Contacting IBM Support

IBM Support provides assistance with product defects, answering FAQs, and performing rediscovery.

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 must have an active IBM maintenance contract, and you must be authorized to submit problems to IBM. You should also have the following information at hand:
  • Your customer identification number
  • Your service request number, if it is an ongoing service request
  • The phone number where you can be reached
  • The version of the software you use
  • The version of the operating environment you use
  • A description of what you were doing when the problem occurred
  • The exact wording of any error messages that display
  • Any steps you took to attempt to solve the problem
For information about the types of available support, see the Support portfolio topic in the Software Support Handbook.

Procedure

Complete the following steps to contact IBM Support with a problem:

  1. Define the problem, gather background information, and determine the severity of the problem. For more information, see the Getting IBM support topic in the Software Support Handbook.
  2. Gather diagnostic information.
  3. Submit the problem to IBM Support in one of the following ways:
    • Using IBM® Support Assistant (ISA): Use this feature to open, update, and view an Electronic Service Request with IBM. Any data that has been collected can be attached to the service request. This expedites the analysis and reduces the time to resolution.
    • Online through the IBM Support Portal: You can open, update, and view all your Service Requests from the Service Request portlet on the Service Request page.
    • By phone: For the phone number to call in your region, see the Directory of worldwide contacts web page.

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.