HP Servers - do you all have extended warranties? Will you be happy to buy them?

[m25man]

For years I've been selling and installing HP Servers normally with the usual HP 3Yr warranties however, now HP have re-written the rules your not going to be able to get driver updates and firmware for your HP servers once it's out of warranty without a valid HP Carepack or Support Contract through an HPP Support partner.

 

So all those G5s G6 and G7s are going to be pretty frustrating to support once they are 3 Yrs +

 

http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2013/12/23/hewlett_packard_support_clampdown/

 

I've already run into a problem with an 18 month old Microserver (12 Month Warranty) that needed a firmware update to install Server 2012R2 on it only to be told I need a current support contract to obtain the firmware!

 

Ok I was able to work around it as I have several in warranty at other sites but not everyone will have easy access to HP support files anymore.

Read what you like into HP's reasoning about why they have decided to do this but effectively as of 2014 without a valid support contract your 3 yr old HP server is now obsolete and will be increasingly difficult to maintain.

 

I've never been a great Dell lover because of their out of band management never came close to HP's iLO IMHO but at least I can still go to the Dell website and get a driver or update for a 5 yr old box!

 

Just about now many will be looking at budgets and hardware research for the Easter and Summer projects, will this somewhat Hard nosed attitude of HP swing your decisions?

 

I thought the Dell VRTX was a cat amongst the pigeons when it appeared last year, this latest behaviour by HP has certainly made me look twice and of course now Lenovo are picking up the IBM x86 Server Range I for one think this will damage HP more than they think...

 

I eagerly await the groups thoughts and comments.

Edited February 1, 2014 by m25man

[timbo343]

Well i guess that's my plans for physical upgrades on my servers to 2012/2012r2 over the summer down the drain. Another nail in the coffin for virtualisation for me and another money making decision for HP.

[FragglePete]

Always been happy with Dell and HP servers, but this recently has pushed me to Dell solution on a recent purchase.

 

Pete

[psydii]

It's pretty much a 3com moment. (When 3com bailed out of the enterprise market overnight).

 

The trust is gone.

 

Shame, I loved their kit. (And ironically had returned to the 3com fold with the h3c hp networking merger)

[timbo343]

Whats next after this sham from HP? They are going to stop life time warranty on switches, wouldnt surprise me.

[plexer]

Posted about this:

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/news/129344-hp-restrict-server-repairs.html

 

Ben

[Trapper]

Ugh. I love HP servers, but this is just a bad idea for SMEs.

 

Obviously with virtualisation they are selling far less boxes and need to recoup the money from somewhere. The problem is when your hardware reaches a certain age you can't get Carepak's for them!

[FN-GM]

For us it wouldn't be a deal breaker. We don't run any servers that don't have a warranty anyway. For something in production it wouldn't be a good idea to do that.

[SYNACK]

Goodbye hp servers, it was nice while it lasted but one of the best things was the driver support, without that they are just another nasty vendor.

[Arthur]

I've already run into a problem with an 18 month old Microserver (12 Month Warranty) that needed a firmware update to install Server 2012 R2 on it only to be told I need a current support contract to obtain the firmware!

FWIW, the firmware should also be on the Service Pack for Proliant ISO which you can still download from the link in @plexer's thread.

[MatthewL]

Shame, much prefer HP kit over the Dell stuff but have used more Dell kit in the corporate world. Like my HP stuff at home.

[twin--turbo]

For us it wouldn't be a deal breaker. We don't run any servers that don't have a warranty anyway. For something in production it wouldn't be a good idea to do that.

 

Many people use 3rd Party extended warranty providers past the initial carepack period. This is where folke are going to become unstuck on firmware if the provider is not approved.

 

Rob

[Mr_Jiminy]

Interestingly enough, I recently had a trying experience getting costs from a HP partner, so much so it put me off ever buying their kit. All business gets directed to Dell - unless the client requests otherwise.

