I've always worked at small colleges so it's been more political then a cost decision.
I/We always buy servers with 24x7x4 warranties and extend them to 5 years (when we hope to replace the equipment). I don't buy spares, because: - A complete spare machine ends up being a temporary fix/testing platform that becomes production against the will of IT. - Spare parts end up being lost in the constant shuffle of finding space and in one instance was found on ebay (many $jobs ago). It's also depressing finding a box with 5 year old "brand new" equipment, that probably cost $5k when originally purchased, and doesn't fit in anything you have now. If we need to keep the machine beyond the warranty, then we buy contracts for the crucial systems, and others we let slide, until we find money for an upgraded machine. Damion _______________________________________________ Tech mailing list [email protected] http://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
