Re: sage-members-digest V1 #249

["Chad H. Tudor" <chtudor@stanford.edu>]

I just want to point out that I am speaking as an indivudal SysAdmin and
I'm not representing Stanford University or HighWire Press.  These are my
opinions and my opinions alone.  There was a thread I felt the need to
comment on for my own purposes nothing more.

I've gotten quite a lot of responses to my original note about Network
Appliance.  And I wanted to take a moment to respond to my colleagues.

To answer specific questions.
Yes, I am on the toasters mailing list.  I find it quite informative and
feel that it's a worthwhile venture, at one point I offered to host the
list if it ever needed a home.
Yes, we do have a support contract.  We have the premium support contract.

	My previous experience with NetApp was very positive.  I feel that
the hardware is next to infallible and I personally have never lost so
much as a byte of data, ever.
	
	My current experience with Network Appliance, say the last 8 months
still leaves me with the up most confidence in Network Appliance's
hardware.  Due to personal opinion and personal experience I still feel as
though certain members of the Sales and Support staff disappointed me and
for the most part have left a bad taste in my mount.  If anyone has
specific questions as to why I maintain this stance I would talk about it
in private email, but I don't think great detail is needed in a public
forum.
	
	As of 1815PST last evening I was able to resolve the problem and
for all intent and purposes the situation has been resolved.

	All the more frustrating is the fact that my previous experience
with Network Appliance was good and from all the responses I received,
about 20, I didn't get one "Yeah I agree, NetApp is smelly".

	Well that's it.  Sorry I didn't go into greater detail or respond
earlier, but I didn't have the time.

Regards

On Tue, 12 Jan 1999, Anthony Botham wrote:

:Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 22:02:52 +0000
:From: Anthony Botham <asb@padova.u-net.com>
:To: Peg Schafer <peg@eecs.harvard.edu>
:Cc: "Chad H. Tudor" <chtudor@stanford.edu>,
:    Dwight Peters <dpeters@nswc.navy.mil>, sage-members@usenix.ORG
:Subject: Re: sage-members-digest V1 #249
:
:
:Well in the UK I've had mostly good experiences.   The hardware is great -
:reliable and fast - and the support excellent if you get the right
:person.      I particularly like having salesmen who really understand the
:product (technically) and how they are best used.
:
:Anthony
:
:Peg Schafer wrote:
:
:> Hello,
:>
:> I am so sorry to hear about your problems with NetApp, However,
:> I must say my experience has been quite the opposite!
:>
:> NetApp hardware is wonderful.  Lots of good things to say there.
:> I have had many good experiences with their support over the years.
:>
:> As a matter of fact, they got one of their engineers out of bed
:> at 3am (!!!  that is 3am their time) to look at a crash dump for me.
:>
:> In addition, they have called me telling me about a problem
:> they had discovered with a certain type of memory and searching their
:> records have discovered one of my systems had this memory and that they
:> were sending me new memory so NO PROBLEMS may bite me later.
:>
:> Whoa !!! I was impressed.  Sun, DEC, etc. never did that for me!
:> (ps nope I do not have premium HW support - it is the cheapest possible -
:> parts swap)
:>
:> Cheers
:> --Peg
:>
:>  -------------------------------------------------------------
:>   Peg Schafer                            peg@eecs.harvard.edu
:>   Unix Systems Manager for EECS & Robotics
:>   Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences
:>   ESL, 40 Oxford Street, EECS Computer Support, Room 112
:>   Harvard University                      voice: 617-495-4927
:>   Cambridge, MA 02138-2901                fax:   617-496-5109
:>  -------------------------------------------------------------
:

         
	 Chad H Tudor     System Administrator     Highwire Press
          chtudor@stanford.edu      http://highwire.stanford.edu