qanet is an SLES11SP0 and needs a newer replacement to be safe for the future.

Replacement hardware¶

1. Physical machine¶

General advantages:¶

• Potentially less problems then a virtualized machine (less layers -> less problems (especially in the network world))

General disadvantages:¶

• Less flexible then a virtual machine

1.1. Use the same machine as qanet runs on¶

Advantages:¶

• No new hardware needed
• qanet is a quad core with 6GB of RAM -> More then sufficient for a network management server

Disadvantages:¶

• Downtime for the whole network while migrating
• In-place upgrade from SLE11 up to SLE15 might render the system unusable and then requires a re-installation
• No (fast) way back in case of major issues after upgrading
• Hardware of the server is long out-of-service

1.2. Buy new hardware¶

Advantages:¶

• Parallel setup with already running qanet possible
• After initial setup and migration, a fail-over setup is possible
• Fallback in case of major issues after migration should be easily possible (unplug new, plugin old)
• Hardware service for at least 2-3 years

Disadvantages:¶

• Investment needed

2. Virtual machine¶

General advantages¶

• More flexible in the future (VMs can be moved to other hosts, easy backup, failover easily possible)

General disadvantages¶

• Setup of hypervisor can influence the functionality of network server

User qamaster.qa.suse.de as VM host¶

Advantages:¶

• Already exists

Disadvantages:¶

• Already close to it's capacity limit (renegotiation with users (of qamaster) needed)
• Also the hypervisor OS needs an upgrade (SLES12)