looking for Sys admin - use exisiting set up or go for clean start?

Our sys admin needs to travel a lot this year so we may be on the hunt for someone to take over.....

We are getting close to having 1,000 registered members on-line at peak times
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Use a few VB plug ins (and will want to use more in future)

We have a few choices..

1) Train someone to use the existing set up (however we still haven't found a server co we like working with, we keep finding their service unsatisfactory and have moved 3 times and have plans to move again...)

2) Hire someone that does a lot of this sort of thing and have them do the server install fresh- and make sure that we have all the passwords, own the server and have back ups sent somewhere that that they don't control. (for security of the forum)

Really what I am wondering is - can we expect a sys admin to own problems on a server they had no hand in configuring, with a server company they may not have prior experience with?

Thanks in advance for your vote and look forward to your comments.

[Ntfu2]

Depends on your current setup. I manage 5 of my own servers and all data is sent to a off network 3rd party back-up soloution with no problem.