[CentOS] 10 Year old IT Infrastructure

[Shawn Everett]

Thanks to everyone for their comments so far.

The "server" in question is a basic 2 node cluster connected to an MSA500.

It runs a variety of applications including Oracle, Apache, Samba, and a
proprietary app built by another vendor.

The hardware is monitored, maintained and backed up regularly.

The setup is mission critical to my client.  They spent a lot of time and
money to make sure it wouldn't go down.

The list's point is well taken that old *nix installs are very reliable
long term.  I've had similar experiences.  Given this particular client's
need for a reliable, stable, redundant system, I was contemplating
alternatives or future upgrades rather than letting things age.

Shawn

> Hi Guys,
>
> I have a client who hopes to keep their server another 5 years making it
> 10 years old at that time.
>
> At this point there are no plans to add new infrastructure or a new server
> to the mix.  Their business model is fairly static.
>
> I'd like to see them upgrade.  Can anyone suggest specific reasons why
> running a business on 10 year old equipment is a bad thing?
>
> Specific arguments I can think of would be:
> - Hard/Impossible to find replacement hardware
> - Lack of support for both H/W and S/W
> - Possibly unable to run current versions of CentOS
> - Higher probability of hardware failures over time
> - Performance bottlenecks
>
> Any other thoughts?
>
> Shawn
>
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