Re:No, it is not reasonable. (Score 1)

I agree with you actually, in most cases - but not this case.

This was about 5 years ago, so i'm short on details, but the test was more on general network admin knowledge and how they would handle given situations.

such as: What is X and how would you apply it to Y.
How would you perform routine Z and when would you perform said task? That sort of thing.

Candidate #3's answers were basically verbatim from web pages in his history. Now i appreciate those who have the sense to double-check themselves, but the blatant copying was a bit much for us. We later spoke to candidate #2, who was hired and he said he thought about double-checking his answers online, but realized that his traffic would surely be monitored and he didn't want to risk looking as if he'd cheated. As i said, he ended up being a great choice.

But again, i do agree that no one should be expected to memorize APIs or anything like that.. that's ridiculous. But knowing how to use the API, what an API is, when to apply certain methods or general procedures, etc.. that's is important.