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Unit Notes
ICASAS301A Run standard diagnostic tests
Topic 2
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ICASAS301A Run standard diagnostic tests
© Copyright, 2015 by TAFE NSW - North Coast Institute
Date last saved: 2 February 2015 by Tracy Norris Version: 1.1 # of Pages = 30
Copyright of this material is reserved to the Crown in the right of the State of New South Wales. Reproduction or transmittal in whole, or in part, other than in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act, is prohibited without written authority of TAFE NSW - North Coast Institute.
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Acknowledgements:
Graphic Design: Mark Keevers (Template design)
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ICASAS301A Run standard diagnostic tests
Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... 3
Getting Started ................................................................................................................... 6
Using these notes ................................................................................................................ 6
Determine and carry out preventative maintenance ........................................................ 7
Before you start .................................................................................................................... 7
What is maintenance? ....................................................................................................... 7
Types of maintenance .......................................................................................................... 7
Preventative maintenance ............................................................................................. 7
Reactive maintenance................................................................................................... 8
Maintenance of software ............................................................................................... 8
Preventative maintenance ................................................................................................. 8
Protecting critical hardware .................................................................................................. 9
Facility protection .......................................................................................................... 9
Redundancy .................................................................................................................. 9
Protection from environmental conditions ........................................................................... 10
Temperature ............................................................................................................... 10
Humidity ...................................................................................................................... 10
Dirt and dust ............................................................................................................... 10
Cigarette smoke .......................................................................................................... 10
Electromagnetic interference....................................................................................... 10
Protection of data — backup .............................................................................................. 11
Server backup options ................................................................................................ 11
Workstation backup .................................................................................................... 11
Types of backup.......................................................................................................... 11
Protection of data from threats ........................................................................................... 12
Service packs, patches and operating system updates ............................................... 12
Anti-malware software................................................................................................. 12
Antivirus software ........................................................................................................ 13
Firewalls ..................................................................................................................... 13
Keeping software updated ................................................................................................. 13
Checking integrity and performance ................................................................................... 13
Determining your organisation’s maintenance requirements ...................................... 13
Organisational policies ....................................................................................................... 14
External service level agreements...................................................................................... 14
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ICASAS301A Run standard diagnostic tests
Fixed service versus per-call cover ............................................................................. 14
Software warranties and maintenance agreements ..................................................... 15
Equipment documentation ................................................................................................. 15
Procedures for internal clients ............................................................................................ 15
Preventative maintenance tasks ..................................................................................... 16
Safety first .......................................................................................................................... 16
Common hardware maintenance tasks .......................................................................... 16
Cleaning............................................................................................................................. 16
Whole system maintenance ............................................................................................... 17
Hard disk maintenance ...................................................................................................... 17
Printers .............................................................................................................................. 17
Tape backup systems ........................................................................................................ 18
Low maintenance devices .................................................................................................. 18
Scheduling maintenance ................................................................................................. 19
Developing a preventative maintenance schedule ............................................................. 19
Cost effectiveness ....................................................................................................... 19
Minimise downtime ..................................................................................................... 19
Practicality .................................................................................................................. 19
Meet business needs .................................................................................................. 20
When should tasks be scheduled? ..................................................................................... 20
How often should tasks be scheduled? .............................................................................. 20
What should be recorded? ................................................................................................. 20
Reporting problems ............................................................................................................ 21
Summary .......................................................................................................................... 21
Check your progress - Questions ................................................................................... 22
Activity 1: Identify cost effectiveness of maintenance tasks ......................................... 22
Activity 2: Determine the maintenance time for a device ............................................. 23
Activity 3: Investigate Windows Backup ...................................................................... 23
Activity 4: Investigate software maintenance tools ...................................................... 23
Activity 5: Check your computer’s vulnerability ............................................................ 24
Check your progress - Answers ..................................................................................... 25
Activity 1: Identify cost effectiveness of maintenance tasks ......................................... 25
Activity 2: Determine the maintenance time for a device ............................................. 26
Activity 3: Investigate Windows Backup ...................................................................... 26
Activity 4: Investigate software maintenance tools ...................................................... 26
Research ........................................................................................................................... 26
Preventative maintenance and diagnostic testing ............................................................... 26
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ICASAS301A Run standard diagnostic tests
Tech Republic ............................................................................................................. 26
Windows IT Library ..................................................................................................... 26
PCGuide ..................................................................................................................... 27
Diagnostic utilities .............................................................................................................. 27
Download.com ............................................................................................................ 27
Information on security and threats .................................................................................... 27
Microsoft Support Centre ............................................................................................ 27
Computer active .......................................................................................................... 27
a-squared.................................................................................................................... 27
Windows update ......................................................................................................... 27
Online dictionaries ............................................................................................................. 27
Terms ................................................................................................................................ 28
Check your understanding - Questions ......................................................................... 29
Check your understanding - Answers ............................................................................ 30
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ICASAS301A Run standard diagnostic tests
Getting Started These unit notes have been developed to provide a learning pathway to competence in ICASAS301A Run standard diagnostic tests. The notes contain all the skills and knowledge learning required to achieve competence.
