Your server is a ticking time bomb. Although it may never actually blow up, sooner or later it will become obsolete and that is a potentially explosive liability for any business. The truth is that the older hardware is, the more likely that a failure and loss of productivity will occur. According to CompTIA (the Computer Industry Association) a company can avoid large expenses by updating its servers every three years. If it waits five years, then there's a big risk of being compelled to upgrade many components simultaneously which is not a pretty thought.

So is your server ready for a once-over? Here are seven signs that you may need to take a closer look.

1. It's been getting slower.
When your server gets slow it's time for something new. Slow servers also mean that you have a less productive work force. Can you afford that?

2. It takes more of your time to manage.
If you're spending more time on dealing with server problems than you like to admit then it is time for an upgrade. If you weren't working on a particular server problem, how much money could you be earning by doing something else?

3. It's getting louder.
As fan drives and hard drives age you will notice that they become noisier. This is usually a pretty clear indicator that a hardware failure is just around the corner. Computers, just like cars, only have so much mileage in them before they start falling apart.

4. It's out of warranty.
If your hardware is more than three years old there is a good chance that the manufacturer has stopped supporting the hardware and software. This would suggest that now might be a good time to implement some kind of upgrade.

5. It's running out of room.
If the requirement of the software that runs on the server exceeds the specifications of the server then you need a new server. No more than 80% of capacity is usually a good rule of thumb.

6. Other general weirdness
Does the box have problems resolving conflicts? Even if things are running smoothly, these occasional hiccups may be a sign that the server is running up against the limits of its performance.

7. The big one.
There usually isn't a telltale sign that your server needs to be upgraded, in terms of hardware, until a catastrophic failure occurs. After this happens there's normally a mad scramble to replace operating systems and applications that may have been discontinued and that's usually when a business discovers that it should have upgraded long ago.

Three years seems to be the magic number for server upgrades. Randall Palm, chief technology and IS director for CompTIA, the Computing Technology Industry Association, recommends an upgrade every three years for servers that host mission critical functions. CompTIA also recommends that you keep the aging servers for testing new software or hosting functions with lower reliability requirements.

Clearly, if you are prepared for the worst, then upgrading your server(s) is a much less risky proposition, but if you aren't prepared for the worst, then you have to expect the worst.

Paying attention to the age and health of your server and a little common sense can tell you when you need an upgrade. If you don't have an in-house IT staff to figure this out for you, then feel free to call us. We want to mind YOUR business.