Mailing List Archive

Spare Disks
Toasters,

Inherited a few production 7-mode systems that are off maintenance,
due to be retired and pretty low on spare disks. Migrations to new
ONTAP 9 systems (A300's, yay!) are in progress but I'd like to
purchase several spare disks for the 7-mode systems as a safety
measure. Unfortunately, these disks are so old that NetApp no longer
sells them.

Is it generally safe to purchase refurbished (or new) NetApp disks
from a 3rd party? Can anybody recommend a vendor?

I already grabbed quotes from our NetApp account team for lager
capacity disks that I'm told won't be a problem for existing RAID
groups made up of smaller disks. Primary concern is keeping the data
safe/available so, if purchasing 3rd party is a bad idea, we'll
definitely to through NetApp.

3rd party options always come up in discussions and we've never gotten
outside feedback so just curious if anybody has had good or bad
experiences going 3rd party.

Thank you.
Phil
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AW: Spare Disks [ In reply to ]
Hi Philbert,

not sure where you're located but since you didn't mention it, I guess you're based in the US.
I do not have any recommendations for third-party suppliers in the US, but I've used some within Europe already for outdated filers of our customers already and never had real issues with those refurbished or used hard drives.

JFTR, here are some suggestions for suppliers based in Germany:
https://www.servershop24.de/
https://www.miller-anlagen.de/shop
https://www.fibrestore.de/

You might experience bad labels on the disks as well as firmware issues which might need to be sorted out then; sometimes the disks are not zeroed so when plugging them in, you will see some left over aggregates from the previous filer they did belong to or the owner ids are still set; you can work around every single issue that might come up here, as long as your Ontap version is not too old on the outdated filers.

Best,

Alexander Griesser
Head of Systems Operations

ANEXIA Internetdienstleistungs GmbH

E-Mail: AGriesser@anexia-it.com
Web: http://www.anexia-it.com

Anschrift Hauptsitz Klagenfurt: Feldkirchnerstra?e 140, 9020 Klagenfurt
Gesch?ftsf?hrer: Alexander Windbichler
Firmenbuch: FN 289918a | Gerichtsstand: Klagenfurt | UID-Nummer: AT U63216601

-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
Von: toasters-bounces@teaparty.net [mailto:toasters-bounces@teaparty.net] Im Auftrag von Philbert Rupkins
Gesendet: Dienstag, 22. Mai 2018 05:58
An: Toasters <toasters@teaparty.net>
Betreff: Spare Disks

Toasters,

Inherited a few production 7-mode systems that are off maintenance,
due to be retired and pretty low on spare disks. Migrations to new
ONTAP 9 systems (A300's, yay!) are in progress but I'd like to purchase several spare disks for the 7-mode systems as a safety
measure. Unfortunately, these disks are so old that NetApp no longer
sells them.

Is it generally safe to purchase refurbished (or new) NetApp disks
from a 3rd party? Can anybody recommend a vendor?

I already grabbed quotes from our NetApp account team for lager capacity disks that I'm told won't be a problem for existing RAID
groups made up of smaller disks. Primary concern is keeping the data
safe/available so, if purchasing 3rd party is a bad idea, we'll definitely to through NetApp.

3rd party options always come up in discussions and we've never gotten outside feedback so just curious if anybody has had good or bad experiences going 3rd party.

Thank you.
Phil
_______________________________________________
Toasters mailing list
Toasters@teaparty.net
http://www.teaparty.net/mailman/listinfo/toasters

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Re: Spare Disks [ In reply to ]
Highly recommend Nick over at ECS

https://www.expresscomputersystems.com/used-netapp-price-list.html

As Alexander mentioned, you may find that used disks are tagged with old
ownership/aggregates/raid labels, so it's best to stick them in a dev
system first to confirm they are indeed blank, and if not, zap them in
maintenance mode.


