Contacting IBM Support

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

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. For information about the types of available support, see the information below or refer to the Support portfolio topic in the Software Support Handbook.

• For IBM distributed software products (including, but not limited to, Tivoli�, Lotus�, and Rational� products, as well as DB2� and WebSphere� products that run on Windows�, or UNIX� operating systems), enroll in Passport Advantage� in one of the following ways:
  • Online

    Go to the Passport Advantage Web site at http://www.lotus.com/services/passport.nsf/ WebDocs/Passport_Advantage_Home and click How to Enroll.

  • By phone

    For the phone number to call in your country, go to the Contacts page of the IBM Software Support Handbook on the Web at http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/guides/contacts.html and click the name of your geographic region.

• For customers with Subscription and Support (S & S) contracts, go to the Software Service Request Web site at http://www.ibm.com/support/servicerequest.
• For customers with IBMLink, CATIA, Linux, S/390, iSeries, pSeries, zSeries, and other support agreements, go to the IBM Support Line Web site at http://www.ibm.com/services/us/index.wss/so/its/a1000030/dt006.
• For IBM eServer software products (including, but not limited to, DB2 and WebSphere products that run in zSeries, pSeries, and iSeries environments), you can purchase a software maintenance agreement by working directly with an IBM sales representative or an IBM Business Partner. For more information about support for eServer software products, go to the IBM Technical Support Advantage Web site at http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/techsupport.html.

If you are not sure what type of software maintenance contract you need, call 1-800-IBMSERV (1-800-426-7378) in the United States. From other countries, go to the contacts page of the IBM Software Support Handbook on the Web at http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/guides/contacts.html and click the name of your geographic region for phone numbers of people who provide support for your location.

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

1. Define the problem and determine the severity of the problem
2. Gather diagnostic information
3. Submit the problem to IBM Support

   Define the problem and determine severity of the problem

   When describing a problem to IBM, be as specific as possible. Include all relevant background information so that IBM Support can help you solve the problem efficiently.

   IBM Support needs you to supply a severity level. Therefore, you need to understand and assess the business impact of the problem that you are reporting. Use the following criteria:

   Severity 1	The problem has a 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	This problem has a significant business impact. The program is usable, but it is severely limited.
   Severity 3	The problem has some business impact. The program is usable, but less significant features (not critical to operations) are unavailable.
   Severity 4	The problem has minimal business impact. The problem causes little impact on operations, or a reasonable circumvention to the problem was implemented.

   For more information, see the Getting IBM support topic in the Software Support Handbook.

   Gather diagnostic information

   To save time, if there is a Mustgather document available for the product, refer to the Mustgather document and gather the information specified. Mustgather documents contain specific instructions for submitting your problem to IBM and gathering information needed by the IBM support team to resolve your problem. To determine if there is a Mustgather document for this product, go to the product support page and search on the term Mustgather. At the time of this publication, the following Mustgather documents are available:

   • Mustgather: Read first for problems encountered with Application Performance Analyzer for z/OS
   • Mustgather: Read first for problems encountered with Debug Tool for z/OS
   • Mustgather: Read first for problems encountered with Fault Analyzer
   • Mustgather: Read first for problems encountered with File Manager for z/OS
   • Mustgather: Read first for problems encountered with Enterprise COBOL for z/OS
   • Mustgather: Read first for problems encountered with Enterprise PL/I for z/OS

   If the product does not have a Mustgather document, please provide answers to the following questions:

   • What software versions were you running when the problem occurred?
   • Do you have logs, traces, and messages that are related to the problem symptoms? IBM Software Support is likely to ask for this information.
   • Can you re-create the problem? If so, what steps were performed to recreate the problem?
   • Did you make any changes to the system? For example, did you make changes to the hardware, operating system, networking software, and so on.
   • Are you currently using a workaround for the problem? If so, be prepared to explain the workaround when you report the problem.

   Submit the problem to IBM Support

   You can submit your problem to IBM Support in one of three ways:

   • Online using the IBM Support Portal: Click Service request on the IBM Software Support site at http://www.ibm.com/software/support. On the right side of the Service request page, expand the Product related links section. Click Software support (general) and select ServiceLink/IBMLink to open an Electronic Technical Response (ETR). Enter your information into the appropriate problem submission form.
   • Online using the Service Request tool at Service Request tool.
   • By phone: For the phone number to call in your country, go to the Contacts page of the IBM Software Support Handbook on the Web at www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/handbook/contacts.html and click the name of your geographic region.

   If the problem 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.

   After a Problem Management Record (PMR) is open, you can submit diagnostic MustGather data to IBM using one of the following methods:

   • FTP diagnostic data to IBM. For more information, refer to http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=615&uid=swg21154524.
   • If FTP is not possible, email diagnostic data to techsupport@mainz.ibm.com. You must add PMR xxxxx bbb ccc in the subject line of your email. xxxxx is your PMR number, bbb is your branch office, and ccc is your IBM country code. Click this link: http://itcenter.mainz.de.ibm.com/ecurep/mail/subject.html for more details.

   Always update your PMR to indicate that data has been sent. You can update your PMR online or by phone as described above.

   Related tasks
   Searching knowledge bases
   Getting fixes

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