21) How will you use “shutdown” command?
A) # shutdown –i0 –g300 –y
22) How will you check the OBP version of your system ?
A) Use “ banner” command at the ok prompt
23) Explain the Solaris Boot process?
A) 23.1 ) Boot Prom Phase : Runs POST to verify system hardware and memory Loads “bootblk” primary boot program.
23.2) Boot Program Phase : “bootblk” loads the finds “ufsboot” and loads it in memory.ufsboot loads the kernel.
23.3) Kernel Initialization Phase : Loads modules using “ufsboot”
Creates user processes and starts /sbin/init process.
23.4) Initialization Phase : Starts “rc” scripts. These scripts check & mounts file System, starts various processes and perform system maintanence tasks
24) Backup And Restore :
Full backup : # ufsdump 0uf /dev/rmt/0 /
Where 0 à indicates full backup f à Path of the backup device u à update the dumpdates file.
Restore : # ufsrestore if /dev/rmt/0
25) How to temporary disable user’s login.
A) Log in as “root”
B) Create /etc/nologin file
# vi /etc/nologin
C) Include a message
D) Close and Save the file.
26) What does ‘Probe’ command do?
A) probe-scsi-all à list all internal and external scsi devices
B) probe-ide-all à List all ide devices
27) How to find whether a system is configured for 32-bit or 64-bit?
A) # isainfo -v
28) How to activate Ethernet card ?
A) # ifconfig qfe0 plumb
29) How will you assign ip address to system?
A) # ifconfig qfe0 192.168.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 up
30) How will you check current ip configuration?
A) # ifconfig –a
I encourage the blog readers to share their IT work experience & any interview tips or interview questions - anyone who sends original articles will get 4 FREE downloadble Storage Study materials. Thanks Dushyant (scorpio) for sharing above interview questions on Solaris
11) Which command displays the system configuration information?
A) prtconf
12) Which command is used to configure newly attached hardware ?
A) devfsadm –c where
13) What are the different types of “file systems” in Solaris?
A) There are 3 Types of file system :
13.A.1) Disk based : ufs (standard unix), hsfs (cd-rom), pcfs (Floppy)
Or udf (DVD and CD Rom)
13.A.2) Distributed : NFS (enables sharing of files between many types of n/w)
13.A.3) Pseudo : tmpfs (temporary), swapfs , fdfs, procfs
14) What is a “boot block”?
A) The bootstrap program (bootblk) is found in the next 15 disk sectors. Only the “root” file system has an active boot block, although the space is allocated for boot block at the beginning of each file system.
15) What is “superblock”?
A) The file system is determined by its superblock. It is contained in the 16 disk sectors following the boot block. It contains :
· No. of data blocks
· No.of cylinder groups
· Size of data block fragment
· Description of hardware
· Name of mount point
· File system state flag ( clean , stable , active , logging or unknown)
16) How will you repair the main superblock if it gets corrupted?
A) Every file system has backup superblock at block no.32, which can be given to fsck to repair the main superblock.
# fsck –o b=32 /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s0
17) How to create new file systems ?
A) newfs /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s0
18) How will you restore /etc/vfstab file if it gets corrupted?
A) Step 1 : Insert Solaris CD 1 of 2
Step 2 : Go to single user mode : ok boot cdrom –s
Step 3 : Run “fsck” on /(root) partition : # fsck /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s0
Step 4 : Mount /(root) file system on /a directory to gain access to file system
# mount /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s0 /a
Step 5 : Set & export TERM variable
# TERM=sun
# export TERM
Step 6 : Edit /etc/vfstab file and remove the incorrect entry : # vi /a/etc/vfstab
Step 7 : Unmount the file system : # cd / ; # umount /a and reboot the system.
19) How will you share user’s home directory?
A) Step 1 : Login as root and verify mountd daemon is running
# ps –ef | grep mountd
Step 2 : If the daemon is not running start it :
# /etc/init.d/nfs.server start
Step 3 : List all shared filesystems
# share
Step 4 : Edit the /etc/dfs/dfstab file and add :
# share –F nfs /export/home
Step 5 : Share the file systems in the /etc/dfs/dfstab file :
# shareall –F nfs
Step 6 : Verify that the home directory is shared.
# share
20) What does /etc/inittab file contain ?
A) The /etc/inittab contains the systems default run level, processes to start/monitor
or restart. It also contains the actions to be taken when run level changes.
/etc/inittab file is in foll format :- id:rstate:action:process
Thanks Dushyant (scorpio) for sharing these interview questions
Sun microsystem's Solaris Operating System has a large penetration in Storage industry so it becomes a necessity for Storage professionals to know Solaris. A good blog reader "Dushyant" (scorpio) : has shared very good interview questions which he has collected from his experience of attending interviews. Thanks Dushyant for sending these questions & sharing with this blog community - I appreciate your efforts. As a reward I will be sending Dushyant 4 PDF's of Solid Storage Fundamentals to help his Storage Learning.
