I have a remote machine on which my server application runs. The remote server is linux based. What and all steps I would required do to IDENTIFY and SOLVE for following two problems

1. The server is not reachable

Hi,

There are many things that could be wrong.....

At first glance (there isn't that much information present) I would say that the server is under too much strain to handle all the incoming requests.

One thing that isn't clear: You say the server isn't reachable _and_ it is running slow.

- Is the server never reachable or is it sometimes/most of the time unreachable?
- Is the server itself being slow or is connecting to that server slow?

Below a few general things you could start with to trace the problem(s):

1) Run the top command on the server and see what is going on,
2) Run the free -m command on the server to check memory/cache usage
3) Check the logfiles on the server to see if anything is up,
4) If installed and up and running: Use the sar command on the server,
5) Use the ping command on the client(s) to see if the network itself is slow,

Although they are very general, either of those should come up with something and you can take that as a starting point to investigate/trouble shoot further and in more detail.

Hope this helps.

These questions were asked in my interview. pls help me out so that i can do better in my future.

Girishankar ok, I can appeciate you want to do better in future interviews but simply repeating the question here wont help you learn what the question was testing.

You need knowledge of how client/server archutecture works, how networks work including understanding of the layers of the networking stack from phsyical to application.

To start with you check the obvious things - Is it connected, it is plugged in?
From there you'd need to start looking if the machine is appearing on the network at all - Does it have an IP, can you ping it?

However behind these "simple" questions is a lot of understanding of what your doing.

I'd personally reccomend setting up some kind of server so you can learn about stuff like this.

Thank you

Hi,

The context of the question(s) and the job you are interviewed for are also important:

- What job did you go for?

A system admin has a different starting point then say a network admin or a database admin. The 2 questions you posted could be asked to all three and they will all start with looking at their own playing field and all three will come up with different answers.

The questions asked at these interviews are, in part, there to determine the level of knowledge the applicant has. Some of these questions are intentionally of a higher level. Answer them honestly, but do let them know you are willing/eager to learn (and do so at home and/or on the job). One thing that they do not want to here is a simple "No. / I don't know.", always try to give it a positive twist without lying.

Hope this helps.