Questions and Answers
Q. What is Sun Support Services policy on third-party servers connected to StorageTek 9900 Series products?
A. StorageTek 9900 Series products are designed for attachment to Sun Solaris and other open systems (HP-
UX, IBM AIX), non-UNIX (i.e. Linux,Windows) and mainframe server platforms. The details of these
supported configurations are provided in the WWWW matrix.
Sun Support Services will diagnose and troubleshoot the 9900 up to the point of connection of 9900 to the host
server if connected in these heterogeneous and multi-platform environments in accordance with the WWWW
matrix. Sun does not provide third-party host server break-fix warranty or contract support.
Q. What is Sun Support Services policy on StorageTek 9900 Series SAN support?
A. Sun currently sells Brocade and McData switch and director products as external SAN interconnect in
support of StorageTek 9900 Series products. The design of such a SAN must be in conformance with Sun
configuration rules. These rules are developed by NWS, working in conjunction with its partners. The current
rules are listed in the WWWW matrix mentioned above. SAN's not developed in accordance with these rules
may result in switch-to-host, switch-to-storage or switch-to-switch connections which cannot be supported by
Sun.
Sun highly recommends the use of Sun Professional Services or highly accredited channel partner with strong
Sun storage expertise for the proper design and implementation of a Storage Area Network in order to properly
translate customer requirements into a feasible and supportable SAN solution.
For all interconnect components not sold by Sun but listed in the WWWW matrix, Sun will support the 9900
subsystem connection(s) in that particular SAN environment, provided proper configuration rules are followed.
Sun will not provide warranty (break-fix) support for any interconnect component not sold by Sun.
Q. What are Sun Support Services capabilities across customers' heterogeneous operating system
environments?
A. Sun Support Services' operating system expertise is tops in Sun Solaris. In addition, Sun's Customer Care
Centers provide support expertise for customer product connections involving qualified Sun storage products
attached to non-Solaris hosts. This currently includes Windows 2000, Windows NT, Linux, IBM-AIX and HP-
UX and MainFrame Operating Systems. The nature of this support expertise includes single path
interoperability, dual path fail-over involving the Sun StorageTek Traffic Manager software, and the limited
ability to re-create customer interoperability involving non-Solaris equipment operating within the approved
configurations. (The ability to re-create customer interoperability configurations varies depending on
supported geography.)
Sun does not provide break-fix support for non-Sun servers or HBAs, but does provide support for Sun storage
connections into those hosts when operating within the approved configurations.
Q. How does Sun Support Services provide a compelling reason to repeatedly choose Sun StorageTek for data
center storage?
A. Sun Support Services provides true end-to-end support expertise across customers' storage environment,
server environment and interconnect. This goes beyond what any storage-only vendor can provide. As an
example, Sun has a highly trained and experienced group called Storage ACES which spans Sun Support
Services, Sun Professional Services, sales and product engineering. This is a global Sun community which
shares best practices in storage and storage networking, where storage does not equal storage alone. Some
team members have spent their entire career in storage while others bring a wealth of expertise from server
support perspective including boot disk, server/storage clustering, volume management and application
support. All members are expected to have expertise that spans beyond pure storage.
Sun Support Services also provides a centralized means in each major geography to provide integrated pre-
sales configuration verification, installation support, and post-sales engineering support for product
Just the Facts
October 2007
141
Sun Confidential – For Internal Use and Authorized Partner Use Only
