Technical information

ManualsBrandsCisco ManualsComputer equipmentMCS 7800 Series

Ordering Guide

Important Notes on Cisco UCS Lifespan

Because lifecycle status is often a purchasing consideration, we include some reference information here.

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Hardware and Software releases have separate life spans, separate End-of-Life policies, and separate End

of-

Sale/End-of-Support announcements. Carefully read an announcement because it will be for either hardware

or software, not both. See the End-of-Life portal at:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/voicesw/ps556/prod_eol_notices_list.html.

●

Cisco UCS servers have a life span in line with other industry server vendors. Two-year life from FCS to end

of sale is targeted, but effective life for UC may be less because of certification lag. Supplier events may also

force earlier end of sale. The use of VMware-only installation is expected to reduce the effect of server

turnover on application version compatibility.

●

Cisco UCS hardware and Cisco Unified Communications Manager software have completely different

lifecycles and end-of-life/end-of-support policies and milestone dates. End of Sale of Cisco UCS hardware

does not mean end of sale of any software release, and vice versa. Separate End-of-Sale notices are sent for

hardware vs. software releases.

●

Hardware End of Sale is not the same thing as hardware End of Support. Cisco UCS hardware End of

Support is 5 years after Cisco UCS hardware End of Sale per standard Cisco policy. See the next section for

details on how Cisco Customer Advocacy Service Logistics handles repair/replacement of Cisco UCS 7800

servers purchased from Cisco.

Important Notes on Cisco UCS Service and Support

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UC on UCS hardware may be serviced at the blade level or component level. Blade server replacements are

attempted only after component replacement efforts have failed.

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Service contracts must be purchased for the UCS hardware, VMware software, UC software, and storage

environment to cover the entire solution.

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Cisco UCS warranty is 3 years vs. 1 year on the Cisco MCS 7800 via Cisco SMARTnet

support. As with

other Cisco UCS hardware, Warranty Plus services are also offered. For more information on Warranty Plus,

see the following http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10321/serv_home.html.

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Repair/replacement of components or full-box RMAs are available only for Cisco UCS models/generations

that are before their hardware End-of-Support (or Last-Date-of-Support) date (this date is per standard Cisco

policy 5 years after hardware End of Sale). Even if a customer’s maintenance and support contract extends

past this date, Cisco will still not support the hardware past its Last Date of Support. For example, if the Cisco

UCS model/generation Last Date of Support is in March, your Cisco support contract end date is December.

Cisco will not repair/replace that UCS if the problem occurs in April or later. Note that Unified Communications

Software Subscription, Cisco User Connect Licensing, and Cisco Unified Workspace Licensing are all

software items and do not affect this hardware support policy.

●

Prior to Cisco UCS Last Date of Support, if Cisco Customer Advocacy Service Logistics finds its depot

inventory getting low, a “same or better” policy is applied for Cisco UCS problems found to require a hardware

RMA. This scenario assumes that the customer has correct contract coverage as detailed above, and that the

hardware is before its Last Date of Support. In the rare case that an identical replacement is not available,

Cisco Product Management will advise Customer Advocacy Service Logistics on the migration device to use.

4.2 New Systems

UC on UCS solutions require specification of several elements depicted in Figure 2.

Figure 2. “What Do I Need to Quote?”