Using these notes
Icons and symbols are used throughout this guide to provide quick visual references. They indicate the following:
Icon Meaning Icon Meaning
ACTIVITY: An activity is listed to be completed
ACTIVITY: A Learning activity requiring some physical action
WWW: A web link is listed REFLECTION: A point is to be considered and thought about more deeply
IMPORTANT: A pivotal point is detailed
SEARCH: A particular item / book etc needs to be found and applied
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ICASAS301A Run standard diagnostic tests
Determine and carry out preventative maintenance An essential function of any IT department is to maintain its organisation’s IT infrastructure. This will include both critical and non-critical systems and cover both hardware and software requirements. This Learning Pack examines possible equipment and maintenance procedures and specific maintenance requirements of different equipment. We’ll also look at the types of preventative maintenance schedules you may be required to produce, to help avoid problems before they occur.
After completing this topic you will be able to:
Explain the importance of following a regular maintenance schedule.
Examine and review specified equipment and maintenance procedures, in order to determine those procedures that can be handled internally.
Determine the maintenance tasks and follow procedures that should be carried out on specific equipment, as indicated by the equipment manufacturer and organisational guidelines.
Organise and undertake regular scheduled maintenance including, but not limited to, removal of dust and grease build up and replacing consumables and other components when required.
Inform appropriate persons when problems are identified by preventative maintenance.
Before you start
You should already be familiar with a range of IT hardware items, peripherals and consumables, and be able to access and use a variety of Help resources to solve problems.
What is maintenance? When we talk about maintenance, our aims are to:
preserve our IT systems in optimal condition
fix problems that occur
upgrade the existing systems to minimise future risks to the business.
This will require maintenance of hardware, software and data.
Types of maintenance
Maintenance falls into two broad categories:
preventative (or routine maintenance), and
reactive (or non-routine).
Preventative maintenance
For example, you periodically have your car serviced, which involves changing the engine oil, air filter, spark plugs and so on. If you don’t do this, chances are at some later time your car’s performance will suffer, and you may even be stranded at a great inconvenience to you! This is preventative maintenance, and the situation is really quite similar with IT equipment. We
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need to carry out preventative maintenance on a periodic basis to prevent problems occurring in the future that may interrupt business continuity.
A simple example of IT preventative maintenance is changing the drum in a laser printer.
Reactive maintenance
Reactive maintenance refers to actions taken to fix problems after they have occurred. To
continue with the car example, when you get a flat tyre and have to replace it, this is a
simple example of reactive maintenance. You can probably think of many IT examples.
Replacing a broken cable is one.
Apart from preventative and reactive maintenance, there is another type of maintenance that
deals with upgrading the organisation’s infrastructure to minimise the level of risk to
business continuity.
Maintenance of software
It’s not only the hardware in an organisation that needs to be maintained — software
maintenance is also required. An organisation that has custom-built software needs
programmers to maintain it. This will include:
preventative maintenance to detect and correct code that may cause future errors (eg
to validate input data)
adaptive maintenance to adapt the software in line with changes to business
requirements (eg to make it run on an Intranet)
perfective maintenance to simply improve the performance of the software
reactive maintenance to fix software bugs.
But apart from custom-built software, organisations need to maintain other software. There
may be patches, version updates, driver updates, etc to be installed. Upgrading
packaged software across an organisation to standardise software versions is a good way of
helping to reduce the level of support and maintenance required.
Maintenance of a hard disk is really a form of software/data maintenance. A variety of tools
are available for ‘cleaning up’ a disk, removing unwanted programs and data, backing up
data and so on. Protecting the system from viruses and malware is also part of this sort of
maintenance.
Preventative maintenance
Specific devices require different preventative maintenance procedures. However, there are
a few broad areas that can be considered which require preventative maintenance practices.
These include:
Protection of equipment due to changes in electrical supply: Surges and
‘brownouts’ cause major damage to computer devices. Un-interruptible power
supplies (UPS), power conditioners and surge protection devices are all valuable
preventative maintenance tools for any computerised device.
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Protection from environmental conditions: Humidity, temperature variation and
dust are major causes of computer device failures. Actions taken to limit these
factors in the workplace are valuable preventative maintenance tasks.
Protection of data using backups: It is vital that backups of both user data and
system configurations are done regularly.
Protection of data from threats: Data needs to be protected from viruses, malware,
hackers and so on, through the use of both hardware and software security
measures.
Keeping software updated through service packs, patches and driver upgrades
Checking integrity and performance by using diagnostic tools: Routine running
of any in-built diagnostics and/or checking for display of maintenance messages
generated by the device.
Next we’ll look in more detail at some strategies for dealing with these.
