Server computer's life

There is no definitive answer to your question.

Servers are typically in production for 3-5 years, or for the duration of the warranty period.

Server's are generally run 24/7 as they are typically high availability equipment. I don't see that you will extend it's life expectancy by turning it off.

If the server has been in production for 3+ years, i'd say it's warranty has expired and you may look at upgrading.

To add to snapohead; if it's a critical system/server, make sure it's under warranty at all times. Either by extending the warranty, or if that's not possible, or too expensive, buy a new server and replace the old one with a new one that's under warranty.

Every time I hear someone say it's a critical (business) server, and it turns out to be out of warranty, I think to myself that it must not be that critical.

we had an old dell poweredge 2400 dual PIII 733 Slot 1 server - was running 24/7 for 7 years, i just took it offline a few months back simply cause we needed more power, but it still works fine.

It all depends on the quality of the box and the environment.  Simple as that.

 

Our data center has DEC VAXs that have been running since 1992 and up until Dec '07 we still had DEC PDPs from the mid '80s.  (You young guys will have to Google those :smileywink: )  I still have running some Compaq 1850Rs and 3000s that were installed in 1999 and some Dell PE6650s & 1650s that were installed in 2002.

 

Our data center stays at 72 deg with around 50% humidity and very stable power so that plays well with electronic equipment.  On the other hand when we first got our 6650s we had some in a not-so-good environment with a lot of dust and unstable temperatures.  Needless to say, those failed alot more than the ones in the data center.