This is already a good conversation, Thanks guys.  Currently I am not sure I 
have any objections other than "its old".  Well, so is my cat, but I am not 
getting a new one because the old cat is still just fine.

Is there anything, besides MTBF that I should consider?


From: Jon Harris [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 9:44 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Re: OT ? Server ROI - Reuse ?

I almost agree with Michael but he would have more time on servers than me, I 
think.  That said I have had to keep old servers up and working until they die 
and as long as I fully document my objections I am covered.  If there were no 
warranty available I would push back very hard but the bean counters rule.  
Document your objections send it to both the bean counters and the CTO then ask 
again if they want to go the way the are wanting.  If so bow you head shake it 
and do what they say.

Jon
On Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 12:38 PM, Michael B. Smith 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
What's the MTBF of the server at 3 years? The vendor should be able to tell you 
that.

I typically consider the life-time of a server at 3 to 4 years; after that, 
they tend to start breaking down more often.

That doesn't mean you won't find the odd outlier that has been running for 6 
years with "nary a problem".

Regards,

Michael B. Smith
Consultant and Exchange MVP
http://TheEssentialExchange.com

From: Jeremy Anderson [mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>]
Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 12:36 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: OT ? Server ROI - Reuse ?

I am not even sure what the subject of this should be.  I have a server, it's 
about 3 years old, the warranty expires in 15 days.  It runs a %mission 
critical App%.  This App is going to be replaced with %new mission critical 
app%.  This server meets the hardware requirements for %new app% just fine. (it 
does require a BIOS update)  Its been a stable and reliable server for the last 
3 years.

I can purchase an extended warranty for around $500, or I can purchase a new 
server for around $4500.00.

The bean counters say, buy the warranty, run %new app% on it, life is good and 
we save 4 grand.  My instinct is that this is a horrible idea, and we should 
just buy a new server.

If we run %new app% on %old server% we will be completely wiping and reloading 
the OS.

My question for everyone here is: How do I convince the bean counters that this 
is a bad idea.  Or, is it not a bad idea, and is a 3 year old server not really 
that old?  How do I justify spending 4k on a server when technically we have a 
perfectly good server sitting there to be reused?  Am I just getting distracted 
by bright shiny things?

%NewApp% is mission critical.  If %NewApp% is down, the company is dead in the 
water.  To put this in prospective however, %NewApp% will not be redundant, or 
even highly available and we are not even considering those options.
Think of %newApp% like an Exchange server, for a company that relies on Email 
for all their communication.
And yes, I know %newapp% should be clustered or highly available, but its not 
going to happen.

Does this email make sense?  Any help, or insight on the matter would be 
appreciated.

Thanks
Jeremy


~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~






~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

Reply via email to