Protecting critical hardware
Facility protection
Strategies must be in place to protect IT equipment from water damage, fire, contamination,
power failure and theft. Some of these strategies include:
the implementation of early warning systems to detect water leaks, fire and air-borne
contaminants
devices to continue power supply should there be a power failure such as a UPS
(uninterruptible power supply) as well as on-site power generation
security access to computer facilities such as swipe cards or entry of a security
number
recording serial numbers, asset numbers, location and allocation details of
workstations.
Redundancy
If part of a network is interrupted, critical business processes need to be stored as soon as
possible. One way of doing this is by implementing and maintaining full or partially
redundant systems.
This means having an identical hardware infrastructure that can be activated should the
main hardware infrastructure fail. Redundant systems can range from the duplication of
entire networks to the duplication of cabling runs. Where entire networks are duplicated,
system backup facilities are not required. However, full network redundancy is extremely
expensive and, as such, not a commonly used option.
Partial redundancy is a common option for critical IT hardware.
An organisation’s disaster recovery plan will include such procedures for recovering
network systems.
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Protection from environmental conditions
Temperature
The tolerance of computer components for extremes in temperature is limited — subjecting
them to temperatures outside this range is likely to reduce their life. The room environment
as well as cooling and ventilation systems are, therefore, important in maintaining computer
equipment in optimum operational condition.
Humidity
Computers are also sensitive to humidity and should be kept dry. Protective measures would
include keeping them away from windows, and avoiding food and drinks spills. Ventilation
systems also help prevent problems with humidity.
Dirt and dust
Computers should be kept in a clean environment. Dust build-up around fans and on
electrical components becomes a problem because it tends to prevent heat dissipation, and
interferes with the fan’s cooling function. Regular cleaning is, therefore, important. If the
equipment is kept in an industrial environment, additional measures must be put in place to
protect it — use of air cleaners is one useful strategy.
Cigarette smoke
The particles from cigarette smoke have the same effect as dust — they build up on the
surface of equipment, causing the same sorts of problems.
Electromagnetic interference
All electronic devices are capable of producing electromagnetic interference that can cause
data to be lost, problems with picture quality on monitors, and other problems.
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Protection of data — backup
All organisations need strategies in place to:
backup critical data, and
ensure that data backup is being undertaken according to organisational policies.
This will involve both server backup and workstation backup.
Server backup options
Backup option Benefits Limitations
Backup to tape using backup/restore
software such as Windows: the tape
backups from the server can be sent
to an off-site backup storage facility
for restoration if backup files on-site
are destroyed.
Simple; software
readily available in
Windows
Additional risks in
transportation and
storage; time to
restore in the event
of loss of data, ie
time to data, can be
too long and very
costly
Backup server data to a remote tape
unit via a WAN
Time to data much
shorter; risks
reduced due to less
manual handling
Can be expensive
Backup data to a remote mirrored
disk via a WAN
Time to data
instantaneous; risks
lowered further
Costs are high
Workstation backup
Workstations in an organisation are often standardised with respect to operating system and
common applications. An ‘image’ or ‘build’ is created, making it much easier to restore the
workstation to a re-usable state. There is usually an IT policy that specifies a ‘Standard
Operating Environment’ for workplace PCs. Uncommon, or specific, applications are usually
installed separately after the standard image is loaded.
However, users tend to customise their PCs with shortcuts, background images and
screensavers, taskbar options, mouse speed and a variety of other options. Also, though it
may be against company policy, there may be company data lurking on a user’s PC.
Therefore, before any changes are made to a workstation PC, the hard disk should be
backed up.
As mentioned, staff in a client/server organisation are generally encouraged not to store
data on their own hard drives. However, where an organisation’s data is stored on a
workstation hard drive, there must be some procedure in place for regularly backing it up.
Types of backup
An organisation will have policies that relate to:
the frequency of backups (daily, weekly, monthly)
the time of day backups are done
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how long backups are kept
where backups should be stored.
Also, there are different types of backup. You may not need to back up all files every time
you back up. Different options include:
backup of selected directories
incremental backup – backup of only files that have been created or changed since
the last full or incremental backup
differential backup – backup of files that have been created or changed since the last
full backup.
Backup scheduling is an important part of any preventative maintenance plan. Windows
provides a backup and restore tool, and this type of software is also provided by third
parties.
Protection of data from threats
Because of the widespread interconnectivity of computers today, and the potential for
intrusion, theft, damage, and so on, organisations need to have clear policies and
procedures to be followed to minimise these threats. Central to this will be a number of
preventative maintenance procedures, as outlined below.
Service packs, patches and operating system updates
It has become obvious in recent years that when operating systems are released, they are
not finished products. Because they are so complex, even after a period of rigorous testing,
security flaws are often discovered after distribution. Anti-virus and other security tools
cannot protect the system from operating system holes.
