Question & Answer
Question
Answer
What is supported in a support case:
- Remote problem analysis and assistance during normal country business hours in customer's time zone, excluding national or statutory holidays.
- Assistance with identifying the failing product or component as covered by a support contract.
- Assistance with remote problem determination and resolution.
- Voice and electronic access support for product-related problems.
- Support short duration routine installation how-to questions.
- 7-day, 24-hour support for mission-critical emergencies (Severity 1) during off-shift hours.
- Provided in English, with the local language accommodated when possible.
What is not supported in a support case:
- Third-party software
- Unvalidated data connectors
Note: Users can start a case with the app developer as listed on the X-Force App Exchange. If you feel your issue is related to CP4S and is not app or function specific, Support can work with you by ensuring that services are running. - Scripts or code that is not written by IBM
Note: Example code provided by IBM that is then altered is client custom code and no longer IBM code.
If there are problems with custom code based on IBM "example" code, consider reproducing with the "example" code to assess whether it is the customizations that are the cause of the problem. - General health check analysis when not related to an issue
Note: Support performance analysis when major functionality is impacted, or significant performance degradation is experienced by users. IBM Security Expert Labs can assist with health checks - Writing, troubleshooting, or customizing client's code
- Extensive configuration questions
- Customization to the DB
- Recovering a database, or data recovery
- Consulting
Note: IBM Security Expert Labs can assist with consulting - Design of identity providers outside of an error
- Creation of custom STIX queries
- Processing backups, restores, installs, or upgrades on a call when no error or issue is present
- Creation of API queries with no error present
- Creating offense Cases for specific business needs
- Pod tuning to increase performance
- Obtaining a TII license
- License questions are not handled in cases, but if a key or license is needed, it can be discussed with IBM Sales
- Advice on sizing deployments
Note: IBM Security Expert Labs, or the IBM CP4S community might be able to assist with the complexity and understanding required of the proposed deployment. - Problems relating to the network, firewalls, or proxies
Note: IBM CP4S support might identify, during routine investigation, that there is a connection-related problem. Further analysis such as firewall rules or packet tracing must be performed by the client's Network Administrator. - Customer-managed hypervisor, cloud, or bare metal platform problems
- vMotion - Versions that reach end of support
Note: IBM CP4S Support Lifecycle details the versions of IBM CP4S that are supported. - Performing an end-to-end installation
Note: The IBM CP4S Support teams are able to provide support for specific problems encountered during installation, but on resolution of the problem customers continue with the installation process and Support does not remain on the call.
IBM Security Expert Labs are able to provide you with an end-to-end installation engagement. - Unsupported products or product functionality and services
- Email Connector
Note: In 2019, support for the email connector ceased. Clients are urged to move the logic in their JavaScript templates to the new functionality. If you require assistance, you can compensate IBM Security Expert Labs, or post a question in the IBM CP4S community. - Providing assistance with third-party monitoring tools
Note: The configuration of such monitoring tools in relation to IBM CP4S is also out of scope but IBM Security Expert Labs can assist - The configuration and optimization of playbooks, workflows, functions, rules, dashboards, scripts, or product customization to meet business needs not associated with an error
Note: IBM Security Expert Labs can assist - Custom changes to the operating system, not limited solely to:
- Filtering
firewalld
Note: iptables are not supported - Extending disk partitions
- Creating bash or shell scripts
- Updating cron
- NTP or chrony
- Troubleshooting OS problems, such as: NTP, chrony, yum, package problems, etc
- Filtering
The IBM CP4S Support team is a global organization, with operating centers located around the world to better serve our clients. The role of the CP4S Support team is to troubleshoot issues, investigate, and help users resolve software issues.
Case work scheduling is determined by the severity setting of each case.
Support representatives might reduce severity during an investigation to assist users and organize critical issues. It is important to clearly communicate how your case impacts your business for CP4S Support to triage your case and understand the urgency and severity of the issue.
When a user opens a case, the severity level is set, but the severity of a case can be adjusted during the life of the case as more information becomes available.
Ensure your case severity mirrors your associated business impact listed in this table.
Note: IBM reserves the right to communicate and downgrade case severity where functionality is restored, but noncritical issues exist from Severity 1 to an appropriate level, such as 2, 3, or 4.
| Severity | Business Impact | Detailed description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Critical | System or Service Down Business-critical functionality is inoperable or a critical interface failure. Severity 1 usually applies to a production environment and indicates an inability to access products or services resulting in a critical impact on operations. The failure condition requires an immediate solution. Administrators can indicate whether their system is down, during initial opening of a case. Important: Administrators or users who open 'System down' or 'Severity 1' cases are expected to be available after they open a case by using these high priority fields. If you are unavailable to work on the issue with IBM CP4S Support, set your case as a Severity 2 issue. Note: We work with you 24 hours a day, seven days a week to resolve Severity 1 problems provided you have a technical resource available to work during those hours. You must reasonably assist IBM with any problem diagnosis and resolution. Severity 1 cases are worked 24 x 7 with a response goal from IBM of 2 hours. Note: For IBM Cloud services, you must log a Service Down case within 24 hours of first becoming aware that there is a critical business impact and the Cloud service is not available. |
| 2 | Significant | A product, service, business feature, or function of the product or service is severely restricted in its use, or you are in jeopardy of missing business deadlines. Note: IBM is not responsible for meeting your teams' deadlines. |
| 3 | Some | The product, service, or functionality is usable and the issue does not represent a significant impact on operations. |
| 4 | Minimal | An inquiry or nontechnical request. |
Note: Severity 2 - 4 cases are worked during normal business hours for your region with a response goal of 2 business hours.
