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We are very particular that all the servers we procure are under warranty and that the warranty matches the server’s use.

Unless the server is a special case and be down for weeks then you need a current warranty. The reason is that regardless of whether the server is HP, Dell or IBM if a part fails, and you have no warranty, when you come to replace that part it is regarded as a new sale. This puts you on the end of the supply chain and the supply chain for computer companies is often weeks long (especially for spare parts)

So in the case where a part fails you may have to wait weeks for a replacement. Last year we picked up a new customer who had been sold an IBM server by the previous incumbent with only a one year warranty that had expired. They were poorly advised that they could save money by buying replacement parts if the parts failed out of the warranty. When the motherboard on the server failed and they tried to purchase a new motherboard they were given a delivery time of three weeks. This server could not be three days out of action so they had to buy a completely new server - very expensive.

It is also important to get a warranty with the right response time. The standard HP warranty is a next business day warranty. If you phone in the fault first thing Monday morning it may be Tuesday afternoon before an HP engineer responds.  Remember too that this a commitment to ‘response’ and not to a ‘resolution’

You can upgrade a server warranty and this is best done at purchase. Proper registration is also essential to get the contracted response. For critical servers (like email) we recommend HP’s 6 hour call to repair warranty that targets to replace any failed part within 6 hours of the call regardless of when it was called in (e.g. a warranty call logged 1:00am on Sunday will be resolved by 8:00am Sunday.