SharePoint Interviews Questions

A variety of SharePoint 2010 interview questions covering the configuration and support aspects of the enterprise platform. Covers topics such as best practices, logging and health monitoring, configuring alerts, Microsoft Office Web Apps, server farms, Search Service, user profiles and connectivity services. 

We wrote these questions so other IT professionals could practice for their next interview or technical test. They are suitable for both consultants, temp staff or full time permanent roles. 

If the organisation is using or supporting SharePoint 2010 then these questions should come in handy..

Interview Questions

1. For Sharepoint 2010 to run effectively it is up to the administrator to configure the system for optimimal performance. Microsoft recommends several best practices for diagnostic logging. Which of the following would NOT be considered a best practice?

Change the drive that logging uses from the Sharepoint installation drive to another
Use verbose logging as standard
Switch on event log flooding protection
Regularly backup logs

Answer:
Use verbose logging as standard

Comments:
Verbose logging will record every action that Sharepoint performs, whether it is success of failure. Its recommended that you switch this off to improve performance. Developers might need to switch this on but it shouldn't really run on a production server.

2. A technical consultant is helping your organisation build a custom Sharepoint portal for the human resources department. He is developing a solution that will integrate with the company payroll system and other internal databases. During development he noticed that the Sharepoint Server is logging similar events multiple times. This is making it very hard for him to diagnose any issues with the solution.

He recommends that you change a particular setting. What might that be?

Switch off Verbose logging
Enable event log flooding protection
Schedule regular backups to flush out duplicate entries
Log errors and warnings only

Answer:
Enable event log flooding protection

Comments:
Enabling Enable event log flooding protection configures the system to detect repeating events in the Windows event log. When the same event is logged repeatedly, the repeating events are detected and suppressed until conditions return to a typical state. We could switch off Verbose logging but the developer may need these messages and it wouldn't prevent multiple similar messages.

3. Sharepoint 2010 comes with the ability to write usage and health data to a logging folder and to a logging database. There are different ways to configure both usage and health data collection including using PowerShell and Central Administration. Which of the following is FALSE?

You can configure health data collection by using Windows PowerShell
You can configure usage data collection by using Windows PowerShell
You can use the Stsadm command-line tool to configure usage data collection
You can change the Database Server value using Windows PowerShell

Answer:
You can configure health data collection by using Windows PowerShell

Comments:
You CANNOT configure health data collection by using Windows PowerShell. Note: Although the Stsadm command-line tool has been deprecated, it is included to support compatibility with previous product version. We recommend not using it though.

4. You've finished installing SharePoint Server 2010 on a Windows Server 2008 machine. You now want to configure SharePoint so that users can subscribe to alerts and administrators can receive notices when users request access to a site. You want to achieve this by configuring the outgoing email settings for SharePoint.

Which of the following must you consider when setting up outgoing email?

The SMTP service to relay messages
The reply to address to use when users reply to alerts or notifications
The address to use in the header of an alert or notification that identifies the sender
All of these

Answer:
All of these

Comments:
All of these points are important when configuring your Sharepoint out-going email settings

5. The mobile alert feature is very similar to the outgoing e-mail alerts feature but instead of receiving alerts via e-mail when changes are made in a SharePoint list or item, users receive the alerts on their mobile phones via SMS. The mobile alert feature enables users to react quickly when they receive an SMS alert that an item in a SharePoint list has changed.

Which of the following information is incorrect regarding setting up mobile alerts?

You need a root certificate from a service provider
The Service account needs to have permission to access the internet
You configure mobile accounts using the E-Mail and Text Messages (SMS) section of Central Administration
You need the HTTP URL of the Text Message Service

Answer:
You need the HTTP URL of the Text Message Service

Comments:
You need the HTTPS URL of the Text Message Service.

6. RBS is a library API set that is incorporated as an add-on feature pack for Microsoft SQL Server. By using RBS, you can move 80 to 90 percent of the data (BLOBs) onto less expensive storage such as RAID 5 or external storage solutions.

Which of the following is FALSE regarding RBS and BLOBS?

RBS is supported on Microsoft SQL 2005 and SQL 2008
BLOB data is typically large data such as image files, streaming video, or sound clips
Using RBS helps ensure database server resources are freed for database operations
RBS is good for content databases that are larger than 500 GB

Answer:
RBS is supported on Microsoft SQL 2005 and SQL 2008

Comments:
RBS is only supported on SQL 2008.

7. Microsoft Office Web Apps is the online companion to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote applications that enables users to access documents from anywhere. Users can view, share, and work on documents together with other users online across personal computers, mobile telephones, and the Web

In SharePoint 2010, you can configure whether browser-enabled documents are opened in a client application or in the browser. Which of the follow scenarios will cause a document to be opened in the browser?

OpenInClient feature is not present and Office Web Apps is not installed
OpenInClient feature is not present, Office Web Apps is installed and Office Web Apps service applications are activated
None of these
OpenInClient Feature is present and enabled, and Office Web Apps service applications are activated

Answer:
OpenInClient feature is not present, Office Web Apps is installed and Office Web Apps service applications are activated

8. In Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, some service applications can be shared across server farms. By publishing a service application you can optimize resources, avoid redundancy, and provide enterprise-wide services without installing a dedicated enterprise services farm.

