Start of change

Contacting IBM Support about Db2 problems

If you are unable to successfully troubleshoot a problem in Db2 and you cannot find an existing fix, you might need to contact IBM Support for assistance.

Before you begin

Before contacting IBM Support, check whether a fix or solution already exists for your problem. See Searching the IBM Support site for known problems and solutions. For a list of fixes available for Db2 for z/OS®, see the IBM Support page for Db2 for z/OS.

Also, your company must have an active IBM Support subscription and support contract, and you must be authorized to submit problems to IBM Support. For information about the types of available support, see Support Portfolio.

Procedure

To contact IBM Support about Db2 problems:

  1. Define the problem, gather background information, and determine the severity of the problem.
  2. Collect appropriate diagnostic data for the type of problem that you are reporting. You can collect the diagnostic data manually or automatically, depending on the data.
    Diagnostic data can help reduce the time for resolving your Db2 problem. For example, having access to relevant messages, error codes, log data, trace output, or dump output can speed the resolution process. For more information, see Collecting diagnostic data.
  3. Start of changeContact IBM Support by opening a case at https://www.ibm.com/mysupport/s/.End of change
    You can expect to provide the following information:
    • Your customer number
    • Current service level (PTF list and list of APAR fixes applied)
    • Processor number (serial—model)
    • Keyword string that is used to search the IBM Support database
  4. Send the diagnostic data to IBM Support, as described in Sending diagnostic data to IBM Support.
  5. If directed by IBM Support, download data from IBM Support as described in Receiving information from IBM Support.

What to do next

If IBM Support determines that an authorized program analysis report (APAR) is necessary to resolve your problem, you might need to apply the PTF for the APAR. For more information, see Getting fixes.

Sending diagnostic data to IBM Support

For IBM Support to diagnose or identify a problem, you might need to provide diagnostic data and other information from your system.

Before you begin

Start of changeIf you have not already done so, you must create an IBM Support File Transfer ID with your IBM ID. For details, see Support File Transfer Details. Only secure transfer protocols, such as SFTP, HTTPS, MTFTP are supported.End of change

Procedure

  1. Collect diagnostic data for the type of problem that you are reporting or as requested by IBM Support, as described in Collecting diagnostic data.
  2. Start of changeIf the diagnostic data includes SVC dumps captured on IBM z15® or later processors, you can redact buffer pool data in the dump. For more information, see Redacting buffer pool data in SVC dumps for data privacy.End of change
  3. Compress the data and name the files according to the naming convention, as described in ECuRep: Prepare data.
  4. Use one of the following secure methods to submit the data to IBM Support:
    • If you use IBM Blue® Diamond, see Blue Diamond Help: Secure FTP.
    • Otherwise, use a secure method to submit the data to the Enhanced Customer Data Repository (ECuRep), as described in ECuRep: Send data.

      For JCL examples, see JCL examples for PDUU. When you modify the JCL examples for your environment, apply the following changes:

      • For USERID, specify the Secure File Transfer ID that you created in the transfer ID generation app.
      • For PASSWORD, specify the password that was generated with the Secure File transfer ID.
      • Specify the server that is closest to your physical location:
        Region TARGET_SYS=
        Americas testcase.boulder.ibm.com
        Asia Pacific ftp.ap.ecurep.ibm.com
        Europe ftps.ecurep.ibm.com
      • Specify DIRECTORY=/toibm/im.
      • Do not specify a CIPHER_KEY value. Separate encryption of the files is unnecessary because secure transfer methods are always used.
      Tip: Server-side values are case sensitive.

Receiving information from IBM Support

IBM Support might ask you to download diagnostic tools or other files to help solve your problem.

Before you begin

Start of changeIf you have not already done so, you must create an IBM Support File Transfer ID with your IBM ID. For details, see Support File Transfer Details. Only secure transfer protocols, such as SFTP, HTTPS, MTFTP are supported.End of change

About this task

IBM Support might ask you to download diagnostic tools or other files.

Procedure

To download files from IBM Support:

  1. Connect to the server by using the information that IBM Support provides.
  2. Change to the generated directory name that IBM Support provides. 
    cd fromibm/generated-directory-name
  3. Enable binary mode for your session. 
    binary
  4. Use the get command to download the file that IBM Support specified. 
    get filename.extension
  5. End the session. 
    quit

Example

The following sample job downloads sample files from IBM:

Start of change
//FTPGETIT EXEC PGM=FTP,PARM='testcase.boulder.ibm.com (EXIT'
//SYSFTPD  DD DISP=SHR,DSN=tcpip.ftps.data.testcase     For Secure FTP
//OUTPUT   DD SYSOUT=*
//AI12345  DD DISP=(,CATLG),UNIT=SYSDA,DSN=&SYSUID..FIX.AI12345,
//   DSORG=PS,RECFM=FB,BLKSIZE=3120,LRECL=80,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//AI56789  DD DISP=(,CATLG),UNIT=SYSDA,DSN=&SYSUID..FIX.AI56789,
//   DSORG=PS,RECFM=FB,BLKSIZE=3120,LRECL=80,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//*
//*    NOTE: Clear sequence numbers in columns 73-80.
//*          FTP Server-side values are Case-Sensitive.
//*
//INPUT    DD  *
  your-user-ID
  your-password
  cd /fromibm/generated-directory-name/
  bin
  get  AI12345.HDBAA10    //DD:AI12345
  get  AI56789.HDBAA10    //DD:AI56789
  quit
/*
End of change
End of change