Frequently Asked Unix System Administrator Interview Questions

A UNIX system administrator is a person whoin 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell
manages the multi-user computer system in anLabs. It runs on a range of computers from
organization. He or she supports, monitors, tests andmicroprocessors to the largest mainframes.
troubleshoots hardware and software problems. They4. Define some of the functions of a kernel?
also install new software releases, upgrade theThe kernel is a part of the Operating System that
system, perform procedures to prevent the spread ofinteracts directly with the hardware of computer,
viruses, evaluate and install patches and resolvethrough device drivers that are built into the kernel. It
software related problems.provides set of services that can be used by
An interview is a recruitment process in which anprograms, insulating these programs from the
interviewer asks questions related to the job from anunderlying hardware. A kernel is responsible for
interviewee. It is a two way communication process.managing computer memory, allocating resource of
Given below are some common interview questionsthe computer, controlling access to the computer,
that come up again and again during interviews for thismaintaining file system and handling interrupts and
post.errors.
1. What do you understand by semaphore?5. What skills will you bring to our organization?
A semaphore is a kind of inter process communicationWell, I am familiar with Sun, Solaris and Cisco
resource which is used for synchronization and mutualHardware, TCP/IP, Jumpstart, VERITAS Volume
exclusion between any two asynchronous processes.Manager, C-shell, Perl Oracle 8i, My SQL, Solaris
Production, Apache, Sun Server, UNIX and Linux.
2. How will you define a COM?
COM is the short form for Component Object Model. It6. What occupation specific tasks have you
is a Microsoft platform for software componentsundertaken in your previous organization?
which is used to enable cross-applicationIn my previous organization I used to monitor and tune
communication and dynamic object creation in anysystem, develop and maintain the documents, library
programming language that supports the technology.and procedural documents and install and configure the
COM is often used in the software development worldmodem, routers, hubs and LAN terminal servers.
as an umbrella term that encompasses the OLE,These are some of the important interview questions
ActiveX, COM+ and DCOM technologies.that are frequently asked. Do not forget to say "thank
3. What do you mean by UNIX?you" to the person or people who interviewed you.
UNIX developed by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie