Find answers and solve problems quickly and efficiently
Updated: 14 Oct 2005
Whether you are a new user looking for basic information, or an experienced user looking for a
specific workaround, you can benefit immediately from IBM's extensive Web-based support. Download
fixes, search on keywords, find how-to information, and possibly solve a problem -- all before
contacting IBM Software Support directly.
Follow these steps to get help with WebSphere Studio:
Several resources in WebSphere Studio and on the Internet can help you solve WebSphere Studio problems. The most important resources are listed first:
Search the online documentation (Help => Help Contents).
Tip: When you click the Go button at
the top of the help browser, the documentation for all tools and products installed in the workbench is searched. To
narrow your search to one or more subsets of information, click Advanced Search.
Consult the readme file to see if there is a workaround to your problem. The readme file is located in the root of both
the installation CD and the product installation directory.
See if there is a new product update that may already resolve your problem (Help => Software Updates => New
Updates). You can choose to download and install only those updates that are related to your current problem. Software
updates often include documentation updates, either as revised product documents or as technical notes (that cover known
problems and workarounds). For instructions on running the update manager, see the product online documentation (search for
"Updating features with the update manager").
Search the IBM support sites for product support information (FAQs, technical notes, etc.).
Part 2 of this article provides a convenient starting point for product-related IBM support site
resources. Here are some tips on effectively using the various search engine fields:
Target Product: It is important to understand the implications of making selections in the Select document
type, Select product, and Version drop down lists. At this time, regardless of whether you actually use that
product configuration, it is recommended that you select Application Developer from the Select product list for
the following reasons:
Contained Products: The WebSphere Studio family is comprised of a series of nested product configurations.
For example, WebSphere Studio Enterprise Developer includes all of the features of Application Developer, which includes all
of the features of Site Developer. Due to current limitations in the back-end support sites, IBM's support team might label a
particular problem as pertaining to only one of these products, in which case searching for that problem in any of the other
product's repositories will return no results. For example, if a technical note relating to Java™ tools is encoded
as an Application Developer technote, Java programmers who work with Site Developer or Enterprise Developer would not find it
unless they chose to search the Application Developer category (or All product categories). IBM is investigating how to
include all technical notes that relate to a particular feature in the search results for all products that include that
feature, but this is not a committed enhancement at this time.
Number of Support Documents: At this time, the repository of support documents (FAQs, technical notes, and so on)
for WebSphere Studio Application Developer contains the most content. If you wish to restrict your search by a different
product, we recommend that you search once for your specific product and once again for Application Developer.
Document Types: It is also recommended that you select All document types from the Select document types list.
Product Versions: It is also recommended that you select All versions from the Versions list.
Although most FAQs are annotated with the specific product versions) they apply to, most other document types are generally
not annotated. Important Note: Hence, searching for Version 5.0 of all documents will usually
filter out all non-FAQ documents.
Multiple Keywords: When searching IBM support sites, you can use Boolean expressions and parentheses with your
keywords, such as :xxx AND (yyy OR zzz). When searching the Internet (non-IBM sites), you must use whatever boolean syntax
that site requires (usually very similar).
Why search the IBM support sites for product support information rather than just going straight to the next section and
doing a broad generic Internet (non-IBM) search? The problem with that is that most IBM support
documents are not static Web pages - their contents are stored in a database and the Web page for each document is actually
dynamically generated when requested. Hence most Web search engines cannot see them (since they are not normal Web pages and
do not statically exist) and cannot index them. Since the IBM support documents are specifically created with particular
product information, if you only search the generic Web then you will likely miss most of the really significant IBM product
support documents due to this technical quirk. Hence, you should search the IBM support sites first, then (if necessary)
search the Internet.
Search the IBM Web for additional product support information (newsgroups, etc). Part 2 of this
article also provides a convenient starting point for additional product-related IBM Web resources:
Newsgroup Reader: (On Windows® only) Before using our Internet Search links
to search newsgroups, ensure your Newsgroup reader is enabled.
On Internet Explorer, select Tools => Internet Options => Programs => Newsgroups => Outlook Express.
developerWorks WebSphere: When you first look at our Internet search links,
take a minute to explore the link that goes to the developerWorks WebSphere:. This site is rich in articles, documentation, and code samples for the WebSphere platform.
You can also download into WebSphere Studio a recent copy of the product FAQs. For more information, refer to the
article Adding Self-Help Support to
WebSphere Studio Tools by Extending their Eclipse Help Systems. It has a downloadable WebSphere Studio plug-in, and also
describes how to use update manager to automatically download and install this plug-in into WebSphere Studio Application Developer
(for any other WebSphere Studio tools you currently need to manually download and install the code provided with the article).
