HPE MSA 1050 End of Life: A vs B Model Dates

HPE MSA 1050 support dates

Every row names its basis. A third-party tracker date is not the vendor’s own, and “not published” means exactly that.
Milestone	Date	Basis	Source
End of Life (EOL), PCN Table 4: MSA 1050 'B' arrays (Q2R18B-Q2R25B)	1 February 2021	Vendor-publishedPCN Table 4 reads 'EOL 2/1/2021'. The PCN (release date 2021-02-01) says the Gen5 portfolio (1050/2050/2052) began its EOL process on 1 Feb 2021. Read from a third-party-hosted copy (iStorage Networks) of HPE PCN a00127631 v7, last updated 27 Sep 2024. HPE's original requires an HPE Support Center sign-in; its title was confirmed through HPE's document API.	HPE Product Change Notification a00127631 v7: HPE MSA 1050, 2050, 2052 SAN Storage - End of Life Announcement (third-party-hosted copy)
Discontinuance (DISC, last manufacture): MSA 1050 'B' arrays	30 September 2021	Vendor-publishedPCN Table 4: DISC 9/30/2021. After this date, orders were filled from factory inventory.	HPE PCN a00127631 v7 (third-party-hosted copy)
Obsolescence (OBSO, last day to order): MSA 1050 'B' arrays	31 July 2023	Vendor-publishedPCN Table 4: OBSO 7/31/2023. The PCN says all Gen5 arrays and drive enclosures were obsolete as of 31 Jul 2023, and all other Gen5 options (drive upgrades, software etc.) as of 31 Dec 2023.	HPE PCN a00127631 v7 (third-party-hosted copy)
End of Engineering Support (EOES): MSA 1050 'B' arrays (Q2R18B, Q2R19B, Q2R20B, Q2R21B, Q2R22B, Q2R23B, Q2R24B, Q2R25B)	31 July 2028	Vendor-publishedPCN Table 4: EOES 7/31/2028, EOSL (TBD). HPE defines EOES as typically five years after OBSO for hardware products. The PCN also says spare parts and product support continue for five years after OBSO.	HPE PCN a00127631 v7 (third-party-hosted copy)
End of Engineering Support (EOES): original 'A' model Q2R18A (8Gb FC LFF)	30 September 2025	Vendor-publishedPCN Table 12: EOL 9/8/2020, DISC 9/9/2020, OBSO 9/30/2020, EOES 9/30/2025, EOSL (TBD). This date has passed.	HPE PCN a00127631 v7 (third-party-hosted copy)
End of Engineering Support (EOES): original 'A' models Q2R19A, Q2R22A, Q2R24A, Q2R25A	31 October 2025	Vendor-publishedPCN Table 12: EOL 9/8/2020, DISC 9/30/2020, OBSO 10/31/2020, EOES 10/31/2025, EOSL (TBD). This date has passed.	HPE PCN a00127631 v7 (third-party-hosted copy)
End of Engineering Support (EOES): original 'A' models Q2R20A, Q2R21A, Q2R23A	14 December 2025	Vendor-publishedPCN Table 12: EOL 9/8/2020, DISC 11/30/2020, OBSO 12/14/2020, EOES 12/14/2025, EOSL (TBD). This date has passed.	HPE PCN a00127631 v7 (third-party-hosted copy)
End of Engineering Support (EOES): MSA 2050 LFF Disk Enclosure Q1J06B (expansion shelf used by the MSA 1050)	30 April 2028	Vendor-publishedPCN Table 11: OBSO 4/30/2023, EOES 4/30/2028. The SFF Disk Enclosure Q1J07B has OBSO 2/28/2023 and EOES 2/28/2028. The original 'A' enclosures (Q1J06A, Q1J07A) have EOES 12/14/2025 (Table 15). EOSL is TBD for all of them. The MSA 1050 User Guide confirms that MSA 1050 controllers use the MSA 2050 LFF/SFF Disk Enclosures for expansion.	HPE PCN a00127631 v7 (third-party-hosted copy)
End of Support Life (EOSL): all MSA 1050 models	—	Not yet announcedEvery table in the PCN reads 'EOSL (TBD)'. The revision history says version 6 (13 Sep 2024) 'removed EOSL date in all tables and replaced with TBD'.	HPE PCN a00127631 v7 (third-party-hosted copy)
End of Support (third-party tracker): 'MSA 1050 SAN Storage'	31 July 2028	Third-party trackereosl.date lists 'MSA 1050 SAN Storage' under 'Currently Supported' with End of Support 2028-07-31. That matches HPE's EOES for the 'B' models only. It is not an HPE EOSL date (HPE lists EOSL as TBD), and it does not apply to the 'A' models.	eosl.date: HPE MSA End of Life (EOL) Dates and EOSL Dates

