UPDATED MARCH 2022

SYLLABUS 

• Physical maintenance strategies for use of a computer system  11 ATAR, 12 GEN

  • use of an uninterruptible power supply (UPS)
  • environmental temperature control

 Background

• BE CLEAR ON THIS - The current AIT syllabus dictates that UPS and environmental temperature control are the items to be described for this topic.
• Both of these are more suited to computer sytems in a server room which often have many servers that can overheat and will cause major hardware and software issues if turned off in a power failure.

Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

• A UPS is electrical hardware that provides backup power for a computer system.
• The UPS is plugged into the wall socket and the computer system is plugged into the UPS.
• The UPS provides power to the computer when a power outage occurs.
• Another benefit of a UPS is to keep the power to the computer system at a constant voltage. This prevents power surges which can otherwise damage computer parts.

Environmental Temperature Control or Air Conditioning

• Computer systems can run hot at times so it is wise to have control of the temperature to prevent overheating.
• This is most suitable for server rooms and classrooms of computers.
• Computer systems that run cooler, will run more efficiently leading to better computer system performance.

 FOR YOU TO DO

1. What does UPS stand for?
2. What two things does a UPS do?
3. How does environmental temperature control  benefit a computer system?
4. What type of computer system is likely to need air conditioning and a UPS? (see background above)

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