I'm running a Dell PowerEdge 2900. It is seven years old in April, and Dell won't renew/extent the Gold support (24/7 4 hr response time parts and labor) for a server seven years old. (A parts inventory issue I imagine, as well as having to have people who know an increasing variety of machines.)
My question is this. What options are there, if any, for equivalent support from someone other than Dell?
I don't want to run this machine without Gold support; a business is dependent on it. I've already fried two Raid backplanes. If I can't call Dell anymore to bring new ones and install them, whom can I call?
If you can't for some reason replace the server you're only option once they are out of warranty your only real option is to buy spares yourself, most likely off ebay and HOPE *THEY* are working too!
If you move to VMs it becomes less of an issue since you can cluster the VMs and/or use replication technology.... and at worst, you can just "move" the VM from the dead hardware to a laptop temporarily.