Michael Doran Home Page
Contact | Site Map | Search  
  Home > Archives > Unix Sysadmin 101 > Support Contracts
This page is deprecated: please read archives disclaimer.

Unix Sysadmin 101: What newbies need to know, but nobody tells them.

Support Contracts

When you buy a server you generally get one year of warranty service. When that warranty runs out, you want to have a support contract in place -- it's your insurance policy for when things break. Those "things" can include hardware, the operating system, and any bundled software applications.
Support contract story #1
On one of my early calls to Sun, I found out that: we didn't have a Sun support contract! I called in January, the warranty for our Voyager database server had expired in December and no support contract paperwork had been started. Sun was real good about helping me out, but they also wanted the contract paperwork posthaste.

Moral of the story: Find out whether you even have a valid support contract.

Support contract story #2
Soon after that, I needed some AIX questions answered. Being wiser now in the ways of support, I checked with our keeper of the paperwork and determined that we did have a valid IBM support contract. When I then called IBM, I began getting the run-around. I was puzzled by this apparent lack of help until I found out that: our IBM contract only covered hardware! If I wanted any AIX operating system questions answered, we needed to get an additional contract. (They also informed me that AIX 3.2.5 was no longer even eligible for support.)

Moral of the story: Find out exactly what hardware and software the contract covers.

Support contract story #3
About a year or so later, we had a legitimate, support-covered disk failure. Since this happened on a weekend (to a non-mission-critical server) I put off calling IBM support until Monday morning. Whereupon the IBM rep I talked to informed me that: we were paying for 24/7 support! D'oh!

Moral of the story: Find out the level of service provided for in your contract.

The bottom line
So, one of the first things newbie sysadmins should do, is find out what support contracts the library has, who they're with, what they cover, and when you can call. Get (and read) copies of your library's support contracts. Keep those copies in your files. Make sure you are listed as a contact person on the contracts. Make sure a contract is in place when a warranty expires, and then make sure it is renewed in a timely fashion.

Contract miscellanea
  • The one-year warranty clock starts ticking when the server is shipped, not when you get around to unboxing it and installing the software.
  • Academic institutions should find out about educational pricing for support contracts and software (e.g Sun's ScholarPac program).
  • As you upgrade, replace, and buy new hardware, don't forget to update your support contracts.
  • Be aware that if you install non-Sun parts (e.g. memory) in your Sun server, Sun support may ask you to remove those parts before they will attempt to diagnose any problems.
Michael Doran     -     University of Texas at Arlington     -     UTA Libraries