Where the HPE MSA 1050 stands today

PCN a00127631 dates the start of the Gen5 end-of-life process to 1 February 2021. For the 1050's 'B' arrays, Table 4 then sets discontinuance (last manufacture) at 30 September 2021, obsolescence (last day to order) at 31 July 2023 and End of Engineering Support at 31 July 2028. The notice says spare parts and product support continue for five years after obsolescence, which for these SKUs matches the EOES date. The 'A' arrays in Table 12 became obsolete in 2020 and are already past EOES: Q2R18A (8Gb FC LFF) since 30 September 2025, Q2R19A, Q2R22A, Q2R24A and Q2R25A since 31 October 2025, and Q2R20A, Q2R21A and Q2R23A since 14 December 2025.

No MSA 1050 SKU has a dated End of Support Life: version 6 of the PCN, in September 2024, swapped every EOSL date for 'TBD', and later revisions could move dates again. To check one array, match the product number on the unit or in your purchase records to Table 4 or Table 12; your HPE contract end date is separate and set per serial number. Reading HPE's original requires a Support Center login, so the figures here come from a third-party-hosted copy of version 7 (27 September 2024). The third-party tracker eosl.date files 'MSA 1050 SAN Storage' under 'Currently Supported' with an end of support of 31 July 2028, matching the 'B' arrays' engineering-support date, not an HPE EOSL date or any 'A' model date.

HPE MSA 1050: lifecycle on one axis

Dated milestones are placed only where a source gives the date; milestones the vendor has not dated are listed beneath the axis rather than guessed. Blue = vendor-published, amber = third-party tracker, violet = derived from a vendor policy. Checked 8 October 2026.

Finding the date for your own unit

HPE sets MSA Gen5 dates by product number, not model-wide. Read the product number on the array, or in your purchase records, and match it against HPE PCN a00127631. Table 4 covers the 'B' arrays Q2R18B-Q2R25B (EOES 31 Jul 2028). Table 12 covers the 'A' arrays Q2R18A-Q2R25A (EOES 30 Sep, 31 Oct or 14 Dec 2025). Tables 11 and 15 cover the MSA 2050 LFF/SFF disk enclosures. The copy read here is v7, at https://www.istoragenetworks.com/servermanuals/HPE-MSA-1050-2050-2052-EOL.pdf. HPE's original is https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=a00127631en_us (sign-in required). Your contract end date is separate and is set per serial number by your HPE support agreement.

What still works after HPE support ends

At discontinuance (30 September 2021 for the 'B' arrays), HPE moved MSA Gen5 firmware development into a 'sustain only' phase, in which only critical security or data-integrity issues are considered for a fix. HPE also adds no new host operating systems, HDD/SSD hardware, drive firmware, HBAs or other network infrastructure components to the SPOCK compatibility matrix for these arrays, so check SPOCK before connecting a new server, HBA or switch.

On 'B' arrays, HPE spare parts and product support continue until 31 July 2028, and the PCN makes no firmware commitment beyond that date. On 'A' arrays EOES has already passed, so ask HPE what your serial number is still entitled to. Where HPE cover no longer fits, HPE third-party maintenance generally provides fault diagnosis, spare parts and on-site engineers, though HPE's firmware position is unchanged.

From the DISC date, HPE moved MSA Gen5 firmware development to a 'sustain only' phase, in which only critical security or data-integrity issues are considered for a fix. No new host operating systems, HDD/SSD hardware, drive firmware, HBAs or other network infrastructure components are added to the SPOCK compatibility matrix. (istoragenetworks.com)
HPE states that spare parts and product support continue for five years after the official OBSO declaration for the MSA 1050/2050/2052. For the 1050 'B' arrays that matches the published EOES date of 31 Jul 2028. The PCN makes no firmware commitment beyond EOES. (istoragenetworks.com)

Vendor support you can still buy

HPE product support and spare parts for MSA Gen5 until End of Engineering Support — PCN: spare parts and product support continue for five years after OBSO. For the 1050 'B' arrays, the published EOES is 31 Jul 2028. Firmware is in 'sustain only' mode. (istoragenetworks.com)

What a maintenance contract needs to cover on the HPE MSA 1050

Scope an MSA 1050 contract from the controller enclosure outward: a 2U unit in a 24-bay SFF or 12-bay LFF chassis, with two AC power-supply slots. It is dual-controller only, and its controller modules, fans, power supplies, disk drives and I/O modules are all hot-plug replaceable, so each belongs on the parts list. The host protocol, one of 8Gb FC, 1GbE iSCSI, 10GbE iSCSI or 12Gb HD mini-SAS, was fixed at the factory and cannot be changed, so record which one your array has. FC and iSCSI controller modules carry two host ports each, while SAS models connect up to four servers directly and do not support Remote Snap replication.