For critical security holes, as soon as the flaw is discovered, the software manufacturer
quickly develops and releases a patch, which is a small software update to eliminate the
hole. A group of patches is sometimes released as a major update, or service pack.
Microsoft makes these updates available for free.
Anti-malware software
Malware has increased in significance over recent years. Included in this category are:
Trojans, which appear to be harmless programs, are actually designed to either do
damage or carry out a range of malicious activities
Dialers, programs that change the number you use for a dial-up modem, causing
increases in charges
Worms, generally spread as email attachments
Spyware, adware and browser hijackers collect information from your computer or
change the Internet options in the browser.
Anti-malware software helps to prevent a computer from these attacks. However, installing it
and forgetting about it provides insufficient protection. Regular updates need to be carried
out.
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Antivirus software
Viruses have been around for a long while, and have been overtaken somewhat by other
types of threat. However, using antivirus software which is regularly updated is still an
important preventative maintenance measure for computer systems.
Firewalls
There are two types of firewalls — hardware and software firewalls. Hardware firewalls
offer the best protection against intrusion, but they are expensive for small companies.
Desktop or a software firewall is useful, but malicious software may find ways to bypass it.
Keeping software updated
Today’s IT equipment is complex, and so is the software that supports it. Often a device is
purchased with a projected life of several years, but in the mean time, other equipment and
operating systems that it is used with are updated. Sometimes this means that a perfectly
good piece of equipment no longer works, or works unsatisfactorily.
So new software for these devices (drivers) is developed and released. Keeping abreast of
these various driver updates is also important in preventing problems before they arise.
Checking integrity and performance
Computer operating systems are generally provided with an array of diagnostic tools that
can be used to check whether there are either hardware or software problems with the
machine, or whether steps can be taken to improve its performance.
For example, Disk Defragmenter and Disk Cleanup are tools available in Windows operating
systems. A whole range of other utilities is also available from other software manufacturers.
Visit a website like download.com (http://www.download.com) and browse the range of
software available.
Determining your organisation’s maintenance requirements We have so far discussed some broad areas of preventative maintenance. From the point of
view of an IT Support person, how do you determine exactly what maintenance should be
done, and how often it should be done? What information should you refer to?
To start with, your organisation will have specific procedures that deal with maintenance and
how it is scheduled. These procedures will be either as a result of, or in conjunction, with the
following:
Organisational policies, for example, a particular procedure may be in place
because of your organisation’s policy on the management of risk.
Equipment, in particular specialised equipment, is covered by warranties and
maintenance contracts. These will often involve an agreed level of support for the
equipment, also called a service level agreement (SLA).
Both equipment and software are provided with documentation regarding their
handling and maintenance requirements.
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Support is also often provided by phone or website, and may even involve the
provision of training.
If you work in IT Support within your own organisation, the service you provide to
your internal clients will also be governed by a service level agreement.
Organisational policies
The maintenance procedures in an organisation will be determined by a number of factors,
including:
how critical the IT components and/or software are
cost constraints
the risk to business continuity
pre-existing commitments
expectations of service by the organisation’s business units.
External service level agreements
Maintenance agreements are a way of ensuring that the business is supported to an agreed
level at a known cost.
As a result, the business may enter into an agreement with an IT support organisation. All
critical hardware components and software should be covered by either a warranty or
maintenance agreement. There are a number of things to consider:
1 New purchases. A warranty agreement comes automatically with the purchase of
hardware components and software. You usually have the option of extending the
warranty when you purchase the item.
2 Extension of warranty. You can enter into a maintenance agreement when the initial
warranty expires rather than extending the warranty.
3 Type of cover. A maintenance agreement is an agreement negotiated between the
organisation and the supplier to maintain the hardware or software. Maintenance
agreements can be on a fixed service basis, eg 24 hours a day, 7 days per week (24/7);
8 hours a day, 5 days a week (8/5); 12 hours a day, 5 days a week (12/5) or on a per-
call basis.
Fixed service versus per-call cover
The benefit of the fixed service type of maintenance agreement is that you receive a
dedicated and, typically, faster response. Depending on the terms of the agreement, your
maintenance costs are also likely to be covered.
A per-call basis means you receive maintenance services from the supplier as required. The
problem with this type of agreement is that you have to wait until a technician is available
and you are charged for labour and parts. A benefit is this cost can often be less expensive
than a maintenance contract.
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Software warranties and maintenance agreements
Software should also be covered by a warranty or maintenance agreement. Software
warranty only lasts for a short period of time, so a maintenance agreement for critical
software should be in place. If customised software has been developed in-house, a
maintenance agreement will not be necessary because it will be maintained internally.
A software maintenance agreement may include, for example, a free or discounted upgrade
of packaged software.
Equipment documentation
Each item of IT equipment should be accompanied by documentation. This may be provided
in hard copy, as a manual, on CD, or on a support website. If original documentation
provided as hard copy is missing, it can usually also be downloaded from the manufacturer’s
website. IT Support staff need to be able to read and interpret all such technical
documentation.
