SSD's on company network?

[Mitsu3000gt]

I'm being tasked with spec'ing out some new PC's for the office, and our IT consultants are telling me that we can't use SSD's at all because they aren't compatible with our servers & network. As far as I know our entire server room was overhauled recently and is fairly new. Can anyone working in network admin tell me if there is any truth to that? Or is there a reasonable workaround? It sure would be a shame in 2016 to have to buy 100 new employee computers with HDD's haha. I can't think of a reason why using an SSD for local applications would have compatibility issues with the whole network but I don't know the server side of things as well.

[codetrap]

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[LilDrunkenSmurf]

Not sure why an SSD would cause an incompatibility with infrastructure. He might mean the GPO can't set the SSD specific optimal settings, but the machines will still run no problem.

If possible, can you bring in a test/demo model to use for a week or so to do some testing on?

[codetrap]

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[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by codetrap
Sorry, someone told you that a Solid State Drives in your workstations are not compatible with your servers and network?

Uh, no? I don't believe there is any truth to that providing your running a modern operating system.

I thought the same thing which is why I wanted to double check with some of you guys in case I was missing some technical aspect of the server side. I can't think of any reason why that would matter.

Everyone is on Windows 7 Professional 64bit. The newest computers the average employee has is 6 years old with 2 GB of RAM and there is starting to be a large number of complaints about speed haha.

[jacky4566]

Wanna tell me what consultant that was so I can avoid them.
I am a little confused on your question though. Just to clarify, The SSD are being using in employee domain laptops right? Not directly in the servers themselves.

I can see them being cautious of SSD for reasons of MTBF but really the server has no access to the hardware level of an employee laptop.
Enterprise HDD usually have a MTBF of 2.0-2.5 Million Hours. While SDD are less than that at 1.0-1.5 MTBF.

Not comptable sounds like code for "Please only use this specific machine since its the only one we tested and support"

[Seth1968]

Originally posted by codetrap
Uh, no? I don't believe there is any truth to that providing your running a modern operating system. And by modern I mean anything newer than Win95.

Ya, but the funny thing is, Mitsu already knows this.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by jacky4566
Wanna tell me what consultant that was so I can avoid them.
I am a little confused on your question though. Just to clarify, The SSD are being using in employee domain laptops right? Not directly in the servers themselves.

I can see them being cautious of SSD for reasons of MTBF but really the server has no access to the hardware level of an employee laptop.
Enterprise HDD usually have a MTBF of 2.0-2.5 Million Hours. While SDD are less than that at 1.0-1.5 MTBF.

No comptable sounds like code for "Please only use this specific machine since its the only one we tested and support"

Correct, the SSD's would be in the employee workstations (Tower PC's not laptops). I have no idea what our server hardware is but I know it was overhauled within the last couple years with "high end" gear from what I am told, so who knows, but it's a safe bet that it isn't complete garbage at least.

Yeah when management told me I can't use SSD's because the IT consultant said they weren't compatible with the servers it threw up a red flag, hence my thread. Didn't sound right, but then again I don't know the server side very well so I wanted to do my due diligence.

With the industry right now we'll probably be a new company again before any SSD's fail Samsung 850 Pros' have a 2M hour MTBF similar to enterprise HDDs which is probably overkill anyway.

[Xtrema]

WTF?

I hate to shit on people without context, did they even give you a reason why?

I can understand from the support angle (like outfitting a bunch of Dells with SSDs after the fact may throw a wrench in support agreements) or the fact that buying cheap SSDs may increase failure risk, or in server application will create pre-mature wear and data risk.

But to say out right SSD is incompatible is retarded.

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt

Yeah when management told me I can't use SSD's because the IT consultant said they weren't compatible with the servers it threw up a red flag, hence my thread. Didn't sound right, but then again I don't know the server side very well so I wanted to do my due diligence.

Again why?

Are they worry about people working too fast and causing stress to some server workload which they didn't plan for?

[Zhariak]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt
I'm being tasked with spec'ing out some new PC's for the office, and our IT consultants are telling me that we can't use SSD's at all because they aren't compatible with our servers & network. As far as I know our entire server room was overhauled recently and is fairly new. Can anyone working in network admin tell me if there is any truth to that? Or is there a reasonable workaround? It sure would be a shame in 2016 to have to buy 100 new employee computers with HDD's haha. I can't think of a reason why using an SSD for local applications would have compatibility issues with the whole network but I don't know the server side of things as well.

That's crazy man... The only time I'd recommend against using SSD's for my customers would be only two reasons:

1) The users require more space ($ to GB isn't feasible)
2) The client environment had shady power issues. (ie. Static electricity, regular surges, machines that generate magnetic fields, etc...)

Other than that, if my clients wanted SSDs and were willing to pay, I'd have no problem deploying these for both small/medium sized businesses, and enterprise customers...

Keep in mind, my recommendation only holds true for preconfigured systems that ship with SSDs. If you're doing SSD upgrades to new systems after they've been deployed, I'd avoid this due to the manpower/labor needed to reformat/reconfigure the systems.


Short Version: The servers have no idea what type of drives workstations have, all they see is a workstation accessing network resources...

