System maintenance is necessary to keep computer systems functioning properly. It includes network maintenance, software updates, and preventive maintenance. Scheduled maintenance is preferred to minimize inconvenience to users. Preventive maintenance prevents serious problems and is essential for system reliability.
System maintenance is an umbrella term used to describe various forms of computer or server maintenance required to keep a computer system functioning properly. It can describe network maintenance, which could mean that servers are physically fixed, replaced, or moved. Network maintenance can also mean that the software for a server is updated, changed, or repaired. This type of maintenance is typically performed on a regular or semi-regular schedule, often during off-peak usage hours, and keeps servers running smoothly.
Information technology (IT) professionals often use system maintenance to describe any type of repair performed on a computer or multiple computers within a network. IT maintenance can often take hours to complete and professionals usually describe the job in general terms to avoid the timely explanations required in more specific language. When websites are down due to hacker attacks, server problems, or due to updating and repairing, website administrators often display an image apologizing for website maintenance and downtime. This allows users understand that the website cannot be used and that the administrators are aware of the problem.
Preventive maintenance is often performed by IT professionals, usually because a potential problem or security threat has been recognized with a computer or server and system administrators are working to address the problem before it becomes a real problem. This type of maintenance is often seen as unnecessary or inconvenient by users who find work interrupted by the sudden need to fix a problem that hasn’t hit the user yet. Preventive maintenance prevents users from encountering much more serious problems and is therefore essential for the continued reliability of the system.
Because of the perceived inconvenience of preventive maintenance, many IT professionals prefer to rely on scheduled maintenance to perform required system maintenance in a time frame that is as inconvenienced as possible to other users. Scheduled maintenance is ideal for actions such as emptying temporary files, running hard disk defragmentation programs, and clearing server caches. IT professionals may not always be able to wait for scheduled maintenance to deal with particularly serious problems with a computer or server. Whenever possible, however, administrators will often allow minor problems to persist and simply fix them until scheduled maintenance is complete, rather than disrupting users who rely on the system.
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