[sparkeh]

For us it wouldn't be a deal breaker. We don't run any servers that don't have a warranty anyway. For something in production it wouldn't be a good idea to do that.

Agree, I use HP servers and wouldn't dream of running a production server without warranty.

Many people use 3rd Party extended warranty providers past the initial carepack period. This is where folke are going to become unstuck on firmware if the provider is not approved.

 

Rob

Similarly, I wouldn't use an unapproved provider.

[twin--turbo]

I always perfered Dells, HP was forced upon us.

 

I was not impressed by the 1st HP we got. And I had to fit all the upgrade parts myself rather than the machine arriving ready to fire up!

 

Rob

[robjduk]

Dell all the way here. A few months back I had a hard drive fail and about 3 hours later I had an engineer at the reception with a new one. HP on the other hand have been nothing but a pain in the arse with my P4000. A hard drive goes and they want double proof it was bought when I say it was and then its a couple of days before a part turns up and they get really cranky about the old part being returned. Thankfully just scored a pile of Dell servers with Dell sans so I am in network manager heaven.

[sparkeh]

Funny, hp support has always been awesome for us, I always use web chat and open by sending all the troubleshooting steps I have taken. Usually they just reply that they are sending a new part.

 

The returns thing is a bit annoying though. They do get a bit cranky.

[m25man]

Thanks for the feedback so far, in my own experience people are happy to take an HP with the standard 3 year warranty and not think beyond this.

At the end of 3 years if we are lucky we will all buy shiny new servers and hand down the old ones for land fill.

Those that do decide to keep them going for another year (or two) will now have to pay up around £250-300 pa for a DL380 G6 for instance just to get a driver or BIOS update.

OK if something else was to go wrong you can expect some help or a part replaced but a driver or firmware fix/update?

 

Do we all have a 3 year server life cycle? Does everyone run out and buy a CarePack after 3 Years? Are we all buying 4 or 5 years from the outset?

 

All well and good for those that have said they wouldn't have a production server without a warranty, but I wonder just how many there are out there that don't?

 

Never mind, off to the Dell Site to price up my next server...

[timbo343]

Im going to hold my hands up, im one of these who has the majority of servers without warranty, partly due to the cost of the warranties. My budget doesnt stretch that far, in fact it doesnt stretch very far at all for the amount of stuff i am expected to keep going.

 

Im sure i costed a warranty from HP at £750 per server per year.

 

Since having the budget cuts i havent been able to do my 3 yearly cycle of replacing servers along with other things and my servers are the dl380 g series.

[sparkeh]

Oh I should have added, this will put me off HP in the future ;-)

[Arthur]

This week, HP announced that effective 19 February 2014, we will provide firmware updates through the HP Support Center only to customers with a valid warranty, Care Pack Service or support agreement.

 

This decision reinforces our goal to provide access to the latest HP firmware, which is valuable intellectual property, for our customers who have chosen to maximize and protect their IT investments. We know this is a change from how we’ve done business in the past; however, this aligns with industry best practices and is the right decision for our customers and partners.

 

Source: h30507.www3.hp.com/t5/Technical-Support-Services-Blog/Customers-for-life/ba-p/154423

[GeekyPete]

For us it wouldn't be a deal breaker. We don't run any servers that don't have a warranty anyway. For something in production it wouldn't be a good idea to do that.

 

certainly true for physical servers. Now if you have a number of servers it would be cheaper to buy a spare one than take out the care packs and with virtualisation you can have a virtual server back in production a lot Faster than HP can repair a physical one.

[FN-GM]

certainly true for physical servers. Now if you have a number of servers it would be cheaper to buy a spare one than take out the care packs and with virtualisation you can have a virtual server back in production a lot Faster than HP can repair a physical one.

 

That would work, apart from the firmwares. We had a double power supply failure in a SAN once, a spare SAN wouldn't happen. So for things like this you would have a care pack.