Downgrade FI 6296 to 6248

eglinsky2012 · ‎11-06-2015

Greetings,

We have a UCS consisting of (2) FI 6296UPs, along with (12) B200 M3 blades. Also in the datacenter are (2) MDS 9148s and a VNX 5500. We had (2) C240 rack servers, but the company that did the install bought them back because they couldn't accomplish what they said they would.

The FIs are utilizing 14 ports, and the MDSs are utilizing 8 ports.

Am I totally nuts in thinking that we should sell the 6296s and swap for 6248s? Is it even possible to make any money off of them that way? What would the technical caveats be of swapping to a device with less ports; would we need to configure from scratch?

I understand that the MDSs are licensed per-port and we have a 16-port license, so I'm happy with them. I just think it's unnecessary that we have the FI 6296s. Given the fact that we have no backup for the VNX and are hoping to get one, bringing in some money from an exchange might help make that happen. We are a school and every dollar counts, and we do not foresee the need to ever expand the system.

Thanks for your insight!

Keny Perez · ‎11-10-2015

While other users get back to you in regards to how much and if you can make any money selling those FIs... I can tell you that you should not have a problem downgrading but I happened to see a case a few weeks ago where the customer downgraded from 6296 to 6248 and ended up with some issues as he had some ports configured on expansion modules that the 6248 does not have and ended up with some confusing error message in the 6248.... I would recommend to configure all your ports in modules that your new 6248 will also have to avoid that same situation.

HTH,

-Kenny

eglinsky2012 · ‎11-10-2015

Thanks for the insight, Keny! Now I've done more research, and since our 6296s don't have any expansion cards (only the first 48 ports built-in), does that mean that we won't have any conflicting slot numbers on the ports as long as we don't use expansion cards on the 6248?

Since there are only 32 ports built-in to the 6248 and we use ports 45-48 on the 6296, would we simply have to shift those to ports 29-32 before the swap?

Sounds like it's technically viable. Since we have a Smart Net contract on the 6296s, that might be the deciding factor. If we can have it transferred and Ciso/the vendor are willing to buy us out of the difference in value, I might be on to something here.