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by Xtrema
WTF?

I hate to shit on people without context, did they even give you a reason why?

I can understand from the support angle (like outfitting a bunch of Dells with SSDs after the fact) or the fact that buying cheap SSDs may increase cost, or in server application will create pre-mature wear and data risk.

But to say out right SSD is incompatible is retarded.

They are only here a couple times a week so I can't ask why until they come back. I think we are getting rid of them soon, hence why I was tasked with this haha.

The reason given to me was that they weren't compatible with our servers & network. I will get more clarification when they are in again. It's possible it's support related, and they just told me that assuming I knew nothing about computers.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by Zhariak


That's crazy man... The only time I'd recommend against using SSD's for my customers would be only two reasons:

1) The users require more space ($ to GB isn't feasible)
2) The client environment had shady power issues. (ie. Static electricity, regular surges, machines that generate magnetic fields, etc...)

Other than that, if my clients wanted SSDs and were willing to pay, I'd have no problem deploying these for both small/medium sized businesses, and enterprise customers...

Keep in mind, my recommendation only holds true for preconfigured systems that ship with SSDs. If you're doing SSD upgrades to new systems after they've been deployed, I'd avoid this due to the manpower/labor needed to reformat/reconfigure the systems.

Yeah it definitely seemed weird. The first thing I wanted to do with my new task was get everyone SSD's haha, I think it would solve most of the complaints. A lot of the software (along with MS Office) is local, so it should make a big difference.

I don't think anyone need more than 128 - 256 GB. My computer runs most of the software we have and I'm using 78 GB haha.

They would be brand new systems, and become the "go-to" system to purchase whenever someone needed an upgrade. We would not be simply swapping out the HDD's for SSDs.

Sounds like there isn't any reason not to go with SSD's as I suspected haha. I'll try get them to explain it more though next time I see them.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt


They are only here a couple times a week so I can't ask why until they come back. I think we are getting rid of them soon, hence why I was tasked with this haha.

The reason given to me was that they weren't compatible with our servers & network. I will get more clarification when they are in again. It's possible it's support related, and they just told me that assuming I knew nothing about computers.

I bet that the contract they signed doesn't allow them to bill for this increase work load. If the word spread someone got SSD and is working well, everyone want them.

But if want to have less support nightmare, stick with 256GB and avoid TLC based drives.

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt
They would be brand new systems, and become the "go-to" system to purchase whenever someone needed an upgrade. We would not be simply swapping out the HDD's for SSDs.

That's how I would do it, to keep warranty whole.

[pheoxs]

Certain encryption programs do not play well with SSDs so that could be a reason. We weren't able to upgrade to SSDs at one point because our standard was an older version of Symantec endpoint encryption that didn't work with the drives.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by pheoxs
Certain encryption programs do not play well with SSDs so that could be a reason. We weren't able to upgrade to SSDs at one point because our standard was an older version of Symantec endpoint encryption that didn't work with the drives.

We do have that....I wonder if that is what it's going to end up being. Do you know what version is the cutoff point? We seem to have version 12.1.6. I am not familiar with anything Symantec though.

Googling suggest's it's indeed a thing. I found this article:

https://support.symantec.com/en_US/a...OWTO83492.html

[Zhariak]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt


We do have that....I wonder if that is what it's going to end up being. Do you know what version is the cutoff point? We seem to have version 12.1.6. I am not familiar with anything Symantec though.

Googling suggest's it's indeed a thing. I found this article:

https://support.symantec.com/en_US/a...OWTO83492.html

Mitsu, he's using Endpoint Encryption. You're reference to 12.1.6 is a version for Symantec Endpoint Protection (anti-virus software). Different software, different purpose, you don't need to be concerned with that. Encryption vs Anti-Virus.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by Zhariak


Mitsu, he's using Endpoint Encryption. You're reference to 12.1.6 is a version for Symantec Endpoint Protection (anti-virus software). Different software, different purpose, you don't need to be concerned with that. Encryption vs Anti-Virus.

Told you I don't know anything about Symantec

It appears you are correct and I misread "encryption" and "protection".

[Zhariak]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt


Told you I don't know anything about Symantec

It appears you are correct and I misread "encryption" and "protection".

And actually even if you were running the encryption product, it wouldn't be a show stopper

Lol, if you had Symantec Encryption and were running an older version that had issues with the SSDs, that would just give you another thing to yell at your IT guys at (for not maintaining and keeping your Symantec products up to date). lol

[codetrap]

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[Zhariak]

Originally posted by codetrap
We're running them in machines that operate the XRays and MRIs. Haven't heard of anything unusual with having to replace them more often than anywhere else..


I have Symantec v12.1.6 Endpoint Protection on my laptop since I got it and haven't had any issues with it on my SSD, full encryption and all the other big brother tools enabled. And I was near an MRI last week with it. Man, those things are loud!

Oh ya for sure, there's SSDs that are up to spec for those environments... I was just referring to the standard SSDs found in lower end typical business applications.

(A small business with shitty power, or manufacturing machines that generate EM wouldn't want to fork out the $$$ for SSDs rated for those applications such as X-Ray, MRI)