Chris Mauritz <chrism at imntv.com> wrote: > I'm sure you already know this, but.... > if it's THAT critical of a machine then it would probably > be in your best interest to have a spare or two. Whenever I > stop using one brand of server and begin using another type > (at least in rackmount datacenter situations), I always have > at least one spare installed. I have to 2nd Chris' notion here. Anytime you have 3 or more systems, the cost to procure a spare is not much of an additional cost -- especially without fixed disk storage (which is typically the majority cost of any system). One set of a spare, pre-assembled enclosure (including hot-swap disk), mainboard, CPU(s), memory, NIC(s) and storage controller(s) is always a good move when downtime is to be avoided at all costs (without breaking the bank on a failover implementation). > I just popped out the "hot plug" drive(s) on the stricken > machine and plugged them into the spare system, > flicked a power switch, and voila. Yep, make the spare ready-to-use using existing storage. Once you have the system back up on the new "shell," you can always go back and debug the failed "shell." In the worst case, it now becomes your "spare parts" system. -- Bryan J. Smith Professional, Technical Annoyance b.j.smith at ieee.org http://thebs413.blogspot.com ---------------------------------------------------- *** Speed doesn't kill, difference in speed does ***