Common hardware buying and lifecycle questions from IBM i teams, organized in one reference page.
Hardware Management Console appliances and system console hardware used to manage LPARs, firmware, and service functions on Power servers.
Virtual HMC works well for most shops and avoids dedicated appliance hardware cost. A physical HMC appliance still makes sense for environments that want a management console...
New, refurbished, and end-of-lease IBM Power Systems and AS/400 servers, from entry single-partition boxes to multi-core enterprise CECs.
It depends heavily on whether the buyer is looking at new, refurbished, or upgraded existing hardware. An entry Power server typically starts in the high four figures to low five...
The honest answer depends on remaining IBM support runway, budget, and how critical the workload is. New hardware carries the longest support and warranty window but at the highest...
Start with current CPW utilization, memory headroom, and partition count on the existing server rather than shopping by model number. A hardware partner can translate that data...
Processor and memory upgrade features, feature code activations, and replacement parts sourcing for existing Power and AS/400 hardware.
Often yes, if the current server has dormant processor or memory capacity available. Activation avoids the cost and downtime of a hardware swap and can be one of the fastest ways...
Server racks, power distribution units, UPS hardware, and cooling infrastructure sized for IBM Power and AS/400 server rooms.
Not always. Power server depth and weight requirements vary by generation, and older racks sized for previous hardware generations do not always accommodate current models cleanly...
Enough to complete a safe, orderly shutdown or failover, which is usually more than the few minutes needed to just ride out a momentary power blip. The right number depends on the...
Internal DASD, external SAN attachment, and flash storage hardware sized for IBM i disk pools and ASP performance requirements.
If the server's processor and memory still have headroom and the bottleneck is genuinely storage-related, expanding DASD or adding SAN attachment is usually the faster and cheaper...
Internal DASD expansion is usually simpler and cheaper if the goal is just more disk pool capacity on one server. External SAN attachment makes more sense when a business wants to...
Tape drives, tape autoloaders, tape libraries, and virtual tape appliances used for IBM i save operations and offsite retention.
If the save window is straining against current physical tape throughput but the underlying save scripts still work well, a virtual tape library often solves that problem without a...
Size against retention policy, not just current daily tape count. A weekly rotation with several weeks of retention needs meaningfully more slots than a simple daily overwrite...
Twinax and IP-attached 5250 terminals, thin clients, and green-screen display hardware still active on warehouse and plant floors.
If existing twinax cabling and controllers are stable and replacement units are still available, staying on twinax with ruggedized replacement terminals is often the simpler and...
If the floor has dust, temperature swings, or rough daily handling, standard office-grade terminal hardware will fail faster than its rated service life suggests. Ruggedized units...
Certified refurbished and secondary market AS/400, iSeries, and Power Systems hardware, tested and warrantied for production or lab use.
Support windows vary by generation, but IBM's standard hardware support typically runs several years past a model's initial release before moving to limited or end-of-service...
The term is not standardized, so it means whatever the specific seller defines it to mean. At minimum, buyers should expect some documented testing before sale, but the depth of...
Ask for their testing process in writing, request references from prior IBM i buyers if possible, and compare warranty terms across more than one seller before committing. A seller...