Transcript Unit 28

DIAGNOSTIC AND MONITORING
TOOLS USED BY SUPPORT STAFF
Software tools for IT support
UNIT 12 LESSON 2
DEFINITION
Diagnostic  Monitoring 
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What is the difference between them.
DEFINITION
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Diagnostic - Symptom or a distinguishing
feature serving as supporting evidence in a
diagnosis.
 Indicating
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the nature of a issue.
Monitoring - The act of observing something
(and sometimes keeping a record of it).
SOFTWARE DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS
What is the "use, purpose and characteristics of
such a tool”?
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Can be used to identify/detect features, issues
or display poor performance(measureable).
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E.g. type of memory/ Voltage/ Speed in
Mhz/temperature.
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E.g. Specification (CPUz) What diagnostic
information is displayed? (Stud Share Unit 28
SOFTWARE MONITORING TOOLS
What is the "use, purpose and characteristics of
such a tool”?
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Measure performance , typically in real time
and possibly record the results for the
technician to read.
E.g. test memory performance, paging, etc.
Hard disk space / Network performance.
Example Control Panel, performance tool, custom monitor
E.g. Identify CPU usage, processes and memory usage
E.g. monitor hardware (CPU temp, voltages etc - e.g. speedfan.)
EXAMPLE APPS – USED BY SUPPORT STAFF
Are the following tools – Diagnostic,monitoring or both?
 CPUz
 Wireshark
 Ultimate Boot CD
 Task Manager
 Event Viewer
 Control Panel –
EXAMPLE APPS – USED BY SUPPORT STAFF
Are the following tools – Diagnostic,monitoring or both?
 CPUz
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Wireshark
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Monitoring/Diagnostic tool
Event Viewer
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Diagnostic
Task Manager
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Diagnostic and monitoring
Ultimate Boot CD
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Diagnostic and monitoring tool
Diagnostic tool
Control Panel –
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Diagnostic (Device Manager)
PROPRIETARY TOOLS FOR BUSINESS
Use the net to research the following:
 Cyclone Systems – Locally based
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Net Prefect Identify network issues, provide useful messages to aid non
technical users to resolve the issue.
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Hyperic - http://www.hyperic.com/
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Interactive demo - http://www.hyperic.com/offers/systems-monitoring-demo-video
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Monitors Server systems
discover assets and inventory
availability monitoring and fault detection, performance management
Alerting and escalation, reporting and business analytics.
PROPRIETARY TOOLS (CONTINUED)
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Micro 2000 (Pc diagnostics)
http://www.micro2000.co.uk/products/microscope/microscope.html
Try the ‘calculator’
Assume technician is really well paid – (£30 per hour), averages 1 hour per
problem, 10 problems a year
Uptime software (server monitoring and planning)
http://www.uptimesoftware.com/ take the tour ~20 mins for whole thing
but can pick out chapters.
STUDENT TASKS – VIRTUAL PCS
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Using the tools previously discussed or a
choice of your own IT support software tools:
Test out three tools in total - 2 X Diagnostic
and 2 X Monitoring tool using VirtualBox.
For each tool:
 Identify the aim and features of the tool
 Identify scenarios when they would be useful (screenshots
would help support your assignment)
 What are the limitations of the tool- What could be added/
improved to help with other issues?
STUDENT TASKS
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describe two current diagnostic and two current monitoring software tools
used by support staff and outline possible future developments in this area
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Your description should include (as a minimum):
What each tool does.
How it works (including key features).
What the advantages of each tool are.
What the limitations of each tool are.
Include scenarios where the tool could be used.
Future developments/enhancements of the tool.
review a recent advance in support systems technology