Upgrades are necessary to prolong the lifetime of Linux or Windows server. RAM, modem, graphics cards and network cards are considered as easy to upgrade components. On the contrary, motherboard and OS have highly complicated upgrade process as these components need to upgrade other parts to give satisfactory results. For instance, latest RAM is also required when you are installing a new motherboard.
Usually, customers do not have an idea when they should upgrade the system and when buy latest server to carry on the tasks.
Here are a few conditions to judge the right time to change or upgrade a system:
Additional Drives
If your server is purchased just a few years ago, you can add the latest hard drives to accomplish storage needs. To add new drives, users must have SATA open port or open channel on the motherboard and RAID controller respectively.
Storage Requirement
Same model and hard drive brand need to be used when you are using a RAID system. Your system may have 500GB drive and you may need to use 2TB drive to get required outcome. On the basis of controller and RAID nature, it is possible to change one drive and then move to the next to remake the array. You can use external device to keep backup before replacing drives.
Improved Performance
To improve the performance of server, various avenues can bring into account. If your requirements are not complicated, start with upgrading primary drive. Use of an SSD to improve OS drive will impact on performance. In order to make the conversion painless, Intel and Samsung offer specific SSDs with migration software.
Range of SSDs varies from simple 256GB up to 2TB. These SSDs have enough storage capacity to run Linux or Windows. If OS is running with an SSD, performance is renounced in terms of OS receptiveness along with shutdown and boot. Moreover, OS patches take less time on SSDs.
To overcome performance issue, PCI-E latest storage drives are the best. These storage drives need 3.0 PCI-Express to work with maximum speed limit. Furthermore, these drives are used on X99 and Z97 chipsets as boot drives. These drives have capacity to work with old chipsets but work as secondary storage devices only. When applications demand first-rate performance, use PCI-E to get fastest speed.
Age and configuration of server are the two factors that determine the nature of server upgrades. Each server has certain limits. Usually servers older than a year or more are worthy to upgrade. On the other hand, servers that are used for more than three years should be replaced.
Server Replacement
IT managers are often inquired about right time to replace server. Cloud services and virtualization have made the task more complicated. Companies are using cloud services for data storage, whereas virtualization has improved the server lifespan. Still there comes a stage when server outweighs all its advantages and it becomes necessary to change the server.
Here are the three conditions when buying new server is recommended?
- When server is used for three continuous years, the failure rate increases significantly. To overcome failure, replacing the aging server becomes crucial for a company.
- Commercial servers have three years warranty, therefore, it is good to replace the servers before they get crashed.
- An upgrade is not the only solution to cure a server. When RAID array or Windows is creating problem, reinstall the RAID or OS to keep things in order.
Backup Technology can assist you not only with your cloud backup and recovery needs, but we can also advise you when you are ready to replace or upgrade your servers.
