Contacting IBM Software Support

IBM® Software Support assists with product defects.

About this task

Before you contact IBM Software Support, you must ensure that your company has an active IBM software subscription and support contract, and that you are authorized to submit problems to IBM. The type of software subscription and support contract that you need depends on the type of product that you have:
  • For IBM distributed software products (including, but not limited to, Tivoli®, Lotus®, and Rational® products, DB2® and WebSphere® products that run on Windows or UNIX operating systems). Enroll in Passport Advantage® in one of the following ways:
  • For customers with Subscription and Support (S & S) contracts, go to the Open service request web page.
  • For customers with IBMLink, CATIA, Linux®, S/390®, iSeries, pSeries, zSeries, and other support agreements, go to the IBM Support Line web page.
  • 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 subscription and support agreement by working directly with an IBM marketing representative or an IBM Business Partner. For more information about support for eServer software products, go to the Support for IBM Systems web page.
If you are not sure what type of software subscription and support 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 Software Support Handbook and click the name of your geographic region for telephone numbers of people who support your location.

Complete the following steps to contact IBM Software Support:

Procedure

  1. Determine the effect of the problem on your business
  2. Describe your problem and gather background information
  3. Submit your problem to IBM Software Support

Determine the effect of the problem on your business

About this task

When you report a problem to IBM, you are asked to supply a severity level. Therefore, you need to understand and assess the effect on your business of the problem that you are reporting. Use the following criteria:
Severity 1
Critical effect on business: You are unable to use the program, resulting in a critical effect on operations. This condition requires an immediate solution.
Severity 2
Significant effect on business: The program is usable but is severely limited.
Severity 3
Some effect on business: The program is usable with less significant features (not critical to operations) unavailable.
Severity 4
Minimal effect on business: The problem has little effect on operations, or a reasonable workaround to the problem was implemented.

Describe your problem and gather background information

About this task

When you are explaining a problem to IBM, be as specific as possible. Include all relevant background information so that IBM Software Support specialists can help you to solve the problem efficiently. To save time, know the answers to these 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 the problem be re-created? If so, what steps led to the failure?
  • Have you changed the system? (For example, changes to hardware, operating system, networking software.)
  • Are you currently using a workaround for this problem? If so, be prepared to explain it when you report the problem.
  • The aceDataCollector command can be used to collect diagnostic information. For more information, see aceDataCollector command.

Submit your problem to IBM Software Support

About this task

You can submit your problem in the following ways:
  • Online: Go to the Software Support Handbook and enter your information into the appropriate problem submission tool.
  • By telephone: For the telephone number to call in your country, go to the contacts page of the Software Support Handbook. Click the name of your geographic region for telephone numbers of people who support your location.

If the problem that you submit is for a software defect or for missing or inaccurate documentation, IBM Software Support might create an Authorized Program Analysis Report (APAR). The APAR describes the problem in detail. Whenever possible, IBM Software Support provides a workaround for you to implement until the APAR is resolved and a fix is delivered.

IBM publishes resolved APARs on the IBM product support web pages daily so that other users who experience the same problem can benefit from the same resolutions.