IBM Support provides assistance with product defects, answers FAQs,
and helps users resolve problems with the product.
Before you begin
After trying to find your answer or
solution by using other self-help options such as technotes, you can
contact IBM Support. Before contacting IBM Support, your company or organization must
have an active IBM
maintenance contract name, and you must be authorized
to submit problems to IBM. For information about the types of available support, see
the
Support portfolio topic in the
"Software
Support Handbook".
For information about the types of
available support, see the Support portfolio topic in the Software
Support Handbook.
Procedure
To contact IBM Support about a problem:
- Define the problem, gather background information, and
determine the severity of the problem. See the Contacting IBM® Support topic in the Software Support Handbook. For more information, see the Getting IBM support topic in the Software
Support Handbook.
- Gather diagnostic information.
- Submit the problem to IBM Support in one of the following ways:
- Using IBM Support Assistant
(ISA):
- Download and install the ISA tool from the ISA website. See www.ibm.com/software/support/isa/.
- Open ISA.
- Click Collection and Send Data.
- Click the Service Requests tab.
- Click Open a New Service Request.
Using ISA in this way can expedite the analysis and reduce the
time to resolution.
- Online through the IBM Support Portal: You can open, update, and view all of your service requests from
the Service Request portlet on the Service Request page.
- By telephone for critical, system down, or severity 1 issues:
For the telephone number to call in your region, see the Directory of worldwide contacts web page. You can also see
the Contacts page in the Software Support
Handbook.
Results
If the problem that you submit is for a software defect or
for missing or inaccurate documentation, IBM Support creates an Authorized
Program Analysis Report (APAR). The APAR describes the problem in
detail. Whenever possible, IBM Support provides a workaround that you can
implement until the APAR is resolved and a fix is delivered. IBM publishes resolved
APARs on the IBM Support website daily, so that other users who experience the same
problem can benefit from the same resolution. See
Exchanging information with IBM.