This section describes how IBM Support Assistant can perform some automated problem determination tasks to assist you in identifying and resolving the root cause of problems that you are investigating.
IBM Support Assistant provides a service that performs a scan of all the files contained in a case. During that automated scan, various anomalies found in each file (such as unexpected errors, warnings, etc.) are collected as "Symptoms" and then searched in various IBM Knowledge Bases such as Technotes and APARs to find known potential solutions. The data collected from the scan and analysis is then displayed in the IBM Support Assistant views to help you identify the root cause of the problems you are investigating.
To start a problem analysis scan, click the "Scan this Case" button in the upper, right-hand corner of the application. A dialog should appear with various parameters that can be selected to tailor the scan if necessary. Once ready, click the "Submit" button to begin the scan. When the scan is complete the Scan Status button should indicate the results of the scan with an applicable icon.
The Scan Status button displays the current status of the problem determination scan through an informative icon and provides more information with regards to the scan once clicked. If there are errors with the scan it can explain the possible cause of the error and a potential solution to the issue.
If you add new files to the case after you've already performed a scan, simply launch a new scan by clicking the "Scan this Case" button in the upper, right-hand corner of the application. By default, this new scan will examine only the new files and any new information (symptoms, etc.) found in these new files will be combined with all the information already gathered during previous scans of this same case.
If you would like to re-scan the entire case from scratch (discard all previous scan results and re-read all the files in the case), select the "force_rescan" option in the "Scan this Case" launch dialog.
The Automated Problem Analysis scan runs against a Knowledge Database, which is installed with the IBM Support Assistant product to find potential Knowledge Base matches for the Symptoms found during the scan. Periodically, the IBM Support Assistant team updates the Knowledge Database with new Technotes, APARs, etc and stores it on an IBM server. See this section for details on how to update the local Knowledge Base.
The information found during the problem determination scan is presented in various views in IBM Support Assistant. These include: