Computer systems are susceptible to failure and this can spell disaster to an organization. A restoration of a failed system is desired as quickly and as accurately as possible. The process leading to restoration of a failed system is troubleshooting. Troubleshooting helps resolve problems ranging from corruption of applications to damage of hardware. The cause of a problem will dictate the approach used in the troubleshooting task. It is important to gather information about the cause of failure in computer systems. Such knowledge guides the troubleshooting process. The book enumerates various causes to failure of computer systems, such as purchase of computers with factory defects, poor system designs, and so on. The book mentions requirements for a troubleshooting task, such as, basic training in the computer system, expertise in the Operating System, having resources to handle the task, relevant and updated documentation, and so on. In this book, the reader will find in-depth information on the preparations recommended for any troubleshooting task.
Selections of some of the occurrences of failure of different computer systems are mentioned. These are in categories of Computer Hardware, Operating Systems, Microsoft Windows utilities, Microsoft Office Applications, Other Applications, Printers, Networks and Internet and Microsoft Active Directory Service. The Author wrote that most occurrences stated in this book are based on calls received from users seeking support on problems registered by their systems. This User Support constitutes any form of assistance offered to a computer user but not limited to the malfunction of the computer system. At times, a user calls seeking clarification on the functionality of a particular system. The book has information on overview of user support, expectations of the users and the Support Team and guides on how to simply the user support function.
The book introduces a topic on Disaster and Recovery with the goal of enabling the reader understand what a disaster is and what it takes to plan for disaster recovery, especially in the context of Information Technology. This book presents an insight into preparing for business continuity and disaster recovery and enumerates experiences with emphasis on lessons learnt.
The book explores the topic on designing and implementing an active directory infrastructure. A number of tasks can be performed with the active directory service running, including: assigning IP addresses, setting up a password policy, setting up a computer in a domain, managing domain user accounts and so on. The book highlights these tasks as well as an experience of upgrading MS Windows 2000 Server to MS Windows Server 2003.
The book explores the topic on managing an email system, mentioning the minimum system requirements for installation of the email system and presents details on setting it up, managing a MS Exchange mailbox as well as starting the associated MS Exchange services. The book explores monitoring, maintaining, backing up and recovery of the email system. Further, the book discusses attacks due to malware, spyware and spam and presents their mitigation.