Documentation for a system should outline the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance
procedures for the unit. The procedures should state:
how often maintenance procedures should be done
any equipment/material/consumables that are required
the actual steps to complete the maintenance task, including all relevant safety
precautions for the task.
The system’s documentation should also identify any components of a system that should
not have any preventative maintenance applied to it for safety reasons. Generally speaking,
hardware manufacturers will include instructions for:
cleaning
care
consumables — handling, installing and disposing
making adjustments
troubleshooting.
Apart from documentation, the supplier’s website will supply software patches and driver
updates as they become available.
Procedures for internal clients
Since your external suppliers and internal clients involve different service level agreements,
procedures for handling them are usually different, but one may depend on the other. Some
of these procedures detail:
the way service requests are reported
how fast you can respond to requests — how fast you respond to an internal client will
depend on the agreed response time with an external supplier. For example, let’s say
a workstation monitor needs replacing. If your external supplier says it will be done
within two days, then you can’t do it any faster for your client!
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how requests are escalated — an external supplier will have specific, agreed
escalation procedures, and these may be different from your own internal ones.
Preventative maintenance tasks Having discussed the organisational factors and reference documents that help to determine
an organisation’s maintenance procedures, we’ll now concentrate on those tasks that would
be included in most preventative maintenance programs.
Don’t forget that highly specialised equipment will need specialised maintenance procedures
and may require independent technical qualifications and personnel to maintain it. As you
are now aware, this will involve an external maintenance agreement.
Safety first
Remember that ALL preventative maintenance must be carried out within the regulations
associated with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 2000 and relevant government
licensing frameworks. Your own safety is far more important than the preventative
maintenance of any device.
Common hardware maintenance tasks While it is beyond this topic to identify all types of maintenance across the range of devices
available in the IT workplace, the following devices and preventative maintenance tasks are
included here as common tasks.
Cleaning
The following table gives suggestions for cleaning the parts of a computer.
Device Type of maintenance Resources
Keyboard Keyboard covers; regular ‘dusting’ with
compressed air
Original system
documentation will
recommend cleaning
material instructions
Mouse Cleaning mouse ball and rollers;
replacing ball mice with optical mice will
solve most problems
Original system
documentation will
recommend cleaning
materials
Monitor Wiping of screen — be careful of the
cleaning products used as some may
damage the screen. Consult the
manufacturer’s instructions for the
monitor.
Original documentation
will recommend cleaning
materials
CD/DVD
drives
Cleaning drives with CD/DVD cleaning kit CD/DVD cleaning kit
documentation
Floppy disk
drives
Cleaning drives with FDD cleaning kit FDD cleaning kit
documentation
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Whole system maintenance
Maintenance of a computer system will also involve:
checking system event logs regularly
viewing POST results
routine checking using system monitoring utilities that track system temperatures,
voltages and fan speeds
checking for dust accumulation, particularly around fans and vents
updating drivers for printers, modems, soundcards, video cards and so on, as
needed
updating operating system and application software with the latest service packs;
eg later versions of Windows allow updates to be automatically downloaded and
installed, but this can be disabled
updating anti-virus software and virus definitions.
Hard disk maintenance
Software for carrying out hard disk maintenance is provided by the operating system utilities,
as well as by third party software. Typical maintenance will include:
removal of unwanted files — this can include old files, temporary files, downloaded
files, corrupt files, Internet cookies, and browser history
removal (uninstalling) of unwanted software
backup — this may be by means of standard backup/restore software, or through
imaging software such as Norton Ghost
cleaning up the registry
defragmenting files
creating system restore/boot disks
scanning for viruses, spyware, adware, malware, and so on
disk checking using standard diagnostic tests.
Many of these activities can be scheduled to occur automatically. We’ll discuss scheduling in
the next section.
Printers
Most maintenance on printers relates to print quality and paper handling. Maintenance on
printers may include the following.
Component Type of maintenance Resources
Laser printer
drum
Cleaning/replacement. Some printer replacement
cartridges include the drum, requiring less
maintenance. Others may require a separate
Printer
documentation
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maintenance procedure for the drum. Consult the
manufacturer’s instructions.
Ink print
heads
Cleaning/replacement. Some printer replacement
cartridges include the ink print heads, requiring
less maintenance. Others may require a separate
maintenance procedure. Some print heads also
require alignment. Consult the manufacturer’s
instructions.
Printer
documentation,
in-built printer
cleaning utilities
Paper rollers
and feed
path
Purchasing quality paper, ensuring a dust free
environment and regular cleaning. Consult the
manufacturer’s instructions.
Printer
documentation
Tape backup systems
Tape backup systems are listed as a separate item here due to their importance in the IT
workplace.
