P1 – Internal System UnitComponents Processer and options The CPU (Central ProcessingUnit) is the brains of the computer, it is the part which allows for the fourmajor processes to take place. These include; execute, decode, fetch and writeback.In the CPU there is a vitalcomponent, this is known as the ALU (arithmetic logic unit), and this carriesout the necessary arithmetic and logic operations that allow the computer tofunction.
Another veryimportant part is the CU (control Unit), it extracts instructions from ram anddecodes and completes the actions, asking the ALU for help when it is needed.Most CPU’sare multicore meaning that they contain more than one processor, this is betteras it means it allows the computer to operate faster as it has more computingpower and can complete more tasks at once.Processorsrun at different clock speeds, this means the speed at which a processorexecutes a set of commands.The CPUrequires a set number of clock ticks/cycles to complete each instruction. Thefaster the clock, the more instructions the CPU can execute per second. Forexample if the CPU has a clock speed of 3.6 GHZ, which means it is completing 3,600,000,000instructions in 1 second. For the CPU to work you needram, this is temporary memory where it stores information and data that isbeing currently used or that is used frequently to allow for quick access ofthe data.
There are 2different options when I comes to which CPU to buy, you can either buy an IntelCPU or an AMD CPU. These both have different pin sets, AMD use the PGA pin set,this involves the pins being on the CPU and the socket on the motherboardhaving the female counterpart to the CPU’s pins, compared to the Intel’s LGAsocket which is the opposite having pins on the motherboards socket and havingcontacts on the CPU’s surface. Motherboards Amotherboard is the backbone of any computer, it is the main connectivity pointwhich everything else plugs into. It is a large Printed circuit board (PCB)which can include layers of fiberglass, copper connections and copper planesfor power and signal isolation to travel through.Motherboardshave to include a connection for anything that you may want to add to yourcomputer, so most modern motherboards will have processor sockets, PCI, HTX, DIMM,PCIe and M.2 slots and connecting points for the power supply. There will alsobe SATA connections USB connections There are 9different types of motherboard design, these are; ATX, extended ATX, mini-ATX, microATX, BTX,microBTX, mini ITX, micro ITX and nano ITX.Sometimesmotherboards also come with dedicated graphics cards (GPU’s) in them, thismeans u will not have to pay extra for a GPU.
Motherboardsuse either a PGA pin set or LGA pin set like CPU’s, this means they arespecific to certain CPU’s for example this motherboards pins are PGA meaning ithas he female parts on it and it has the connectors.This motherboard displayed bellow isan E-ATX motherboard meaning it is an extended ATX BIOSAfter the computeris booted up the BIOS or the Basic Input/output System is the program on acomputer’s processor which allows the computer to get started. Data exchangebetween the computers operating system and external devices eg the hard disk, GPU,keyboard, mouse and printer is also done by the BIOS Power supply A power supply is a component that givespower to any electrical devices in the computer system. It gets its power froman outlet socket in the wall and changes the current from AC (alternatingcurrent) to DC (direct current), which is what the computer needs to function.
It also manages the voltage so it stays at the right amount, allowing thecomputer to run well without overheating. The power supply is the mostimportant part of any computer and must function correctly for the rest of thecomponents to work. Heat SinkA heat sinkis an aluminium block containing fins that usually is attached to a fan to keepa hot component such as a processor cool. There are two heat sink types: activeand passive.
Active heatsinks use the power supply and usually use a fan. Sometimes these types of heatsinks are referred to as an HSF, which means heat sink and fan.Passive heatsinks don’t have any mechanical parts. Passive heat sinks are often made of analuminium-finned radiator that spreads heat throughout the heatsink itself. Forpassive heat sinks to work to their full capability, there needs to be a streamof air moving across the fins. The picture bellow shows this Hard Drive Configurations andControllers A hard driveis where the data that you save is stored these disks spin v fast usually ateither 5400 or 7200 RPM so that data can be accessed immediately from anywhereon the drive. The data is stored on the hard drive magnetically, so it stays onthe drive even after the power supply is turned off.
SATAStands for”Serial Advanced Technology Attachment,” or “Serial ATA.”It is an interface used to connect ATA hard drives to a computer’s motherboard IDEAn IntegratedDrive Electronics is an electronic interface used between a computer motherboarddata path or bus and the computer’s storage drives EIDEEnhanced IDEis a electronic interface between a computer and its storage devices. EIDE’s improvementsto IDE make it possible to be able to address a hard disk larger than 528Mbytes.
