The most commonly and easily upgraded components are:
- Memory (RAM)
- Hard Disk Drives (HDD)
- Network Interface Cards (NIC)- Port Speed
Memory
For Servers that run memory-intensive programs, such as local installs of Microsoft SQL Server, the more memory the server has, the faster these programs will run.
Upgrading the RAM in your Dedicated Server is a seamless process. It requires powering down the physical machine and adding the requested RAM to the system. Occasionally, it can require reconfiguration of the RAM to equal the total amount requested in the upgrade. However, this process takes only 15-20 minutes to complete.
Keep in mind that you must have an operating system that will address the additional memory and a motherboard that will accept it. Windows Server 2003 operating systems cannot access more the 4 GB of physical memory due to a limitation of the 32 bit operating system. Server 2008 operating systems have various limits depending on the edition. Also, depending on your server's hardware configuration, there may be physical limits regarding the maximum RAM the server can accommodate, and some upgrades may not be possible (From 4 GB to 6 GB for example). Please contact Technical Support via support ticket or telephone during your planning to get the proper information on upgrade paths.
Hard Drives
Adding more space to a Dedicated Server may be necessary when serving large amounts of data, useful in such areas as backing up data and hosting large databases. Server Intellect offers a variety of hard disk options with varying speeds and capacities, including SATA II, Raptor, SA-SCSI, and SSD. Please contact a Server Intellect representative if you'd like some help determining which will best meet your needs.
Upgrading a hard drive requires powering down the physical server to add the hardware, and takes roughly 15-30 minutes to complete. Please note that if a hard drive upgrade is requested for a server’s primary hard drive, this will require an Operating System reload, which can take an additional 45-60 minutes.
Keep in mind that your server must have the physical capacity (available drive bays) to support the additional drive(s).
Network Interface Cards
The Network Interface Cards, or NIC, of a server are it’s physical connection to the Internet. The higher the bandwidth rating (measured in Mbps), the faster it will be able to serve data. Currently, we offer both 100Mbps and 1000Mbps Ethernet adapters. Gigabit Ethernet adapters are extremely efficient at serving large amounts of data to a vast amount of web site visitors with increased reliability and speed.
Upgrading a NIC is one of the easiest hardware upgrades to process, and can be completed within 15-20 minutes.
If you would like to upgrade or add any of these features to your existing service, you can do so within the Unity Control Panel. If you need more resources but can't afford downtime, contact the Sales Team now --- we can definitely get you a suitable solution with minimal downtime.
Article ID: 37, Created On: 1/8/2010, Modified: 5/15/2013