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County IT director urges funding plan to avert critical VxRail failure; commissioners prioritize core infrastructure
Summary
Missoula County IT staff told commissioners its core virtualization platform is past refresh and needs a multi‑year funding plan; commissioners prioritized setting aside $65,000 this year toward a refresh and approved lower‑cost self‑service password reset and other IT items for the budget, deferring larger hires.
Missoula County’s IT director explained Aug. 27 that the county’s core virtualization servers (VxRail platform) are six years old, out of support and at increasing operational risk, and recommended beginning a multi‑year refresh plan. Ken (IT director) said the full rip‑and‑replace would be large — “about a $120,000” to $350,000 in recent estimates — and recommended creating a recurring savings account so the county is not hit with a quarter‑million or larger bill every refresh cycle.
Ken asked commissioners to prioritize the VxRail savings amount of $65,000 this year so the county can phase upgrades over a two‑year cycle. He said the county can do a phased third‑upgrade each year and that without the savings the county will face an urgent replacement next year; “next year I think it’s gonna be drop dead,” he said. Commissioners repeatedly characterized the VxRail refresh as critical infrastructure and favored funding the $65,000 set‑aside over lower‑priority items.
Staff also requested several other technology items: a database backup replacement (staff described the current backup solution as defunct and needing replacement), a $9,000 self‑service password reset tool to reduce help‑desk labor, and a county‑wide password‑management licensing request (higher cost; license described as similar to LastPass). Ken said the self‑service option is “low hanging fruit” that improves customer experience and reduces overtime costs.
Commissioners discussed cloud alternatives and noted cloud may spread costs over years but could be more expensive across a multi‑year horizon; Ken said the long‑term cloud option typically “nickels and dimes you.” Commissioners agreed to include the VxRail savings ($65,000) and the lower‑cost password/self‑service items in the preliminary budget and put larger hires or major platform replacements on a prioritized, multi‑year schedule. Final budget adoption is scheduled for Sept. 4, and these are preliminary ongoing requests pending final approval.
