[rescue] Putting an E3000 out to pasture or finding a support vendor.

[William Enestvedt]

Good afternoon;
   I am the lone Sun guy in a Windows world, and I need some feedback on
dealing with an older system. So can anyone suggest companies offering
contract support for a single Sun system other than Sun, or can they offer
feedback on the idea of swapping in a new cheap server for an older, slower
one? I don't have a lot of data center experience; I recognize that the server
is still doing its job, but I'm leery of counting on it when it's not
supportable.
   First off, I should say that at my job, they are big believers in support
contracts. That said, we have an E3000 with a Sparc Storage Array that Sun
won't touch any more: the SSA hit the magic 5-years-after-last-sale line in
July of 2003, and the E3000 will hit it in the summer of 2004. Already Sun
won't touch a contract for the SSA, so I'm looking for alternatives because we
rely on this system as our database server for training folks -- and we're
rolling out a new, big system at New Year's. Also, I don't feel confident in
supporting this little guy since it's the only one of its kind here, and I
don't have another E3000 to cannibalize for its support or to swap into its
place.
   One alternative is to find an vendor who'll sell us parts & support, but
that's mortgaging the future since this is our only E3000. Another alternative
is to swap in a newer, thinner server, like the V100 that was our development
server for a long time, and use the E3000 for other stuff like a JumpStart
server or something.
   Can anyone make general observations about which alternative is better?
(And no, I can't simply box up the E3000 and ship it to you. If that was an
option, it'd be in my basement, keepin' the house warm, and I'd be helping to
give away our slumbering Sequent.)
   Thanks in advance.
-wde
P.S. As a reward for readers who made it this far, please enjoy three short
haiku about mullets:

Never played hockey
No rinks in Alabama
Still no teeth, though

Short like your schooling.
Long like your prison sentence.
The penal haircut.

Bald on the top and
long on the back. Behold my
glorious skullet.
--
Will Enestvedt
UNIX System Administrator
Johnson & Wales University -- Providence, RI