Note: To help avoid confusion, we recommend opening new cases for each new issue. Each case has one issue and one solution, which provides a better history for you to search when you need to reference your case history. Your team is not charged based on the number of cases that are opened. We are glad to help open cases on your teams behalf.
What are the normal Support hours of operation
IBM CP4S Support teams are available 24 x 7 for system down and Severity 1 issues. These cases are reviewed and assigned as they are opened within the system. Standard IBM CP4S cases that are assigned Severity 2 to Severity 4 are assigned and worked during normal business hours for that region.
There are three IBM CP4S Support regions within IBM:
- Americas (AMER): Monday - Friday, 9 AM - 5 PM GMT-6
- Asia Pacific (AP): Monday - Friday, (level 1 support only) 9 AM - 5 PM GMT+10
- Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA): Monday - Friday, 9 AM - 5 PM GMT+0
Examples where support might downgrade the case severity
- Unresponsive requests to work on your Severity 1 case.
Note: CP4S Support works with users 24 hours a day, seven days a week to resolve Severity 1 critical issues, provided you have a technical resource available to work during those hours. If you are unresponsive to multiple contact requests, your case severity can be downgraded. Adding contact information for other team members in your case notes can help prevent communication issues. - A workaround is in place and the critical business impact is mitigated.
- An APAR or known issue is provided and continued work is required, but the system is functional.
In these scenarios, a support representative might change the case severity. We understand that cases evolve over time and the issues' severity might go up or down as problems are investigated. The Escalate case button allows users to escalate an issue after IBM provides an initial response to your case. Severity 2, 3, and 4 escalated cases are worked in their geographic time zone during business hours and Severity 1 issues are worked 24 x 7.
Can I restore the severity of my case
Yes, users who believe the severity is set incorrectly can update their case and provide a note to the support representative. When urgent assistance is required, or to escalate a case, for nonsystem down cases an Escalate case button is available in the IBM Support Portal.
Can I exclude my cases from severity adjustments
No, there is no method to apply an exclusion to an account as each case is triage and negotiated with users separately. If an administrator disagrees with the support representative, they can adjust the severity of the case and add a note for the support representative. If you experience issues with a case downgrade or if you are unhappy with CP4S Support, you can select the Escalate case button to talk to a manager within the support organization.
Are all open cases receiving severity changes
No. Open cases evolve over time during an investigation and the severity of an issue can change over time. IBM is not globally downgrading Severity 1 open cases. We understand that each case is unique and severity is negotiated based on a number of factors. IBM is informing users with open cases that CP4S Support representatives might request an adjustment on case severity when they review the most current information available from development teams. If the severity of a case is adjusted, the CP4S Support team member is instructed to provide an update to describe the reason for the change in severity.
The following product questions are best resolved through the IBM CP4S community as support cases are intended for broken functionality or product issues. IBM CP4S Support cannot assist with questions related to security posture, tuning, or development questions. The Community is intended for questions or advice on using IBM CP4S, how-to questions, and general questions that do not require a support case.
The following topics are to be discussed in the IBM CP4S Community:
- Advice on custom code
- Python scripting
Whether in product or external - Advice on how to upgrade, or run, different versions of Python
- Custom code
Including: use cases, advise, self-written code, or changes to generic or sample code
Note: Code changes to example workflows provided by IBM from the App Exchange are deemed to be custom code. - Code changes to generic or sample email parsing scripts
- Assistance with changes to the JINJA2 templates
- RESTful API
- Community apps
- General advice, or questions related to best practices
- Running multiple instances
- Risk or impact assessments
- General advice, or questions related to hardware requirements
- Configuring Postgres to support persistent storage for apps
- For general advice, or questions related to configuring rules
- Guidance on the use of dashboards
- Questions on example information provided in the IBM Documentation
- Questions or advice on SNMP
Community posts are not private or entitled.
Important: Never publish logs or personally identifiable information (PII) in the community as this information is visible to anyone who wants to browse the community content and can expose you to unforeseen security risks.
Note: Users who require customization or assistance, outside of what is offered by IBM Cloud Pak for Security Support, can contact IBM Security Expert Labs.
Instructor-led courses for CP4S are listed on Security Training for public and private education. For products not listed on the site, contact our IBM Security Expert Labs for instructor-led courses.
IBM clients who purchased Cloud Pak for Security and need a key can discuss with their IBM Sales team. Prospective clients that need to purchase IBM Cloud Pak for Security and find more information on obtaining Passport Advantage and engaging IBM Sales team.
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Modified date:
02 August 2023
UID
ibm16953339