I request all readers of this blog to share their IT or Storage related ORIGINAL articles & get more Free downloadable materials from me.
Solaris Interview Questions
1) What files control user administration?
A) /etc/passwd file: 7 Fields: loginid:x:userid:groupid:comment:homedir:shell
/etc/shadow: 9 Fields: loginid:password:lastchng:min:max:warn:inactive:expire
/etc/group : 4 Fields : groupname:password:groupid:username list)
2) What does the “pwconv” command do?
A) It updates the /etc/shadow file with information from /etc/passwd file.
3) Where are the failed login attemps to system logged?
A) /var/adm/loginlog (We need to create this file as it does not exist by default)
4) Which command shows the users currently logged in to system?
A) who ( It reads the information from /var/adm/utmpx file)
5) Which command will show detailed information about a user?
A) finger –m
6) Which command displays all login and logouts?
A) last (It reads the information from /var/adm/wtmpx file)
7) What is the “StickyBit” file permission?
A) Sticky Bit permission protects the file within a public writable directory.
File set with sticky bit will not allow any user to delete the file except the
Owner of file, owner of the group or the root user.
8) How is ACL (Access Control Lists) implemented?
A) 8.1) “getfacl”command : To display an ACL on file.
Syntax : getfacl
8.2) setfacl command : To set the ACL on file
Syntax : setfacl
8.3) setfacl –m command : To modify ACL entries
Syntax : setfacl –m
8.4) setfacl –s command : Remove old ACL entries and replace with new one.
Syntax : setfacl –s
8.5) setfacl –d command : Delete ACL entry
Syntax : setfacl –d
9) Imp “root(/)” subdirectories and their purpose :
9.1) / : Root of overall file system.
9.2) /bin : Symbolic link to /usr/bin. Stores standard system commands and binary files.
9.3) /dev : Primary location for “logical” device names
9.4) /devices : Primary location for “physical” device names
9.5) /etc : Contains host specific system admin config files
9.6) /export : Default directory for commonly shared filesystems.
9.7) /home : Default directory / mount point for user’s home directory
9.8) /kernel : Directory of platform independent loadable kernel file
9.9) /mnt : Temporary mount point for file systems
9.10) /opt : Default directory for add on packages
9.11) /sbin : Executables used in booting process and file recovery
9.12) /tmp : Temporary files
9.13) /usr : Mount point for /usr file system
9.14) /var : Directory for varying files, temporary logging or status files
10) What are the different disk slices?
Slice Name Function
0 / Root’s system files
1 swap Swap area
2 Entire Disk
5 /opt Optional Software
6 /usr System Exe’s
7 /export/home User’s file and directories
Dushyant has sent 41 interview questions in total which will be posted in next posts - updated in next 6 hours. This blog is updated twice a day & has lots of good articles in previous posts - So spend enough time to read thru & get a Career boost.
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Simple interview questions with very simple answers from Real Storage Job interviews : Contributed by Jai
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Some more interview questions are listed below
40) What is Exchange in FC(Fibre Channel)?
Exchange is to establish a relationship between 2 N_PORTs and then these two ports transfer data via one or more sequence within this relationship.
Example: Exchange exist to transfer the command, data and the status of one SCSI task
41) Why do we need Login in FC?
Port Login: To exchange service parameters between N_Ports and N_Ports
Process Login: To establish the SCSI operating environment between two N_PORTS
42) What are the different types of clusters?
a) High availability clusters
b) High Performance Clusters
c) Load Balancing Clusters.
43) What are three levels of management in storage?
a) Storage Level Management
b) Network Level Management
c) Enterprise Level Management.
44) What are the key activities in SAN management?
a) Monitoring
b) Configuring
c) Controlling
d) Troubleshooting
e) Diagnosing
45) What is the difference between HBA and NIC?
HBA => Host bus adapters are used in storage based traffic while NIC (Network Interface Cards are used in IP based LAN traffic.
46) What is the measuring unit of data activity?
Gigabits per hour
47) What are the basic storage policies?
a) Security and authentication
b) Capacity, Content and quota management
c) Quality of Service
48) What is bypass circuitry?
A circuit that automatically removes the storage device from the data path (FC device out of FC AL loop) when signaling is lost (this signal is called port by-pass signal).
49) Explain different classes of service in FC?
Class 1: dedicated connection between two communicators with acknowledgement of frame delivery.
Class 2: is connection less but provides acknowledgement
Class 3: is connection less and provides no notification of delivery
Class 4: allows fractional bandwidth for virtual circuits
Class 5: Provides multicast with acknowledgment
Class F: Is used for switch to switch communication in the fabric.
50) How many connections are possible in Fabric topology?
2^24 (24 bit address to the port) , and the largest possible fabric will have 239 interconnected switches.