Master/SlaveThis is a protocolwhere one device is in control of one or more other devices and once the communicationsprotocol’s relationship is established, the direction of control is always fromthe master to the slave. Ports USBUniversalSerial Bus is a port that enables communication between external devices and a computer.It connects peripheral devices such as digital cameras, mice, keyboards,printers, scanners, media devices, external hard drives and flash drives Parallel On PCs, theparallel port uses a 25-pin connector and is used to connect printers,computers and other devices that use lots of batdwith Internal Memory RamRam ismemory in which the operating system is help as well as data that is currently inuse. This is needed due to slow transfer rates between the hard drive or solidstate drive and processer and this is capable of giving much higher write/readspeeds. While the computer is running the ram stays abut as it is volatilememory it is deleted when the computer is powered off.
When rebooted the OSwill be reloaded into the RAM. RomRead onlymemory contains the programme (the operating system) which allows your computerto boot up. Rom memory is also in your motherboards in the form of the BIOS. Thedata in ROM is not lost when the computer is turned off. CacheThe cachememory is much faster than RAM as it is closer to the CPU.
This memory is builtinto the chip or is inserted into a separate chip that is on a separate butinterconnecting with the CPUSpecialised Cards Network CardA networkinterface card is a circuit board that is inserted into the cmputersmotherboard so that it can be connected to a network. The card givethe computer a dedicated connection to a network. Computer on a local areanetwork usually have a network card that has been designed for the LAN transmissiontechnology inside of them. Graphics Card A graphicscard is a display adapter that is in in most computers to display graphicaldata with colour, definition and overall appearance. A graphicscard is designed to take the graphical processing tasks away from the processoror RAM. It is its own separate unit and have it has dedicated RAM that help itto process graphical data quickly. A graphics card must also has a dedicatedheat sink to keep the heat out of the GPU and keep it cool it stop it fromoverheating and breaking. A graphics card outputs of 3-D images to a monitorgiving higher pixel ration, a broader range of colours and more.
Graphics cardsincludes various expansion ports e.g. HDMI, DVI, VGA and Display port Peripherals Output Devices MonitorThe monitordisplays the computer’s user interface and open programs, allowing them tointeract with the computer, usually using the keyboard and mouse.Oldercomputer monitors were built using cathode ray tubes, which made them heavy andcaused them to take up a lot of desk space. Most modern monitors are builtusing LCD technology. These thin monitors take up much less space than theolder monitors.
PrinterA printer isa machine that uses text and graphic outputs that it receives from a computerand outputs the information to an A4 sheet of paper. The media used to transferthe information to the paper is usually ink although toner can be used in laserprinters. In general, more expensive printers are used for higher-resolutioncolour printing. CameraA camera isused to take photographs or videos, the photos and videos that have been takencan then be transferred to the computer by using a usb. Input DevicesScannerA scanner isa device used to capture images of a hard copy and convert it into a soft copy.By doing this it transfers the document from something physical to a documenton the computer.
PlotterA plotter isa printer that takes commands from a computer to make line drawings on paperwith one or more pens. Compared to a regular printer, the plotter can drawcontinuous point-to-point lines from vector graphics files or commands. Thereare different types of plotters: a drum plotter draws on paper wrapped around adrum which rotates to create one direction of the plot, while the pens move to makethe other direction; a flatbed plotter draws on paper placed on a flat surface;and an electrostatic plotter draws on negatively charged paper with positivelycharged toner. CaballingCoaxialA Coaxialcable is a transmission line that consists of a tube of electrically conductingmaterial surrounding a central conductor held in place by insulators and thatis used to transmit telegraph, telephone, television, and Internet signals. OpticalA technologythat uses glass threads/fibres to transmit data. A fibre optic cable consistsof a bundle of glass threads, each of which is capable of transmitting messagesmodulated onto light waves. Twisted PairTwisted paircabling is a type of wiring in which two conductors of a single circuit aretwisted together for the purposes of cancelling out electromagneticinterference from external sources; for example,electromagnetic radiation from unshielded twisted pair cables, and crosstalkbetween neighbouring pairs.
