SQL Server Interview Questions Book

Database Concepts
1. What is a database or database management systems (DBMS)?

A DBMS can be defined as a collection of related records and a set of programs a set of programs that
access and manipulate these records.

2. What’s difference between DBMS and RDBMS?

What are CODD rules?

Is access database a RDBMS?
What’s the main difference between ACCESS and SQL SERVER?
What’s the difference between MSDE and SQL SERVER 2000?
What is SQL SERVER Express 2005 Edition?
What is SQL Server 2000 Workload Governor?
What’s the difference between SQL SERVER 2000 and 2005?
What are E-R diagrams?
How many types of relationship exist in database designing?
Can you explain Fourth Normal Form?
Can you explain Fifth Normal Form?
What’s the difference between Fourth and Fifth normal form?
Have you heard about sixth normal form?
What is Extent and Page?
What are the different sections in Page?
What are page splits?
In which files does actually SQL Server store data?
What is Collation in SQL Server?
Can we have a different collation for database and table?

SQL

Revisiting basic syntax of SQL?

What are “GRANT” and “REVOKE’ statements?
What is Cascade and Restrict in DROP table SQL?
What is a DDL, DML and DCL concept in RDBMS world?
What are different types of joins in SQL?
What is “CROSS JOIN”?
You want to select the first record in a given set of rows?
How do you sort in SQL?
How do you select unique rows using SQL?
Can you name some aggregate function is SQL Server?
What is the default “SORT” order for a SQL?
What is a self-join?
What's the difference between DELETE and TRUNCATE?
Select addresses which are between ‘1/1/2004’ and ‘1/4/2004’?
What are Wildcard operators in SQL Server?
What’s the difference between “UNION” and “UNION ALL”?
What are cursors and what are the situations you will use them?
What are the steps to create a cursor?
What are the different Cursor Types?
What are “Global” and “Local” cursors?
What is “Group by” clause?
What is ROLLUP?
What is CUBE?
What is the difference between “HAVING” and “WHERE” clause?
What is “COMPUTE” clause in SQL?
What is “WITH TIES” clause in SQL?
What does “SET ROWCOUNT” syntax achieves?
What is a Sub-Query?
What is “Correlated Subqueries”?
What is “ALL” and “ANY” operator?
What is a “CASE” statement in SQL?
What does COLLATE Keyword in SQL signify?

.NET Integration

What are steps to load a .NET code in SQL SERVER 2005?

How can we drop a assembly from SQL SERVER?
Are changes made to assembly updated automatically in database?
Why do we need to drop assembly for updating changes?
How to see assemblies loaded in SQL Server?
I want to see which files are linked with which assemblies?
Does .NET CLR and SQL SERVER run in different process?
Does .NET controls SQL SERVER or is it vice-versa?
Is SQLCLR configured by default?
How to configure CLR for SQL SERVER?
Is .NET feature loaded by default in SQL Server?
How does SQL Server control .NET run-time?
What’s a “SAND BOX” in SQL Server 2005?
What is a application domain?
How are .NET Appdomain allocated in SQL SERVER 2005?
What is Syntax for creating a new assembly in SQL Server 2005?
Do Assemblies loaded in database need actual .NET DLL?
Does SQL Server handle unmanaged resources?
What is Multi-tasking?
What is Multi-threading?
What is a Thread?
Can we have multiple threads in one App domain ?
What is Non-preemptive threading?
What is pre-emptive threading?
Can you explain threading model in SQL Server?
How does .NET and SQL Server thread work?
How are exception in SQLCLR code handled?
Are all .NET libraries allowed in SQL Server?
What is “Hostprotectionattribute” in SQL Server 2005?
How many types of permission level are there for an assembly?
Can you name system tables for .NET assemblies?
Are two version of same assembly allowed in SQL Server?
How are changes made in assembly replicated?
Is it a good practice to drop a assembly for changes?
In one of the projects following steps where done, will it work?
What does Alter assembly with unchecked data signify?
How do I drop an assembly?
Can we creat SQLCLR using .NET framework 1.0?
While creating .NET UDF what checks should be done?
How do you define a function from the .NET assembly?
Can compare between T-SQL and SQLCLR ?
With respect to .NET is SQL SERVER case sensitive?
Does case sensitive rule apply for VB.NET?
Can nested classes be accessed in T-SQL?
Can we have SQLCLR procedure input as array?
Can object datatype be used in SQLCLR?
How’s precision handled for decimal datatypes in .NET?
How do we define INPUT and OUTPUT parameters in SQLCLR?
Is it good to use .NET datatypes in SQLCLR?
How to move values from SQL to .NET datatypes?
What is System.Data.SqlServer?
What is SQLContext?
Can you explain essential steps to deploy SQLCLR?
How do create function in SQL Server using .NET?
How do we create trigger using .NET?
How to create User Define Functions using .NET?
How to create User Defined Create aggregates using .NET?
What is Asynchronous support in ADO.NET?
What is MARS support in ADO.NET?
What is SQLbulkcopy object in ADO.NET ?
How to select range of rows using ADO.NET?

