Overview Traditional computer systems such as mainframes and minis required regular maintenance. Most computer systems today comprise a large number of PCs that require less maintenance. Nevertheless there are maintenance activities that the network administrator should undertake. This topic will help and show you how to do this.
Tark 1: Maintain a systems support log
A systems support log is a record of the maintenance and modifications that have been implemented on a computer unit. Maintaining a systems support log is an important task in supporting computer systems in the workplace. While it can be easily overlooked at the time, the value of a systems support log in the future cannot be under estimated. The reality of most technology installations is that they are constantly being modified to meet the needs of the business, and records of this activity can prove to be invaluable.
Activity 1: Understand the role of a systems support log
Q: Sort the following features of system support logs into two categories: Essential features and Optional features.
Features
An Access database
Be secure so only authorised users access it
Clear and specific about the data to be recorded
Designed to meet the needs of a system
Easy to use
Located on the disk of the computer in question
Meet the requirements of a business
Provide Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) details
A: This followed table shows the dividing of system support logs into two categories: Essential features and Optional features.
Activity 2: Report problems
"Today is the 25/5/2005. As a Computer Support Officer, you are called to a computer system (PC34), which is run by Brian from the Advertising Unit. On the 23/5/2005 Brian reported that the computer had very slow performance whenever he printed to Printer PR14 from Word. He has reported a number of printing problems in the past that it was not possible to verify."
Answer the following questions about how you would report the problem on a systems support log. Focus on the most correct and detailed description of what is happening.
Q1: What date would you enter?
A1: Today’s date
Q2: What would you enter in the maintenance performed on field?
A2: PC34
Q3: What Problem description would you record?
A3: Computer slows when printing to PR14 from PC34 using word
Q4: What solution would you record?
A4: Checked printer connections, queue and updated driver. Tested and does not appear to slow down PC.
Tark 2: Maintain inventory of Information Technology resources
It is important that a business is aware of the resources it owns, its legal right to use them as well as having an insight into the spare components that are available. Inventory control is, therefore, a very important function of any business or even an individual. What is an inventory then? It is basically a detailed list of items.
Activity 1: Identify hardware inventory details
"Your employer has decided to utilise wireless communications in the head office to maximise the portability of laptop computers being used. The wireless access point device chosen is the Netcomm NP5400.""
Q: Suggest the fields that will be required to adequately detail an inventory for this device.
A: The fields required might look like this.
Asset Number Description Serial Number Network name Model number MAC address Manufacturer Password Firmware version No. WEP key (Wired Equivalent Privacyl) Supplier Supported protocols Warranty Web Address
Activity 2: Enter details of a software item
The following product needs to be entered as a new entry into the inventory database application SerialReg.
Software name: Gettum Graphics
Manufacturer: Supersoft Australia
Product key: 245673-56435-5643FD-54RRY
Use this screen shot of SerialReg to enter details of the product into the database.
Activity 3: Retrieve and add data
For this activity you can base your response on an actual database you have access to, or propose a solution based on the SerialReg database discussed in the Reading section of this Learning Pack.
You are to retrieve the listing for the following and add data where necessary to maintain an updated entry in a database inventory. The details are as follows:
The actual policy for how data is retrieved will be found in any related organisational guidelines. In this instance, the guideline is that inventory data may be encrypted for security.
Q: Write down the steps you have (or would) follow to retrieve and update this entry in an inventory database.
A: Using the ‘Find’ menu item to locate the data for retrieval, or did you need to print a report?
The Options menu has a Find utility to retrieve data as well as the Encrypt utility to encrypt the database for security. To decrypt data you select the Decrypt option and have the choice of decrypting a single record or the entire inventory database. See Figure 1 and Figure 2 below.
Figure 1: The Find utility and the Encrypt utility
Figure 2: Select Decrypt option to decrypt data
Key Terms
Asset register: usually a database, similar to an inventory, where more expensive items are listed, items such as laser printers, servers, automobiles etc.
Business requirements: business needs related to the goals of a businessCSO an acronym for ‘computer systems officer’, a person whose job is to support users and maintain computer systems
IT: an acronym for information technology, the industry sector that installs, configures and supports computer-based systems
Maintenance log: a collection of information about each instance of maintenance work carried out on a computer system
Maintenance task: work (usually done by a CSO) on a device to solve or prevent a serious problem
MSIA: Microsoft Software Inventory Analyser, a tool that scans and analyses the inventory of Microsoft products installed on machines; results of the scan are generated in the form of reports
SAM: Software Asset Management, it protects an organisation's software by helping it to recognise what it has got, where it's running, and any licensing overlap
One common problem is older PHP code using the mysql_ functions to access the database directly. Listing 1 shows how to access the database directly.
Listing 1. Access/get.phpNotice the use of the mysql_connect function to access the database. Also notice the query in which we use string concatenation to add the $name parameter to the query.
This technique has two good alternatives: the PEAR DB module and the PHP Data Objects (PDO) classes. Both provide abstraction from the choice of a particular database. Therefore, your code can run without too much adjustment on IBM® DB2®, MySQL, PostgreSQL, or any other database you want to connect to.
The other value in using the abstraction layers of the PEAR DB module and PDO is that you can use the ? operator in your SQL statements. Doing so makes the SQL easier to maintain and secures your application from SQL injection attacks.
The alternative code using PEAR DB is shown below.
Listing 2. Access/get_good.phpNotice that all direct mentions of MySQL are gone except for the database connection string in $dsn. In addition, we use the $name variable in the SQL through the ? operator. Then, the data for the query is sent in through array at the end of the query() method.
Like most modern databases, MySQL has the ability to create auto-incrementing unique identifiers on a per-record basis. Despite that, we still see code that first runs a SELECT statement to find the maximum id, then adds one to that id, as well as a new record.
The id field here is specified simply as an integer. So, although it should be unique, we can add any value we like, as shown in the INSERT statements that follow the CREATE statement. Listing 4 shows the PHP code that adds users into this type of schema.
Listing 4. Add_user.phpThe code in add_user.php first performs a query to find the maximum value of the id. Then the file runs an INSERT statement with the id value plus one. This code could fail in race conditions on servers with a heavy load. Plus, it's just inefficient.
So what's the alternative? Use the auto-increment feature in MySQL to create unique IDs for each insertion automatically. The updated schema is shown below.
We added the NOT NULL flag to indicate that the fields must not be null. We also added the AUTO_INCREMENT flag to indicate that the field is auto-incrementing, as well as the PRIMARY KEY flag to indicate which field is an id. These changes speed things up a bit. Listing 6 shows the updated PHP code that inserts users into the table.
Listing 6. Add_user_good.phpInstead of getting the maximum id value, I now just use the INSERT statement to insert the data, then use a SELECT statement to retrieve the id of the last inserted record. This code is a lot simpler and more efficient than the original version and its related schema.
An alternative to using MySQL's auto-increment functionality is to use the nextId() method in the PEAR DB system. In the case of MySQL, this creates a new sequence table and manages that using an elaborate locking mechanism. The advantage of using this method is that it will work across different database systems.
Either way, you should use a system that manages incrementing unique IDs for you and not rely on a system where you query first, then increment the value yourself, and add the record. The latter approach is susceptible to race conditions on high-volume sites.
Once in a while, we see an application in which each table is in a separate database. There are reasons for doing that in extraordinarily large databases, but for an average application, you don't need this level of segmentation. In addition, even though it's possible to perform relation queries across multiple databases, I strongly recommend against it. The syntax is more complex. Backup and restore is not easily managed. The syntax may or may not work between different database engines. And it's difficult to follow the relational structure when the tables are split over multiple databases.
So, what would multiple databases look like? To begin, you need some data. Listing 7 shows this data divided into four files.
Listing 7. The database files In the multiple-database version of these files, you would load SQL statements into one database, then load the users SQL statements into another database. The PHP code to query the database for the files associated with a particular user is shown below.
Listing 8. Getfiles.phpThe get_user function connects to the database that contains the users table and retrieves the ID for a given user. The get_files function connects to the files table and retrieves the file rows associated with the given user.
A better way to do all this is to load the data into one database, then perform a query, such as that shown below.
Listing 9. Getfiles_good.phpThis code is not only shorter but it's also easier to understand and more efficient. Instead of performing two queries, we're performing one.
While this problem sounds a bit far-fetched, we've seen it in practice enough times to know that all tables should be in the same database unless there's a pressing reason otherwise.
Relational databases aren't like programming languages. They don't have array types. Instead, they use relations among tables to create a one-to-many structure between objects, which has the same effect as an array. One problem I've seen with applications is when engineers attempt to use a database as though it were a programming language, creating arrays by using text strings with comma-separated identifiers. Look at the schema below.
