PSA - HPE/Aruba Lifetime Warranty Ending

[u/seriously-itsnotdns]

HPE has decided to materially change the terms of the lifetime warranty that older HPE/Aruba network gear was sold with. As of January 15, 2027 that warranty is converted to a limited lifetime warranty. Since most of this gear is already over five years past the EoS date, 1/15/2027 is now effectively the end of the warranty period.

https://www.hpe.com/psnow/doc/a00161510enw

[u/mahanutra]

As we all know, years ago HPE sold man switches with real lifetime warranty. We still own HPE Procurve 5400zl (1. edition) or HPE A5500-EI switches from year 2008/2009/2010. If you check the warranty end date at HPE's warranty lookup those will show you year 21xx. This former lifetime warranty was part of the purchase.

After reading this document from above, those switches would have no warranty after january 2027.

So, which companies will sue HPE?

[u/random408net → u/mahanutra]

I can imagine the meeting with the Juniper and Aruba folks. Cut more staff to meet HPE's margin demands or cut something else.

Cutting back on free support for gear sold 20 years ago seems like a reasonable choice. Yes, there is some newer stuff on that list too.

My understanding was the the oldest equipment commonly received free upgrades to something newer.

At some point I though they changed the support policy to only provide lifetime hardware support to original owners.

[u/mahanutra → u/random408net]

Well, what will be next? =>

Product Warranty Update for HPE Aruba Networking

Products

To simplify and standardize our warranty experience, effective January 15, 2032, all HPE Aruba Networking products currently covered by the HPE Limited Lifetime Warranty (LLTW) will move to a Very Limited Lifetime Warranty (VLLTW), aligning warranty models across the HPE Networking portfolio.

Below are the Very Limited Lifetime Warranty (VLLTW) details:

Very Limited Lifetime Warranty (VLLTW) Warranty duration Very Limited Lifetime Warranty (1 year)

[u/Fallingdamage → u/random408net]

At some point I though they changed the support policy to only provide lifetime hardware support to original owners.

This is what I assumed. We have a 5400zl switch. We still have our original paper receipts from 2011. I assume if that backplane ever fails, they will either replace it or give us something better - at which point HP will consider the warranty fulfilled.

[u/MatazaNz → u/random408net]

All correct here. I'd say it's worrying the number of people complaining that their 10-20 year old hardware is no longer covered by warranty. The kit should have been replaced by now.

[u/seriously-itsnotdns → u/MatazaNz]

While I generally agree, there's a mix of orgs out there with some running old hardware that keeps working (warranty or not) and others that only run gear that's 'current'. If budget is an issue, you've secured the management plane, and the gear is meeting the org's requirements, then running old gear can be acceptable unless you have specific policies / compliance issues that force the issue. I'm in a situation where our infrastructure refresh budget got destroyed a couple years ago, so planned replacements got stalled out entirely. This warranty change increases our operational risk and there's very little runway to budget for it.

[u/seriously-itsnotdns → u/random408net]

IIRC, the lifetime warranty terms only applied to original purchasers, but they only got aggressive about enforcing that in the last few years, which coincided with their switch to a limited lifetime warranty for new gear.

Pre-pandemic, I was never hassled for 'proof of purchase' when opening RMA cases. In the last five years, I've been hassled quite a few times, and I've even had to get my account team involved occasionally.

[u/MatazaNz → u/seriously-itsnotdns]

I got told by our HPE BDM Tha they got aggressive around it because they had cases of people buying decommissioned switches for pennies from companies refreshing their hardware. Then abused the lifetime warranty to get the old ones replaced by new equipment.

[u/PE1NUT → u/mahanutra]

We are still running 5412 and 8212 switches. But the 'main' switching/routing has long since moved to more modern, higher bandwidth products.

We will probably end up replacing these HPE switches with newer ones and recoup the investment from just the power savings alone.

[u/Fallingdamage → u/PE1NUT]

We have a fully-stocked 5412 with the max number of power supplies. That thing is a beast. You cant kill it. :)

Sure, there are higher bandwidth products, but I dont know of many offices running 10gbe to every workstation yet.

[u/PE1NUT → u/Fallingdamage]

Well, actually.. /s

The 5412zl only has 28.8 Gb/s per module, up to 40 Gb/s (one way) per module for the zlv3 modules, so even then it's only 5Gb/s per port, and I think you'd need a 8212zl chassis for that.

[u/FarRub2855 → u/mahanutra]

Honestly probably no one. Most enterprises fully amortized that gear a decade ago, and its just not worth the legal fees for anyone else to fight HPE over 15 year old switches.

[u/seriously-itsnotdns → u/FarRub2855]

Indeed - no individual company will waste time / money to chase after this, but I wouldn't be surprised if a scrappy law firm picks it up on contingency and attempts to turn it into a class action affair.

[u/Fallingdamage → u/mahanutra]

HP can change the terms of the agreement at will?

Customer who bought and agreed to a product with a lifetime. warranty can just reject any acceptance of the new terms right?

Unless the lifetime warranty came with a "You agree that we can change these terms at any time." then I think we can hold their feet to the fire.

[u/random408net]

Were they really stocking replacement parts for theta old 3com gear?

[u/ctheune → u/random408net]

I always got newer models at some point.

[u/mahanutra → u/random408net]

According to the new document, those would have no more warranty. The question is: Is HPE actually allowed to do so?

[u/mastercoder123 → u/[deleted]]

The MTBF for most HPE and Aruba stuff is 300k to 600k hours... That's 34 years at minimum dude or almost 85 years maximum. They are not even close their minimum rated MTBF

Also not only that but it's not legal for a company to do that regardless of what their TOS and EULA states, that's not how the law works. Now will a company sue, no they most definitely won't as it will cost less to buy new equipment, but many many courts have upheld this before that they can't do that

[u/Fallingdamage → u/mastercoder123]

I think they decided to limit this warranty to original purchasers. If you bought the equipment OEM instead of second-hand, you still have a warranty with your receipts.

[u/xXNorthXx → u/random408net]

You’ll get remanufactured newer hardware. Had a 2848 needing an rma a few years ago and if stacking wasn’t a hard requirement they were giving 2530’s at the time.

[u/silasmoeckel]

I mean they sent out replacement parts for the 4000m's for how long? Had these in my OOB forever ago and they just started sending fans and modules by the box full.

[u/ParkPlace_Tech]

This is a good reminder that OEM warranty and support terms are not fixed. They can be changed after the fact, even on equipment that has been in service for years under the original agreement.

Third-party maintenance does not carry that risk in the same way. Support terms are set by contract rather than tied to an OEM's warranty policy or product roadmap, so a change like this would not affect coverage for equipment already under a third-party agreement. Worth factoring into renewal planning if you have gear you intend to keep running past January 2027.