ITT 05202 - SERVER MAINTANANCE AND REPAIR

Assignment Two

Explain in details with example on the following:

i. Concept of Software Maintenance

Software Maintenance is the process of modifying a software

product after it has been delivered to the customer. The main
purpose of software maintenance is to modify and update software
application after delivery to correct faults and to improve
performance.

Need for Maintenance –

Software Maintenance must be performed in order to:

 Correct faults.
 Improve the design.
 Implement enhancements.
 Interface with other systems.
 Accommodate programs so that different hardware, software,
system features, and telecommunications facilities can be
used.
 Migrate legacy software.
 Retire software.

Categories/types of Software Maintenance –

Maintenance can be divided into the following:

a) Corrective maintenance:
Corrective maintenance of a software product may be essential
either to rectify some bugs observed while the system is in use, or
to enhance the performance of the system.

b) Adaptive maintenance:
This includes modifications and updations when the customers
need the product to run on new platforms, on new operating
systems, or when they need the product to interface with new
hardware and software.

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 c) Perfective maintenance:
A software product needs maintenance to support the new features
that the users want or to change different types of functionalities of
the system according to the customer demands.

d) Preventive maintenance:
This type of maintenance includes modifications and updations to
prevent future problems of the software. It goals to attend
problems, which are not significant at this moment but may cause
serious issues in future.

ii. How to Plan for Software/Hardware Maintenance

Software Maintenance

o Identification & Tracing

- It involves activities pertaining to identification of
requirement of modification or maintenance. It is generated
by user or system may itself report via logs or error
messages. Here, the maintenance type is classified also.

o Analysis
- The modification is analyzed for its impact on the system
including safety and security implications. If probable impact is
severe, alternative solution is looked for. A set of required
modifications is then materialized into requirement specifications.
The cost of modification/maintenance is analyzed and estimation is
concluded.

o Design
- New modules, which need to be replaced or modified, are
designed against requirement specifications set in the previous
stage. Test cases are created for validation and verification.

o Implementation
- The new modules are coded with the help of structured design
created in the design step. Every programmer is expected to do
unit testing in parallel.

o System Testing

- Integration testing is done among newly created modules.

Integration testing is also carried out between new modules and
the system. Finally, the system is tested as a whole, following
regressive testing procedures.

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 o Acceptance Testing
- After testing the system internally, it is tested for acceptance
with the help of users. If at this state, user complaints some issues
they are addressed or noted to address in next iteration.

o Delivery
- After acceptance test, the system is deployed all over the
organization either by small update package or fresh installation
of the system. The final testing takes place at client end after
the software is delivered.

Training facility is provided if required, in addition to the hard copy

of user manual.

o Maintenance management
- Configuration management is an essential part of system
maintenance. It is aided with version control tools to control
versions, semi-version or patch management.

Hardware Maintenance

1. Start keeping track of warranties

Carefully identifying which systems are on their initial warranty,
when those support plans run out, which solutions are covered by
an OEM extended warranty, those termination times, what
infrastructure is supported by a third party and what the details of
those plans are is integral to getting off to a good start in managing
maintenance plans. IT managers who want to establish effective
maintenance plans need to make sure they are able to effectively
track when systems go off of different warranty types and make
sure they have a solution in place for the next support contract.

Managing warranties can be overwhelming, but some third-party

hardware maintenance providers offer specialized services in
helping clients handle warranties and avoid a gap in service.

2. Make sure you understand all of your support options

Third-party hardware maintenance services are still relatively
young in the marketplace, and different alternatives to the OEMs
are emerging to meet industry requirements. However, many IT
managers are not familiar with all of their support options because
OEMs tend to make arguments that sound like any alternatives
will not be able to get the job done. This is not the case, however,

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 as third-party specialists are often able to offer benefits that OEMs
cannot match. Understanding the current alternative support
options, and keeping track of the market moving forward, is key for
IT leaders trying to make effective support plans.

