Talking about servers automatically evokes responsibility: if you screw up you are fired.
And that I believe is the only reason the server market exists today...
There is hardly anything a server of three years ago did that a 6-core CPU running on free ESXi VMWare (with 2-3 Windows/Linux OSs on top) won't be able to do today twice as fast.
But hey, money spending decisions are often (most of the time?) made on different basis and I can't really complain. Running 18 servers on a 2U 4x8 box (R815) is fun...
Diogen.
Well, I'm jealous. Pure IT was the track I was on, repeatedly throughout my career, only to be repeatedly sidetracked. I remember fondly running Novell with BNC connectors, which I very much liked. We might one day grow into a 3 server setup, but that's about the most I can expect. Of course, with so many other hats, I've forgotten most of what I once knew. Just kills me to ask how to do something I knew I once did routinely.
We are replacing a server which will be over 8 years in service when the new server takes over, as November turns in to December. And I haven't forgotten you, Van, for the possible final resting place of our current server.
We plan on 4 or 5 years on this one, then probably spend bigger bucks for more horsepower, as we then bring in more remote sites. But yep, if this somehow fails (ain't gonna happen), I'd probably be brushing up my resume. Running it all on a souped up PC might be doable, with some tricks to fool our accounting system's client server expectations- but how far non standard do you want to go?
Can't go Apple, although there is great consideration in doing so. Our accounting system is MS only, and we've learned the hard way that MS Office in any non-Windows flavor is not quite 100% compatible with MS Office Windows. Nor is Star Office. Nor is Open Office.