ADO.NET

Which are namespaces for ADO.NET?

Can you give a overview of ADO.NET architecture ?
What are the two fundamental objects in ADO.NET ?
What is difference between dataset and datareader ?
What are major difference between classic ADO and ADO.NET ?
What is the use of connection object ?
What are the methods provided by the command object ?
What is the use of dataadapter ?
What are basic methods of Dataadapter ?
What is Dataset object?
What are the various objects in Dataset ?
How can we connect to Microsoft Access , Foxpro , Oracle etc ?
What’s the namespace to connect to SQL Server?
How do we use stored procedure in ADO.NET?
How can we force the connection object to close?
I want to force the datareader to return only schema?
Can we optimize command object when there is only one row?
Which is the best place to store connectionstring ?
What are steps involved to fill a dataset ?
What are the methods provided by the dataset for XML?
How can we save all data from dataset ?
How can we check for changes made to dataset?
How can we add/remove row’s in “DataTable” object of “DataSet” ?
What’s basic use of “DataView” ?
What’s difference between “DataSet” and “DataReader” ?
How can we load multiple tables in a DataSet ?
How can we add relation’s between table in a DataSet ?
What’s the use of CommandBuilder ?
What’s difference between “Optimistic” and “Pessimistic” locking ?
How many way’s are there to implement locking in ADO.NET ?
How can we perform transactions in .NET?
What’s difference between Dataset. clone and Dataset. copy ?
Whats the difference between Dataset and ADO Recordset?

Notification Services

What are notification services?

What are basic components of Notification services?
Can you explain architecture of Notification Services?
Which are the two XML files needed for notification services?
What is Nscontrols command?
What are the situations you will use “Notification” Services?
Service Broker

What do we need Queues?

What is “Asynchronous” communication?
What is SQL Server Service broker?
What are the essential components of SQL Server Service broker?
What is the main purpose of having Conversation Group?
How to implement Service Broker?
How do we encrypt data between Dialogs?

XML Integration

What is XML?
What is the version information in XML?
What is ROOT element in XML?
If XML does not have closing tag will it work?
Is XML case sensitive?
What’s the difference between XML and HTML?
Is XML meant to replace HTML?
Can you explain why your project needed XML?
What is DTD (Document Type definition)?
What is well formed XML?
What is a valid XML?
What is CDATA section in XML?
What is CSS?
What is XSL?
What is Element and attributes in XML?
Can we define a column as XML?
How do we specify the XML data type as typed or untyped?
How can we create the XSD schema?
How do I insert in to a table which has XSD schema attached to it?
What is maximum size for XML datatype?
What is Xquery?
What are XML indexes?
What are secondary XML indexes?
What is FOR XML in SQL Server?
Can I use FOR XML to generate SCHEMA of a table and how?
What is the OPENXML statement in SQL Server?
I have huge XML file which we want to load in database?
How to call stored procedure using HTTP SOAP?
What is XMLA ?

Data Warehousing/Data Mining

What is “Data Warehousing”?