Device Type of maintenance Resources
Tape drive Cleaning drive heads. This should be
done regularly. Consult the
manufacturer’s instructions.
Head cleaning kit and
original tape drive
documentation
Backup
software
Regular viewing of backup logs for errors Backup software
documentation
Tape
media
Checking media for errors and tape age
against the recommended tape life.
Perform test restores to confirm reliability
of media and backup process.
Backup software
documentation and media
specifications
Low maintenance devices
Many devices such as hubs/switches, scanners and USB devices are normally considered
‘maintenance free’. However, these units may benefit from the following types of
maintenance.
Device Type of maintenance Resources
Hub/switch Checking systems log and port statistics
for large error counts
Original manufacturer’s
documentation
Scanner Glass cleaning with recommended
products; ensuring a dust free
environment
Viewing POST diagnostics
test results
Other
devices
Viewing POST diagnostics test results;
running regular tasks to ensure the
device is functional
Viewing POST diagnostics
test results
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Scheduling maintenance Many organisations with a preventative maintenance program will have maintenance tasks
organised on a schedule. The goal of a schedule is to ensure that regular maintenance
occurs. Given the time pressures of working as an IT Support person, a schedule will assist
you in organising your workload to ensure that the best possible service is provided to the
client.
If a maintenance schedule does not exist, consider designing one. A schedule should simply
include:
1 each preventative maintenance task that should be completed
2 how often the task should be repeated
3 an estimate of the time required to complete the task.
These tasks can then be allocated time in your schedule at the required intervals.
Developing a preventative maintenance schedule
In developing a preventative maintenance schedule, it is important that as an IT Support
person you are aware of the main aims of preventative maintenance. They are:
to meet the needs of the business
to extend the working life of equipment
to reduce the amount of emergency downtime caused by faults that can be prevented
to be practical
to make the IT system more cost effective.
Cost effectiveness
It is important that any preventative maintenance be cost effective. It is possible to spend
significant amounts of time cleaning and testing devices such as keyboards and mice to
extend their life. However, the replacement cost of those devices, including the cost of
having an inventory of such items on hand, may mean that it is cheaper to purchase new
devices rather than extend the life of the existing devices.
Every maintenance issue must be examined from a cost point of view.
Minimise downtime
It is important that preventative maintenance focuses on items that may cause significant
downtime and cost to the business if they were to fail. Such items may include hard disk
drives (HDD) of servers. Should they fail, emergency downtime may occur at a significant
cost to the business. As a result, such devices should be considered high priority in a
maintenance schedule.
Practicality
Preventative maintenance must be practical within the working of a business. If the process
of preventative maintenance causes a major interruption to the daily working of a business,
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the maintenance program will fail. Always try to consider the impact on the users of the
computers when considering a preventative maintenance program.
Meet business needs
Any maintenance program must meet the needs of the business if it is going to be
successful. While this should have been considered when an SLA was written, the
maintenance work must be carried out within the organisation’s guidelines and requirements.
When should tasks be scheduled?
Scheduled maintenance should obviously impact as little as possible on normal business
operations, and should therefore be carried out at periods of low activity, such as during the
night, at weekends or holiday periods. It is possible to carry out many tasks with very little
client awareness or involvement.
If client involvement is required, they should be informed in advance of when they will be
affected, for how long, and how it will impact them. You may need to give them instructions,
such as logging out of their PC, leaving it on, rebooting, and so on.
There are some useful operating system or third-party tools which allow maintenance tasks
to be automatically scheduled. This is the case with later versions of Windows.
How often should tasks be scheduled?
To determine how frequently maintenance tasks should be done, you should first refer to the
types of documentation mentioned earlier in this topic. The preventative maintenance
strategies in place would also help determine the frequency of tasks. You should also bear in
mind the principles listed above. However, if your organisation is small and you are in the
process of developing your own schedule, you’ll need carry out research and then make
these decisions yourself.
For example, how often should a hard disk be defragmented? You’ll find opinion divided on
this one, as it depends on a number of different factors such as hard disk size, how much
space is on the disk, and how much disk and file activity there is. Suggestions range from
daily, to three monthly! If it can be scheduled to run automatically during a period of non-
activity, a more frequent schedule can do no harm.
Similar decisions need to be made with respect to the scheduling of backups.
What should be recorded?
Scheduling can be a formal process, where preventative maintenance is carefully scheduled
for various business units within the organisation and formally documented and signed off. It
can also be an informal process.
The following should be documented in a preventative maintenance schedule:
1 dates for maintenance to occur
2 business unit/floor/building/computer facilities where the maintenance will occur
3 the IT staff member responsible for completing the maintenance
4 dates for completion
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5 notification that maintenance has been completed
6 comments or notes where problems are detected.
Reporting problems
Your preventative maintenance schedule will occasionally alert you to potential problems.
When this happens, you should be aware of the appropriate person to inform. Your
organisational guidelines and/or service level agreements should indicate who this is. It may
be your supervisor, authorised business representative, external supplier, or client.
