Can I use an AFF A250 from eBay without licenses?

[phanvlong]

Hi everyone,

I’m completely new to NetApp and have never used any of their systems before.

I recently came across a NetApp AFF A250 on eBay for a few thousand dollars, which seems like a really good deal. However, the seller mentioned that no licenses are included, and that’s where I’m getting confused.

My needs are pretty basic:

• Use it as shared storage for VMware or Proxmox
• Possibly via iSCSI or NFS
• Just create storage and run VMs on it

I don’t really understand how NetApp licensing works at all.
So I have a few beginner questions:

• If I buy this unit without any licenses, will it still work at all?
• Can I at least set it up and use it like a normal storage (create volumes, share via iSCSI/NFS)?
• Or is it basically unusable without licenses?

Sorry if this is a very basic question
Any advice or real-world experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[phanvlong]

Just wanted to follow up on my own question in case this helps others in the future.

I reached out to the seller, and this was their response: “With NetApp systems, you need licenses to serve data. Systems without licenses do not include any licenses at all. Basic functionality such as iSCSI or FC is only available with the respective licenses.”

So from what I understand now:

• These units from eBay may come completely without licenses (not even a base license)
• Without licenses, you cannot actually serve storage (no iSCSI, no FC, likely no NFS either)
• That means you can’t really use it for VMware or Proxmox at all

In other words, it’s not just “missing advanced features” — it may not be usable as a storage system in practice.

I initially thought it could still work for basic use, but it looks like that’s not the case with NetApp unless licenses are included.

Hope this helps someone avoid making the same mistake I almost did.

 

[Jelle458]

You are correct here. The NetApp systems are basically not usable at all and just a big brick without licenses. When you restore defaults on them, the licenses are also reset. The only way the get the system running again is to get new licenses from NetApp, and funny enough those are usually just about the same price as a full new unit from them, that's my experience anyways.

You can use those systems for spareparts. If you have an already running system and need to replace a controller, that is possible for example.

I heard some people being able to restore default on these and keeping the licenses, but I have no idea how. I was never able to keep the licenses.
Maybe if you know the login you don't have to restore to default, and you can repurpose by just changing the configuration, but those I have seen no one knew the login.