Listing 10. Bad.sqlOne user in the system can have multiple files. In a programming language, you would use an array to represent the files associated with a user. In this example, the programmer chose to create a files field containing a list of file ids separated by commas. To get a list of all the files for a particular user, the programmer must first read the row from the users table, then parse the file's text and run an individual SELECT statement for each file. This code is shown below.
Listing 11. Get.phpThis technique is slow, difficult to maintain, and doesn't make good use of the database. The only solution is to re-architect the schema to turn it back into a traditional relational form, as shown below.
Listing 12. Good.sqlHere, each file is related to the user through the user_id function in the file table. This probably seems backwards to anyone looking at this as an array. Certainly, arrays don't reference their containing objects -- in fact, just the opposite. But in a relational database, this is how things work and why queries are so much faster and easier. Listing 13 shows the corresponding PHP code.
Listing 13. Get_good.php Here, we make one query to the database to get all the rows. The code isn't complex, and it uses the database as it was intended.
I can't tell you how many times we've seen large applications in which the code first retrieves a list of entities -- say, customers -- then comes back and retrieves them one by one to get the details for each entity. We call it the n+1 pattern because that's how many queries will be performed -- one query to retrieve the list of all the entities, then one query for each of the n entities. This isn't a problem when n=10, but what about when n=100 or n=1000? Then the inefficiency really kicks in. Listing 14 shows an example of such a schema.
Listing 14. Schema.sql This schema is solid. There's nothing wrong here. The problem is in the code that accesses the database to find all the books for a given author, as shown below.
If you look at the code at the bottom, you are likely to think to yourself, "Hey, this is really clean." First, get the author id, then get a list of the books, then get information about each book. Sure, it's clean -- but is it efficient? No. Look at how many queries we had to perform to retrieve only the books by Jack Herrington. One to get an id, another to get the list of books, then one for each book. Five queries for three books!
The solution is to have one function that performs one bulk query, as shown below.
Listing 16. Get_good.phpNow retrieving the list requires a fast, single query. It means that I will likely have to have several of these types of methods with different parameters, but there really is no choice. If you want to have a PHP application that scales, you must make efficient use of the database, and that means smarter queries.
The problem with this example is that it's a bit too clear-cut. Typically, these types of n+1 or n*n problems are much more subtle. And they only appear when the database administrator runs a query profiler on your system when it has performance problems.
Activity 2 For Database Administrators T-SQL is the place to start to learn specifically the ‘flavour’ of SQL that Microsoft uses.
1.A good place to start is with SQL Server 2005 Books Online.
Learning to program in T-SQL is like learning the slightly different ways T-SQL expresses statements as opposed to other versions of SQL. The only thing you need to do is to learn the different syntax rules for T-SQL and or any other differences in development environments and the SQL 2005 editor (SSMS).
To begin take a look at this reference via Help in SSMS.
Click on Help in SSMS to get to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 – M/S Document Explorer.
Click on the Plus sign to open ‘SQL Server 2005 Books Online’
Click on the Plus sign to open ‘SQL Server Language Reference’
Click on ‘Transaction SQL Reference’ and begin reading
Print Off ‘Transaction-SQL Syntax Conventions’ and use this as a Reference every time you look at ‘SQL Server 2005 Books Online’ these are the conventions used to display the SQL code and rules.
2.The SQL Server Management Studio design can be customized to your personal preference and work requirements. Open SSMS from the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 shortcut from the Start menu
The following are best practices for using the Management Studio workspace efficiently:
*Close windows you do not expect to use right away.
*If the tool you want is not visible, select it from the View menu.
*Use Auto Hide to provide more room in the environment layout.
3. Do a search on “Logical Database Design for Performance” in SQL Server On Line Books 2005. (Look for the topic ‘Normalization’)
What are some of the topics and what do they relate to? Do they talk about the performance problems you saw last week when you searched the Internet?
It may be a good idea to print off the topic on Normalization. Any others?
Considerations in Design for Performance :
Are there large tables? Increase the number of users that can access this large table.
Use an additional column for aggregated or summary information, say for reporting.
Databases can be over-normalised, demoralizing the database slightly to simplify complex processes can improve performance.
Activities 4 Managing indexes (Advanced)
1. Partition & Allocation unit example
The following example returns partition and allocation unit data for two tables: DatabaseLog, a heap with LOB (Large objects) data and no nonclustered indexes, and Currency, a clustered table without LOB data and one nonclustered index. Both tables have a single partition.
