Solaris interview questions

By admin | July 26, 2005 1. What does the pkgadd command do? 2. How do you create a solaris package? 3. How do you view shared memory statistics? 4. How do you get system diagnostics information? 5. What is OBP and how do you access it? 6. What is LOM and how do you access it? 7. What is VTS? 8. What is an alternative to the top command on Solaris? 9. What is /etc/system for? 10.What does ndd do? 11.What does init 5 do? 12.What does init 0 do? 13.How do you boot from CD-ROM? 14.What is jumpstart? 15.How do you boot from a Network with jumpstart? 16.What is JASS? 17.What is the difference between NFS version 2 and NFS version 3? 18.What is RPC? Why do I need it? 19.Are kernel parameters tunable during runtime? 20.What does fmthard do

26 Comments on Solaris interview questions

1.

praveena Posted 8/31/2005 at 8:42 am | Permalink What does the pkgadd command do? pkgadd is used to add a package to the solaris.It installs the package in the /usr/local directory by default.

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praveena Posted 8/31/2005 at 8:44 am | Permalink What is an alternative to the top command on Solaris? The alternative to the top command is prstat command in solaris It will give the status of each and every process.

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Ananta Gampaa Posted 9/15/2005 at 12:25 pm | Permalink Comment for 16. The Solaris Security Toolkit, formerly known as the JumpStart Architecture and Security Scripts (JASS) toolkit, provides a flexible and extensible mechanism to harden and audit Solaris Operating Systems (OSs).

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Ananta Gampaa Posted 9/15/2005 at 12:25 pm | Permalink Comment 18. RPC:A call to a procedure in a different address space. In a traditional procedure call, the calling procedure and the called procedure are in the same address space on one machine. In a remote procedure call, the calling procedure invokes a procedure in a different address space and usually on a different machine.

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JP Posted 7/3/2006 at 12:53 am | Permalink Comment 11. init 5 will shutdown and Power-off the server.

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JP

Posted 7/3/2006 at 12:54 am | Permalink Comment 12. init 0 will bring the server to the ok> prompt (Fourth monitor)

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JP Posted 7/3/2006 at 12:56 am | Permalink Comment 10: ndd command will hardcore the speed of the network interface card.

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JP Posted 7/3/2006 at 12:59 am | Permalink Comment 5: OBP is called as Open Boot PROM. This OBP can be accessiable thru ok> prompt (Fourth monitor)

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JP Posted 7/3/2006 at 1:04 am | Permalink Comment 4: You can get system diagonostics information thru prtdiag command. And you can execute this command by /usr/platform/uname -m/sbin/prtdiag -v|more

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Meeta Shukla Posted 7/17/2006 at 4:34 am | Permalink comment 13: Booting form CD-ROM can be done by the command ok >boot cdrom

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Meeta Shukla Posted 7/17/2006 at 4:37 am | Permalink

comment 5: Open Boot PROM cand be accessed by two methods a. OK prompt > printenv,setenv,nvalias b. #eeprom

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Sivakumar Posted 10/11/2006 at 1:08 am | Permalink What is /etc/system for? /etc/system is a kernal file of Solaris OS. What does fmthard do? fmthard will create partitions in a new disk as in a already created/designed disk. For example we can get output from prtvtoc command and give as a input to the new disk as follows. prtvtoc /dev/rmt/c0t0d0s0 > a | fmthard /dev/rmt/c1todos1

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suresh Krishnan Posted 11/15/2006 at 2:24 am | Permalink Commment 15 :How do you boot from a Network with jumpstart? boot net - install comment 13 :How do you boot from CD-ROM? boot cdrom

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Jagannath Posted 11/20/2006 at 3:42 pm | Permalink Comment 14: What is jumpstart? The Jumpstart feature is an automatic installation process available in the Solaris operating environment. It allows system administrators to categorize machines on their network and automatically install systems based on the category to which a system belongs.

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Srinivasa Murthy Posted 2/17/2007 at 1:23 pm | Permalink Q.14 Make sure 1. The Install server or boot server is in the same local network segment as client with network link up 2. NFS service are running on Jumpstart server 3. The tftp service are running. To start uncomment the tftp entry in /etc/initd.conf and restart the inet service.

