What spares do you keep on hand?

[Uniballer]

Like many others, my company is now totally dependent on ethernet w/POE (power over ethernet) for phone service, computer networking, etc. We can't talk to a customer, take an order, process order details, or ship anything without a working ethernet network. Our telephones need POE so we can't just run out to BestBuy to buy new ethernet switches if something gets fried. So I have a spare SGE2000P that I bought on eBay just in case, and I made sure that it has up-to-date software and configuration info.

What do you feel you need to have on hand?

 

[wblock@]

A couple times recently I've suggested that people who use hardware RAID controllers ought to have a spare controller. Likewise if you use some esoteric backup media. The time you need it for a restore, the drive or controller or cables will fail. The local stores will not have it, and if it's more than a couple of years old, it may not even be available online. Testing the spares regularly is a good idea also.