SharePoint Interview Questions

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Sharepoint is a collaboration platform that allows you to increase your business value and also helps in improving it. This blog on Sharepoint Interview Questions aims to make you prepare for detailed and technical job interviews that are conducted in organizations.

1. What is Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server?

MS SharePoint Portal Server is an integrated suite from server-side to help improve organizational effectiveness by providing:

• Comprehensive content management
• Enterprise search
• Accelerating shared business processes
• Information sharing across boundaries
• A platform which includes server administration, application extensibility, and interoperability for IT professionals

2. What are zones?

Zones are different logical paths (URLs) of gaining access to the same SharePoint web application.

Five zones:

1. Internet zone
2. Intranet
3. Default
4. Extranet
5. Custom

3. What is Windows SharePoint services?

Creation of websites for information sharing and document collaboration will be enabled by Windows SharePoint Services. It provides additional functionality for MS Office system and other desktop applications. It also supports like a platform for the development of applications.

4. How is SharePoint Portal Server different from the Site Server?

SharePoint Portal Server:

• Website creation for information sharing and document collaboration is treated as services by SharePoint Portal Server.
• SharePoint server services are key information worker infrastructure that provides additional functionality to the MS Office system applications.

Site Server:

• It manages websites with multiple technologies.
• Content management, product management, order processing, and advertisement serving are some of the functionalities.

5. What is LINQ? How is it used in SharePoint?

LINQ is a feature of the programming languages C# 3.0 and Visual Basic .NET. LINQ allows a user to query in an object-oriented way, supports compile-time check, gives the user IntelliSense support in Visual Studio, and defines a unified, SQL-like syntax to query any data source. However, unlike other languages and query syntaxes which vary from one type of data source to another, LINQ can be used to query, in principle, any data source. Hence, developers may find that it is the only query syntax that they ever need to know. It is commonly used to query objects, collections, XML, and SQL server data sources.

LINQ to SharePoint is officially being supported with the 2010 release. It works similar to LINQ to SQL or LINQ to Entity.

The LINQ to SharePoint Provider is defined in the Microsoft.SharePoint.Linq namespace. It translates LINQ queries into Collaborative Application Markup Language (CAML) queries. The gateway class for the LINQ to SharePoint provider is Microsoft SharePoint.Linq.DataContext which represents the data of a SharePoint Foundation website.

6. What are the hardware and software requirements for SharePoint 2019?

SharePoint 2019, as a server product, has specific hardware and software requirements. Below are the general guidelines for both hardware and software:

Hardware Requirements:
Processor:
Minimum: 64-bit, 4 cores
Recommended: 64-bit, 8 cores

RAM:
Minimum: 16 GB
Recommended: 24 GB or more

Hard Disk Space:
Minimum: 80 GB for system drive
Recommended: At least 100 GB for the system drive and additional free space for content

Network:
A network adapter that supports 1 Gbps Ethernet

Software Requirements:
Operating System:
Windows Server 2016 or later

.NET Framework:
.NET Framework 4.8 or later

Database Server:
SQL Server 2016 or later (including SQL Server 2017)

Browser Support:

Microsoft Edge
Internet Explorer 11
Google Chrome (latest version)
Mozilla Firefox (latest version)

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7. What are the advantages of service applications over SSP?

The key limitation of the SSP architecture was that it was configured by using a set of services, and all web applications associated with the SSP bore the overhead of all the services even if they weren’t being used. To change the service configuration for a particular web application, a new SSP would have to be created.

The service application architecture, on the other hand, allows a set of services to be associated with a given web application and a different set of services to be associated with another web application. Also, the same service application can be configured differently in different web applications; therefore, websites can be configured to use only the services that are needed, rather than the entire bank of services.

8. What is new SharePoint 2019?

SharePoint 2019, released by Microsoft in late 2018, brought several new features and improvements over its predecessor, SharePoint 2016.

• Better User Experience
• Improved Hybrid Support
• Enhanced Communication Sites and Team Sites
• Mobile and Responsive Design
• Improved Lists and Libraries
• Enhanced OneDrive Integration
• Improvised Security and Compliance
• Increased File Size Support
• Performance and Scalability Improvements

9. Why should a company migrate to SharePoint 2019?

Microsoft has added some incredible features to SharePoint 2019 that can be of huge benefit to all the companies that use SharePoint on a large scale. Most of the new features are introduced for improving SharePoint’s performance (for both browser and SQL) and to enhance the famous web content management capabilities. There is an improvement for all—end users, developers, and IT administrators.

10. What is the licensing model for SharePoint 2019?

The licensing model for SharePoint 2019 includes both server-based licensing and client access licensing (CALs). The key components of the SharePoint 2019 licensing model are:

SharePoint Server 2019: This is the core product that provides the foundation for SharePoint sites and services. It follows a server-based licensing model.

Client Access Licenses (CALs): CALs are required for users or devices that access the SharePoint Server. There are two main types of CALs:

SharePoint Server 2019 CAL: This CAL allows access to all the standard features of SharePoint Server.

SharePoint Server 2019 Enterprise CAL: This CAL provides additional features, including advanced capabilities such as business intelligence, advanced search, and more.

11. What are the features of SharePoint?

Communities: The new version of SharePoint allows users to work together in different ways. Microsoft has enhanced the social feature of SharePoint 2010 in SharePoint 2019 and has made it look better. Communities allow people to collaborate in groups, share knowledge, and find information on various topics easily.

Content: SharePoint content shifts SharePoint 2019 from a departmental solution to an enterprise solution. There has been a massive improvement in content wherein users can add a significant number of documents to SharePoint. They can even use external data storage options to store more data.

