平成23年度 特別試験 ITパスポート試験 問90

※ Our check while writing this explanation could not fully confirm the published answer; scoring follows IPA's official key.

• ×Incorrectア

  The number of CPUs = 1 for the database software is correct, but products = 2,000 and customers = 500 for the sales management software package are wrong. The 2,000 items and 500 companies are the values written in the RFP as the numbers “at the start,” not the maximum numbers that must be managed. The question clearly states that the license is determined by “the combination of the maximum number of managed products and the maximum number of customers,” and the RFP requirements also say that up to 5,000 items and up to 2,000 companies must be managed. If licenses were bought based on the initial values, the system could no longer handle the data once products exceeded 2,000 items and customers exceeded 500 companies, forcing an additional purchase or a change of contract. This is a typical under-purchasing mistake, estimating with the initial values an item that should be contracted for the future maximum values.

• ×Incorrectイ

  Both the number of CPUs and the numbers of products and customers are wrong, so this choice contains two mistakes. Products = 2,000 and customers = 500 are only the initial values and do not cover the maximum numbers of 5,000 items and 2,000 companies, so this is the same under-purchasing as in ア. In addition, number of CPUs = 2 is the mistake of looking only at the fact that two servers are introduced and assuming that both are running at all times. The condition for the license is the number of CPUs on the running servers, and the other machine is a cold standby server, that is, a stopped standby machine that is started only when a failure occurs, so it is not counted under normal conditions. This choice commits under-purchasing and over-purchasing at the same time, making it the least appropriate combination.

• ○ウ

  正解 The correct answer is ウ (number of CPUs = 1 / products (max) = 5,000, customers (max) = 2,000). This question is one part of question set A, and the information needed to answer it appears in the [Outline of the RFP] and the [Proposal from Company X] at the beginning of that set. The key is to count the two licenses using two different conditions. First, the database software. Its license is determined by “the number of CPUs on the running servers.” In Company X’s proposal, two servers with one CPU each are introduced: one is the production server, and the other is a cold standby server that is started only when a failure occurs on the production server. Cold standby is a redundancy method in which the standby server is normally kept powered off and is started to take over the work only when the production server fails. In other words, only one server, the production server, is running under normal conditions, and it has one CPU, so the license required is number of CPUs = 1. Next, the sales management software package. The question states that its license is determined by “the combination of the maximum number of managed products and the maximum number of customers.” The system requirements in the RFP say that the number of products is 2,000 items at the start and up to a maximum of 5,000 items, and the number of customers is 500 companies at the start and up to a maximum of 2,000 companies. Because the condition is based on the maximum numbers, the values to use are not the initial values but the maximum values, so a license for products = 5,000 and customers = 2,000 is needed. If the contract were based on the initial values, the system could no longer handle the data once products or customers increased, and the license would have to be purchased again. Putting these together gives number of CPUs = 1, products (max) = 5,000, customers (max) = 2,000, and the choice that matches is ウ. Too few licenses lead to a breach of contract or a halt in operations, and too many licenses are a waste of money, so you must read the charging unit exactly as the condition specifies (here, the number of CPUs and the volume of managed data) and buy a quantity that is necessary and sufficient.

• ×Incorrectエ

  Products = 5,000 and customers = 2,000 correctly take the maximum numbers and are appropriate, but number of CPUs = 2 for the database software is excessive. Two servers are indeed introduced, but one of them is a cold standby server that is started only when a failure occurs on the production server, and it is stopped under normal conditions. The condition for the license is “the number of CPUs on the running servers,” so what you count is only the one CPU of the single running production server, and number of CPUs = 1 is enough. If you also counted the standby machine, you would pay unnecessary license costs. Note that in a hot standby configuration, where the standby system is also kept running at all times, it would have to be counted as a running server; the dividing point here is that this question explicitly states cold standby.