Hey there,
we do operate a few EOL'ed devices in our labs (and as playground for the automation services, etc.) and from time to time, things break - very rarely, but they do. I do have quite some hardware on stock here and I'm all set for exchanging almost anything that can break inside a filer (from disks to shelves to backplanes, cables, fans, PSUs, NVRAM batteries, etc.), but changing the motherboard proved difficult. I cannot find a way to assign the old S/N to the new motherboard in order to be able to reuse the licenses we had on the (now dead) filer. License transfers to other serial numbers are also not possible without active support contract.
Any idea how to make that happen?
Thanks,
Alexander Griesser Head of Systems Operations
ANEXIA Internetdienstleistungs GmbH
E-Mail: AGriesser@anexia-it.commailto:AGriesser@anexia-it.com Web: http://www.anexia-it.comhttp://www.anexia-it.com/
Anschrift Hauptsitz Klagenfurt: Feldkirchnerstraße 140, 9020 Klagenfurt Geschäftsführer: Alexander Windbichler Firmenbuch: FN 289918a | Gerichtsstand: Klagenfurt | UID-Nummer: AT U63216601
Hi Alex
I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you cannot change the SN on a motherboard. So unless you are running a really old version of ONTAP (8.2 afair) the licenses are locked to your SN. The correct way to replace a MB is to replace it physical, which is possible, and then contact NetApp support in order for them to generate a new set of licenses for that controller… which I a pretty much sure, they will not do unless you have a service contract with them 😊 I think you are able to use eval licenses for up to 90 days, but then unlicensed services will not startup if you ever reboot the controller 😉 If you are a _very_ large customer, they might provide you with some new licenses, but I doubt it.
There is a way very fiddly way to downgrade to 8.1, then enter the old licenses (if you still have them (the short version), then upgrade to 8.3 which will automatically convert the licenses to the long version (of cause it will not display the new longer licenses to you), and you can then upgrade further… but of cause “newer” systems will not even let you boot on the old 8.1 version… so seems like NetApp is going to win this one, unless somebody figure out which chip on the MB is holding the SN… (may be more of them), and better pray that it is not encrypted (which I bet it is)…
Personally I think it is sad that you cannot use your hardware for longer… because it is built to last much longer than the typically 3-5 years. But of cause it is all about money… NetApp really don’t want you to renew your service beyond 5 years… trust me, you might as well buy a new system for that price…
It would be nice if you were able to just buy the software licenses and not the hardware service, but sadly they are knit together…
Also NetApp’s policies does not allow you to resell any licenses so officially you cannot buy a broker-version of a controller with licenses… but if it is worth anything for you, I would try to contact a few IT brokers and ask if they have a controller with licenses…. That would be my best bet..
Basically you are out of luck 😊
If you figure something else out, please let me/us know…
/Heino
Fra: Toasters toasters-bounces@teaparty.net på vegne af Alexander Griesser AGriesser@anexia-it.com Dato: torsdag, 18. februar 2021 kl. 16.29 Til: Toasters toasters@teaparty.net Emne: Motherboard Replacement on out-of-warranty filer Hey there,
we do operate a few EOL’ed devices in our labs (and as playground for the automation services, etc.) and from time to time, things break – very rarely, but they do. I do have quite some hardware on stock here and I’m all set for exchanging almost anything that can break inside a filer (from disks to shelves to backplanes, cables, fans, PSUs, NVRAM batteries, etc.), but changing the motherboard proved difficult. I cannot find a way to assign the old S/N to the new motherboard in order to be able to reuse the licenses we had on the (now dead) filer. License transfers to other serial numbers are also not possible without active support contract.
Any idea how to make that happen?
Thanks,
Alexander Griesser Head of Systems Operations
ANEXIA Internetdienstleistungs GmbH
E-Mail: AGriesser@anexia-it.commailto:AGriesser@anexia-it.com Web: http://www.anexia-it.comhttp://www.anexia-it.com/
Anschrift Hauptsitz Klagenfurt: Feldkirchnerstraße 140, 9020 Klagenfurt Geschäftsführer: Alexander Windbichler Firmenbuch: FN 289918a | Gerichtsstand: Klagenfurt | UID-Nummer: AT U63216601
Yah, the problem is, that there are different labs – one for snapmirror/snapvault setups f.ex., one for snaplock. So basically the spare controllers would have to be fully licensed with everything in order to replace any of the existing options.