Search: Microsoft SharePoint 2010 has acquired a fast search server, which improves the search tremendously for users. Now, users can search not only for content but also for people. Users can opt for better language options with thumbnails and previews. Users can even sort out search queries and study similar searches to get relevant search results.

Insights: With the help of SharePoint insights, users can access information through different data sources such as dashboards, scorecards, reports, and more. To help users, Microsoft has introduced a performance point server to the SharePoint platform. It is also known as performance point services for SharePoint. It helps users discover the right people and expertise to make better business decisions.

12. Why is it required to use sandbox solution in SharePoint?

The sandbox solution allows the usage of easy, deployable, and reusable packages that consist of features, site definitions, and many more functionalities. The sandbox solution can be enabled and disabled manually by going and changing from the settings. The solution can be deployed on the server. Sandbox allows the restriction to be put where the execution of the environment allows certain resources to be enabled and kept into the sandbox without affecting the rest of the server. Sandbox solutions can’t affect the whole server as they are not used to deploy at the administrative level. It can be deployed on a site with the administrator permissions using the site collection. Only the administrator is allowed to configure the sandboxed solutions that are related to settings like load balancing, tiers, quotas, resource points, etc.

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13. How many days are required by online sites to create a backup?

The duration required to create a backup of an online site, such as a SharePoint Online site, can vary significantly based on several factors:

• Site Size and Complexity
• Internet Speed and Stability
• Site Structure
• SharePoint Online Service Performance
• Backup Method Used
• System Load During Backup Process

14. What is the full form of WSP?

In Microsoft SharePoint, “WSP” stands for “Windows Solution Package.” A WSP file is a package for SharePoint that contains a collection of files and resources used to deploy features, site templates, web parts, and other components within a SharePoint environment. 

15. Define MOSS?

MOSS stands for “Microsoft Office SharePoint Server.” It was a previous version of SharePoint (pre-SharePoint Server 2010), providing tools for document management, collaboration, enterprise search, business intelligence, and internet publishing.

16. Define SharePoint Farm?

A SharePoint Farm is a collection of interconnected servers that work together to provide SharePoint services within an organization. It includes multiple servers with specific roles and a shared database, allowing high availability, and scalability.

17. List difference between a Custom master URL and a Master URL?

18. Explain Site Collection.

In SharePoint, Site Collection is a group of related websites under a common top-level site. It functions as a container that can include multiple subsites with shared settings, navigation, and administration.

19. Difference between SharePoint and OneDrive?

20. Process to create a Task notifications workflow?

Creating a Task Notifications Workflow in SharePoint:

1. Access SharePoint
2. Navigate to SharePoint Designer
3. Create Workflow
4. Add Conditions and Actions
5. Set Task Actions
6. Define Notifications
7. Save and Publish
8. Test and Monitor

21. What is Office 365?

Office 365 is also known as Microsoft 365. It is a subscription-based service by Microsoft that provides a suite of productivity applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, alongside cloud-based services such as email, storage, and collaboration tools, accessible across various devices.

22. Difference between SharePoint 16 and SharePoint 19?

23. Define a picture library?

A picture library in SharePoint is a specialized library designed for storing and managing image files. It allows users to upload, organize, and share image files within a SharePoint site or site collection. Picture libraries offer functionalities specific to handling images.

24. Steps to create a picture library in SharePoint?

Steps to  create a picture library in SharePoint:

1. Access SharePoint Site
2. Go to Site Contents
3. Add an App
4. Select “Picture Library”
5. Name the Library and Create

25. Default lookup column limit in the SharePoint list?

The default lookup column limit is 12. This means a single list can contain up to 12 lookup columns that reference other lists within the same SharePoint site.

SharePoint Salary Trends

The average salary for an entry-level SharePoint Developer in the US is $121,914 per year. While in India, the salary varies between ₹4,00,000 and  ₹11,00,000 per year, with an average of ₹6,60,211 per year.

SharePoint Job Trends 

Global Demand – In the US, there are more than 1,000 jobs available for SharePoint developers. In the next few years, it is expected that the number of jobs in this domain will increase.

Projected Growth – It is estimated that between 2018 and 2028 there will be a 13% increase in demand for SharePoint developers, generating about 20,900 new jobs worldwide.

Regional Trends – With the growing demand for SharePoint specialists, the number of jobs is also increasing. There are more than 6,000 SharePoint jobs in India right now, as per the jobs posted on LinkedIn.

SharePoint Job Opportunities

There are multiple job roles in SharePoint. Here are a few of them:

SharePoint Developer Roles and Responsibilities

According to a SharePoint Developer job description posted by Tata Elxsi on Google:

Job Role: SharePoint Developer

1. Responsibilities:
   1. As a SharePoint Developer, you will be responsible for creating, designing, and maintaining the SharePoint sites.
   2. SharePoint developer work includes customization and implementation of SharePoint-based solutions.
   3. As a SharePoint Developer, you will be developing custom web parts for SharePoint. You will also be responsible for embedding the enterprise content into SharePoint.
2. Skills Required:
   1. The candidates should be experienced in SharePoint and Microsoft 365 apps, VS Code, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, ReactJS, and TypeScript.
   2. You should be experienced sharePoint Frameworks like SPFx, and Web Parts, Extensions.
   3. The candidate should be proficient in these programming languages: C#, ASP.NET, and .NET Frameworks.
   4. The candidate should also be familiar with NPM, TypeScript, Yeoman, Webpack, and Gulp.

I hope this set of SharePoint interview questions will help you prepare for your interviews. All the best!