Basics of Networking

1. What is a computer network?

A computer network is a collection of interconnected devices that share resources and
data using communication channels.
2. What are the types of computer networks?
o LAN (Local Area Network)
o WAN (Wide Area Network)
o MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)
o PAN (Personal Area Network)
3. What is the difference between LAN and WAN?
o LAN covers a small area like an office.
o WAN covers large geographical areas using telecom lines.
4. What is a protocol?
A protocol is a set of rules for data communication (e.g., TCP, IP, HTTP).
5. What is an IP address?
A unique numerical identifier assigned to each device on a network.

IP Addressing and Subnetting

6. What is IPv4 and IPv6?
o IPv4: 32-bit address (e.g., 192.168.1.1)
o IPv6: 128-bit address (e.g., 2001:0db8:85a3::8a2e:0370:7334)
7. What is a private IP address?
IP addresses used within private networks (e.g., 192.168.x.x, 10.x.x.x, 172.16.x.x–
172.31.x.x).
8. What is a public IP address?
An IP that is accessible over the Internet and assigned by an ISP.
9. What is subnetting?
Subnetting divides a large network into smaller sub-networks to improve routing and
security.
10. What is the default subnet mask for Class C?
255.255.255.0

OSI and TCP/IP Models

11. What is the OSI model?
A conceptual model that standardizes networking functions into 7 layers:
12. Physical
13. Data Link
14. Network
15. Transport
16. Session
17. Presentation
18. Application
19. What is the TCP/IP model?
A 4-layer model used in real-world networking:

 Application
 Transport
 Internet
 Network Access

13. What is the difference between OSI and TCP/IP?

 OSI is a theoretical model.

 TCP/IP is practical and widely used in real networks.

14. Which layer is responsible for routing?

Network layer (Layer 3)
15. Which layer is responsible for encryption and compression?
Presentation layer (Layer 6)

Devices and Hardware

16. What is a router?
A router forwards data packets between networks based on IP addresses.
17. What is a switch?
A switch connects devices within a LAN and operates at the data link layer.
18. What is a hub?
A hub is a basic networking device that broadcasts data to all ports.
19. What is a modem?
A modem modulates and demodulates signals for Internet access via telephone or cable
lines.
20. What is a firewall?
A firewall monitors and controls incoming/outgoing network traffic based on security
rules.

Protocols and Ports

21. What is TCP and UDP?

 TCP: Reliable, connection-oriented protocol (e.g., HTTP, FTP).

 UDP: Unreliable, connectionless protocol (e.g., DNS, VoIP).

22. Difference between TCP and UDP?

 TCP ensures data delivery with error checking.

 UDP is faster but does not guarantee delivery.
23. Common port numbers:

 HTTP: 80
 HTTPS: 443
 FTP: 21
 SSH: 22
 DNS: 53
 DHCP: 67, 68
 SMTP: 25

24. What is DNS?

DNS (Domain Name System) translates domain names into IP addresses.
25. What is DHCP?
DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) automatically assigns IP addresses to
devices.

Commands and Troubleshooting

26. What does ping do?
Sends ICMP packets to test connectivity between devices.
27. What is ipconfig used for?
Displays IP configuration in Windows.
28. What is tracert or traceroute?
Shows the path packets take to reach a destination.
29. What is the use of nslookup?
Queries DNS to get domain name or IP address information.
30. What is ARP?
ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) resolves IP addresses to MAC addresses.

Wireless and Internet

31. What is Wi-Fi?
A wireless technology that allows devices to connect to a network using radio waves.
32. What is the difference between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi?

 2.4 GHz: Longer range, lower speed

 5 GHz: Shorter range, higher speed

33. What is SSID?

SSID (Service Set Identifier) is the name of a Wi-Fi network.
34. What is MAC filtering?
A security method that allows or blocks devices based on their MAC addresses.
35. What is bandwidth?
The maximum data transfer rate of a network or Internet connection.
 Security
36. What is encryption?
The process of converting data into a secure format to prevent unauthorized access.
37. What is a VPN?
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) extends a private network over a public one,
encrypting data.
38. What is port forwarding?
A method to allow external devices to access services on a private network via specific
ports.
39. What is NAT?
NAT (Network Address Translation) allows multiple devices to share one public IP
address.
40. What is DMZ in networking?
A DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) is a subnetwork that contains and exposes external services
to an untrusted network like the Internet.

Advanced Concepts
41. What is a VLAN?
VLAN (Virtual LAN) is a logical separation of networks on the same physical switch to
improve security and reduce congestion.
42. What is load balancing?
Distributes network or application traffic across multiple servers for performance and
redundancy.
43. What is a proxy server?
A server that acts as an intermediary between a client and the Internet.
44. What is a packet?
A packet is a unit of data transmitted over a network.
45. What is QoS (Quality of Service)?
A technique to manage network traffic by prioritizing specific types of data.

