**RANT** Really not impressed with Kodak right now

[JCPenfold]

Now I'm even more frustrated with Kodak. Our Dell Poweredge 2900 has a manufacture date of 6/10/08 right on top. Why would they bring it in here running Windows Server 2003 instead of 2008? We can probably shave a ton of money off that quote just having them upgrade the software instead of replacing the server itself right?

[Farabomb]

Because even though it had a build date of 08 they probably wanted to stick with 03 because it was known and proven to work. In Kodak land 2008 server may not have made it through their testing so that's why you have 03. My install is from Jan 09 and I have Server 2003 RC2.

[Joe]

No, Kodak was not using Windows 2008 until Prinergy 5.1. Earlier versions of Prinergy were not compatible with it which is why our 2900 had Windows 2003 Server on it. But it also had a license for Windows 2008 R1 which is basically Windows Vista Server. You don't need to upgrade the 2900 server. You need to have it upgraded to Windows 2008 Server R2 which is Windows 7 Server instead of the R1 Vista Server. We went with R1 (Vista Server), FREE upgrade, because R2 (Win 7 Server) would have cost us like $1,000 extra and then add as much ram as you can afford.s Windows 2008 server is 64-bit and you are no longer limited to 4 gb of RAM. We went up to 20 GB of RAM when we had Kodak install Windows 2008 R1 Server. Our Insite Server is still running Windows 2003 Server because it is not compatible with Windows 2008 Server.

[Joe]

I just want to add that while I personally think the Dell 2900 is good enough for now...if you decide to go with a new one it will have newer faster hardware that will make it outlive the 2900. If your company can afford it, I would go with the new hardware. But the 2900 will work for a few more years in my opinion with Prinergy 5.x. Once Prinergy 6 is released later this year it may require the new hardware. And if you are upgrading Prinergy you should negotiate for a Prinergy 6 license at no extra cost when it is released.

[JCPenfold]

Came in this morning, and I have all sorts of error messages when I try to open up Prinergy. Remember that $28k upgrade I was talking about? I think we've hit a brick wall where  it won't work anymore until it gets updated. Anyone ever have this happen before?

[Joe]

Came in this morning, and I have all sorts of error messages when I try to open up Prinergy. Remember that $28k upgrade I was talking about? I think we've hit a brick wall where  it won't work anymore until it gets updated. Anyone ever have this happen before?

Yeah, every now and then it seems to go bonkers. Usually shutting down (a complete power off...not just a restart! It makes a difference.) and then restarting everything usually brings it back to life.

[JCPenfold]

I tried the reboot, an error message came up: Failed to parse Versioned Licensable Features Definition File

My IT guy was stumped, and Kodak is trying to extort us because we're down and we can't make plates, so the service fee is $5 per minute (minimum of 30 minutes) and it could take 24 hrs for someone to get back to me unless we "expedite" our call for a fee of $500. And even then, I have a feeling they're going to say our only option is to go ahead and upgrade Prinergy.

[Joe]

I tried the reboot, an error message came up: Failed to parse Versioned Licensable Features Definition File

My IT guy was stumped, and Kodak is trying to extort us because we're down and we can't make plates, so the service fee is $5 per minute (minimum of 30 minutes) and it could take 24 hrs for someone to get back to me unless we "expedite" our call for a fee of $500. And even then, I have a feeling they're going to say our only option is to go ahead and upgrade Prinergy.

Never seen that message. Do you get it when booting or when you start Prinergy? If it is the latter look in Windows Services for the Prinergy License Service. Stop it and restart it and try starting Prinergy again. Not sure what version of Prinergy you are running so it may or may not be there.

[Joe]

Also, again not sure of your version of Prinergy, do you do a nightly backup of the Prinergy configuration? If so the file it seems to fail parsing could maybe be in a recent backup?

[JCPenfold]

I got it when I was booting up and the server admin window popped up. Now that you mention it, I think it does automatically backup daily. I believe the message log said the last successful backup was at 4am today. I'll mention it to the Kodak service tech who calls me back, since the GM told me to go ahead and pay the $500 extortion expedite fee so someone would get back to us today.

[Joe]

I got it when I was booting up and the server admin window popped up. Now that you mention it, I think it does automatically backup daily. I believe the message log said the last successful backup was at 4am today. I'll mention it to the Kodak service tech who calls me back, since the GM told me to go ahead and pay the $500 extortion expedite fee so someone would get back to us today.

Sounds more like a Windows problem than a Prinergy problem then.

[JCPenfold]

I was thinking that too, but Kodak put in the whole system so either way I think I have to call them about this, part of the upgrade quote included a new Poweredge and a Windows Server upgrade

[JCPenfold]

Well the tech who called had a thick accent so I couldn't understand her answer when she explained what the problem was but thank god it's fixed!!

[chris_r]

No, Kodak was not using Windows 2008 until Prinergy 5.1. Earlier versions of Prinergy were not compatible with it which is why our 2900 had Windows 2003 Server on it. But it also had a license for Windows 2008 R1 which is basically Windows Vista Server. You don't need to upgrade the 2900 server. You need to have it upgraded to Windows 2008 Server R2 which is Windows 7 Server instead of the R1 Vista Server. We went with R1 (Vista Server), FREE upgrade, because R2 (Win 7 Server) would have cost us like $1,000 extra and then add as much ram as you can afford.s Windows 2008 server is 64-bit and you are no longer limited to 4 gb of RAM. We went up to 20 GB of RAM when we had Kodak install Windows 2008 R1 Server. Our Insite Server is still running Windows 2003 Server because it is not compatible with Windows 2008 Server.

we are upgrading to the latest versions of InSite and Prinergy - right now i have 3 PE 2900 boxes (Primary, Secondary and Render Station) and 1 PE 830 for InSite (which is not compatible with the latest version of InSite).  We are going to repurpose the Primary 2900 as our InSite server and replace it with a brand new Primary server which is NOT a 2900, it is something new and i cant recall the model, but it has a ton of RAM and runs 2008.  We are then upgrading all the older boxes to 2008 so that we are in line for a major Prinergy upgrade in '14.

i am waiting for the quote as i type this, i am sure a new box and upgrading those others to 2008 is going to be a pretty penny.  Since we have a full service contract the software aspect of the upgrade is free, but they are gonna get us on the hardware expense anyway.

[Joe]

we are upgrading to the latest versions of InSite and Prinergy - right now i have 3 PE 2900 boxes (Primary, Secondary and Render Station) and 1 PE 830 for InSite (which is not compatible with the latest version of InSite).  We are going to repurpose the Primary 2900 as our InSite server and replace it with a brand new Primary server which is NOT a 2900, it is something new and i cant recall the model, but it has a ton of RAM and runs 2008.  We are then upgrading all the older boxes to 2008 so that we are in line for a major Prinergy upgrade in '14.

i am waiting for the quote as i type this, i am sure a new box and upgrading those others to 2008 is going to be a pretty penny.  Since we have a full service contract the software aspect of the upgrade is free, but they are gonna get us on the hardware expense anyway.

A server 3 years ago was $18K buying from Kodak. Of course you can try to negotiate a lower price than what they ask. Or maybe they have gotten cheaper. Good luck and let us know how it goes.