Can’t we just solder one of the EEPROMs onto the other motherboard? 😊
Alexander Griesser Head of Systems Operations
ANEXIA Internetdienstleistungs GmbH
E-Mail: AGriesser@anexia-it.commailto:AGriesser@anexia-it.com Web: http://www.anexia-it.comhttp://www.anexia-it.com/
Anschrift Hauptsitz Klagenfurt: Feldkirchnerstraße 140, 9020 Klagenfurt Geschäftsführer: Alexander Windbichler Firmenbuch: FN 289918a | Gerichtsstand: Klagenfurt | UID-Nummer: AT U63216601
Von: Heino Walther hw@beardmann.dk Gesendet: Donnerstag, 18. Februar 2021 17:11 An: Alexander Griesser AGriesser@anexia-it.com; Toasters toasters@teaparty.net Betreff: SV: Motherboard Replacement on out-of-warranty filer
Hi Alex
I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you cannot change the SN on a motherboard. So unless you are running a really old version of ONTAP (8.2 afair) the licenses are locked to your SN. The correct way to replace a MB is to replace it physical, which is possible, and then contact NetApp support in order for them to generate a new set of licenses for that controller… which I a pretty much sure, they will not do unless you have a service contract with them 😊 I think you are able to use eval licenses for up to 90 days, but then unlicensed services will not startup if you ever reboot the controller 😉 If you are a _very_ large customer, they might provide you with some new licenses, but I doubt it.
There is a way very fiddly way to downgrade to 8.1, then enter the old licenses (if you still have them (the short version), then upgrade to 8.3 which will automatically convert the licenses to the long version (of cause it will not display the new longer licenses to you), and you can then upgrade further… but of cause “newer” systems will not even let you boot on the old 8.1 version… so seems like NetApp is going to win this one, unless somebody figure out which chip on the MB is holding the SN… (may be more of them), and better pray that it is not encrypted (which I bet it is)…
Personally I think it is sad that you cannot use your hardware for longer… because it is built to last much longer than the typically 3-5 years. But of cause it is all about money… NetApp really don’t want you to renew your service beyond 5 years… trust me, you might as well buy a new system for that price…
It would be nice if you were able to just buy the software licenses and not the hardware service, but sadly they are knit together…
Also NetApp’s policies does not allow you to resell any licenses so officially you cannot buy a broker-version of a controller with licenses… but if it is worth anything for you, I would try to contact a few IT brokers and ask if they have a controller with licenses…. That would be my best bet..
Basically you are out of luck 😊
If you figure something else out, please let me/us know…
/Heino
Fra: Toasters <toasters-bounces@teaparty.netmailto:toasters-bounces@teaparty.net> på vegne af Alexander Griesser <AGriesser@anexia-it.commailto:AGriesser@anexia-it.com> Dato: torsdag, 18. februar 2021 kl. 16.29 Til: Toasters <toasters@teaparty.netmailto:toasters@teaparty.net> Emne: Motherboard Replacement on out-of-warranty filer Hey there,
we do operate a few EOL’ed devices in our labs (and as playground for the automation services, etc.) and from time to time, things break – very rarely, but they do. I do have quite some hardware on stock here and I’m all set for exchanging almost anything that can break inside a filer (from disks to shelves to backplanes, cables, fans, PSUs, NVRAM batteries, etc.), but changing the motherboard proved difficult. I cannot find a way to assign the old S/N to the new motherboard in order to be able to reuse the licenses we had on the (now dead) filer. License transfers to other serial numbers are also not possible without active support contract.
Any idea how to make that happen?
Thanks,
Alexander Griesser Head of Systems Operations
ANEXIA Internetdienstleistungs GmbH
E-Mail: AGriesser@anexia-it.commailto:AGriesser@anexia-it.com Web: http://www.anexia-it.comhttp://www.anexia-it.com/
Anschrift Hauptsitz Klagenfurt: Feldkirchnerstraße 140, 9020 Klagenfurt Geschäftsführer: Alexander Windbichler Firmenbuch: FN 289918a | Gerichtsstand: Klagenfurt | UID-Nummer: AT U63216601
If you find the eeprom, let me know 😉. I have a lot of 32XX systems that I can test with… I have the equipment to hot-air the eeprom off… but if I take a glance of a 32XX board there are more than one EEPROM on there 😉
/Heino
Fra: Alexander Griesser AGriesser@anexia-it.com Dato: torsdag, 18. februar 2021 kl. 17.31 Til: Heino Walther hw@beardmann.dk, Toasters toasters@teaparty.net Emne: AW: Motherboard Replacement on out-of-warranty filer Yah, the problem is, that there are different labs – one for snapmirror/snapvault setups f.ex., one for snaplock. So basically the spare controllers would have to be fully licensed with everything in order to replace any of the existing options.
