Support

Case Severity Levels and Response Time

Support for MAS SaaS can be obtained by submitting a support case through the IBM support portal. You must have an IBMid and be registered for support before you can create a case. Cases are reviewed based on the severity level assigned. Please see table below for further details.

Before submitting a case, check to see if your issue can be addressed using the Self Service Portal (SSP). If a case/ticket is submitted to execute a request that is available on the Self Service Portal, the case will be rejected and closed. Customers can open a case if their job fails in the Self Service Portal. Be sure to include detail of failed job in the case. Please note as more Self Service features are added to Self Service Portal, the expectation is that customers will use this functionality in lieu of submitting individual support cases.

Off Shift Weekend/Holiday Support (Severity 1 Only)

If you require support between the hours of Friday 8pm to Sunday 6pm US Eastern Time (and Christmas Day and New Years Day) for a Severity 1 case, the following steps are required:

1. Log a new case using the IBM Support Community and set the Severity to 1 (only if not related to an existing Sev1). Provide as much detail as possible, including the business impact and confirm it is a production system issue.
2. Call your local IBM Support Center (click here for IBM Directory of worldwide contacts) and request to speak to the duty engineer.

Failure to follow this process results in no support during off-shift hours.

Response Time Objective describes IBM's goals only and do not represent a guarantee of performance.

Business Hours reflect normal country business hours in your time zone. For example, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM in North America or 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM in some parts of Asia and Europe, Monday through Friday, excluding weekends and national or statutory holidays.

For further details, please refer to the IBM Support Guide

MAS-SaaS Environment Route URLs

MAS Application Suite Instance:

https://main.home.INSTANCE_NAME.suite.maximo.com/

Admin:

https://maxinst.manage.INSTANCE_NAME.suite.maximo.com/toolsapi

INSTANCE_NAME = Your environment instance identifier found in your Welcome Letter.

Best Practices for Configuring Maximo Databases and Migrating Changes

The Maximo Database Configuration Application should be used for making database configuration changes. For further details, please see link below:

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/best-practice-configuring-your-maximo-database

Migration Manager should be used for migrating changes from one environment to another (for example from DEV to TEST). For further details, please see link below:

https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/mas-cd/maximo-manage/continuous-delivery?topic=content-migration

The above processes have all validation built in, which reduces the chances of failure.

How to Access AWS S3 (Cloud Object Storage) Buckets

• To access AWS S3 buckets you have to configure Rclone. Rclone is the utility via which you can access AWS S3 COS bucket(s) and upload/download the content.

• To configure Rclone please use steps below. You will need this information while configuring Rclone.

• A separate Rclone config is needed for each bucket as the access credentials for each bucket are unique.

• Some buckets are read-only which means you can only download data from that bucket while some are read/write meaning you can upload and download data.

All Custfile bucket data will be purged automatically by IBM SRE when it is 15 days old. All Log bucket data will be purged automatically when it is 30 days old.

You need to have reveived a Welcome Letter from IBM before you can complete any of the steps below.

AWS Command Line Interface (CLI)

The AWS Command Line Interface (CLI) is a powerful tool for managing AWS services from the command line. This section provides instructions for configuring and using the AWS CLI specifically for Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service).

This section provides guidance for configuring and using AWS CLI with Amazon S3. It is intended for informational purposes only. Users are responsible for ensuring that they have the necessary permissions and adhere to best practices when working with AWS resources. Troubleshooting and support related to AWS services should be carried out by the user or by contacting the official AWS support team.

Installation: Please review the steps on installation on the offical AWS website here: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/getting-started-install.html

Configuring AWS CLI for S3 There are two ways to do this, you can specify the profile if you are going to have multiple connections (or buckets) or you can configure it for one-off use which is more for a customer if they have one S3 bucket. The latter will not be the norm. Use the command below:

aws configure --profile <profile_name>

Steps:

1. Enter the name of the profile you would like to use for the S3 bucket
2. Enter the Access Key
3. Enter the Secret Access Key
4. The default region can be left blank (if you know the region, enter it)
5. Default output = text

Example:

-> aws configure --profile massaas-cos-sretest-dev-as-n-04-vir-custfiles                                                                               
AWS Access Key ID [None]: AWSACCESSKEYID
AWS Secret Access Key [None]: *****************************
Default region name [None]:
Default output format [None]:

Viewing profiles:

To list all profiles, you need to view the AWS configuration file.

cat ~/.aws/config

File: /Users/username1/.aws/config
   1   │ [default]
   2   │ region = ap-southeast-2
   3   │ output = text
   4   │ [profile massaas-cos-sretest-dev-as-n-04-vir-custfiles]

Once you have the profile name, we can move on to some use cases.

Using AWS CLI for S3

Examples:

# Listing files
~ > aws s3 ls s3://massaas-cos-sretest-dev-as-n-04-vir-custfiles --profile massaas-cos-sretest-dev-as-n-04-vir-custfiles
 
2024-02-22 10:15:35         16 test.txt
2024-02-14 19:40:20          0 test_file
2024-02-15 05:48:58          0 testing.txt
~ >

# Copying files from local to S3 destination
~ > aws s3 cp sre_test_files.txt s3://massaas-cos-sretest-dev-as-n-04-vir-custfiles/sre_test_files.txt --profile massaas-cos-sretest-dev-as-n-04-vir-custfiles
upload: ./sre_test_files.txt to s3://massaas-cos-scgov-dev-as-n-04-vir-custfiles/sre_test_files.txt

~ > aws s3 ls s3://massaas-cos-sretest-dev-as-n-04-vir-custfiles/sre_test_files.txt --profile massaas-cos-sretest-dev-as-n-04-vir-custfiles
2024-03-01 07:59:57          0 sre_test_files.txt

# Deleting files from S3
~ > aws s3 rm s3://massaas-cos-sretest-dev-as-n-04-vir-custfiles/sre_test_files.txt --profile massaas-cos-sretest-dev-as-n-04-vir-custfiles
delete: s3://massaas-cos-sretest-dev-as-n-04-vir-custfiles/sre_test_files.txt

Official Documentation:

Install or update to the latest version of the AWS CLI - AWS Command Line Interface (amazon.com): https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/getting-started-install.html

Use high-level (s3) commands with the AWS CLI - AWS Command Line Interface (amazon.com): https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-services-s3-commands.html

Accessing Server Logs for Maximo Manage

Below are the steps required to upload server bundle logs from your log location on WebSphere Application Server Liberty.

