Re: Upgrade existing machine or buy new?

[Lukas Beeler <lukas.beeler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 19:20, James Rich <james@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I have a customer that has a 9406-170 with 256MB main storage and 25.770GB
> disk storage. ÂThis system is fine for the 25 or so concurrent users most
> of the time.

You must have strange definitions of "fine" since a Model 170 can't
even run currently supported releases of the IBM i operating system.

> ÂNow we are going to install a web application using Zend.
> When we run our web app on that system, it is too slow. ÂThe customer is
> considering a new System i for this reason. ÂWhat would be the best use of
> their money, buy a new System i or upgrade the RAM and add more disk?

Buy a new system. From a technical standpoint, the reason why Zend is
so slow is that it's limited by the CPU, which is something you can't
upgrade.

Other reasons include: Be able to run a supported OS. Pay less
maintenenance fees. Bump down to a lower Pxx tier which brings lower
SWMA and lower application maintenance fees. Higher speed and more
reliability - for example, the 170 didn't support redundant power
supplies or hot spare disks.

> An important software factor when considering
> v6 and beyond is that they are heavy users of WRKQRY and that isn't going
> to change.

QU1 still works on V6R1 and is still supported. However, you will need
to purchase QU2 and exercise your rights to use the previous version.
> From a technical standpoint, there is no need to even install QU2,
though. It's just a licensing and sales thing, so that IBM can report
xx IBM i users bought QU2.