Here is the result set. Notice that the DatabaseLog table uses all three allocation unit types, because it contains both data and Text/Image page types. The Currency table does not have LOB data, but does have the allocation unit required to manage data pages. If the Currency table is later modified to include a LOB data type column, a LOB_DATA allocation unit is created to manage that data.
2. creating a simple nonclustered index
The following example creates a nonclustered index on the VendorID column of the Purchasing.ProductVendor table.
1. After complete this unit, student must be able to review change request
collect and review fault details from various sources
obtain technical data from various sources
clarify nature of change with client
2. After complete this unit, student must be able to modify the system to accept changes
review changes against business requirements
design, code and document changes according to standards, if hardware change then it is installed according to manufacturer's specification
revise technical documentation to reflect change
test and finalise system changes
3. After complete this unit, student must be able to meet training requirements
users are shown how to use the changed system
change management training is supplied
4. After complete this unit, student must be able to complete an evaluation of the change status
determine system effectiveness to identify need for replacement rather than maintenance
make recommendations of system effectiveness
5. After complete this unit, student must be able to implement changes
develop a backup plan to ensure business continuity during implementation
update training materials and training requirements
review technical requirements to facilitate acceptance of changes into production
introduce changes into production in accordance with business requirements
complete and update change requests and other documentation
Change management is a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams and organisatins from a current state to a desired future state. Change management (or change control) is the process during which the changes of a system are implemented in a controlled manner by following a pre-defined framework/model with, to some extent, reasonable modifications
Change Management in IT is an IT Service Management discipline. The objective of Change Management in this context is to ensure that standardized methods and procedures are used for efficient and prompt handling of all changes to controlled IT infrastructure, in order to minimize the number and impact of any related incidents upon service. Changes in the IT infrastructure may arise reactively in response to problems or externally imposed requirements, e.g. legislative changes, or proactively from seeking improved efficiency and effectiveness or to enable or reflect business initiatives, or from programs, projects or service improvement initiatives. Change Management can ensure standardized methods, processes and procedures are used for all changes, facilitate efficient and prompt handling of all changes, and maintain the proper balance between the need for change and the potential detrimental impact of changes.
Review change requests
1. Receive and document requests for hardware and software changes, utilising a change management system and according to organisational help desk procedures
2. Gather and organise system data relevant to the change requests, using available diagnostic tools
3. Review the proposed changes against current and future business requirements and examine the system data, with work team, in order to select appropriate changes to be carried out
4. Discuss and clarify the selected changes with client
Modify system according to requested changes
1. Develop a plan, with prioritised tasks and contingency arrangements, for modification of the system
2. Undertake the selected system changes according to organisational guidelines and procedures and in accordance with manufacturer recommendations
3. Test the system changes for performance and identify problems
4. Resolve identified problems
5. Revise relevant client and technical documentation to reflect system changes according to organisational standards
6. Notify client of status of change and update change management system, as per organisational help desk procedures
ProjectTrack 2007 - Personal Edition Overview
The Personal Edition of ProjectTrack is targeted to anyone that needs to manage projects in a single user environment.
ProjectTrack compliments applications such as MS Project, but does not replace them. Rather than a planning tool, ProjectTrack is a program to help you execute your plan; saving you time with all the administrative work that surrounds projects.
For example, if you use a spreadsheet or word processor to keep track of action items (to-dos), issues, milestones, etc. You can use ProjectTrack to keep track of all those items from a single location. You can have multiple companies and projects, each one of them with its own set of information. But keeping track of things is not all you can do with ProjectTrack. Most projects generate documents that need to be easily accessible. They can be linked directly to the project, saving time and stress searching. What about looking for a document related to a project that was finished some time ago? With ProjectTrack, the document can remain linked for easy access.
ProjectTrack also has a Document Management System; simple, but powerful.
With ProjectTrack you can catalog all of your documents. Once a document is attached to ProjectTrack, you can search for it using a multitude of parameters, and the results display immediately. You still need to save the documents someplace in your computer or network, but once ProjectTrack is linked to them, you will not ever need to remember where you put them.
Activity 3
Your Helpdesk has received a variety of calls on the OKI C110 printers.
Many of these calls require a hardware service from an OKI technician. Although at present these printers are still under warranty, the delays in getting a technician are causing inconvenience and aggravation amongst your users.
