Doing 'other' work for client

[psychocandy]

If it's user serviceable why aren't the client doing it themselves? They must have made a risk calculation to get someone in.

You ask'd our opinion, the mass consensus is don't do it, but that's only our opinion.

Client being project manager whos non-technical which is why hes asking me for my opinion.

[psychocandy]

No I don't but then in my spanner wielding days I was qualified to work on Sun Enterprise Kit (e10K , e25K) so messing about with a few little servers wouldn't worry me....

But I would say is the biggest risks for doing this sort of stuff is:
a) Other stuff fails.
b) The new Dimms fail on fit.
c) You damage them with static discharge while fitting.
d) You damage the motherboard while fitting.

True enough. But theres always a risk whoever fits them no matter how small.....

[TheFaQQer]

True enough. But theres always a risk whoever fits them no matter how small.....

Which brings it back to what kind of service can you supply if things do go wrong?

If Oracle mess up a machine, then there's a high chance that they might have other people and / or parts that can help put things right. If you mess up the machine, what can you provide to get it right?

That's why people go to the manufacturer for things - they want one big person that they can blame, knowing that they have the support team to help if things go wrong.

[Harmonic]

Who's providing the maintenance on the V440s? It's worth checking if it's Oracle or a third party. When Oracle borged Sun they hiked support costs and so lots of companies moved to third party support. If they are on Oracle support then you should be OK to replace customer serviceable parts but if they are on third-party support then you'll need to check the T&Cs as there's nothing to stop them putting in a clause that all upgrades must be carried out by their engineers.

[psychocandy]

Who's providing the maintenance on the V440s? It's worth checking if it's Oracle or a third party. When Oracle borged Sun they hiked support costs and so lots of companies moved to third party support. If they are on Oracle support then you should be OK to replace customer serviceable parts but if they are on third-party support then you'll need to check the T&Cs as there's nothing to stop them putting in a clause that all upgrades must be carried out by their engineers.

3rd party. Already checked - customer serviceable parts are ok.

[Harmonic]

3rd party. Already checked - customer serviceable parts are ok.

Cool, just thought of one more thing. Sometimes older boxes need a firmware upgrade to support larger Dimms. Manufacturers always say you should be running the latest firmware but it's worth checking as a firmware upgrade is far more likely to stuff everything than a RAM upgrade.

[psychocandy]

Cool, just thought of one more thing. Sometimes older boxes need a firmware upgrade to support larger Dimms. Manufacturers always say you should be running the latest firmware but it's worth checking as a firmware upgrade is far more likely to stuff everything than a RAM upgrade.

Good point. Thanks.

[fullyautomatix]

Go for it Psycho. Maybe offer to do it after work hours ? Around 12 midnight when a server downtime is not noticeable.

But I would love to hear back on how it went.