7.1 - Commentary

Abstract

This chapter gives a brief commentary on the service delivery of a computer system. It is the new paradigm for computer systems, thanks largely to the success of the Internet. What Unix and Windows administrators think of as Network or System Administration is no longer considered to be any different to managing the software that runs on web servers that are assumed to be the work-horses of the Internet. This change of viewpoint is motivated by the commercialization of the Internet. The driving force has been the Internet Service Providers and companies using theWorld Wide Web as their palette and medium. But commercialization has also led to an identity crisis, from the increasing pressure to improve the dependability of services. The economics of self-configuration and self-maintenance are clear. The benefits of self-healing systems have been apparent for years and were recently made an initiative by companies like IBM (so-called self-management or autonomics). These ideas seem to be replacing a focus on Operational Support Systems (OSS) and “standardized” bureaucracies like eTOM for running their businesses. The five areas Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, and Security (FCAPS) are still considered important, but now businesses want these things for free.