Other OKI C110 printers do not seem to cause problems - -one is working quite well for the Director of the Information Technology Department. Yet the one in the Human Resources section has had five calls requiring technical assistance in the past seven weeks.
The organisation has 45 of these printers, which were bought as a cheaper alternative to the Hewlett Packard photosmart C6380, which had been the organisation standard until this year.
Q: Investigate both printers, including their price, consumables, warranty conditions and throughput. Produce a recommendation for your manager Lothar Voigt about the OKI printers.
A:Referring to table bellowing, the HP C6380 is will be better than Oki c110 because of by the same amount of consumables and warranty but HP C6380 is a bit cheaper.
Activity 4
Activity 4.1 By reserching on the web, find the mission statements of
4.1a: A profit making organisation
A: A mission statement is a brief description of a company's fundamental purpose. A mission statement answers the question, "Why do we exist?"
The mission statement articulates the company's purpose both for those in the organization and for the public.
For instance, the mission statement of Canadian Tire reads (in part): “Canadian Tire is a growing network of interrelated businesses... Canadian Tire continuously strives to meet the needs of its customers for total value by offering a unique package of location, price, service and assortment.”
The mission statement of Rivercorp, business development consultants in Campbell River, B.C., is: “To provide one stop progressive economic development services through partnerships on behalf of shareholders and the community.”
As you see from these two mission statement samples, mission statements are as varied as the companies they describe. However, all mission statements will "broadly describe an organization's present capabilities, customer focus, activities, and business makeup" (Glossary, Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases by Fred David).
4.1b: A non-profit making organisation
A:A Non-profit making organisations are also known as 'not for profit' organisations and this is the name we give them simply because they want to do something or provide something rather than make more and more money.
What kind of organisations are we talking about that just want to do something rather than making money? Well, is there a Youth club near you? Or a Garden Society? Or a Working Men's Club? They are probably examples of non-profit making organisations. Here's a bigger list!
Associations
Clubs
Societies
Unions
Charities
Universities
Churches
Activity 4.2 Produce a set of instructions for installing the following
4.2a: Hewllet Packard Laserjet 5100
Go to Start> Printers and Faxes. Then you will see the list of printers which are installed on your PC.
Double-click on the icon 'Add Printer'.
Click on 'Next'
The option "A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer" is automatically checked.
Click on 'Next' and you will see following three possibilities to add a printer: 1) find a printer in the directory, 2) connect to this printer, 3) Connect to printer on the internet or...(greved out)
If you know the name or location of the printer, fill it in and press 'Find Now'. (This limits the number of matches).
If you do not know the name and/or location, leave all fields blank and press 'Find Now'.
Select the correct printer and press 'OK'.
Choose whether you want to install the printer as default printer or not and press 'Next'.
4.2b Windows XP
A: This procedure demonstrates how to install Windows XP Professional. The procedure to install Windows XP home edition is very similar to the professional edition. Since Windows XP Pro is more advanced operating system, it will be used to demonstrate the installation procedure.
All versions of Windows XP CD are bootable. In order to boot from CD/DVD-ROM you need to set the boot sequence. Look for the boot sequence under your BIOS setup and make sure that the first boot device is set to CD/DVD-ROM. You can then perform the following steps to install Windows XP:
Step 1 - Start your PC and place your Windows XP CD in your CD/DVD-ROM drive. Your PC should automatically detect the CD and you will get a message saying "Press any key to boot from CD".
Step 2 - At this stage it will ask you to press F6 if you want to install a third party Raid or SCSI driver. If you are using a an IDE Hard Drive then you do not need to press F6. If you are using a SCSI or SATA Hard drive then you must press F6 otherwise Windows will not detect your Hard Drive during the installation. Please make sure you have the Raid drivers on a floppy disk. Normally the drivers are supplied on a CD which you can copy to a floppy disk ready to be installed. If you are not sure how to do this then please read your motherboard manuals for more information.
Step 3 - Press S to Specify that you want to install additional device.
Step 4 - You will be asked to insert the floppy disk with the Raid or SCSI drivers. Press enter after you have inserted the disk.
Step 5 - You will see a list of Raid drivers for your HDD. Select the correct driver for your device and press enter.
Step 6 - You will then get a Windows XP Professional Setup screen. You have the option to do a new Windows install, Repair previous install or quit. Since we are doing a new install we just press Enter to continue.
