SUMMARY: "Drop dead" date for Solaris support?

From: Ross Helfand (rhelfand@census.gov)
Date: Thu Oct 22 1998 - 13:42:39 CDT


Original Question:

> Managers,
>
> Does Sun have official "drop dead" dates when they will stop providing
> support for specific versions of Solaris? I was checking the release
> notes for Solaris 2.6, but I didn't see any mention of it.
>
> I know this sounds weird, but we're going to be running some Decennial
> Census related things on Sun boxes, and once they have the systems up
> and running they're not going to want to upgrade. Management would like
> something "official" from Sun stating that we'll have support if we need
> it (up through 2001, probably).
>
> Thanks!
> Ross Helfand
> Census Bureau

Thanks to:
Sabrina Downard <sabrina@wwa.com>
Sean Ward <sdward@uswest.com>
Chuck Milam <milam@uwosh.edu>
Peter L. Wargo <plw@ncgr.org>
Kevin Sheehan <u-kevin@veritas.com>
Ronald Loftin <reloftin@syr.edu>
Rich Kulawiec <rsk@gsp.org>
Brian Styles <brian.styles@mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk>
Sean <shadow6@bellsouth.net>
Marek Jedryszek <marek@crocom.com.pl>

Marek came up with the most "official" of the responses. I'll just pass
it along (hopefully it doesn't get to garbled in the mail):

Hi,

Attached document explains everything.
It is form sunsolve.sun.com, DOC ID 10012.

As you can see you have plenty of time.

Regards,

Marek Jedryszek

INFODOC ID: 10012

SYNOPSIS: Software OS End Of Life (EOL) matrix
DETAIL DESCRIPTION:

Updated Operating System Support Matrix
---------------------------------------

In short, Sun's policy is to provide support for out-of-production or
transitioned systems for a period of five years from the last order
date.

The details of the software support were included in a Sun Operating
System Support Matrix. As illustrated in that matrix, older versions
of the operating system generally receive lower levels of support than
newer versions. Thus, we recommend that you upgrade your system to the
most current version to ensure you receive the best quality support
through Sun's Customer Services division.

Since the operating system is continually enhanced to meet our
customers'
needs, we promised to keep you abreast of updates to the support matrix.

Operating System Support Matrix
-------------------------------

OS Level (e.g. 3,2,1) (Support Level Begin
Date)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SOLARIS 2.0 Last Order Date: 4/15/94
                Support Level __1___ Date 5/92
                Support Level __2___ Date 5/93
                Support Level __3___ Date 4/97
                                Consult 4/99

SOLARIS 2.1 Last Order Date: 4/15/94
                Support Level __1___ Date 11/92
                Support Level __2___ Date 11/93
                Support Level __3___ Date 4/97
                                Consult 4/99

SOLARIS 2.2 Last Order Date:
11/24/95
                Support Level __1___ Date 5/93
                Support Level __2___ Date 12/94
                Support Level __3___ Date 11/98
                                Consult 11/00

SOLARIS 2.3 Last Order Date: 4/1/97
                Support Level __1___ Date 11/93
                Support Level __2___ Date 11/95
                Support Level __3___ Date 4/00
                                Consult 4/02

SOLARIS 2.4 Last Order Date: 9/30/98
                Support Level __1___ Date 12/94
                Support Level __2___ Date 8/97
                Support Level __3___ Date 9/01
                                Consult 9/03

SOLARIS 2.5 Last Order Date: 9/30/98
                Support Level __1___ Date 11/95
                Support Level __2___ Date 9/98
                Support Level __3___ Date 9/01
                                Consult 9/03

SOLARIS 2.5.1 Last Order Date: N/A
                Support Level __1___ Date 5/96
                Support Level __2___ Date N/A
                Support Level __3___ Date N/A
                                Consult N/A

SOLARIS 2.6 Last Order Date: N/A
                Support Level __1___ Date 8/97
                Support Level __2___ Date N/A
                Support Level __3___ Date N/A
                                Consult N/A

OS Level (e.g. 3,2,1) (Support Level Begin
Date)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

SunOS 4.1.1 Last Order Date: 1/6/95
                Support Level __1___ Date 11/16/90
                Support Level __2___ Date 1/93
                Support Level __3___ Date 1/6/98
                                Consult 1/6/00

SunOS 4.1.2 Last Order Date: 1/6/95
                Support Level __1___ Date 12/4/91
                Support Level __2___ Date 1/93
                Support Level __3___ Date 1/98
                                Consult 1/00

SOLARIS 1.1A&C Last Order Date: 6/3/94
(SunOS 4.1.3) Support Level __1___ Date 8/92
                Support Level __2___ Date 11/94
                Support Level __3___ Date 12/98
                                Consult 12/00

SOLARIS 1.1.1 Last Order Date: 9/30/98
                Support Level __1___ Date 12/93
                Support Level __2___ Date 6/99
                Support Level __3___ Date 9/01
                                Consult 9/03

SOLARIS 1.1.2 Last Order Date: 9/30/98
                Support Level __1___ Date 11/94
                Support Level __2___ Date 6/99
                Support Level __3___ Date 9/01
                                Consult 9/03

Rev1.0_4/94 HW
Rev2.0_6/95 HW
Rev3.0_3/96 MM
Rev4.0_3/97 MM
Rev5.0_9/97 MM
Rev6.0_5/98 MM

Levels of Support
-----------------

Level 1 Support: Full Support

        Users receive the full feature sets contained in SunService's
        SunSpectrum, Software Support Service, and Hardware Support
        Service. Alsoavailable are services such as SunStart,
SunService's
        Educational Services, Software Upgrade Installation services,
and
        supplementary consulting products and services.

Level 2 Support: Emergency Support

        Users receive SunService's SunSpectrum, Software Support
        Service, and Hardware Support Service, limited availability of
        software documentation, bug report submission and tracking,
        emergency fixes and workarounds. Also included is availablility
        of supplementary consulting products andservices.

Level 3 Support: Time and Materials Support

        Users receive support on a Time and Materials basis only for
        phone support and consulting services. Bugs are fixed via
        consulting services only.

Consulting:

        Users receive all support from consulting services.

NOTE:

        o Full Software distribution may not be available pending
          product availability. For more information contact your
          local SunService or channel sales representative.

PRODUCT AREA: any
PRODUCT: any
SUNOS RELEASE: any
HARDWARE: any



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