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Smitha Posted 4/19/2007 at 4:38 am | Permalink 6.What is LOM Short for LAN on motherboard. The term refers to a chip or chipset capable of network connections that has been embedded directly on the motherboard of a desktop, workstation or server. Instead of requiring a separate network interface card to access a local-area network, such as Ethernet, the circuits are attached to the motherboard. An advantage of a LOM system is an extra available PCI slot that is not being used by the network adapter.

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Smitha Posted 4/19/2007 at 4:41 am | Permalink 20) What does fmthard do? The fmthard command updates the VTOC (Volume Table of Contents) on hard disks and, on systems, adds boot information,to the Solaris fdisk partition. One or more of the options,-s datafile, -d data, or -n volume_name must be used to request modifications to the disk label. To print disk label contents, see prtvtoc.The /dev/rdsk/c?[t?]d?s2 file must be the character special file of the device where the new label is to be installed. On systems, fdisk must be run on the drive before fmthard.

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Avneesh Posted 6/7/2007 at 6:04 am | Permalink for question 14 Jumpstart installation There is some rules kind of stuff for installing and configuruing the particular machine. because after insatlling fro the jumpstart procedure the machine should br configured accoring to the user requirements.

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Riju Posted 7/22/2007 at 12:34 pm | Permalink 1. What does the pkgadd command do? Used for adding packages to the OS 2. How do you create a solaris package? http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/packages/solaris/sparc/html/creating.solaris.packages.html 3. How do you view shared memory statistics? swap -l -> displays swap usage prstat -> examines all active processes on the system and reports statistics based on the selected output mode and sort order vmstat -> reports information about processes, memory, paging, block IO, traps, and cpu activity pmap -> lists the virtual memory mappings underlying the given process 4. How do you get system diagnostics information? prtdiag -v -> Shows mem, cpu, Power supply, add-on cards info, LEd status iostat -En -> Shows disk status.(look for hard error) /var/adm/messages -> Logs most commont failures and the entire system events Extended POST -> This can be done at boot time. ipmitool -> Shows voltage, fanspee, led status etc 5. What is OBP and how do you access it? Open Boot PROM -> Similar to a BIOS in a pc, but a lot more powerful Stop+A -> from OS (Not recommended) init 0 -> gracefully brings machine to ok> prompt from OS 6. What is LOM and how do you access it? LOM -> Lights out manager

Powerful CLI interface which helps to get info about the Server this can be connected via local (Serial management) or over the LAN (Net management) can be used for remote administration, diagnosing issues when machine fails to come up LOM will be active long soon as power is coming to the Server 7. What is VTS? Sun Validation Test Suite -> tests and validates Sun hardware by verifying the configuration and functionality of hardware controllers, devices 8. What is an alternative to the top command on Solaris? prstat 9. What is /etc/system for? The /etc/system file provides a static mechanism for adjusting the values of kernel parameters. Values specified in this file are read at boot time and are applied. Any changes that are made to the file are not applied to the operating system until the system is rebooted. 10. What does ndd do? allows you to tune, tweak, set and reset various parameters related to the TCP/IP stack while the system is running 11. What does init 5 do? Gracefully powers down the system (OS) and powers the machine off 12. What does init 0 do? Gracefully powers down the system (OS) and drops to OBP ie ok> prompt 13. How do you boot from CD-ROM? boot cdrom

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R.Chinna Venkanna Babu Posted 8/12/2007 at 4:02 am | Permalink What is the difference between pkgadd -d and patchadd -d command ?

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R.Chinna Venkanna Babu Posted 8/12/2007 at 4:07 am | Permalink when a software pkg is added, the pkgadd command uncompresses and copies file from installation media to the local systems disk.

patchadd is used to install unpacked patches to the solaris operating environment.

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Harry Posted 12/17/2007 at 4:11 am | Permalink What is the difference between a SPARC and a RISC?