On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 9:07 PM, Alexander Griesser <AGriesser@anexia-it.com
> wrote:

> Hi Philbert,
>
> not sure where you're located but since you didn't mention it, I guess
> you're based in the US.
> I do not have any recommendations for third-party suppliers in the US, but
> I've used some within Europe already for outdated filers of our customers
> already and never had real issues with those refurbished or used hard
> drives.
>
> JFTR, here are some suggestions for suppliers based in Germany:
> https://www.servershop24.de/
> https://www.miller-anlagen.de/shop
> https://www.fibrestore.de/
>
> You might experience bad labels on the disks as well as firmware issues
> which might need to be sorted out then; sometimes the disks are not zeroed
> so when plugging them in, you will see some left over aggregates from the
> previous filer they did belong to or the owner ids are still set; you can
> work around every single issue that might come up here, as long as your
> Ontap version is not too old on the outdated filers.
>
> Best,
>
> Alexander Griesser
> Head of Systems Operations
>
> ANEXIA Internetdienstleistungs GmbH
>
> E-Mail: AGriesser@anexia-it.com
> Web: http://www.anexia-it.com
>
> Anschrift Hauptsitz Klagenfurt: Feldkirchnerstraße 140, 9020 Klagenfurt
> Geschäftsführer: Alexander Windbichler
> Firmenbuch: FN 289918a | Gerichtsstand: Klagenfurt | UID-Nummer: AT
> U63216601
>
> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: toasters-bounces@teaparty.net [mailto:toasters-bounces@teaparty.net]
> Im Auftrag von Philbert Rupkins
> Gesendet: Dienstag, 22. Mai 2018 05:58
> An: Toasters <toasters@teaparty.net>
> Betreff: Spare Disks
>
> Toasters,
>
> Inherited a few production 7-mode systems that are off maintenance,
> due to be retired and pretty low on spare disks. Migrations to new
> ONTAP 9 systems (A300's, yay!) are in progress but I'd like to purchase
> several spare disks for the 7-mode systems as a safety
> measure. Unfortunately, these disks are so old that NetApp no longer
> sells them.
>
> Is it generally safe to purchase refurbished (or new) NetApp disks
> from a 3rd party? Can anybody recommend a vendor?
>
> I already grabbed quotes from our NetApp account team for lager capacity
> disks that I'm told won't be a problem for existing RAID
> groups made up of smaller disks. Primary concern is keeping the data
> safe/available so, if purchasing 3rd party is a bad idea, we'll definitely
> to through NetApp.
>
> 3rd party options always come up in discussions and we've never gotten
> outside feedback so just curious if anybody has had good or bad experiences
> going 3rd party.
>
> Thank you.
> Phil
> _______________________________________________
> Toasters mailing list
> Toasters@teaparty.net
> http://www.teaparty.net/mailman/listinfo/toasters
>
> _______________________________________________
> Toasters mailing list
> Toasters@teaparty.net
> http://www.teaparty.net/mailman/listinfo/toasters
>
Re: Spare Disks [ In reply to ]
Hi Phil, hi Alex,

Our Admin bought some pallets of old DS14 shelfs some time ago off of eBay
for our labs. Like 80%+ of the disks we were able to use, but for some we
had to go to maintenance mode and delete labels and stuff to do that... It
was about 100€ for a shelf, if I remember correctly, so we didn't mind the
20% that were dead/unusable...

A zeroed, unassigned disk should automatically be reformatted with the
correct WAFL version, by the way. Up or down. So no worries there with
disks from newer ONTAP versions...


Sebastian
NCI


On Tue, May 22, 2018, 06:10 Alexander Griesser <AGriesser@anexia-it.com>
wrote:

