One of my clients with an 8202-E4B is concerned about IBM’s End of Service (EOS) announcement for his POWER7 server.

He wants to migrate off the IBM POWER server to new software running on a different platform. His company does not want to buy a new IBM server. They believe they can move in 12-24 months… yeah, right!!

So, he wanted to know if we knew of any non-IBM maintenance support for his server.

I explained that with POWER5 (i.e. 9406-520) and older servers, non-IBM support has been viable.

On the other hand, I could not recommend a non-IBM maintenance alternative for several reasons.

Let me explain.

Non-IBM Maintenance Companies Can Fix These Hardware Failures

The server features most common to fail and most easily replaced include:

·        Disk drives

·        Cache battery

·        Tape drive

·        Power supply

·        Fans to cool the server interior

In most cases, a non-IBM maintenance company can have these parts on site in 2-3 days from reported incident. So far so good.

Non-IBM Maintenance Companies Cannot Fix These Issues

If your system board fails, your server is probably “dead forever.”

The system board is the “guts” of your server. It holds the processor and all the key components for your POWER server. While I am not certain that this is still true, I was told several years ago that the system board is at least 18 layers of very fine circuits – so the circuits are very delicate and are more prone to failure than the older system boards that had fewer layers and bigger circuits.

Further, I have also seen at least 2 system board failures a year in the last 5 years.

(As unusual as a system board failure is, I can only ascertain the reason is a consequence of the more complex system board, with more layers and smaller circuits common with POWER 6 and newer servers.)

Just in the month of January 2018, an IBM user told me his newly delivered POWER8 server had a system board failure.

So what?

Here’s the rub. The system board is “serialized” to the server and serial number. This means the customer must have IBM special software to re-assign the new system board serial number to the POWER server’s serial number. If you do not have this special software, the replaced system board will not work.

And, if there is no more IBM hardware support for that server, you cannot “serialize” the replacement system board in the server.

So my forecast is, without access to this special software, if you have a system board failure, “game over.”

Can you get a used replacement POWER server? Yes, but unless you have authorized software keys for your IBM Licensed Program Products, you will have to do a scratch reload every 60-70 days when the software keys expire.

Then your options are to:

1)     Buy a new POWER server, or

2)     Host your IBM i applications.

Without special IBM software you cannot get rid of a “non-operative” error message

Over the last 5 years I have had 3 customers tell me they had error messages they could not make go away.

These are “non-operative” error messages. You can still run but your console continues to display the error until IBM comes on site with special software to turn the error message off.

So, without special IBM software, you will still get the error message.

Conclusion

Non-IBM hardware support or a used server for backup may have been options for continuity prior to POWER6 and new servers.

Now, knowing what I know about the options for repair and server continuity, I advise my clients to proceed with non-IBM hardware support or a used server at your own risk. Be prepared for extended downtime …. A matter of days to weeks…. If you ever recover.

A safer approach is to:

Buy a newer server (they are priced to be more cost-effective than a used server), or

Host your IBM i applications (particularly if your future is uncertain and you want term flexibility).

 

Contact Bob Losey at 714-593-0387 or [email protected]