Can’t we just solder one of the EEPROMs onto the other motherboard? 😊
Alexander Griesser Head of Systems Operations
ANEXIA Internetdienstleistungs GmbH
E-Mail: AGriesser@anexia-it.commailto:AGriesser@anexia-it.com Web: http://www.anexia-it.comhttp://www.anexia-it.com/
Anschrift Hauptsitz Klagenfurt: Feldkirchnerstraße 140, 9020 Klagenfurt Geschäftsführer: Alexander Windbichler Firmenbuch: FN 289918a | Gerichtsstand: Klagenfurt | UID-Nummer: AT U63216601
Von: Heino Walther hw@beardmann.dk Gesendet: Donnerstag, 18. Februar 2021 17:11 An: Alexander Griesser AGriesser@anexia-it.com; Toasters toasters@teaparty.net Betreff: SV: Motherboard Replacement on out-of-warranty filer
Hi Alex
I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you cannot change the SN on a motherboard. So unless you are running a really old version of ONTAP (8.2 afair) the licenses are locked to your SN. The correct way to replace a MB is to replace it physical, which is possible, and then contact NetApp support in order for them to generate a new set of licenses for that controller… which I a pretty much sure, they will not do unless you have a service contract with them 😊 I think you are able to use eval licenses for up to 90 days, but then unlicensed services will not startup if you ever reboot the controller 😉 If you are a _very_ large customer, they might provide you with some new licenses, but I doubt it.
There is a way very fiddly way to downgrade to 8.1, then enter the old licenses (if you still have them (the short version), then upgrade to 8.3 which will automatically convert the licenses to the long version (of cause it will not display the new longer licenses to you), and you can then upgrade further… but of cause “newer” systems will not even let you boot on the old 8.1 version… so seems like NetApp is going to win this one, unless somebody figure out which chip on the MB is holding the SN… (may be more of them), and better pray that it is not encrypted (which I bet it is)…
Personally I think it is sad that you cannot use your hardware for longer… because it is built to last much longer than the typically 3-5 years. But of cause it is all about money… NetApp really don’t want you to renew your service beyond 5 years… trust me, you might as well buy a new system for that price…
It would be nice if you were able to just buy the software licenses and not the hardware service, but sadly they are knit together…
Also NetApp’s policies does not allow you to resell any licenses so officially you cannot buy a broker-version of a controller with licenses… but if it is worth anything for you, I would try to contact a few IT brokers and ask if they have a controller with licenses…. That would be my best bet..
Basically you are out of luck 😊
If you figure something else out, please let me/us know…
/Heino
Fra: Toasters <toasters-bounces@teaparty.netmailto:toasters-bounces@teaparty.net> på vegne af Alexander Griesser <AGriesser@anexia-it.commailto:AGriesser@anexia-it.com> Dato: torsdag, 18. februar 2021 kl. 16.29 Til: Toasters <toasters@teaparty.netmailto:toasters@teaparty.net> Emne: Motherboard Replacement on out-of-warranty filer Hey there,
we do operate a few EOL’ed devices in our labs (and as playground for the automation services, etc.) and from time to time, things break – very rarely, but they do. I do have quite some hardware on stock here and I’m all set for exchanging almost anything that can break inside a filer (from disks to shelves to backplanes, cables, fans, PSUs, NVRAM batteries, etc.), but changing the motherboard proved difficult. I cannot find a way to assign the old S/N to the new motherboard in order to be able to reuse the licenses we had on the (now dead) filer. License transfers to other serial numbers are also not possible without active support contract.
Any idea how to make that happen?
Thanks,
Alexander Griesser Head of Systems Operations
ANEXIA Internetdienstleistungs GmbH
E-Mail: AGriesser@anexia-it.commailto:AGriesser@anexia-it.com Web: http://www.anexia-it.comhttp://www.anexia-it.com/
Anschrift Hauptsitz Klagenfurt: Feldkirchnerstraße 140, 9020 Klagenfurt Geschäftsführer: Alexander Windbichler Firmenbuch: FN 289918a | Gerichtsstand: Klagenfurt | UID-Nummer: AT U63216601
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Alexander Griesser -
Heino Walther