Which of the following service applications can you publish in a SharePoint Server 2010 farm:

Business Data Connectivity
All of these
User Profile
Managed Metadata

Answer:
All of these

Comments:
All of the following can be published in a SharePoint Server 2010 farm; Business Data Connectivity, Managed Metadata, User Profile, Search, Secure Store, Web Analytics.

9. In Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, some service applications can be shared across server farms. The farm that contains the service application and publishes the service application so that other farms can consume the service application is known as the publishing farm. The farm that connects to a remote location to use a service application that the remote location is hosting is known as theconsuming far.

Which of the following service applications does NOT require a level of trust when used on server farms in different domains?

User Profile
Search
Secure Store
Business Data Connectivity

Answer:
Search

Comments:
If the server farms are located in different domains, the User Profile service application requires both domains to trust one another. For the Business Data Connectivity and Secure Store service application administration features to work from the consuming farm, the domain of the publishing farm must trust the domain of the consuming farm. Other cross-farm service applications work without a trust requirement between domains.

10. In Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, some service applications can be shared across server farms.

The first step required to publish and consume service applications across farms is to Exchange trust certificates between the farms. Can you tell which of the following statements is INCORRECT?

Administrator of consuming farm must provide a root certificate to the administrator of the publishing farm
Administrator of consuming farm must provide a security token service (STS) certificate to the administrator of the publishing farm
Administrator of publishing farm must provide a security token service (STS) certificate to the administrator of the consuming farm
Administrator of publishing farm must provide a root certificate to the administrator of the consuming farm

Answer:
Administrator of publishing farm must provide a root certificate to the administrator of the consuming farm

Comments:
The publishing farm only needs to provide a root certificate to the administrator of the consuming farm NOT a STS certificate.

11. A content source is an essential part of the Search Service used for enterprise search in SharePoint 2010. Which of the follow is an option that you can configure for a content source?

Specify the type of content that is crawled
Specify the crawl frequency
Specify the crawl depth
All of these

Answer:
All of these

Comments:
A content source allows you to specify; crawl frequency, type of content, crawl depth and priority.

12. Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and the Microsoft Office 2010 suites include Microsoft Business Connectivity Services, which are a set of services and features that provide a way to connect SharePoint solutions to sources of external data.

Which term describes an XML file that defines an object, such as Customer, Order, or Contact, that can be used in a business application?

BDC model
External content type
Connector model
Sandbox model

Answer:
External content type

Comments:
External content types define data that is stored in a supported external system, such as a SQL Server database or other relational database, a SharePoint site, a Web service, or a custom data connector.

13. Which term is described by the statements below?

*The fields of data that are contained in the object *The methods to create, read, update, query, or delete that object *Actions that users can take on the object *Information that supports connecting to the data source that provides the object's data

Workflow meta file
BDC External content type
Site Theme
Site Template

Answer:
BDC External content type

Comments:
An external content type is an XML file that defines an object, such as Customer, Order, or Contact, that can be used in a business application. The definition can include the following information:

14. SharePoint Server 2010 include Microsoft Business Connectivity Services, which are a set of services and features that provide a way to connect SharePoint solutions to sources of external data and to define external content types that are based on that external data.

You have configured a BDC service that connects to your payroll system and want to give users the ability to view data and filter records. How should you achieve this?

Use web parts
Ask the development team to create a SharePoint site solution that accesses the BDC service
Create a new site using the Business Intelligence Center template
Create a new site using the Assets Web Database template

Answer:
Use web parts

Comments:
There's no need to do anything special, Business Connectivity Services continues to offer Web Parts: External Data List, External Data Item, External Data Item Builder, External Data Related List, and External Data Connectivity Filter. There is no required coding as these Web Parts enable you to display external data on your portal site without writing any code.

15. The User Profile service stores information about users in a central location. Social computing features use this information to facilitate productive interactions which enable users to collaborate efficiently.

Which terms enables organizations to target content to users based on their job or task, as defined by their membership in a SharePoint Server group or distribution list?

My Site Web site
Audiences
Organization profiles
Social tags and notes

Answer:
Audiences

Comments:
Audeinces enable organizations to target content to users based on their job or task, as defined by their membership in a SharePoint Server group or distribution list, by the organizational reporting structure, or by the public properties in their user profiles.

16. Policies are sets of rules that administrators of the User Profile service assign to users or groups of users. These rules enable administrators to specify both the site content that users can see and how users can interact with that content.

You have created a FavouriteWebsite property so users can add their favourite URL string. You want to ensure that users can select whether to share their favourite website with My Colleagues, My Team and other visibility groups. Which policy setting should you select for the property?

User Override
Optional
Required
Enabled

Show Answer

17. You want to create a new profile property called Interest that you will provide a default value for, but still want users to be able to remove the information. You also want to use the property in search so that users can be found by searches for the property.

what settings should you choose?

Create a Required property and set the default access policy to Everyone.
Create an Optional property and set the default access policy to Everyone.
Create a Required property and set the default access policy to My Colleagues.
Create an Optional property and set the default access policy to My Colleagues.

Answer:
Create an Optional property and set the default access policy to Everyone.

Comments:
Optional property: You decide to provide default values for properties, but still want users to be able to remove the information, or if you want to enable each user to provide the relevant value for the property. Access policy to Everyone: Properties that have more restrictive access will not be used by search.