Backing storage TypesDiskThere aretwo different types of disks, these are magnetic disks and optical disks.Floppy disk:A 5¼-inch floppy disk can hold 360K or 1.2MB. 3½-inch floppies normally store 720K,1.2MB or 1.44MB of data. Floppy disks are very old and have been forgottenabout, and are found on older computer systems.
Hard disk:Hard disks can store anywhere from 20MB to more than 1-TB. Hard disks are also alot faster that floppy disks being from 10 to 100 times faster than a regularfloppy diskRemovablecartridge: Removable cartridges are hard disks which have been stored in ametal or plastic cartridge, so you can take them out just like a floppy disk.Removable cartridges are fast, although usually not as fast as fixed harddisks.OpticalOpticalstorage is any storage method where the data is written and read with a laserto save it.
Usually, data is written to optical media, such as CDs and DVDs. FlashA solidstate drive which uses non-volatile memory to retain data.PortableA storagedevice that can be attached to a computer through a USB connection, orwirelessly. External hard drives typically have high storage capacities and areoften used to back up computers or serve as a network drive.
Data is usuallytransferred through the USB port in these devices.FixedA hard diskdrive is a data storage device that uses magnetic storage to store and retrievedigital information using one or more rigid rapidly rotating disks coated withmagnetic material. M1 –Comparing and Contrasting Western Digital – Caviar Blue This is asolid hard drive and has a 7200RPM and is 1TB, it costs £40. This s a very lowend HDD being slow and holding a small amount of storage. Its data transferrate is in the low Mb/s as it is very slow. Intel – DC P3608 This is aPCI-e solid state drive, it is one of the most upmarket storage types as itconnects directly to the motherboard via PCI-e meaning its transfer rates areup to 8GB/s compared to the Mb/s of thehard drive that has been stated above. RecommendationI wouldrecommend that the Western Digital – Caviar Blue HDD should be used as it doeseverything that the business needs to accomplish in the time frame, it doesn’tneed to be too fast but it completes the purpose it has been bought for .
ComparisonUrban mobiledoes not need its data transfer rates to be too high they just need it to bewithin a reasonable timeframe for example 10 seconds whereas a company such asgoogle would need a much higher transfer rate as they are a search engine, sotheir data centre would need to have much faster data storage. P2 –Types of disaster recovery Types of backup storageYou can backup the data to; An External Hard Drive A Solid State Drive Network Attached Storage CloudStorageI wouldadvise backing up urban mobiles data to the cloud as it is a very good offsitebackup. That isn’t affected by events and disasters such as theft, floods, fireetc. Also they could also copy their data to an external hard drive that is onsite as this is a very good option for local backups of large amounts of data asit is the cheapest storage option in terms of pounds per GB it is also veryreliable when handled with care.The cloudbackup would be located offsite in for example one of googles data centres orwhoever is hosting the cloud service and the External HDD would be located onsite, meaning urban mobile would need to purchase the equipment to allow forthem to store this data.
The datashould be backed up at the end of every day to make sure if any new customershave joined they will have a backup of their info and to make sure the backupis as up to date as it can possible be.The datathat will be backed up will be user accounts, information, stock quota andcurrent prices along with customer purchase history as well as staffinformation, staff payroll etc.I decided toadvise Urban Mobile to use cloud storage as this means they don’t have to worryout maintaining a server meaning they will not have to hire specialist staff toensure the maintenance and running of it, also it means it isn’t affected bydisasters or theft etc.It alsomeans urban mobile could in theory reduce annual their operating costs by usingcloud storage; cloud storage costs about 2 pence per gigabyte to store datainternally.
Users can see additional cost savings because it does not requireinternal power to store information remotely. Also, it means Stored files canbe accessed from anywhere via Internet connection.As mentionedbefore cloud storage is located offsite using a company’s data storage services P3 –Appropriate components The softwarethat would run on the servers would be, OpenMediaVault, as it has a very cleanand user-friendly UI, also it is based on Debian meaning it will receivefrequent patch and updatesThe serverthat I advise using will be the ASUSTOR AS-604T as it is not too expensive at£308, it contains four bays meaning there will be enough space to add extrastorage cater for the company’s needs. It also contains a cloud backup as wellas being able to run RAID.It will becloud connected meaning that the data will be transferred wirelessly, or youcan manually connect it in a LAN also.An off-siteserver engineer will need to be hired meaning if something goes wrong he can bephoned in order to get the problem resolved.This set upis very accessible as the server is simple and easy to understand, the softwareused in it us user friendly and has a clean interface. Operating systemsThe role ofan operating system is to control the backing store and peripherals such asscanners and printers, to deal with the transfer of programs in and out ofmemory, the organisation of memory between programs, to organises processingtime between programs and users, to maintains security and access rights ofusers, to deals with errors and user instructions and it allows the user tosave files to a backing store as well as providing the interface between the user and thecomputer – for example, Windows Vista and Apple OS.