If you cannot resolve your problem on your own, we recommend you submit a service request
to IBM Software Support, as described in Part 3: Reporting problems.
If you have a problem that you cannot find a resolution to in any of the local or Web-based
support documents or in the product newsgroups, you may need to request assistance from IBM's software specialists.
Prerequisites:
Follow the steps outlined above to search product and support documents
locally and on the Internet to determine whether you have encountered a known problem.
Enroll in the IBM Passport Advantage program. In most cases,
you must have an active contract in order to report problems to IBM Software Support.
Prepare your problem description and service request. Be as specific and complete as you can:
As a start, create a text file with a name like problem.txt and use it to record answers to the following questions:
What are the symptoms of the problem?
What steps led to the failure?
Has it happened before, or is this an isolated problem?
Provide information about the environment: What levels of software were
you running when the problem occurred? Have any changes been made to the hardware, software, or network?
Can the problem be recreated? If yes, document the steps required. Ideally, provide a small, non-confidential test case.
Capture any messages or other diagnostic information produced, either by
transcribing their contents exactly or by taking a screen capture.
Collect problem logs:
For WebSphere Studio, copy the workspace\.metadata\.log and workspace\.metadata\LoggingUtil.log
files into the same temporary directory as the problem.txt file you created in step 1.
If you are running the WebSphere Test Environment within the workbench,
copy the contents of the console (Window => Show View => Console) into a text file.
Determine the business impact so that you can assign a severity level and
priority level (set them to the same value) to your problem report:
Severity 1 - Critical business impact. You are unable to use the program,
resulting in a critical impact on operations. This condition requires an immediate solution.
Severity 2 - Significant business impact. The program is usable but is severely limited.
Severity 3 - Some business impact. The program is usable with less significant
features (not critical to operations) unavailable.
Severity 4 - Minimal business impact. The problem causes little impact
on operations or a reasonable circumvention to the problem has been implemented.
Package the information that you have collected into an archive file with a meaningful name (such as companyName+userName). You
will asked to rename this to something like "PMR123456789" before transferring it.
Submit your service request to IBM Software Support in one of the following ways:
By calling IBM directly. For the telephone number in your country, see the
refer to Support contacts page.
IBM's software specialists will tell you where to transmit your archive file
after they open a Problem Management Record (PMR):
Usually to the IBM service FTP server: testcase.boulder.ibm.com
You will usually be asked to name your archive file to match the number of your problem record
(something like "PMR123456789").
You will usually be asked to put your archive file into a directory called "/ps/toibm/internet/" or
"/ps/toibm/<productName>/"
If you do not carefully follow the instructions from the IBM software specialist, then
the IBM support team will not be able to find your problem description
archive file and this may cause delays in responding to your service request.
IBM Software Support is committed to providing superlative customer service
and we want your feedback. We monitor responses obtained through customer
pop-up surveys and from feedback mechanisms at every step in the process
to determine how we are doing and ways to improve your support experience.
Please take advantage of these facilities to tell us what you think.
If you need to escalate a PMR:
Escalate through IBM Software Support.
Regional Support Contacts - Americas:
Need to talk to support during the weekend for a severity 1 issue?
Call Support (1-800-IBM-SERV) and ask for the Duty Programmer (24x7 availability).
Having trouble getting a PMR resolved satisfactorily?
Call Support (1-800-IBM-SERV) and ask for the Duty Manager (24x7).
Regional Support Contacts - EMEA: Software support in EMEA is handled at
the local or country level. Refer to the IBM
Software Support Country Contact
Web site for a list of phone numbers
(24x7).
Contact your IBM Representative.
If IBM Support and the Complaint Management processes have been engaged and were unable to resolve the problem, contact your IBM Representative.
If necessary, your IBM Representative can open a complaint for you.
If you need to reopen a PMR/Incident/Support Case:
If the recommendations provided to you fail to satisfy the requirements, you can reopen the PMR/Incident/Support Case by calling your local support center and referencing the original PMR/Incident/Support Case number. For IBM PMRs, this must be done within 28 days of original closing date.
Deepen your WebSphere knowledge, expand your skills, and apply best practices with expert assistance
from IBM Software Services for WebSphere.
The mission of this team of product specialists, who have access to product development and support personnel,
is to accelerate the use of WebSphere technologies by customers, IBM Global Services and Business Partners.
As an integral part of all software sales, IBM Software Services for WebSphere provides worldwide support for
WebSphere products through a set of services that make it easy to design, build, test and deploy applications
for e-business. Together with the WebSphere
Training and Technical Enablement team, they can also help structure an education program that is right
for you.
