by knowing the limitations of the existing system, you
can project what additional equipment will be needed
to handle the future workload of the command.
This may include additional network drops and
terminals located throughout the command, spare parts,
backup media, and personnel. The most important
thing to remember when projecting the future growth
capabilities is to take your time when doing the
research. You dont want to come up short when
requesting the additional materials that you expect to
need later on.
BACKUP OPERATIONS
Backup operations fall into two categories: normal
and special saves.
Normal saves. Normal saves are the ones worked
into the monthly production schedules. These saves are
normally done every day or night and are the most
important recovery tool available to you.
Special saves. Special saves are the ones that need
to be done before and after the implementation of a
software upgrade and during monthly and yearly
production runs. The saves that are done in association
with a software upgrade are not covered on your
production schedule, since upgrades are not released on
any published schedule.
CONTINGENCY PLANS AND DISASTER
RECOVERIES
The most important part of disaster recovery is
having a contingency plan and current backup files.
The AIS facilitys contingency plan covers what is
required to get the facility back online as soon as
possible. Your contingency plan should include
emergency response, backup operations, and recovery
plans. To have current backups, we must ensure that
normal saves are done as scheduled. The saves can be
categorized as either whole system or data file saves.
The AIS facilitys resources, schedule, and instructions
will be the governing factors as to which category of
saves and the frequency with which the saves will be
done. For further guidance, as to the minimum
frequency and the category of saves, refer to the local
type commanders (TYCOM) instructions.
Another part of the recovery process is making sure
that replacement parts are available. There are
constraints as to the number of parts maintained
onboard your activity. Before a major deployment (or
periodically for shore activities), it is important to take
an inventory of the parts so if the parts are not on board,
they can be ordered.
EMERGENCY RESPONSES
The last major area we are going to look at is
emergency response. When a problem occurs, such as
a job aborts or the system goes down, the steps you and
your AIS staff must follow are:
1.
2.
3.
Log the problem. A good rule is to log
everything; this can save time and help to
identify problems early.
Notify management, users, and the
maintenance technician. By notifying
management, you provide them the information
they need to answer questions and make
decisions concerning the system. If the users
are kept informed, they wont be as apt to keep
calling the operators when the operators are
busy trying to get the system back up and
running. In notifying the maintenance
technicians, whether hardware or software, you
need to tell them what you were doing, exactly
what happened, and what you have tried to do
to fix the problem.
Adjust staffing when possible. Adjusting
staffing works in two ways. If the system is
going to be down for an extended period of time,
it is a waste to keep all the operators there with
nothing to do. Likewise, there are times when
additional expertise will have to be brought in
to help get the system up and running. Either
way, this will be your decision as the AIS facility
manager. You will have to analyze the situation
and decide what skills are needed to solve a
problem, who has the skills, who is available,
how many personnel are needed, and so on.
EMERGENCY URGENT CHANGE
REQUESTS
Occasionally, the best-laid plans will have to be
changed. One of these times is when an emergency
urgent change request (priority job) comes in.
Normally, there is a good reason for each emergency
urgent change request. These change requests cover
both application and system programs.
For application programs, some reasons for urgent
change requests are a special report needed for a
meeting, last-minute corrections before starting a
monthly or yearly job, and a deadline that is moved to
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