To summarize: HP 350 Gen 11 server - fans always at max with Proxmox and Ubuntu 22.04 (which is listed among the officially "supported" OS by HP). I've stepped out of this, especially since the customer is not great, but I feel sorry for the person who is dealing with it, as they are capable.
HP support insists that the customer is using "unsupported" OS and keeps passing the issue back. The customer tried with Ubuntu 22.04 (which is supported according to their compatibility matrix) and they still refuse to cooperate. Now they are becoming almost offensive. I’ll translate directly the words from their email, as best as I can:
"I advise you to get clear and only install recommended OS that can interact with our firmware and hardware. I first tried to share the HPE compatibility document, then it’s up to you to choose the compatible operating system. You continue to install operating systems that are unclear whether they are RedHat kernels and they need to be recent, not following our matrix. I cannot provide software assistance, you must install what I told
... Show more...To summarize: HP 350 Gen 11 server - fans always at max with Proxmox and Ubuntu 22.04 (which is listed among the officially "supported" OS by HP). I've stepped out of this, especially since the customer is not great, but I feel sorry for the person who is dealing with it, as they are capable.
HP support insists that the customer is using "unsupported" OS and keeps passing the issue back. The customer tried with Ubuntu 22.04 (which is supported according to their compatibility matrix) and they still refuse to cooperate. Now they are becoming almost offensive. I’ll translate directly the words from their email, as best as I can:
"I advise you to get clear and only install recommended OS that can interact with our firmware and hardware. I first tried to share the HPE compatibility document, then it’s up to you to choose the compatible operating system. You continue to install operating systems that are unclear whether they are RedHat kernels and they need to be recent, not following our matrix. I cannot provide software assistance, you must install what I told you." (It’s needless to say that the matrix lists Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04 – which they have installed – but this guy keeps insisting on RedHat.)
"I invite you to check with the reseller, as I wrote in the previous email, if you have difficulty finding third-party OS" (as if Ubuntu 22.04 wasn’t a suitable solution)
"...in which the kernel underlying the OS is compatible with the list of operating systems in the matrix, not only for the model but also if the version tolerates a Gen 11. If Promox (he keeps calling it Promox) has a Redhat Linux kernel but the version is one of the early ones (e.g., Red Hat 3.0 or 4.0), I think for a Gen 11, but even for a Gen 10, running such an old RedHat would require newer firmware versions for things to work properly. Why did you buy (!!!) unsupported software? Even though HPE allows the installation of unsupported software, for us, this is enough reason to invalidate any warranty service since any failure can be attributed to incompatible software" (The translation is clearer, but in Italian it was really unclear what he meant. He admitted that he searched for Proxmox and found kernel 6.8 – but didn’t understand what 6.8 meant – he thinks it’s RedHat 6.8).
I prefer not to disclose the last part as, without personal information about the customer, it wouldn’t be understandable. I can only say that the guy almost resorted to offensive language – considering the critical nature of the client – with some harsh remarks about how, given the criticality of the customer's setup, it’s "crazy" to install uncertified systems. And he insists that they can’t handle cases of "carelessness in using their machine" and that "the number of operating systems out there is only a problem, as there should only be OS certified by large companies that can afford to have them certified with HP."
I’d like to think that my client ended up with the wrong representative, and I’m suggesting they do all the tests being proposed and request escalation to a higher level. From my side, if this is the attitude this manufacturer has towards its good customers (all HP, never filed a report in over 15 years), I’ll take this into account when advising my clients on what to buy.
#IT #SysAdmin