Summary Preventative maintenance is an important component of many IT Support positions. A
preventative maintenance program should be a common sense schedule that aims to
provide the regular maintenance required for devices in an IT installation.
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Check your progress - Questions
Activity 1: Identify cost effectiveness of maintenance tasks
Identify the most cost-effective maintenance tasks that you could do as an IT Support person by doing the following activity:
Cost effectiveness
Maintenance tasks are listed in the table below. Each task has listed with it the amount of
time taken to service it, how often that servicing should be done and the replacement cost
of the item.
As an IT Support person (who would perform these maintenance tasks) you are costing the
company $60.00 per hour.
List four of these preventative maintenance tasks under Schedule that you believe are the
most cost effective.
Schedule Maintenance task: Time taken:
(How often)
Repeat every:
Replacement cost of item protected:
Keyboard cleaning 15
minutes
Month $25
Mouse cleaning 10
minutes
Fortnight $15
File server system log 5 minutes Week $5000
Floppy disk drive
cleaning
5 minutes Week $15
Tape drive cleaning 20
minutes
Fortnight $4000
Backup software
media error log
5 minutes Each backup $10
Monitor cleaning 5 minutes Week $500
Installing surge
protection on
computers
5 minutes Once $1000 to
$5000
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Activity 2: Determine the maintenance time for a device
Identify a printer you have access to and check the original documentation of the device — for the recommended periodic maintenance procedures. If the original documentation is not available, use the manufacture’s website to access a copy of this documentation.
List each preventative maintenance procedure, estimate the time taken to complete each task and identify how often the task should be repeated. Use this to calculate the maintenance time required for this device on a yearly basis.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Activity 3: Investigate Windows Backup
If you are using a Windows computer, investigate the version of Windows Backup on your machine. It will usually be located as one of the system tools in the Accessories group. Try
the following:
Learn about the software using the Help available, and browse the various sections.
Try carrying out a variety of backup types.
Create one or two backup files
Move some unwanted files into a folder, back up the folder, then delete it. See whether you can restore the folder from your backup.
Activity 4: Investigate software maintenance tools
1. Locate any software maintenance tools available on the computer you are using. Look for tools such as:
a. Disk defragmenter
b. Disk cleanup
c. Virus scanning software
d. Disk checking software.
2. Download software maintenance and diagnostic tools from the Internet, using a site such as Download.com at: http://www.download.com/
Investigate these tools using any instructions or Help available, and try them out on your computer.
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Activity 5: Check your computer’s vulnerability
If using a Windows system:
1. Check your System Properties in the Control Panel. Look at the version of the
operating system you are using, and any service pack that may be installed. Do you have the latest service pack? Do you know whether you have the latest service pack installed?
2. Depending on your version of Windows, also have a look at the ‘Automatic updates’ facility. Investigate it further using the Windows help or the online support site.
3. Use the free tool on the Symantec website to check your home computer’s vulnerability: visit http://security.symantec.com and follow the appropriate links.
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Check your progress - Answers
Activity 1: Identify cost effectiveness of maintenance tasks
While it is not possible with the information provided to complete a full cost benefit analysis,
you should be able to identify the four most cost effective items to maintain (versus
replacement). Many of the most labour intensive items (to maintain) have the lowest
replacement cost and so are the least cost effective.
Schedule Maintenance task:
Time taken:
(How often)
Repeat every:
Replacement cost of item protected:
File server
system log
Keyboard
cleaning
15 minutes Month $25
Tape drive
cleaning
Mouse
cleaning
10 minutes Fortnight $15
Backup
software media
error log
File server
system log
5 minutes Week $5000
Installing surge
protection on
computers
Floppy disk
cleaning
5 minutes Week $15
Tape drive
cleaning
20 minutes Fortnight $4000
Backup
software
media error
log
5 minutes Each backup $10
Monitor
Cleaning
5 minutes Week $500
Installing
surge
protection on
computers
5 minutes Once $1000 to
$5000
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Activity 2: Determine the maintenance time for a device
The purpose of this activity is to start you thinking about the ongoing time commitment to a device once it is installed in the workplace.
Activity 3: Investigate Windows Backup
You have probably been introduced to backup software before, but this activity should be a useful revision exercise for you. In particular, you need to make sure that you can restore files from a backup, otherwise there is very little point in doing it!
Activity 4: Investigate software maintenance tools
Use caution with any tools you download. Make sure you read instructions thoroughly, checking the requirements of the software. You don’t want to do the opposite of what you are trying to achieve by damaging your computer system!
Research
For resources that relate to your computer’s operating system you can:
search manufacturer’s and/or vendor’s websites
find textbooks specialising in the configuration of your chosen operating system (in libraries and at booksellers)
access the original documentation that came with the system you are using.
