I decided to pull the plug on ICA-CORP today. What is remarkable is that this server has been running almost 24x7 for 11 years!
I built this Windows NT server as our primary Domino mail & replication server in 1995 to replace our aging OS/2 Notes Server. The new machine had a very fast Pentium 133 MHZ Processor and 128 megabytes of RAM with a pair of 8 Gigabyte SCSI drives in a mirrored software RAID configuration.
I planned to replaced it about 7 years ago, however life got busy and the server kept running. Then, I planned to replace it again a few years ago, but another server crashed requiring my attention. Meanwhile, this server continued to run. And so the cycle repeated, yet, like the Energizer Bunny, the server continued to run.
Lately, the server started dropping TCPIP connections, requiring a reboot once a week. In addition, disk space was getting tight, with little room to run the maintenance. I decided it was finally time to replace the server hardware.
This has got to be the best ROI that I've ever received from a piece of computing equipment.
I wonder if my current computer will last that long? My H8 still powers up, although I've since forgotten how to read octal.
Do you have a similar story to tell?
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Discussion/Comments (6):
Running reasonably current versions on a 133 MHz processor doesn't surprise me, but 128 MB of RAM does. My server at home is a 400 MHz machine with 384 MB of RAM. It does ok, but it has problems with the http and agent workload about once a month and requires a hard shutdown.
-rich
Eric Mack (www.ericmackonline.com): 5/5/2006 11:54:43 AM
Hi Richard!
I was running 6.51 at the time I shut it down. I found that I started having to reboot every few weeks - the TCPIP stack would stop working. Good motivation to upgrade. Still, it was fun to see just how long I could keep it going.
Alan Bell (http://www.astoryforbedtime.com): 5/5/2006 12:21:12 PM
probably won't be any faster (it has the same resources to play with) but I find Linux much more stable in low resource situations.
yuval (): 5/5/2006 2:25:51 PM
One of my customers has a domino server running on the same Pentium 400 from ~1999.
It's not a mail server (they are using exchange) but an application server for about 25 people. It never has any problems and it's running a 6.51 exactly as it ran a 4.6.4 when I first saw it.
Their IT manager is refusing to upgrade it because "I never upgrade something that work".
Every time a new version of notes is out and I'm upgrading it I hope it will not work so we can get a better server to work with and every time I find my self disappointed.
I can just hope ‘Hanover’ will end this once and for all.
Keith Brooks (http://www.keithbrooks.com): 5/7/2006 6:35:13 PM
Although I don't think any of my servers are still in place as originally built, I do remember never having to fight with them once I built them. That is for OS/2, DOS/Windows(it was pre-NT) and Novell.
Possibly Yuval's site is one of them :-)
Well done and great ROI!
Kaushik Bose (): 1/24/2008 5:09:58 AM
I am new commer in networking.I can configuire lotus ID.I am interested to learn Lotus Dominio Server.Any one can help me to learn.