NETWORKING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (ADVANCED):
1. What is the TCP protocol?
TCP or TCP/IP is the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. It is a set of
rules that decides how a computer connects to the Internet and how to transmit
the data over the network. It creates a virtual network when more than one
computer is connected to the network and uses the three ways handshake model
to establish the connection which makes it more reliable.
2. What is the UDP protocol?
UDP is the User Datagram Protocol and is based on Datagrams. Mainly, it is used
for multicasting and broadcasting. Its functionality is almost the same as TCP/IP
Protocol except for the three ways of handshaking and error checking. It uses a
simple transmission without any hand-shaking which makes it less reliable.
3. Compare between TCP and UDP
TCP/IP UDP
Connection-Oriented Protocol Connectionless Protocol
More Reliable Less Reliable
Slower Transmission Faster Transmission
Packets order can be preserved or can Packets order is not fixed and packets are
be rearranged independent of each other
Uses three ways handshake model for No handshake for establishing the
connection connection
TCP packets are heavy-weight UDP packets are light-weight
Offers error checking mechanism No error checking mechanism
Protocols like HTTP, FTP, Telnet, SMTP,
Protocols like DNS, RIP, SNMP, RTP, BOOTP,
HTTPS, etc use TCP at the transport
TFTP, NIP, etc use UDP at the transport layer
layer
TCP VS UDP
4. What is the ICMP protocol?
ICMP is the Internet Control Message Protocol. It is a network layer protocol used
for error handling. It is mainly used by network devices like routers for diagnosing
the network connection issues and crucial for error reporting and testing if the data
is reaching the preferred destination in time. It uses port 7 by default.
5. What do you mean by the DHCP Protocol?
DHCP is the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.
It is an application layer protocol used to auto-configure devices on IP networks
enabling them to use the TCP and UDP-based protocols. The DHCP servers auto-
assign the IPs and other network configurations to the devices individually which
enables them to communicate over the IP network. It helps to get the subnet mask,
IP address and helps to resolve the DNS. It uses port 67 by default.
6. What is the ARP protocol?
ARP is Address Resolution Protocol. It is a network-level protocol used to convert
the logical address i.e. IP address to the device's physical address i.e. MAC address.
It can also be used to get the MAC address of devices when they are trying to
communicate over the local network.
ARP Protocol
7. What is the FTP protocol?
FTP is a File Transfer Protocol. It is an application layer protocol used to transfer
files and data reliably and efficiently between hosts. It can also be used to
download files from remote servers to your computer. It uses port 27 by default.
8. What is the MAC address and how is it related to NIC?
MAC address is the Media Access Control address. It is a 48-bit or 64-bit unique
identifier of devices in the network. It is also called the physical address embedded
with Network Interface Card (NIC) used at the Data Link Layer. NIC is a hardware
component in the networking device using which a device can connect to the
network.
9. Differentiate the MAC address with the IP address
The difference between MAC address and IP address are as follows:
MAC Address IP Address
Media Access Control Address Internet Protocol Address
6 or 8-byte hexadecimal
4 (IPv4) or 16 (IPv6) Byte address
number
MAC Address IP Address
It is embedded with NIC It is obtained from the network
Physical Address Logical Address
Operates at Data Link Layer Operates at Network Layer.
Helps to identify the device connectivity on the
Helps to identify the device
network.
10. What is a subnet?
A subnet is a network inside a network achieved by the process called subnetting
which helps divide a network into subnets. It is used for getting a higher routing
efficiency and enhances the security of the network. It reduces the time to extract
the host address from the routing table.
Subnet
11. Compare the hub vs switch
Hub Switch
Operates at Physical Layer Operates at Data Link Layer
Half-Duplex transmission mode Full-Duplex transmission mode
Ethernet devices can be connectedsend LAN devices can be connected
Less complex, less intelligent, and cheaper Intelligent and effective
Administration software support is
No software support for the administration
present
Less speed up to 100 MBPS Supports high speed in GBPS
Less efficient as there is no way to avoid More efficient as the collisions can
collisions when more than one nodes sends the be avoided or reduced as compared
packets at the same time to Hub
12. What is the difference between the ipconfig and the ifconfig?
ipconfig ifconfig
Internet Protocol Configuration Interface Configuration
Command used in Microsoft operating Command used in MAC, Linux, UNIX
systems to view and configure network operating systems to view and configure
interfaces network interfaces
Used to get the TCP/IP summary and allows to changes the DHCP and DNS
settings
13. What is the firewall?
The firewall is a network security system that is used to monitor the incoming and
outgoing traffic and blocks the same based on the firewall security policies. It acts
as a wall between the internet (public network) and the networking devices (a
private network). It is either a hardware device, software program, or a combination
of both. It adds a layer of security to the network.
Firewall
14. What are Unicasting, Anycasting, Multicasting and Broadcasting?
Unicasting: If the message is sent to a single node from the source then it is
known as unicasting. This is commonly used in networks to establish a new
connection.
Anycasting: If the message is sent to any of the nodes from the source then it
is known as anycasting. It is mainly used to get the content from any of the
servers in the Content Delivery System.
Multicasting: If the message is sent to a subset of nodes from the source
then it is known as multicasting. Used to send the same data to multiple
receivers.
Broadcasting: If the message is sent to all the nodes in a network from a
source then it is known as broadcasting. DHCP and ARP in the local network
use broadcasting.
15. What happens when you enter [Link] in the web browser?
Below are the steps that are being followed:
Check the browser cache first if the content is fresh and present in cache
display the same.
If not, the browser checks if the IP of the URL is present in the cache (browser
and OS) if not then request the OS to do a DNS lookup using UDP to get the
corresponding IP address of the URL from the DNS server to establish a new
TCP connection.
A new TCP connection is set between the browser and the server using three-
way handshaking.
An HTTP request is sent to the server using the TCP connection.
The web servers running on the Servers handle the incoming HTTP request
and send the HTTP response.
The browser process the HTTP response sent by the server and may close the
TCP connection or reuse the same for future requests.
If the response data is cacheable then browsers cache the same.
Browser decodes the response and renders the content.
