Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX 3 - INTRODUCTION TO SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION Administration Manual page 161

Chapter 8. Planning for Disaster
times can range from eight hours (which effectively becomes "next day" service for a standard busi-
ness hours agreement), to 24 hours. As with every other aspect of a service agreement, even these
times are negotiable — for the right price.
Note
Although it is not a common occurrence, you should be aware that service agreements with re-
sponse time clauses can sometimes stretch a manufacturer's service organization beyond its ability
to respond. It is not unheard of for a very busy service organization to send somebody — anybody
— on a short response-time service call just to meet their response time commitment. This person
apparently diagnoses the problem, calling "the office" to have someone bring "the right part."
In fact, they are just waiting until someone who is actually capable of handling the call arrives.
While it might be understandable to see this happen under extraordinary circumstances (such as
power problems that have damaged systems throughout their service area), if this is a consistent
method of operation you should contact the service manager and demand an explanation.
If your response time needs are stringent (and your budget correspondingly large), there is one ap-
proach that can cut your response times even further — to zero.
8.1.1.2.2.1. Zero Response Time — Having an On-Site Technician
Given the appropriate situation (you are one of the biggest customers in the area), sufficient need
(downtime of any magnitude is unacceptable), and financial resources (if you have to ask for the
price, you probably cannot afford it), you might be a candidate for a full-time, on-site technician. The
benefits of having a technician always standing by are obvious:
Instant response to any problem
•
A more proactive approach to system maintenance
•
As you might expect, this option can be very expensive, particularly if you require an on-site technician
24x7. But if this approach is appropriate for your organization, you should keep a number of points in
mind in order to gain the most benefit.
First, on-site technicians need many of the resources of a regular employee, such as a workspace,
telephone, appropriate access cards and/or keys, and so on.
On-site technicians are not very helpful if they do not have the proper parts. Therefore, make sure
that secure storage is set aside for the technician's spare parts. In addition, make sure that the tech-
nician keeps a stock of parts appropriate for your configuration and that those parts are not routinely
"cannibalized" by other technicians for their customers.
8.1.1.2.3. Parts Availability
Obviously, the availability of parts plays a large role in limiting your organization's exposure to hard-
ware failures. In the context of a service agreement, the availability of parts takes on another dimen-
sion, as the availability of parts applies not only to your organization, but to any other customer in
the manufacturer's territory that might need those parts as well. Another organization that has pur-
chased more of the manufacturer's hardware than you might get preferential treatment when it comes
to getting parts (and technicians, for that matter).
Unfortunately, there is little that can be done in such circumstances, short of working out the problem
with the service manager.
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