HPE ProLiant and Care Packs: what to choose to be entitled for download access AFTER 1st year?

[parnassus]

Hello all,

I have a question about the entitlement a Customer/Reseller should have to ensure to be able to download BIOS updates AFTER the 1st year of support's end.

If the Active Warranty of an HPE ProLiant DL180 Gen9 will end after its 1st Year of purchase, then which base support agreement covering that HP Proliant server model must be chosen to continue to access BIOS Downloads AFTER that date?

Is there a basic Care Pack to choose? if so, which code/name it has (Foundation Care/Proactive Care, what else?)?

I mean: I will not need the 24x7, Call or NBD...just the possibility to continue to Download BIOS/Firwmwares and released SPP (Service Pack for ProLiants) AFTER 1st Year of purchase.

Is there a document that explains all the possible options in a clear and simple way?

Thanks!

[Erick Arturo Perez]

Not being an expert, but does this paragraph explain what you need? I have the PDF file but cant attach it to this post.

HP Foundation Care Services datasheet

Access to electronic
support information and
services
As part of this service, HP provides the Customer with access to certain
commercially available electronic and Web-based tools. The Customer has
access to:
• Certain capabilities made available to registered users with linked
entitlements, such as downloading selected HP software patches and
firmware updates, subscribing to hardware-related proactive service
notifications, and participating in support forums for solving problems
and sharing best practices with other registered users
• Expanded Web-based searches of technical support documents to
facilitate faster problem-solving
• Certain HP proprietary service diagnostic tools with password access
• A Web-based tool for submitting questions directly to HP; the tool helps
to resolve problems quickly with a pre-qualification process that routes
the support or service request to the resource qualified to answer the
question; the tool also allows the status of each support or service
request submitted to be viewed, including cases submitted by telephone
• HP and third-party hosted knowledge databases for certain third-party
products, where Customers can search for and retrieve product
information, find answers to support questions, participate in support
forums, and download software updates; this service may be limited by
third-party access restrictions
• The Software Updates and Licensing portal, which provides the Customer
with electronic access to receive, proactively manage, and plan for
software product updates; access to the portal is through the HP Support
Center

[parnassus]

Hello Erick Arturo,

Sorry for delay in answering. Thanks for the help!

The Datasheet you were referring is this one?

From what I understood what were known as HP Care Pack Services were renamed into HPE Foundation Care Services while the three yet known fundamentals categories (excluding the two added for Networking products) remained:

• HPE Foundation Care NBD (Next Business Day) Service
• HPE Foundation Care 24x7 Service
• HPE Foundation Care CTR (Call To Repair) Service

So, as far as I understand, with just the first HPE Foundation Care NBD (Next Business Day) Service:

1. Access to Electronic Support information and services (Software support)
2. Firmware updates are included (Hardware support)

are yet included among other services.

Basically this means that a HPE Foundation Care NBD (Next Business Day) Service (one or more years) should suffice for my needs.

Note:

• HPE Foundation Care NBD Service (H7J32Ax)
• HPE Foundation Care NBD with DMR Service (H7J33Ax)
• HPE Foundation Care 24x7 Service (H7J34Ax)
• HPE Foundation Care 24x7 with DMR Service (H7J35Ax)
• HPE Foundation Care CTR Service (H7J36Ax)
• HPE Foundation Care CTR with DMR Service (H7J37Ax)

Where the x denotes the service length in years: options are 1, 3, 4 or 5 years or “C” for contractual services; DMR stands for Defective Media Retention.

In the end, before the first Year's end (hope not to be wrong here) I will need to cover the HPE ProLiant DL180 Gen9 with - at least - an HPE Foundation Care NBD Service (H7J32A1).

Edit 1: it seems that 1 Year is not available in my country (Italy)...at least checking on the HPE SSC with regard to HP ProLiant DL180 Gen9 server, only 3 or more Years options are available...is it because 3 Years after purchase are yet covered (instead of 1 as I think)?

Edit 2: I discovered that the HP ProLiant DL180 Gen9 in the purchased configuration benefits of 3/1/1 warranty (now I need to understand exactly how/when (and if) these overlap with HPE Foundation Care NBD Services...

[Erick Arturo Perez]

This is the link to a PDFdocument I am referring to: it has a different formatting and maybe different content. Maybe because you are in Italy and I am in Panama.

https://we.tl/M32lc0Ia4D

I agree with 

• HPE Foundation Care NBD Service (H7J32Ax)

As the one you need.

I face same questions on this side. The thing is about a proliant dl380 with the same foundation care but with SATA disks that have 1 year warranty. My opinion will be that if the drives fail at month 13, then the foundation will take care of it. But I am waiting from a HP source to give me proper guidance. I build storage nodes with 2TB and larger HDDs and all of them have only 1 year of warranty. In my country, either you sell servers with 3yr total coverage or you´re out.

[parnassus]

Hi!

The link I provided links to the latest HPE Foundation Care Service datasheet I was able to find (please note the new HPE logo/branding on it) so it should be just the updated version of your one.

I purchased an HPE ProLiant DL180 Gen9 which came with a "3/1/1" Warranty formula and, separately, I concurrently purchased few Midline HPE 1TB Hot-Plug LFF SATA disks (657750-B21) which came with the standard 1 Year Warranty included (to be exact I should use the "1/0/0" Warranty formula).

So I'm facing basically your same original questions plus few ones in addition (hope not too OT for this thread):

1. When the HPE Foundation Care Service should be purchased (and subsequently activated/registered)?
2. Can I wait to purchase (or to activate/register) the selected HPE Foundation Care Service for my Server (e.g. the NBD, as written above) until the Server "3/1/1" Warranty formula naturally reachs its end?
3. Am I forced to purchase and activate/register the selected HPE Foundation Care Service for my Server concurrently with (or within, let's say, an amount of days since) its purchase date?

The point I don't understand - other than the intercation with the 1 Year Warranty Disks you mentioned - is how and when the selected HPE Foundation Care Service interacts/overlaps with the Server standard product "3/1/1" Warranty formula (or whatever it will be for the product we have in our respective countries) and also with the Disk 1 Year Warranty formula.

Note: AFAIK with the acronym "3/1/1" HPE means "Service or Warranty covers 3 Years on Parts, 1 Year on Labor and 1 Year of On-site service".