What are Data Marts?
What are Fact tables and Dimension Tables?
What is Snow Flake Schema design in database?
What is ETL process in Data warehousing?
How can we do ETL process in SQL Server?
What is “Data mining”?
Compare “Data mining” and “Data Warehousing”?
What is BCP?
How can we import and export using BCP utility?
What is Bulk Insert?
What is DTS ?
Can you brief about the Data warehouse project you worked on?
What is an OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) System?
What is an OLAP (On-line Analytical processing) system?
What is Conceptual, Logical and Physical model?
What is Data purging?
What is Analysis Services?
What are CUBES?
What are the primary ways to store data in OLAP?
What is META DATA information in Data warehousing projects?
What is multi-dimensional analysis?
What is MDX?
How did you plan your Data ware house project?
What are different deliverables according to phases?
Can you explain how analysis service works?
What are the different problems that “Data mining” can solve?
What are different stages of “Data mining”?
What is Discrete and Continuous data in Data mining world?
What is MODEL is Data mining world?
How are models actually derived?
What is a Decision Tree Algorithm?
Can decision tree be implemented using SQL?
What is Naïve Bayes Algorithm?
Explain clustering algorithm?
Explain in detail Neural Networks?
What is Back propagation in Neural Networks?
What is Time Series algorithm in data mining?
Explain Association algorithm in Data mining?
What is Sequence clustering algorithm?
What are algorithms provided by Microsoft in SQL Server?
How does data mining and data warehousing work together?
What is XMLA ?
What is Discover and Execute in XMLA?

Integration Services/DTS

What is Integration Services import / export wizard?

What are prime components in Integration Services?
How can we develop a DTS project in Integration Services?

Replication

Whats the best way to update data between SQL Servers?

What are the scenarios you will need multiple databases with schema?
How will you plan your replication?
What is a publisher, distributor and subscriber in “Replication”?
What is “Push” and “Pull” subscription?
Can a publication support push and pull at one time?
What are different models / types of replication?
What is Snapshot replication?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Snapshot replication?
What type of data will qualify for “Snapshot replication”?
What’s the actual location where the distributor runs?
Can you explain in detail how exactly “Snapshot Replication” works?
What is merge replication?
How does merge replication works?
What are advantages and disadvantages of Merge replication?
What is conflict resolution in Merge replication?
What is a transactional replication?
Can you explain in detail how transactional replication works?
What are data type concerns during replications?

Reporting Services

Can you explain how can we make a simple report in reporting services?
How do I specify stored procedures in Reporting Services?
What is the architecture for “Reporting Services “?

Database Optimization

What are indexes?

What are B-Trees?
I have a table which has lot of inserts, is it a good database design to create indexes on that table?
What are “Table Scan’s” and “Index Scan’s”?
What are the two types of indexes and explain them in detail?
What is “FillFactor” concept in indexes?
What is the best value for “FillFactor”?
What are “Index statistics”?
How can we see statistics of an index?
How do you reorganize your index, once you find the problem?
What is Fragmentation?
How can we measure Fragmentation?
How can we remove the Fragmented spaces?
What are the criteria you will look in to while selecting an index?
What is “Index Tuning Wizard”?
What is an Execution plan?
How do you see the SQL plan in textual format?
What is nested join, hash join and merge join in SQL Query plan?
What joins are good in what situations? 298

Transaction and Locks

What is a “Database Transactions “?

What is ACID?
What is “Begin Trans”, “Commit Tran”, “Rollback Tran” and “Save Tran”?
What are “Checkpoint’s” in SQL Server?
What are “Implicit Transactions”?
Is it good to use “Implicit Transactions”?
What is Concurrency?
What kind of problems occurs if we do not implement proper locking strategy?
What are “Dirty reads”?
What are “Unrepeatable reads”?
What are “Phantom rows”?
What are “Lost Updates”?
What are different levels of granularity of locking resources?
What are different types of Locks in SQL Server?
What are different Isolation levels in SQL Server?
If you are using COM+ what “Isolation” level is set by default?
What are “Lock” hints?
What is a “Deadlock” ?
What are the steps you can take to avoid “Deadlocks” ?
How can I know what locks are running on which resource?