Utility SoftwareUtilitysoftware are applications which allow the user to manage the computer, examplesof utility software are, Backup, disk cleaner, disk defrag, formatting. Theseare the maintenance utilities, some of the security utilities include, Useraccounts, encryption, antivirus software and firewalls.Application SoftwareApplicationsoftware, which can also be called an application or an app, is computersoftware which has been specifically designed to help the user to performspecific tasks.
Examples include accounting software, office suites, andgraphics software and media players. Applications may be bundled with thecomputer and its system software, or may be published separately. In recentyears, the abbreviation “app” has now means application software designedfor mobile devices.P4 –Installing Hardware The RAM slot has been opened and the 2GB stick on top of the power supplyis ready to be inserted into the open slot, so it can but put into dual channelwith the other 2GB Ram stick The ram hasbeen inserted and has been closed locking it into place meaning it will notcome loose and fall out. Onceinserted correctly this should appear when the ram has been inserted and if itdoes not it would suggest something has been done wrong.
P5 – Maintenance Types ofpreventive maintenance include installing Windows updates, scanning for virusesand malware, and running cleaning programs. Anti-virus and anti-malware scansshould also be run a few times or at least once a week. Be sure to run updatesfor these programs whenever they “rereleased, as new viruses and malware springup constantly. Keeping your network secure, installing a firewall, and usingsafe downloading practices can protect your computer and any information on itfrom being compromised. Power surges and overheating can destroy electronicequipment, so protect your hardware by investing in a surge protector andcleaning your equipment periodically to remove dust. Should any preventativemeasures fail, it is always a good idea to have a backup for important files:Invest in an external hard drive to save any important files should yourcomputer need replacing.
Types ofremedial maintenance would be for if the mouse is unresponsive if the mousedoesn’t show up on the screen or doesn’t seem to move correctly, then you mustgo to start < configuration < control panel < mouse. The indicatorsshown control the mouse functions, if the configuration seems correct verifythat the mouse is correctly connected, or possible failures of a video card are:spots show up on the screen, the video doesn't load, it doesn't have a goodresolution or it's not in colours; the solution is to change the entire thingor take it to someone who can find the damaged connection and repair it. Thefailures that occur in the Hard Drive are the scratching of the platters,overheating of the controller board, physical damage to the conductors anddents caused by a lack of caution when giving maintenance, there is only onesolution, to replace the whole part by a new one as there is no way to repairit.ScagliaINDEVA have designed a preventative maintenance product which gives u access toregular servicing from their highly trained engineers.AnElectronic Records Management System is a program that has been designed totrack and store records, this is the type of software that would be used in thedocumentation of the maintenance plans.
Dust anddebris will accumulate in the PC’s parts because of air cooling. Any filtersused to reduce this need regular service and changes. I wouldchoose preventative maintenance over routine maintenance as this allows you tomitigate any chance of problems occur therefor meaning you will not have to payexpensive bills to get parts repaired or replaced due to dam age over time orpower surges killing your machines power source etc.Routinewould be best for the collage as it means the collage can set the date for whenthe students are not in school meaning they will not miss out due o thecomputers being down and not available for usage.
P6 – Test Plan Planning isneeded before conducting the maintenance as you need clear guidelines to showhow it needs to be completed and in which specific order as if it is not itmeans that in the process something could break, and you wouldn’t know how torevert or correct the mistake.A type of maintenancewould be by using route maps, route maps are used when redistributing routesinto an OSPF, RIP, or EIGRP routing process. They are also used when generatinga default route into an OSPF routing process. A route map defines which of theroutes from the specified routing protocol can be redistributed into the targetrouting process.
Another type is anupgrade schedule, this is when a specific time and date is set aside to upgradethe components of a computer.
