HP NetServers
09 July 2001, 06:50 PM
#1
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Is anyone else here using HP Netservers on a large scale? The company I am working for is using HP everything, and realistically is not in a position to make a fast change.
However, we are getting massive problems with all of the HP Server equipment. There are strings of main board failures, Raid controller failures, disc failures (far more than normal). Five 2 month old servers were re-booted at the weekend after gentle shut downs and two did not come back up (pretty fundamental failures I gather). They were being monitored up until shut down and were healthy...
I'm only on the periphery as I am not a server bod, but the guys who have to look after these things are pretty frustrated. My last place used Compaq and IBM and there were far fewer problems.
Anyone else having the same problems? Another couple of hundred servers are on order. Changing to another supplier is not an option....
However, we are getting massive problems with all of the HP Server equipment. There are strings of main board failures, Raid controller failures, disc failures (far more than normal). Five 2 month old servers were re-booted at the weekend after gentle shut downs and two did not come back up (pretty fundamental failures I gather). They were being monitored up until shut down and were healthy...
I'm only on the periphery as I am not a server bod, but the guys who have to look after these things are pretty frustrated. My last place used Compaq and IBM and there were far fewer problems.
Anyone else having the same problems? Another couple of hundred servers are on order. Changing to another supplier is not an option....
09 July 2001, 07:44 PM
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Hmmm, I work for an HP reseller, and have installed loads of HP servers, dont believe we have had any more failures with HP than we get with Compaq whose stuff we also sell ? which netservers are they ? are they all the same model etc ?
09 July 2001, 08:33 PM
#3
Probably not related, but I have a severely corrupted Drive C on my w/s @ home after a shut down & am now having to reformat & re-install...
Was a new HDD & new W2K install.
Is there a known/new virus/internet attack out there? I've never seen something like it (thank goodness...)
Was a new HDD & new W2K install.
Is there a known/new virus/internet attack out there? I've never seen something like it (thank goodness...)
09 July 2001, 09:25 PM
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I work for one of the biggest IT resellers around and whilst Compaq are the servers choice of most companies we sell a great deal of HP servers and both brands are very reliable.
I'd put a call into HP if I was you as a 40% failure rate is abnormally high. It could just be a bad batch. We have had failure rates on some IBM Thinkpads of over 60% but this was on a specific model!!
AllanB
I'd put a call into HP if I was you as a 40% failure rate is abnormally high. It could just be a bad batch. We have had failure rates on some IBM Thinkpads of over 60% but this was on a specific model!!
AllanB
10 July 2001, 12:18 PM
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I am currently doing some work for, um, a large computer manufacturer with a female CEO...
We use stacks of their own kit and have had no server hardware failures but the stuff we're using is the serious stuff - high end win2k/HPUX boxes that cost joe public many limbs
(last superdome server came in at a retail equivalent price of $1/4million)
The desktops, however have been nothing but a pain with many failures on the cheaper models Though of course it does give us contractors a regular chance to annoy the permies by pointing out in a loud voice that 'it would have been fine if it had compaq on the front'...
Oh, the laptops are wonderful
With so many failures, I would _strongly_ suggest you get all of the power supply and networking checked out properly (ie not just with a simply what's the current voltage test).
This sort of failure rate is normally attributable to something and common reasons are:
power supply problems (spikes, brownouts, over/under voltage etc) though a decent line conditioning UPS should smooth all but the worst
network spikes ie nasty voltages coming down the cat5
sabotage (not unheard of....)
faulty batches of kit
static buildups (you know, nylon based carpet and the like)
However, if you have a couple of hundred servers on order then you should be smashing the account manager over the head with the potential loss of commission - that normally sees an engineer on-site within an hour or two!!
We use stacks of their own kit and have had no server hardware failures but the stuff we're using is the serious stuff - high end win2k/HPUX boxes that cost joe public many limbs
(last superdome server came in at a retail equivalent price of $1/4million)The desktops, however have been nothing but a pain with many failures on the cheaper models
Though of course it does give us contractors a regular chance to annoy the permies by pointing out in a loud voice that 'it would have been fine if it had compaq on the front'... Oh, the laptops are wonderful
With so many failures, I would _strongly_ suggest you get all of the power supply and networking checked out properly (ie not just with a simply what's the current voltage test).
This sort of failure rate is normally attributable to something and common reasons are:
power supply problems (spikes, brownouts, over/under voltage etc) though a decent line conditioning UPS should smooth all but the worst
network spikes ie nasty voltages coming down the cat5
sabotage (not unheard of....)
faulty batches of kit
static buildups (you know, nylon based carpet and the like)
However, if you have a couple of hundred servers on order then you should be smashing the account manager over the head with the potential loss of commission - that normally sees an engineer on-site within an hour or two!!
10 July 2001, 12:19 PM
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Puff The Magic Wagon!:
Is there a known/new virus/internet attack out there? I've never seen something like it (thank goodness...)[/B]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yeah, its called buying stuff from me
did you sort it out yet? give me a call if you need any assistance....
Is there a known/new virus/internet attack out there? I've never seen something like it (thank goodness...)
[/B]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Yeah, its called buying stuff from me
did you sort it out yet? give me a call if you need any assistance....
10 July 2001, 12:25 PM
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We had two cab's stuffed full of NetServers (LC2000r, LT6000r, Fibre Channel etc) in for a project a few months back.
One LT6000r suffered the same failure twice in a month - onboard RAID went ****-up. To swap the RAID controller, you have to dismantle the whole fecking server. Was part of an W2000 / SQL cluster, so useful testing in a way I suppose
Had two 18GB 10k HS drives go pop as well.
Hey ho, that's what HP SupportPacks are for. If you are a big HP site, then I would have thought you would have a contact at HP to poke and prod about this. Even for our small order (£250k), HP came out to us a few times to kiss ***.
ChrisB.
One LT6000r suffered the same failure twice in a month - onboard RAID went ****-up. To swap the RAID controller, you have to dismantle the whole fecking server. Was part of an W2000 / SQL cluster, so useful testing in a way I suppose
Had two 18GB 10k HS drives go pop as well.Hey ho, that's what HP SupportPacks are for. If you are a big HP site, then I would have thought you would have a contact at HP to poke and prod about this. Even for our small order (£250k), HP came out to us a few times to kiss ***.
ChrisB.
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