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prashant Posted 4/30/2008 at 1:17 am | Permalink What is kernel tuning in sun solaris

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prabu Posted 5/13/2008 at 8:19 am | Permalink hi comment:23 kernel tuning means to change kernel parameter in /etc/system for ex: #vi /etc/system file set_maxuser 41 (40) so whenever we want to edit and change the parameter in etc/system is called one kind of kernel tuning

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Saikrishna Posted 6/19/2008 at 11:13 pm | Permalink What we have to do when the /etc/format.dat file is corrupted?

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Satya Posted 7/22/2008 at 3:09 am | Permalink 26.Can anyone suggest how to read the nth character from a file in Solaris 9 where the value of n is read from the user as input.

HP1. how can see the flexes ? 2. what is the svm ? 3. how can u check log files ? 4. what is u r toughest troubleshooting ? 5. what are the fields of /etc/dfstab ? 6. what is the diff bet ween vfstab mntab ? 7. what are the records of dns server ? 8. what is nis server ?

1 .what are the links ? 2. what is the different between the hard link & soft link ? 3. what is meant by I node number ? 4. how can u restore the file system which has in backup tape drive ? 5. what are the deamons of veritas volume manager ? 6 .what is the plex ? 7 what is the volume & disk group ? 8 how can u grow the size of existing volume in veritas volume manager ? 9.how can u add a new disk into veritas volume manager ? 10. how can u see the volumes in the veritas volume manager ? 11. what is the difference bet ween the svm & veritas volume manager ?

6. what is crash dump? 7. how can u increase the swap space ? madhukar.parne@gmail.com 8. how many servers u r handling ? 9. what is u r team size ?

cognigent CTS
1. what are u r daily tasks ? 2. what are then fs deamons ? 3. what is the function of lokd deamon ? 4. what is the use of auto fs 5. what is the file we need for auto fs 6. what are the fields of/etc/pas s w ord ? 7. what are the fields of/etc/s h ad ow files ? 8. what the nis deamons ? 9. what are the mappings of nis ?

10. what are the deamons of nis master , nis slave nis client ? 11. if u are try ing to unmount the file but u are getting message that file system is busy how can u unmount this file system ? 12. which file will be update by usingusdump command

madhukar.parne@gmail.com

U S TECHNOLOGIES TIVENDRAM :
1. what is the defference between the windows & unix ? 2. what are the nfs deamons ? 3. what is the longlisting file fields ? 4. what is the apache ? 5 .deamons of the apache ? 6. how can u check process id ? 7. how can u find a file in the unix ? 8 . how can u find a file which is loged in last week?

Wipro
u s call (telephonic ) for Hyderabad :

1. what is command to see the log files ? 2. what is the limit of svm volume ? 3. what type of servers u r using ? 4. what is meant by root mirroring explain me all steps? 5. what are the core files ?

madhukar.parne@gmail.com

i-flex :

1. how can u break root pass word ? 2. what are the types of raid levels? { caution : not levels like raid0, raid 1} 3. what is the different between hard ware raid soft ware raid ? 4. how can u arrange new disk in the existing system? 5. after exicuiting the devfsadm command the drive is not showing in u r list of

disks what will u do? 6. if a user changes his password how can be it saved in/etc/pas s w ord file ? 7. can user read/etc/pas s w ord file ? 8. what is the different between the raid 1 raid 5 ? 9. what is meant by file system ? 10. how can u make filesystem of 65 gb if u get new disk of 80 gb ?( u have to fix the disk and make the file system of 65 gb) 11. how many types of file systems are there ? 12. how can u set the users home directory& shell ? 13. a user is not loging in to server how can u resolve this problem

madhukar.parne@gmail.com Usi 1 . What are the steps in booting process ? 2. which command display diagnostics in ok boot prompt ?

3. what is the command to see the ip address in ok boot prompt ? 4. how can u check bit version of os whether it is 64/32 bit ? 5. if root file system is corrupted what will u do ? 6. what is the common service for nfs server client ? 7. what are the deamons for nfs ? 8. how can u hard ware in ok boot prompt 9. how can u check parameters in ok boot prompt ? 10. what are the deamons of nis server ? 11. what displays commandb an n er on ok boot prompt ? 12. how can u see the lorgest file in the system ? 13. if df k hangs how can u resolve this problem ? 14. how can u check the disk space ? we need to read ok boot prompt perfectly before attending this interview