We're a small shop a couple of FAS 3020's doing basic, NFS, CIFS, Snapdrive/SnapManager For SQL and Snapmirror. We are up for our contract renewal soon. I have been in the biz for quite a number of years and can remember back to amazing support from Netapp. I have found quite the opposite over the past two years. Most are problems with first addressing the case, usually it took a phone call. Then it gets to incompetence with their products, like SnapManager for SQL and Snapdrive. Cases went on forever, i always had to hound them for status, making it quite frustrating. The end result of most cases is me getting a note from some support manager at Netapp apologizing.
I still like the products, just hate the support methods. What do you folks do? We of course want to upgrade when possible to keep up to date from bugs. We don't want to blow the bank though for their support if we can go somewhere else for better.
tia for your thoughts, rsurfer
I'm a big netapp fan - I think the tech is great and I've worked with them on and off for years.
I think the one thing that netapp support does require in some situations, similar to some other vendors, is proactive effort on your part.
Netapp has a bunch of very bright technical people, but support can be hit or miss.
If you feel like your support engineer doesn't care or doesn't want to help (hasn't been my experience) or is just not understanding the problem/resolving it fast enough (definitely seen this), escalate.
And netapp, as opposed to other vendors I work with, will come through for you. You'll get someone from engineering on the phone, or a service manager, etc.
You can argue that you shouldn't have to do this, and in a perfect world, I agree. But whenever I or a customer of mine who is a netapp shop has been in a bind, netapp has delivered. I think that's worth something.
There are third party companies that provide netapp support, but other than for basic parts replacement on legacy systems, I can't recommend them.
Thanks, Matt
On Oct 20, 2009, at 6:49 PM, "Rasta Surfer" rsurfer@gmail.com wrote:
We're a small shop a couple of FAS 3020's doing basic, NFS, CIFS, Snapdrive/SnapManager For SQL and Snapmirror. We are up for our contract renewal soon. I have been in the biz for quite a number of years and can remember back to amazing support from Netapp. I have found quite the opposite over the past two years. Most are problems with first addressing the case, usually it took a phone call. Then it gets to incompetence with their products, like SnapManager for SQL and Snapdrive. Cases went on forever, i always had to hound them for status, making it quite frustrating. The end result of most cases is me getting a note from some support manager at Netapp apologizing.
I still like the products, just hate the support methods. What do you folks do? We of course want to upgrade when possible to keep up to date from bugs. We don't want to blow the bank though for their support if we can go somewhere else for better.
tia for your thoughts, rsurfer
Haven't had issues with netapp support.... I've asked for RMA's simply to troubleshoot a problem (Is it esh4, shelf, or SFP as an example) and they've come through.
I suppose some of the Host based products (snapmanager for *, snapdrive) are a little bit more complicated in terms of troubleshooting, due to situations where you might end up troubleshooting the host OS or the intermediate network more than the filer itself. Often time simply asking to have someone else handle the case / escalation is the best thing to do. If you're not happy for whatever reason, escalate!
~Max
On Oct 20, 2009, at 3:59 PM, Matthew Zito wrote:
I'm a big netapp fan - I think the tech is great and I've worked with them on and off for years.
I think the one thing that netapp support does require in some situations, similar to some other vendors, is proactive effort on your part.
Netapp has a bunch of very bright technical people, but support can be hit or miss.
If you feel like your support engineer doesn't care or doesn't want to help (hasn't been my experience) or is just not understanding the problem/resolving it fast enough (definitely seen this), escalate.
And netapp, as opposed to other vendors I work with, will come through for you. You'll get someone from engineering on the phone, or a service manager, etc.
You can argue that you shouldn't have to do this, and in a perfect world, I agree. But whenever I or a customer of mine who is a netapp shop has been in a bind, netapp has delivered. I think that's worth something.
There are third party companies that provide netapp support, but other than for basic parts replacement on legacy systems, I can't recommend them.
Thanks, Matt
On Oct 20, 2009, at 6:49 PM, "Rasta Surfer" rsurfer@gmail.com wrote:
We're a small shop a couple of FAS 3020's doing basic, NFS, CIFS, Snapdrive/SnapManager For SQL and Snapmirror. We are up for our contract renewal soon. I have been in the biz for quite a number of years and can remember back to amazing support from Netapp. I have found quite the opposite over the past two years. Most are problems with first addressing the case, usually it took a phone call. Then it gets to incompetence with their products, like SnapManager for SQL and Snapdrive. Cases went on forever, i always had to hound them for status, making it quite frustrating. The end result of most cases is me getting a note from some support manager at Netapp apologizing.
I still like the products, just hate the support methods. What do you folks do? We of course want to upgrade when possible to keep up to date from bugs. We don't want to blow the bank though for their support if we can go somewhere else for better.
tia for your thoughts, rsurfer
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Matthew Zito -
Maxwell Reid -
Rasta Surfer