Summary
Ideally server hardware should be replaced every four to five years. The server at the Hastings i-SITE is now a decade old and is beginning to fail. This document investigates three options for replacing or removing this aging hardware and recommends which option the Network Infrastructure Support team recommends.
Background
Hardware
The industry standard recommendation is to replace hardware after three to four years. In practise this replacement window could be shorter or longer depending on the workload the hardware is expected to serve.
As computer hardware ages, the likelihood of a physical failure increases. Aging hardware can also struggle to keep up with the workloads expected of them; the hardware, and its capabilities stay static …show more content…
64-bit). This can often make rebuilding from scratch necessary.
Current Situation
The Hastings i-SITE Visitor Information Centre is on a VPN/secure tunnel type connection between their building and the main Hastings District Council systems over an ADSL connection. This connection is known for being rather slow, so the tunnel operating on top of it is also slow.
To provide for fast service to staff, in terms of home drives, roaming profiles and printers, a server was installed on site. This server was built in December 2005 and is approaching 10 years old. The server has a 32-bit versions of Windows Server 2003 installed; current versions are 64-bit only and as such the operating system cannot be upgraded directly to a new version.
Windows Server 2003 will reach its ‘Extended Support End Date’ on the 14th of July, after which the operating system will no longer receive security updates which will present a security risk.
The hardware is beginning to fail. It has had a number of occurrences of shutting down without warning.
Options
Option 1 - Remove server, serviced by main systems over
Ideally server hardware should be replaced every four to five years. The server at the Hastings i-SITE is now a decade old and is beginning to fail. This document investigates three options for replacing or removing this aging hardware and recommends which option the Network Infrastructure Support team recommends.
Background
Hardware
The industry standard recommendation is to replace hardware after three to four years. In practise this replacement window could be shorter or longer depending on the workload the hardware is expected to serve.
As computer hardware ages, the likelihood of a physical failure increases. Aging hardware can also struggle to keep up with the workloads expected of them; the hardware, and its capabilities stay static …show more content…
64-bit). This can often make rebuilding from scratch necessary.
Current Situation
The Hastings i-SITE Visitor Information Centre is on a VPN/secure tunnel type connection between their building and the main Hastings District Council systems over an ADSL connection. This connection is known for being rather slow, so the tunnel operating on top of it is also slow.
To provide for fast service to staff, in terms of home drives, roaming profiles and printers, a server was installed on site. This server was built in December 2005 and is approaching 10 years old. The server has a 32-bit versions of Windows Server 2003 installed; current versions are 64-bit only and as such the operating system cannot be upgraded directly to a new version.
Windows Server 2003 will reach its ‘Extended Support End Date’ on the 14th of July, after which the operating system will no longer receive security updates which will present a security risk.
The hardware is beginning to fail. It has had a number of occurrences of shutting down without warning.
Options
Option 1 - Remove server, serviced by main systems over