PCS Computer Support Contract Service Details
This document attempts to synopsize what is and is not covered by a PCS computer support contract.
Introduction
The PCS service contract is intended to provide PCS clients with basic coverage of their research computers for standard hardware, accompanying operating system support and upgrades and patches thereof. This document cannot be definitive, as the variety of hardware and software issues that could require support in too vast for a concise document and the rate of hardware and software change is too rapid for coverage even by an encyclopedia of documents. The problem space is simply too big and too dynamic.
This document attempts to provide not only a description of what we do, but, also, some insight into why do it. For example, reinstallation of operating systems from scratch is offered only once per two years of contract support. This arises from the time-burden associated with the unintended side-effects of upgrades on the user experience and the potential for spending all PCS time doing re-installations. More details will be offered later.
What is Explicitly Supported?
A PCS support contract entitles the client computer to:
- installation of a standard supported version of the locally supported operating systems
- regular application of vendor-supplied or standard user-community-supplied application and operating system bugfixes and security patches
- a complete operating system re-installation once every two years of the support contract period
