State Of The Power Systems Base 2025: The Operating Systems

February 10, 2025 Timothy Prickett Morgan

What is more important: Keeping a server platform current or keeping its operating system current?

That is a trick question, and it is tricky in two ways. First, you should keep both hardware and software current, or more precisely, keep both as current as the applications, the budget, and good sense permits. A server older than five years is going to start having component failure (usually with the disk drives and fans), and one that is 10years old has the chance of a much more catastrophic failure. However, with a machine that is five to ten years old, you can …