For device-specific maintenance information:
access the original documentation that came with the device
access the support sections of the manufacturer’s website.
Note that many forms of device documentation may refer to preventative maintenance as either ‘periodic maintenance’ or simply as ‘maintenance’.
Preventative maintenance and diagnostic testing
Books on A+ Certification are a useful source for information on these topics, and you’re likely to find plenty of information on the Web a well. Below are a few suggestions. Home page links are provided — you’ll have to use the site’s search tool to look for specific information on preventative (or preventive, as it’s often called maintenance.
Tech Republic
This is comprehensive source of information on computer related technical issues: http://techrepublic.com
Windows IT Library
http://www.windowsitlibrary.com
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PCGuide
This site has a comprehensive section titled ‘System Care Guide’: http://www.pcguide.com/
Diagnostic utilities
Download.com
Browse this site for a range of preventative maintenance utility software — utilities, drivers, anti-spyware, and so on: http://www.download.com/
Information on security and threats
Apart from the few suggestions made below, visit the home pages for popular virus protection software such as Symantec anti-virus, McAffee, Sophos, Vet and so on.
Microsoft Support Centre
Comprehensive support site for Microsoft products. Navigate to the Security Help section for guidance and support on security issues: http://www.support.microsoft.com/
Computer active
This site boasts ‘simple, clear advice’ on all aspects of computing. There is a section titled ‘A guide to Microsoft.com’ which is a guide to finding what you want on the Microsoft support websites: http://www.computeractive.co.uk/
a-squared
This is a useful source of information on security threats. It is a commercial software site, but does have some well written and concise information on security. Look for the topic: ‘Security-Guide – The Basics’: http://www.emsisoft.com/en/
Windows update
To install items from Windows Update, you must be logged on as an Administrator or a member of the Administrators group. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
Online dictionaries
It is always useful to have a link to a good PC dictionary. For example:
http://www.webopedia.com
http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia
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Terms
Booting derives from the ‘Boot Strap Code’ that referred to a small piece of programming code built into computers that instructed the machine on what to do when turned on; booting now generally refers to the processes automatically attempted when power is provided to a computer
Conditioner, Power a device which reforms the quality of mains electrical power entering the building; it can be very useful in prolonging the life of electrical devices such as power supplies
Device any piece of hardware attached to a computer system; it normally has a corresponding piece of software called a driver
Driver a piece of software written to be a ‘go-between’ the operating system and the hardware device; normally has a revision number or date that allows you to find updated versions of the software
FDD normally refers to a 3.5 inch floppy disk drive found on most PC systems
HDD the hard disk drive of a computer system; normally based on the IDE interface, but may also be based on SCSI or USB interfaces
IDE Integrated Drive Electronics; this is the most common, but not the only, way of attaching a hard disk to your system; it is the default drive interface on most PC systems; other interfaces for drives include SATA, SCSI and USB
Motherboard the main system board of a computer; holds input/output interfaces, the CPU and the BIOS/CMOS system
POST Power On Self Test; an in-built diagnostic program that is run when a device is turned on; it will often report errors as flashing lights or beeps, depending upon the device; most computing devices have a POST procedure
RAM main system memory known as Random Access Memory
SLA Service Level Agreement; a contract between a client who requires a service and a service provider; in the IT industry, SLAs are a common occurrence as they define the obligations of the service provider and the value of that service to the client
Surge protector a device that is designed to protect a device from peaks of over-voltage; normally plugged into a power point and then the device is plugged into it; the surge protector is often damaged in the process of protecting the device from a power surge
UPS Un-interruptable Power Supply; a device used to provide short term power in the event of a blackout; the capacity of a UPS must be carefully matched to the power requirements of the systems attached to it
USB Universal Serial Bus; a common interface used for connecting a range of devices to the motherboard
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Check your understanding - Questions
Do you think you already have the knowledge covered in this topic? Try and answer the following questions to check your understanding.
Question 1
SLA stands for:
A. Synchronous language algorithm B. Service level agreement C. Standard language acronym D. Serial line authentication.
Question 2
A preventative maintenance program is used by a business to:
A. Extend the warranty on equipment purchased. B. Gain extra performance from a piece of equipment C. Ensure that a piece of equipment meets their needs D. Maximise the life of equipment in a cost effective manner
Question 3
Answer true or false for the following statement.
An un-interruptible power supply (UPS) does not form part of a preventative maintenance
program.
Question 4
Answer true or false for the following statement.
The protecting environment that a computer works in should be part of a preventative
maintenance program.
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Check your understanding - Answers
Question 1
B: SLA stands for ‘service level agreement’.
Question 2
D: A preventative maintenance program is used by a business to maximise the life of equipment in a cost effective manner.
Question 3
False: This is a false statement. An un-interruptible power supply (UPS) does form part of a preventative maintenance program.
Question 4
True: This is a true statement. The protecting environment that a computer works in should
be part of a preventative maintenance program.