March 5, 2015 at 8:08 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Upgrade and Refresh, or Not?
March 6, 2015 at 12:03 am
It is my perception that, in general, it takes too much effort to maintain an unchanging system. By this I mean that if a production server is running SQL Server with applications accessing it then there is too much of an overhead to keep that instance of SQL Server running when there are no changes required to the database schema or data (outside of that performed by applications).
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
March 6, 2015 at 7:52 am
Everything is a risk. Upgrading is risking business disruption, not upgrading is risking having previously unknown low-level vulnerabilities being discovered and exploited, aside from possibly hitting max limits that don't exist in newer versions. There are still NT 4 and IE 6 installations out there. Stability is a holy grail that we strive for and frequently achieve.
I've always thought that the best sign of a database is that management doesn't really know that you're there because everything runs smoothly. It doesn't mean that you're not occasionally sweating bullets behind the scenes, but the users never notice problems.
We did a firewall replacement/upgrade 3 weeks ago or so, and our networking admin is still trying to fix things. Part of that is an incompetent vendor who doesn't yet realize that this was their last job for us.
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]
March 6, 2015 at 9:18 am
On the other hand updating software every refresh cycle can be hugely expensive in terms of conversion, training, identifiying processes that need change, and continuity. Any major application is going to be at least 2-3 months in upgrade process during which time productivity is down. The 'gains' (typically stuff thrown in by the vendor to make it 'new') in a single version update are rarely worth the effort.
Users don't like that, IT doesn't like that, management doesn't like that.
...
-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
March 8, 2015 at 12:21 pm
Short ( maybe too short ) editorial which has the advantage to question about the upgrade or refresh.
I gave only a good notation because of the lack of proposals but I am not sure that there is a good answer to this question.
My habit is only to run the upgrades corresponding to service packs when I am ( nearly ) sure that the service pack is not causing any heavy problem.
A new version for SQL Server or Visual Studio : yes but I prefer to follow forums related to them ( MSDN or SQL Server Central ) to avoid unpleasant problems especially during the install.
🙂
March 9, 2015 at 8:00 am
Our company position is to weigh the benefits against the cost.
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