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Can any seasoned, salty system administrator on this list give me some
advice on the process of ordering hardware from HP Direct?  Case in point:
I'm looking to install a couple of 4.0 Gb F/W SCSI drives in my 987 to
replace some of the old clunkers we still have.  After doing some research,
I find that some A3353As will "bolt up" to our 3000 and configure in since
the IODFAULT file says so.  So, I call HP Direct and get a quote and get
ready to order them.  Aha!  The old light bulb comes on, "Can I use one of
these drives as LDEV 1 on a 987?"  Quick!!!  Dial 9-1-1 (HP Response
Center!)  Response Center calls back and says, "Sure!  They can be used as
LDEV 1 on a 987."  OK ... case closed.  Go ahead and place the order.

Not so fast, Thomas!  I receive a call from my local CE who starts asking
questions like, "What cabinet are they going in?  A 6000 cabinet, etc?"
After several more questions, we finally arrive at an answer.  The CE
determines that we'll have to order additional mounting hardware if I want
the drives installed in a thingamabob (which we have) since the drive was
really designed to be installed in a whatchamahoozit (which we don't have,
but can $buy$).

My question is:  how do you go about ordering from HP Direct?  Is there
something that I need to do BEFORE I call HP Direct besides looking at the
book and determining that I can configure in the drives?  This isn't the
first time that HP Direct has told me that a component will install in a
3000 only to find out (after the CE has arrived and the system is down)
that the particular item won't mount in the cabinet unless I buy more
mounting hardware, cabling, etc.

In days of old when knights were bold, you called your local CE who knew
your machine and knew exactly what you wanted and what else you needed in
order to install the hardware in your HP-3000.  The CE came out to your
machine room, installed whatever it was that you ordered, you fired up your
:SYSDUMP tape and off you went.  Nowadays, it seems that talking to HP is
an exercise in futility since HP gives me the impression that the left hand
doesn't know a durn thing about what the right hand is doing.

Many thanks in advance for your advice!!

Tom "Not a hardware guru" Madigan
Icy (but melting!) SE Pennsylvania