Step 7 - You will be presented with the End User Licensing Agreement. Press F8 to accept and continue
Step 8 - This step is very important. Here we will create the partition where Windows will be installed. In our case the drive size is 8190MB. We can choose to install Windows in this drive without creating a partition, hence use the entire size of the drive. If you wish to do this you can just press enter and Windows will automatically partition and format the drive as one large drive.
However for this demonstration I will create two partition. The first partition will be 6000MB (C: drive) and second partition would be 2180MB (E: drive). By creating two partition we can have one which stores Windows and Applications and the other which stores our data. So in the future if anything goes wrong with our Windows install such as virus or spyware we can re-install Windows on C: drive and our data on E: drive will not be touched. Please note you can choose whatever size partition your like. For example if you have 500GB hard drive you can have two partition of 250GB each.
Press C to create a partition.
Step 8 - Windows will show the total size of the hard drive and ask you how much you want to allocate for the partition you are about to create. I will choose 6000MB. You will then get the screen below. Notice it shows C: Partition 1 followed by the size 6000 MB. This indicates the partition has been created. We still have an unpartitioned space of 2189MB. Next highlight the unpartitioned space by pressing down the arrow key. Then press C to create another partition. You will see the total space available for the new partition. Just choose all the space left over, in our case 2180MB.
Step 9 - Now you will see both partition listed. Partition 1 (C: Drive) 6000MB and Partition 2 (E: Drive) 2180MB. You will also have 8MB of unpartitioned space. Don't worry about that. Just leave it how its is. Windows normally has some unpartitioned space. You might wonder what happened to D: drive. Windows has automatically allocated D: drive to CD/DVD-ROM.
Select Partition 1 (C: Drive) and press Enter.
Step 10 - Choose format the partition using NTFS file system.This is the recommended file system. If the hard drive has been formatted before then you can choose quick NTFS format. We chose NTFS because it offers many security features, supports larger drive size, and bigger size files.
Windows will now start formatting drive C: and start copying setup files
Step 11 - After the setup has completed copying the files the computer will restart. Leave the XP CD in the drive but this time DO NOT press any key when the message "Press any key to boot from CD" is displayed. In few seconds setup will continue. Windows XP Setup wizard will guide you through the setup process of gathering information about your computer.
Step 12 - Choose your region and language.
Step 13 - Type in your name and organization.
Step 14. Enter your product key.
Step 15 - Name the computer, and enter an Administrator password. Don't forget to write down your Administrator password.
Step 16 - Enter the correct date, time and choose your time zone.
Step 17 - For the network setting choose typical and press next.
Step 18 - Choose workgroup or domain name. If you are not a member of a domain then leave the default settings and press next. Windows will restart again and adjust the display.
Step 19 - Finally Windows will start and present you with a Welcome screen. Click next to continue.
Step 20 - Choose 'help protect my PC by turning on automatic updates now' and press next.
Step 21 - Will this computer connect to the internet directly, or through a network? If you are connected to a router or LAN then choose: 'Yes, this computer will connect through a local area network or home network'. If you have dial up modem choose: 'No, this computer will connect directly to the internet'. Then click Next.
Step 22 - Ready to activate Windows? Choose yes if you wish to active Windows over the internet now. Choose no if you want to activate Windows at a later stage.
Step 23 - Add users that will sign on to this computer and click next.
Step 24 - You will get a Thank you screen to confirm setup is complete. Click finish.
Step 25. Log in, to your PC for the first time.
Step 26 - You now need to check the device manager to confirm that all the drivers has been loaded or if there are any conflicts. From the start menu select Start -> Settings -> Control Panel. Click on the System icon and then from the System Properties window select the Hardware tab, then click on Device Manager.
If there are any yellow exclamation mark "!" next to any of the listed device, it means that no drivers or incorrect drivers has been loaded for that device. In our case we have a Video Controller (VGA card) which has no drivers installed.
Your hardware should come with manufacturer supplied drivers. You need to install these drivers using the automatic setup program provided by the manufacturer or you need to manually install these drivers. If you do not have the drivers, check the manufacturers website to download them.
To install a driver manually use the following procedure:
(a) From the device manager double click on the device containing the exclamation mark.
(b) This would open a device properties window.
(c) Click on the Driver tab.
(d) Click Update Driver button. The Wizard for updating device driver pops up
You now get two options. The first option provides an automatic search for the required driver. The second option allows you to specify the location of the driver. If you don't know the location of the driver choose the automatic search which would find the required driver from the manufacturer supplied CD or Floppy disk. Windows would install the required driver and may ask you to restart the system for the changes to take affect. Use this procedure to install drivers for all the devices that contain an exclamation mark. Windows is completely setup when there are no more exclamation marks in the device manager.