Expansion uses MSA 2050 LFF or SFF Disk Enclosures, up to four enclosures including the controller enclosure. The shelves have their own dates: EOES on 30 April 2028 for the LFF Q1J06B and 28 February 2028 for the SFF Q1J07B, both ahead of the 'B' array, and 14 December 2025, already past, for the original Q1J06A and Q1J07A. Each controller also has a supercapacitor pack and a CompactFlash card that preserve unwritten cache data through a power loss, and HPE notes the CompactFlash can be moved to a replacement controller to recover that data. List the array and every shelf by product number in the maintenance coverage builder to request a quote.

HPE MSA 1050: what to tell a maintenance provider

The hardware facts a maintenance quote is priced on, printed in the vendor's own wording from its specification documents (cited in Sources). Nothing on this plate is estimated; facts the vendor does not state are left off rather than filled in.

HPE MSA 1050 hardware, from HPE’s own specification documents
Specification	Detail	Source
Form factor	2U controller enclosure in either a 24-drive SFF or a 12-drive LFF chassis, with AC power supplies (two power-supply slots)	support.hpe.com
Controllers	Dual-controller only. If one controller fails, the array fails over and runs on the other until redundancy is restored. Controller modules, fans, power supplies, disk drives and I/O modules are hot-plug replaceable.	support.hpe.com
Host interface	Each model's protocol is set at the factory: 8Gb FC, 1GbE iSCSI, 10GbE iSCSI or 12Gb HD mini-SAS. The protocol and speed cannot be changed. FC and iSCSI controller modules have two host ports each. SAS models support up to four direct-connect servers (two per controller) and do not support Remote Snap replication.	support.hpe.com
Expansion	Up to four enclosures in total, including the controller enclosure, using the MSA 2050 LFF or SFF Disk Enclosure. LFF and SFF enclosures can be mixed. The expansion ports use 6Gb/s SAS lanes, so 12Gb/s drives are downshifted to 6Gb/s.	support.hpe.com
Cache protection	Each controller module has a supercapacitor pack and CompactFlash. On a power loss, unwritten write-cache data is saved to the CompactFlash and committed to disk when power returns. The CompactFlash can be moved to a replacement controller to recover unflushed data.	support.hpe.com
Management	Storage Management Utility (SMU) web interface and CLI. The HPE user guide (Feb 2020 edition) documents firmware version VE270.	support.hpe.com

Extend or refresh the HPE MSA 1050?

Extending a 'B' array is the straightforward case: HPE engineering support runs to 31 July 2028, and in the sustain-only phase critical security and data-integrity issues are still considered for a fix. If the attached hosts, HBAs and switches are already on its SPOCK listing and capacity is adequate, the HPE dates to plan around are the 'B' shelves' EOES in February or April 2028 and the array's on 31 July 2028. An 'A' array, or a 'B' array with 'A' shelves, is past HPE engineering support for some or all of its parts, which makes storage and SAN maintenance for those parts the more pressing question.

Refresh is the better answer once the rest of the estate moves beyond what SPOCK lists for Gen5. HPE names the MSA 1060 (MSA Gen6) as the replacement and maps SKUs across: Q2R19B to R0Q85B (1060 16Gb FC SFF), Q2R21B to R0Q87B (1060 12Gb SAS SFF), and Q2R23B and Q2R25B to R0Q86B (1060 10GBASE-T iSCSI SFF). LFF 1050s have no 1060 equivalent, so HPE says to use an SFF 1060 with the MSA 2060 LFF Drive Enclosure (R0Q39B). Budget beyond controllers too, because HPE states that none of the Gen5 options listed in the PCN, drives, enclosures, SFPs and licences included, are compatible with Gen6.

