.
  • What is Cached Mode in Outlook 2007/2010?
    What are the benefits and “issues” when using cached mode? How would you tackle those issues?
    What is S/MIME? What are the usage scenarios for S/MIME?
  • What is Outlook Anywhere?
  • Describe the method for enabling Outlook Anywhere.
  • You’ve just bought a new Internet domain name, and are looking to set up an Exchange organization to receive e-mail for that domain. Name ALL the steps you would need to take in order to successfully be able to work with that domain name.
  • You’ve installed Exchange 2007/2010 and now you need to be able to send e-mail externally (to the Internet). What do you need to do?
  • What’s Accepted Domains?
  • Where in EMC would you look to configure Send Connectors?
  • What is a Mail Relay? Name a few known mail relay software or hardware options.
  • What’s a Smart Host? When would you use it?
  • Wanting to configure a Send Connector to the world, what address would you use?
  • What are Receive Connectors?
  • In Exchange 2007/2010, what’s the major issue blocking you from receiving e-mail from the world, considering you’ve enabled the right port(s) on the firewall, and properly configured MX records for your domain(s)?
  • What’s the difference between the “Client” and the “Default” Receive Connectors?
  • You’re looking to troubleshoot e-mail delivery issues. Name 4 options/tools/logs that are built into Exchange 2007/2010 that can help you in your task.
  • You’re looking to enable Anti-Spam features on Exchange. Which role would you use to do so?
  • Let’s say you’re wanting to use Anti-Spam features on the HT role. You’re looking to enable these features but cannot find them. What do you need to do?
  • Where does Edge role store its settings?
  • You have a need to enable high-availability and load balancing on your Edge role. How do you achieve that?
  • What’s Edge synchronization?
  • What’s Edge subscription?
  • How do you enable Edge subscription?
  • What’s the default replication interval for Edge sync?
  • What ports do you need to open between the DMZ holding the Edge role and your internal network?

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