[a-nsp] Question regarding Arista support contracts

[Doug McIntyre]

Unfortunatly, this is much the same as many other companies that cater
into this space.

Ie. Fortinet, if you don't register within 3 months or so, will
auto-start your support on the device.

F5 starts support when you get the license bundle needed to make the
device work.

Even Cisco is starting down this path, but I think they wanted to go
about it slowly and differently with introducing the perpetual smart
license that you need to keep renewing on certain classes of devices
to keep it running at your license level (or fall back to base "eval" level).

Likewise, if you let these devices go off maintenance and want to get
back on, you typically are going to have to pay all the back taxes on
them as well. Buying a used F5 and getting it on maintenance again is
pointless, because it'll end up costing more than a new one would be
from the start.	And you can't upgrade an F5 without it being on maintenance.
So, used F5s are only good on the version they come with.



On Sat, Oct 05, 2019 at 08:10:31PM +0100, Ivan Beveridge wrote:
> Hi Drew,
> 
> You may be able to negotiate this with some vendors, but I believe it is
> more the case where you make large/regular orders and can negotiate on
> the back of those. I've not come across any way of ordering (Arista)
> hardware without support and buying support further down the line - IIRC
> the expectation (or requirement) is 1 year's worth of support with the
> device.
> 
> I can understand the frustration of your situation (I'm sure it's
> happened to most, if not all, of us). Unless anyone else here has the
> answer, the only thing I can suggest is to ask your account manager, or
> see if there are alternatives, eg:
> * commit to buying (or pay up-front) and then get it delivered when it's
> wanted, along with the support agreement starting at that point
> * buy it when you are going to use it :)
> 
> Whilst we have a few decommissioned Arista devices (which we may use as
> temporary spares at a push), I believe they are still under support. I
> seem to remember, perhaps a few years ago, that there was a lower level
> of support than 24x5xNBD (perhaps 'software-only'), but it's not
> something I tried. I am unsure whether it is something they still offer.
> 
> Finally, I'm not sure of their policy regarding "adding support to an
> out-of-support device"; I know some vendors (eg vendor-C) at least used
> to require the device to be "re-qualified". That cost tended to be
> around the price of a replacement device - something you may feel was to
> stifle the send-hand market. IIRC some used-equipment resellers (eg
> hardware.com) would get around this, providing you specified that when
> buying the equipment. That may be another path you could follow, but
> IIRC such resellers tend not to be too popular with the vendors, and you
> may need to check the wording of licences (IIRC the firmware licence for
> vendor-C stated it could/can only be used on new or requalified original
> vendor-C equipment).
> 
> Not much help, I know, but perhaps some useful thoughts?
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Ivan
> 
> On 04/10/2019 19:37, Drew Weaver wrote:
> > We purchased some Arista gear for a project awhile back. It wasn’t
> > deployed immediately and just sort of sat around in boxes for awhile.
> > 
> > The service contract came up for renewal recently and the thing that
> > stands out to me is it seems like starting the service contract when the
> > equipment ships rather than when it’s used leads to a lot of waste of money.
> > 
> > Is there a way that you can purchase the hardware without a service
> > contract and then activate support on it when it’s being used as to just
> > not waste a ton of money?
> > 
> > Also how does this work with spare units?
> > 
> > Thanks!
> > 
> > -Drew
> 
> 
> -- 
> Ivan Beveridge <ivan.beveridge at dreamtime.org>
> -- 
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