HPE names the MSA Gen6 1060 as the replacement and maps SKUs one to one: Q2R19B to R0Q85B (MSA 1060 16Gb FC SFF), Q2R21B to R0Q87B (1060 12Gb SAS SFF), and Q2R23B/Q2R25B to R0Q86B (1060 10GBASE-T iSCSI SFF). The LFF 1050 models have no 1060 equivalent. HPE says to use an SFF 1060 plus the MSA 2060 LFF Drive Enclosure (R0Q39B). (istoragenetworks.com)
HPE states that none of the MSA Gen5 options listed in the PCN (drives, enclosures, SFPs, licences) are compatible with MSA Gen6 systems. A refresh to a 1060 therefore cannot reuse the existing drives or shelves. (istoragenetworks.com)
The expansion shelves reach EOES before the 'B' array does: 30 Apr 2028 for the LFF Q1J06B and 28 Feb 2028 for the SFF Q1J07B. The original 'A' shelves reached EOES on 14 Dec 2025, so in a mixed estate the shelves can lose HPE engineering support before the array. (istoragenetworks.com)
Only the title of HPE's own copy of PCN a00127631 is public; the body requires an HPE Support Center sign-in. The dates in this record come from a third-party-hosted copy of version 7 (27 Sep 2024). (support.hpe.com)
HPE has revised this PCN seven times. Version 6 (13 Sep 2024) removed the EOSL dates from every table and replaced them with 'TBD', so later revisions may change the dates again. (istoragenetworks.com)

HPE MSA 1050: what came before and what replaces it

The successor shown is the one the vendor names in its own end-of-life notice. No predecessor is shown because none could be sourced.

Keep your HPE MSA 1050 covered

Tell us how many you run and when your current cover ends, and we will come back with a like-for-like maintenance quote for that estate. Your model and its support status are attached to the enquiry automatically, so there is nothing to re-type.

HPE maintenance in detail →

The MSA 1050 is one of three arrays in HPE's MSA Gen5 portfolio, with the 2050 and 2052, all covered by PCN a00127631. MSA 1050 controllers also expand with MSA 2050 LFF and SFF Disk Enclosures, so the HPE MSA 2050 end of life page matters to any 1050 with shelves attached. HPE dates the portfolio's introduction to June 2017. For second-user MSA hardware while a 1060 move is planned, see refurbished HPE MSA arrays.

Where the HPE MSA 1050 sits against related models

Each bar runs from release to the milestone that marks end of support for the model as a whole. Amber bars end on a third-party tracker's date, not the vendor's. A dashed open end means no end date is published — not that support is indefinite. Component and accessory dates (a management controller, a power module) are not treated as the model's.

Look up another model in the storage end-of-life checker, or read what third-party maintenance covers.

Questions people ask about the HPE MSA 1050

Is the HPE MSA 1050 end of life?

Yes. PCN a00127631 put MSA Gen5 into HPE's end-of-life process on 1 February 2021, and the 'B' arrays stopped being orderable on 31 July 2023. Being end of life does not mean HPE support has stopped: HPE engineering support for the 'B' arrays runs until 31 July 2028, and End of Support Life is shown as 'TBD'.

When does HPE stop supporting the MSA 1050?

It depends on the product number. Q2R18B to Q2R25B have End of Engineering Support on 31 July 2028, whereas Q2R18A to Q2R25A reached theirs on 30 September, 31 October or 14 December 2025. HPE lists End of Support Life as 'TBD' for every MSA 1050 SKU.

Is HPE still releasing MSA 1050 firmware?

Only within narrow limits. Gen5 firmware has been in a 'sustain only' phase since discontinuance, meaning only critical security or data-integrity issues are considered for a fix, and HPE adds no new host operating systems, drives or HBAs to SPOCK for these arrays. The PCN makes no firmware commitment beyond End of Engineering Support.

What replaced the HPE MSA 1050?

HPE names the MSA 1060 (MSA Gen6) and maps Q2R19B, Q2R21B, Q2R23B and Q2R25B to specific SFF 1060 SKUs. LFF 1050 models have no direct equivalent, so HPE says to use an SFF 1060 with the MSA 2060 LFF Drive Enclosure. HPE also states that the Gen5 options listed in the notice, including drives, enclosures, SFPs and licences, are not compatible with Gen6.

Can I get third-party maintenance for an MSA 1050?

Independent maintenance can take on fault diagnosis, replacement parts and engineer attendance, including after HPE's engineering-support dates have passed. Give the product number, host protocol and every attached MSA 2050 enclosure, because the shelves carry their own HPE dates. What third-party maintenance covers explains the general terms.

Sources

Every date, rule and specification above was checked against these on 8 October 2026 by an independent verification pass. Vendors revise lifecycle notices; this page is re-checked by 8 January 2027.

HPE Product Change Notification a00127631 v7: HPE MSA 1050, 2050, 2052 SAN Storage - End of Life Announcement (third-party-hosted copy) — istoragenetworks.com
eosl.date: HPE MSA End of Life (EOL) Dates and EOSL Dates — eosl.date
support.hpe.com — support.hpe.com
support.hpe.com — support.hpe.com

Last reviewed 7 October 2026. Lifecycle dates for the HPE MSA 1050 are re-verified against HPE's own notices at each review; a date a vendor has not published is never filled in.