Equipment over time.
WHAT HAPPENS AS EQUIPMENT AGES
Failure rates rise Support and parts become harder to obtain Efficiency falls behind newer equipment Capability falls behind requirements
WHAT A REFRESH CYCLE IS
Planned replacement at a defined age.
WHY PLAN IT
Replacement forced by failure is more expensive and worse timed.
WHAT DETERMINES THE CYCLE
Warranty and support availability Efficiency gains from newer equipment Workload requirements
WHAT TO CONSIDER
Newer equipment frequently does more work for less power, which pays part of its cost.
WHAT TO PLAN FOR EACH REPLACEMENT
Migration of workloads Testing Decommissioning of the old equipment
WHAT DECOMMISSIONING REQUIRES
Data destruction, verified Removal from monitoring and inventory Physical removal Disposal or resale
THAT FIRST POINT
Equipment leaving the building must have its data destroyed, verifiably.
WHAT TO RECORD
What was removed, when, and how data was destroyed.
WHAT TO AVOID
Equipment left racked and powered because nobody is certain what it does.