> Hi Philbert,
>
> not sure where you're located but since you didn't mention it, I guess
> you're based in the US.
> I do not have any recommendations for third-party suppliers in the US, but
> I've used some within Europe already for outdated filers of our customers
> already and never had real issues with those refurbished or used hard
> drives.
>
> JFTR, here are some suggestions for suppliers based in Germany:
> https://www.servershop24.de/
> https://www.miller-anlagen.de/shop
> https://www.fibrestore.de/
>
> You might experience bad labels on the disks as well as firmware issues
> which might need to be sorted out then; sometimes the disks are not zeroed
> so when plugging them in, you will see some left over aggregates from the
> previous filer they did belong to or the owner ids are still set; you can
> work around every single issue that might come up here, as long as your
> Ontap version is not too old on the outdated filers.
>
> Best,
>
> Alexander Griesser
> Head of Systems Operations
>
> ANEXIA Internetdienstleistungs GmbH
>
> E-Mail: AGriesser@anexia-it.com
> Web: http://www.anexia-it.com
>
> Anschrift Hauptsitz Klagenfurt: Feldkirchnerstraße 140, 9020 Klagenfurt
> <https://maps.google.com/?q=Klagenfurt:+Feldkirchnerstra%C3%9Fe+140,+9020+Klagenfurt&entry=gmail&source=g>
> Geschäftsführer: Alexander Windbichler
> Firmenbuch: FN 289918a | Gerichtsstand: Klagenfurt | UID-Nummer: AT
> U63216601
>
> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: toasters-bounces@teaparty.net [mailto:toasters-bounces@teaparty.net]
> Im Auftrag von Philbert Rupkins
> Gesendet: Dienstag, 22. Mai 2018 05:58
> An: Toasters <toasters@teaparty.net>
> Betreff: Spare Disks
>
> Toasters,
>
> Inherited a few production 7-mode systems that are off maintenance,
> due to be retired and pretty low on spare disks. Migrations to new
> ONTAP 9 systems (A300's, yay!) are in progress but I'd like to purchase
> several spare disks for the 7-mode systems as a safety
> measure. Unfortunately, these disks are so old that NetApp no longer
> sells them.
>
> Is it generally safe to purchase refurbished (or new) NetApp disks
> from a 3rd party? Can anybody recommend a vendor?
>
> I already grabbed quotes from our NetApp account team for lager capacity
> disks that I'm told won't be a problem for existing RAID
> groups made up of smaller disks. Primary concern is keeping the data
> safe/available so, if purchasing 3rd party is a bad idea, we'll definitely
> to through NetApp.
>
> 3rd party options always come up in discussions and we've never gotten
> outside feedback so just curious if anybody has had good or bad experiences
> going 3rd party.
>
> Thank you.
> Phil
> _______________________________________________
> Toasters mailing list
> Toasters@teaparty.net
> http://www.teaparty.net/mailman/listinfo/toasters
>
> _______________________________________________
> Toasters mailing list
> Toasters@teaparty.net
> http://www.teaparty.net/mailman/listinfo/toasters
>
--

sent from my mobile, spellcheck might have messed up...
Re: Spare Disks [ In reply to ]
On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 10:57:42PM -0500, Philbert Rupkins wrote:
> Toasters,
>
> Inherited a few production 7-mode systems that are off maintenance,
> due to be retired and pretty low on spare disks. Migrations to new
> ONTAP 9 systems (A300's, yay!) are in progress but I'd like to
> purchase several spare disks for the 7-mode systems as a safety
> measure. Unfortunately, these disks are so old that NetApp no longer
> sells them.
>
> Is it generally safe to purchase refurbished (or new) NetApp disks
> from a 3rd party? Can anybody recommend a vendor?
>
> I already grabbed quotes from our NetApp account team for lager
> capacity disks that I'm told won't be a problem for existing RAID
> groups made up of smaller disks. Primary concern is keeping the data
> safe/available so, if purchasing 3rd party is a bad idea, we'll
> definitely to through NetApp.
>
> 3rd party options always come up in discussions and we've never gotten
> outside feedback so just curious if anybody has had good or bad
> experiences going 3rd party.
>
> Thank you.
> Phil

We use Curvature (formerly SMS). They support the equipment, including
all parts and will also let you keep a cache of relevant drives
on-site.

They'll also sell you refurb'd gear.

Ray
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Re: Spare Disks [ In reply to ]
>>>>> "Ray" == Ray Van Dolson <rvandolson@esri.com> writes:

Ray> On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 10:57:42PM -0500, Philbert Rupkins wrote:
>> Toasters,
>>
>> Inherited a few production 7-mode systems that are off maintenance,
>> due to be retired and pretty low on spare disks. Migrations to new
>> ONTAP 9 systems (A300's, yay!) are in progress but I'd like to
>> purchase several spare disks for the 7-mode systems as a safety
>> measure. Unfortunately, these disks are so old that NetApp no longer
>> sells them.
>>
>> Is it generally safe to purchase refurbished (or new) NetApp disks
>> from a 3rd party? Can anybody recommend a vendor?
>>
>> I already grabbed quotes from our NetApp account team for lager
>> capacity disks that I'm told won't be a problem for existing RAID
>> groups made up of smaller disks. Primary concern is keeping the data
>> safe/available so, if purchasing 3rd party is a bad idea, we'll
>> definitely to through NetApp.
>>
>> 3rd party options always come up in discussions and we've never gotten
>> outside feedback so just curious if anybody has had good or bad
>> experiences going 3rd party.
>>
>> Thank you.
>> Phil

Ray> We use Curvature (formerly SMS). They support the equipment, including
Ray> all parts and will also let you keep a cache of relevant drives
Ray> on-site.

Another vote for Curvature as well. We've used them (as SMS) for years.
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