Activity 5 Answer the following questions about the process described in the Guide.
Q 5.1: How does this process ensure quality in the change?
A: The CCRB, the Requester, and the Implementer perform the PIR. The PIR assesses the following facets of the change process:
The effectiveness of the change made against the original objective
Any planning of outstanding or further actions
Determination of whether all documentation and change requests have been updated
Any breakdowns in the process
PIR comments are recorded in the change request, including whether the change was successful or unsuccessful.
All requests (including cancellations) will be retained in a central repository for audit and knowledge base purposes.
Q5.2: Verify the success of the change?
A: Because of the dynamic of the change environment, it is necessary to constantly monitor the effectiveness of and compliance with the change process. Through the use of reports generated change management and reports generated through audits, periodic refinements can be made to the change process to improve its effectiveness.
Q5.3: Measure the results of the change
A: Reports regarding performance to pre-defined change metric standards such as those mentioned previously as Key Performance Measures, is key to understanding how well change is performed under varying circumstances. This information is the source for determining if change management is performed satisfactorily or requires a process review.Specific metrics and standards are defined during rollout of the change process. Activity 6
Your organisation is planning to remove a variety of colour inkjet printers which are attached to individual PCS, and replace them with two printers:
a networked monochrome laser printer (a Hewlett Packard HP4100N)
AND
a networked colour laser printer (a Hewlett Packard 4550N)
The reasons for doing this have been
costs (it costs more to buy cartridges for all the inkjet printers than 10 toner cartridges for the monochrome laser printer and a full set of 4 colour laser cartridges for the colour laser printer)
quality (the output of the lasers is of a higher quality than that of the inkjets)
speed (the lasers are quicker than the inkjets)
reliability (the lasers have fewer moving parts and are more robust)
Many of your users are unhappy with losing their own personal colour printer.
Q: What are the main issues that you will need to cover in training your users for the new printer configurations?
A: During the training, you will let the user know about the better quality, the faster speed and the reliability of laser printer are much more better than inkjet printers. Then, you might explain to all users about the cost of inkjet cartridges for each printer are more expensive than buy toner cartridges for network laser printer. This is because, some of individual printer are rarely to use colour inkjet but users still need colour ink for their printer just in case. Thus, network laser printers is absolutely right for your organisation.
Key terms
Hardware: May include but is not limited to workstations, personal computers, modems or other connectivity devices, networks, DSL modems, remote sites, servers.
Software: May include but is not limited to commercial, in-house, packaged or customised software.
System: May include but is not limited to the hardware and software components that run a computer.
Requirements: May be in reference to the business, system, application, network or people in the organisation.
Client: May include but is not limited to internal departments, external organisations, individual people and employees.
Organisational guidelines: May include but are not limited to personal use of emails and internet access, content of emails, downloading information and accessing particular websites, opening mail with attachments, virus risk, dispute resolution, document procedures and templates, communication methods and financial control mechanisms.
Technical documentation: May include project specifications, reports, help references, technical manuals, training materials and self-paced tutorials, on-line help, user guides, brochures.
Standards: May include ISO/IEC/AS standards, organisational standards, project standards (for further information refer to the Standards Australia website at: www.standards.com.au).
Documentation: May follow ISO/IEC/AS standards, audit trails, naming standards, version control, project management templates and report writing, maintaining equipment inventory; client training and satisfaction reports.
Help desk procedures: May include:· customer contact centre or general contact point that then consults with a supplier or other technician· customer contact centre staffed by technicians capable of solving problems· real-time on-line support· web-based support.
Notice the use of the mysql_connect function to access the database. Also notice the query in which we use string concatenation to add the $name parameter to the query.
Notice that all direct mentions of MySQL are gone except for the database connection string in $dsn. In addition, we use the $name variable in the SQL through the ? operator. Then, the data for the query is sent in through array at the end of the query() method.
The code in add_user.php first performs a query to find the maximum value of the id. Then the file runs an INSERT statement with the id value plus one. This code could fail in race conditions on servers with a heavy load. Plus, it's just inefficient.
Instead of getting the maximum id value, I now just use the INSERT statement to insert the data, then use a SELECT statement to retrieve the id of the last inserted record. This code is a lot simpler and more efficient than the original version and its related schema. 