3. Take a close look at the budget

Most IT budgets are split between capital and operational
expenses, but maintenance issues touch on both areas. On one
hand, a decision to not support systems and refresh hardware
creates considerable new capital costs. On the other, turning to
extended support plans creates more operational fees to deal with.
Regardless of which type of support plan IT teams prefer,
understanding the relationship between how maintenance
decisions impact every phase of the budget is critical to ongoing
success.

4. Be ready for unexpected issues to arise

Anytime an IT manager is trying to make plans for hardware that
has reached legacy status, he or she needs to be ready for
surprises. At this stage in a hardware item’s life cycle failure could
happen at any moment and significant changes could become
necessary. Having a hardware maintenance plan in place that is
flexible and adaptable is key.

5. Understand how long hardware can last

Different types of systems have different life cycles. Furthermore,
some individual components are easier to repair or replace than
others. A storage array may be capable of functioning well for 10
years or longer, while a server may be too limiting from a
performance perspective to last longer than four or five. Incredible
variance is possible in this sector, and IT managers can maximize
value if they understand how long systems can be used and
maximize their value.

iii. Software/Hardware Maintenance Schedule

This can be generalized as computer maintenance schedule,
Performing regular preventive maintenance is the key to getting the
most out of machines, only by making regular checks,
measurements and repairs an organization can expect an asset to
be reliable and fulfill its life expectancy.

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 scheduling options for preventive maintenance by providing
different scheduling patterns for recurring maintenance. Whether
you need to perform checks daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, or
even once per 2 weeks or every 3 months
Your entire maintenance schedule is available through a full-
fledged maintenance calendar. You can easily preview your daily,
weekly and monthly maintenance schedule and filter by one or
more employees. You can track maintenance status, type right
there in the calendar and get quick info on individual maintenance
activities in a convenient popup.

iv. Preventive Maintenance.

Preventive maintenance is maintenance that is regularly performed
on a piece of equipment to lessen the likelihood of it failing. It is
performed while the equipment is still working so that it does not
break down unexpectedly. In terms of the complexity of this
maintenance strategy, it falls between reactive (or run-to-failure)
maintenance and predictive maintenance.

Types of preventive maintenance

Preventive maintenance can be scheduled on a time or usage-based
trigger. Let’s look at an example for each.

o Time-based preventive maintenance

A typical example of a time-based preventive maintenance trigger is
a regular inspection on a critical piece of equipment that would
severely impact production in the event of a breakdown.

o Usage-based preventive maintenance

Usage-based triggers fire after a certain number of kilometres,
hours, or production cycles. An example of this trigger is a motor-
vehicle which might be scheduled for service every 10,000km.

Advantages of preventive maintenance

Planning is one of the biggest advantages of a preventive
maintenance program over less harder strategies. Unplanned,
reactive maintenance has many overhead costs that can be avoided
during the planning process. The cost of unplanned maintenance
includes lost production, higher costs for parts and shipping, as

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 well as time lost responding to emergencies and diagnosing faults
while equipment is not working.
Unplanned maintenance typically costs three to nine times more
than planned maintenance. When maintenance is planned, each of
these costs can be reduced. Equipment can be shut down to
coincide with production downtime. Prior to the shutdown, any
required parts, supplies and personnel can be gathered to
minimize the time taken for a repair.
These measures decrease the total cost of the maintenance. Safety
is also improved because equipment breaks down less often than
in less complex strategies.

Disadvantages of preventive maintenance

preventive maintenance requires maintenance planning. This
requires an investment in time and resources that is not required
with less complex maintenance plan.

Maintenance may occur too often with a preventive maintenance

program. Unless, and until the maintenance frequencies are
optimized for minimum maintenance, too much or too little
preventive maintenance will occur.

The impact of preventive maintenance

Preventive maintenance, is regular, planned maintenance that is

scheduled according to usage or time-based triggers. The purpose
of Preventive maintenance is to lessen the likelihood of equipment
breakdowns. There are many instances in which preventive is the
best maintenance strategy to use, and it’s much easier to carry out
a Preventive maintenance strategy with the help of maintenance
software.

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