IP Configuration & Troubleshooting

46. What is loopback IP?
127.0.0.1 — used to test the network interface on a local system.
47. How do you release and renew IP address in Windows?
Use ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew commands.
48. What is link-local address in IPv6?
An address starting with fe80::, used for communication within the same local network
segment.
49. What is MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit)?
The largest size a data packet can be for transmission without fragmentation.
50. What is TTL (Time To Live)?
A field in IP packets that limits the lifespan of data to prevent endless looping.
 Basic DBMS Concepts
1. What is DBMS?
A DBMS (Database Management System) is software that allows users to define, create,
manage, and control access to databases.
2. What are the types of DBMS?
o Hierarchical DBMS
o Network DBMS
o Relational DBMS (RDBMS)
o Object-oriented DBMS
3. What is RDBMS?
Relational DBMS stores data in tabular form and uses relationships between tables.
4. Difference between DBMS and RDBMS?
o DBMS: No support for relations between tables.
o RDBMS: Supports relational integrity using keys.
5. What is SQL?
SQL (Structured Query Language) is used to query and manipulate relational databases.

Database Models and Architecture

6. What are different database models?
o Hierarchical
o Network
o Relational
o Object-oriented
7. What is a schema?
A schema is the logical structure or blueprint of a database.
8. What is an instance in DBMS?
An instance is the actual content or state of the database at a particular time.
9. What is data independence?
The ability to change the schema at one level without affecting the other levels.
10. What are the three levels of data abstraction?

 Physical Level
 Logical Level
 View Level

Keys in DBMS
11. What is a primary key?
A unique identifier for each record in a table.
12. What is a foreign key?
A key used to link two tables, referring to the primary key in another table.
13. What is a candidate key?
A set of attributes that can uniquely identify a record. One is chosen as the primary key.
14. What is a composite key?
A key formed by combining two or more attributes to uniquely identify a record.
15. What is a unique key?
A key that ensures all values in a column are unique but allows a single NULL.

SQL Queries and Commands

16. What are the types of SQL commands?

 DDL: CREATE, ALTER, DROP

 DML: SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE
 DCL: GRANT, REVOKE
 TCL: COMMIT, ROLLBACK, SAVEPOINT

17. What is the difference between DELETE and TRUNCATE?

 DELETE: Removes selected rows and can be rolled back.

 TRUNCATE: Removes all rows quickly, cannot be rolled back.

18. What is a JOIN?

A JOIN is used to retrieve data from multiple tables based on related columns.
19. What are different types of JOINs?

 INNER JOIN
 LEFT JOIN
 RIGHT JOIN
 FULL OUTER JOIN
 SELF JOIN

20. What is a subquery?

A query inside another SQL query used to return data for the outer query.

Normalization and Design

21. What is normalization?
The process of organizing data to reduce redundancy and improve data integrity.
22. What are normal forms?

 1NF: Atomic values

 2NF: No partial dependency
 3NF: No transitive dependency
 BCNF: Advanced 3NF
 4NF and 5NF: Multivalued and join dependencies
23. What is denormalization?
The process of combining tables to improve read performance, sacrificing some
normalization.
24. What is functional dependency?
A relationship where one attribute uniquely determines another.
25. What is an ER diagram?
Entity-Relationship diagram visually represents entities and their relationships in a
database.

Indexes and Views

26. What is an index?
An index improves data retrieval speed by maintaining a reference to data locations.
27. What is the difference between clustered and non-clustered index?

 Clustered: Data stored in order of the index.

 Non-clustered: Index stored separately with pointers.

28. What is a view in SQL?

A virtual table based on a result of a SELECT query.
29. Can we update a view?
Yes, if it is based on a single table and doesn’t use GROUP BY, HAVING, or aggregate
functions.
30. What is materialized view?
A stored query result that can be refreshed periodically, unlike a regular view.

Transactions and Concurrency

31. What is a transaction?
A unit of work that must be executed completely or not at all.
32. What are ACID properties?

 Atomicity
 Consistency
 Isolation
 Durability

33. What is a deadlock in DBMS?

A situation where two or more transactions are waiting for each other’s resources,
causing a cycle.
34. What is a savepoint?
A point within a transaction to which you can roll back without affecting the entire
transaction.
35. What is concurrency control?
Mechanism to manage simultaneous access to data and prevent conflicts or
inconsistencies.

Stored Procedures, Triggers, and Functions

36. What is a stored procedure?
A precompiled collection of SQL statements stored in the database and executed as a
program.
37. What is a trigger?
A procedure that automatically executes in response to certain events on a table.
38. What is the difference between a function and a stored procedure?

 Function returns a value and can be used in a SELECT.

 Procedure may or may not return a value.

39. What are cursors in SQL?

Cursors allow row-by-row processing of query results.
40. What is an exception in PL/SQL?
An error condition that interrupts normal program flow.

Security and Backup

41. What is a role in DBMS?
A set of privileges that can be granted to users.
42. What is GRANT and REVOKE in SQL?

 GRANT gives privileges

 REVOKE removes them

43. What is database backup?

Copying and archiving database files to prevent data loss.
44. What are different types of backup?

 Full backup
 Incremental backup
 Differential backup

45. What is data integrity?

Maintaining and assuring the accuracy and consistency of data over its lifecycle.
 Advanced and Miscellaneous
46. What is a surrogate key?
A system-generated unique identifier used as a primary key.
47. What is data warehouse?
A system used for reporting and data analysis by consolidating data from different
sources.
48. What is OLTP and OLAP?

 OLTP: Online Transaction Processing (real-time).

 OLAP: Online Analytical Processing (for analysis and reporting).

49. What is a NoSQL database?

A non-relational database that stores unstructured data like JSON, used in big data and
real-time web apps.
50. What is the difference between schema and table?

 Schema: Overall database design structure.

 Table: Stores data in rows and columns.