HPE Storage Users Group

Hi All,

We're looking into an upgrade to our existing 3PAR setups. We currently have 2 F400s with 2 nodes, and 36TB usable space. One is at our production DC, the other at our DR DC. We're in need to upgrade capacity, and HP has quoted us some 7200s with 75TB usable for both sites. But it occurred to us that we could combine the two current F400s that we have into one F400 with four nodes and ~72TB of usable space, and only buy one 7200 to help make the budget fit better. The question is, since we're technically "adding capacity" to one of the F400s by combining the two units, would we be fully licensed for it since we have the licensing on both units now, or would it still require a license purchase?

Thanks

The license is tied to the arrays serial number and based on the ELA you would have to repurchase the licensing, that is unless you can come to some sort of agreement with HP.

Also combining the two arrays (node pairs) it a bit more complex technically than it might appear and has a other knock on effects to lots of backend things like support contracts etc.

It's doable but the pain and potential risk involved might not be worth it, when you can put a couple of 7000's on the floor fully loaded with the latest features and at least 3 years support built in upfront.

Yeah, I would suggest the best chance of making that happen smoothly is to piggy back that consolidation into the purchase of the new 7200s.

Just done a similar project, there are a few things to do first.
Contact HP to ensure the combined array will be supported.
They will give it a yay or nah, they will also tell you how to cable everything up, once it's "one array".

Once you got the go ahead, you will need to migrate all the data from the one array, HP will also tell you what else needs to be done.
You will also need to contact HP regarding a new license.
All firmware should be up to date.

Note: you can't join 2 x 7400 (2 nodes) into a 7400 (4node).