Make the following API request:

• POST: https://hostname/maximo/api/service/logging?action=wsmethod:submitUploadLogRequest

• Header: Provide the API key in the header of the request

• Body: The body is empty

The API request creates an entry in the LOGREQUEST table of the Maximo Manage database for each server bundle. A continuously running cron task uploads the compressed log files to your S3 storage location when the table is updated. The name of each file contains the source location and the timestamp of when the command started to run. You will have a Bucket for Logs. This bucket name will be defined in your Welcome Letter.

• Maximo Manage API Documentation:

  https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/mas-cd/maximo-manage/continuous-delivery?topic=applications-integration-apis

ODBC Connectivity

Connecting to the MAS Manage database using a DB2 ODBC Driver

• Download the ODBC driver for your DB2 Version using the link below. The ODBC driver should match with the DB2 database version on Cloud. If you do not know your DB2 version, please submit a case asking for this information.

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/db2-odbc-cli-driver-download-and-installation-information

• After you download the correct driver follow the steps in the applicable Installation section

Lastly open the ODBC data source administration and select the above installed driver. Enter the username and password in the Data Source section and add below parameters in the Advance Setting:

• Database
• Hostname
• Port
• Security - SSL
• SSLServerCertificate <- Path of the your database certificate which we have provided to make the ssl connection

Please note ODBC driver setup and configuration with your specific tool is not support by IBM. The above information is provided for reference purposes only.

Integration

SAML SSO Configuration

The first step of the configuration is for the MAS SRE team to create the SAML Service Provider Information metadata file. For this setup the customer will need to provide the the User Identifier (Name ID) format. Below are the possible options for Name ID's.

• email: 'urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress',
• customize: formatMessage(messages.nameIDFormatCustomize),
• encrypted: 'urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:nameid-format:encrypted',
• entity: 'urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:nameid-format:entity',
• kerberos: 'urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:nameid-format:kerberos',
• persistent: 'urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:persistent',
• unspecified: 'urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:unspecified',
• windowsDomainQualifiedName:'urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:WindowsDomainQualifiedName',
• x509SubjectName: 'urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:X509SubjectName',

When creating a case requesting your SAML SSO setup please include one of the above User Identifiers in the case details.

MAS User and Identity Details: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/mas-cd/continuous-delivery?topic=configuring-users-identity

MAS SAML Authentication: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/mas-cd/continuous-delivery?topic=authentication-methods#configuring-authentication__saml-authentication__title__1

LDAP user registry synchronization

User registry synchronization simplifies Maximo Application Suite user management by synchronizing users and groups between an LDAP server and your local Maximo Application Suite user registry. To initiate the LDAP Authentication setup you will need to submit a case to the IBM Support Community with the following details.

Configuration parameters

LDAP domain attributes:

• URL – ldaps://hostname:port
• Bind DN
• Bind Password
• Base DN
• User ID map

User synchronization:

• User Base DN
• User ID map
• User filter

Group synchronization:

• Group Base DN
• Group filter
• Group ID map
• Group member ID map

Other:

• Synchronization schedule
• Identity provider
• Default permissions

Typically a site-to-site VPN is required to make a connection from the MAS-SaaS environment to your LDAP server.

Additional details on LDAP user registry synchronization can be found here: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/mas-cd/continuous-delivery?topic=identity-ldap-user-registry-synchronization

SMTP Setup

Site-to-Site IPsec VPN

A Site-to-Site IPsec VPN can be configured between the AWS Cloud environment and a customer site or third party location. This type of VPN establishes a persistent tunnel between the two sites. Site-to-Site VPNs are not configured by default. The setup and configuration of a Site-to-Site VPN can be complex and will require both IBM and the customer's network SMEs to work together. Initial VPN settings and shared parameters must first be agreed upon by both parties. Source and destination IPs must then be determined along with the type and direction of traffic. The tunnel must be stood up, along with routing, IP Address NATing, and applicable firewall rules on both sides. VPNs can take 2-4 weeks to design, setup, test and validate (from start to finish). Proper time should be allowed for a VPN build when planning integrations or services will that depend on it for connectivity. MAS-SaaS customers must specifically request a VPN by submitting a case to the IBM Support Community.

Only one case is needed for VPN setup and can cover configuration for multiple environments (DEV, TEST, PROD, etc).

It is important to bear in mind a VPN may not necessarily be needed to establish certain types of connectivity. Some integration types can run over HTTPS and/or Cloud Object Storage (AWS S3) and may not require a VPN.

Currently MAS on AWS does not support NAT on the MAS side in Site-to-Site VPN configurations.

Maximo Mobile

For questions related to use of Maximo Mobile in MAS-SaaS Manage, please refer to the links below:

• https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/mas-cd/maximo-manage/continuous-delivery?topic=managing-using-maximo-mobile