IBM® Support
provides assistance with product defects, answers FAQs, and helps users resolve problems with the
product.
For PowerVC release lifecycle support, see Software lifecycle portal. You
can contact the support team for new fixes until the announcement of EOS.
For PowerVC release dates and end of service pack
support (EoSPS) dates, see the PowerVC
Lifecycle
Information web page.
Post the announcement of EOS, you can contact the support team for How-to questions
for
existing fixes. Support for new fixes is not provided.
To obtain benefits of complete support
from our technical team, we recommend you upgrade to the latest
version.
After
you try to find your answer or solution by using other self-help options such as technotes, you can
contact IBM Support.
Before you contact IBM Support, your company or organization must
have an active IBM software maintenance
agreement (SWMA), 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
.
To contact IBM Support about a
problem:
- Define the problem, gather background information, and determine the severity of the
problem.
- Gather diagnostic information.
For more information about collecting and
compressing diagnostic data, see Exchanging information with IBM.
- Submit the problem to IBM Support
in one of the following ways:
- Online through the IBM Support
Portal: http://www.ibm.com/software/support/: You can open, update, and view all of your service
requests from the Service Request portlet on the Service Request web page.
- By phone: For the phone number to call in your region, see the Directory of worldwide
contacts web page: http://www.ibm.com/planetwide/.
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.
What to do next
Be prepared to work with the IBM
technical-support representative by using IBM Assist On-site, which is a remote-assistance plug-in that you can download to your computer. The
IBM technical-support representative can use
IBM Assist On-site to view your desktop and
share control of your mouse and keyboard. This tool can shorten the time that it takes to identify
the problem, collect the necessary data, and solve the problem. For more information, see IBM Assist On-site: http://www.ibm.com/support/assistonsite/.