Uploading support packages automatically

You can use the management GUI or the command-line interface to upload support packages to the support center. If support assistance is configured on your system, you can either automatically or manually upload new support packages to the support center to help analyze and resolve errors on the system. To upload support packages, you must have at least one DNS server and an internal proxy server defined.

You can select individual logs to either download to review or send directly to the support center for analysis.

Before automatically uploading a support package, ensure that the following prerequisites are configured on the system:

Ensure that all of the nodes on the system have internet access.
Ensure that a valid service IP address is configured on each node on the system.
Configure at least one valid DNS server for domain name resolution. If a DNS server is not configured, the management GUI prompts you to create one. Click Configure on the prompt. You can also select Settings > Network > DNS. You can also use the mkdnsserver command to configure DNS servers.
If you want to define an internal proxy server to manage connections between the system and support to upload support packages, click Configure on the prompt.
Configure the firewall to allow connections to the following IP addresses on port 443: 129.42.56.189, 129.42.54.189, and 129.42.60.189.
To test connections to the support center, select Settings > Support > Support Assistance. On the Support Assistance page, select Test Connection to verify connectivity between the system and the support center.

Using the management GUI

The management GUI supports uploading new or existing support packages to support automatically.

To generate a new support package and automatically upload it to the support center, complete these steps:

In the management GUI, select Settings > Support > Support Package.
On the Support Package page, select Upload Support Package > Create New Package and Upload.
On the Upload Support Package page, enter the Problem Management Report (PMR) number that is associated with the support package that you are uploading. If you do not have a PMR number, click Don't have a PMR? to open the Service Request (SR) tool to generate a PMR.
Note: If you are not sure if a PMR exists or do not want to create a new PMR, the package can still be sent to the support center. The machine serial number and type are used to route the package to the support center. However, specifying a PMR number can decrease response time for support personnel.
Specify the type of package that you want to generate and upload to the support center by selecting one of these options:
- Snap Type 1: Standard logs
- Snap Type 2: Standard logs plus one existing statesave
- Snap Type 3: Standard logs plus the most recent statesave from each node
- Snap Type 4: Standard logs plus new statesaves
Click Upload. After the new support package is generated, a summary panel displays the progress of the upload. If the upload is unsuccessful or encounters errors, verify the connection between the system and the support center and retry the upload.

To upload an existing package automatically, complete these steps:

In the management GUI, select Settings > Support > Support Package.
On the Support Package page, select Upload Support Package > Upload Existing Package.
On the Select Support Package to Upload page, enter the Problem Management Report (PMR) number that is associated with the support package that you are uploading. If you do not have a PMR number, click Don't have a PMR? to open the Service Request (SR) tool to generate a PMR.
Note: If you are not sure if a PMR exists or do not want to create a new PMR, the package can still be sent to the support center. The machine serial number and type are used to route the package to the support center. However, specifying a PMR number can decrease response time for support personnel.
Select one of the existing packages to upload to support.
Note: If you selected to upload an existing package automatically, the management GUI displays just the support package. (These files have the extension .tgz). For other existing logs, use the Manual Upload Instructions on the Support Package page.
Click Upload. A summary pane displays the progress of the upload. If the upload is unsuccessful or encounters errors, verify the connection between the system and the support center and retry the upload.

Using the command-line interface

To upload a support package or other file with the command-line interface, complete these steps:

Before uploading support packages ensure that a least one DNS server is defined by entering the following command:
```
mkdnsserver -ip ip_address
    
```
Where ip_address is the IP address for the DNS server.
To use internal proxy server to manage connections for support packages, you can define an existing internal proxy by entering one of the following commands:
Open Proxy
```
mkproxy -url http://proxy.example.ibm.com -port 8080
```
Where http://proxy.example.ibm.com is the URL for the proxy server and 8080 is the port.
Note: This configuration does not have any security controls.
Basic Authentication
```
mkproxy -url http://proxy.example.ibm.com -port 8080 -username username -password password
```
Where http://proxy.example.ibm.com is the URL for the proxy server and 8080 is the port. The parameters, username and password, authenticate connections between the proxy and the support center.
Certificate
```
mkproxy -url http://proxy.example.ibm.com -port 8080 -sslcert /upgrade/proxy-cert.pem
```
Where http://proxy.example.ibm.com is the URL for the proxy server and 8080 is the port. The parameter, /upgrade/proxy-cert.pem, indicates the path where the internal proxy certificate is stored.
To upload a support package, enter the following command:
```
satask supportupload -pmr pmr_number -filename fullpath/filename
```
where the pmr_number is the number of an existing PMR and fullpath/filename is the full path and the name of the file that you are uploading. The -pmr and -filename parameters are not required. If you do not specify a PMR number, the file is uploaded by using the machine serial and type to route the file to the support center. If you do not specify a file name, the latest support package is uploaded.
To verify the progress of the upload to the support center, enter the following command:
```
lscmdstatus
```
In the results of this command, verify that the supportupload_status is Complete, which indicates that the upload is successfully completed. Other possible values for this parameter include Active, Wait, Abort, and Failed. If the upload is Active, you can use the supportupload_progress_percent parameter to view the progress for the upload.

If you want to generate a new support package, complete these steps:

Enter the following command in the command-line interface:
```
satask snap -upload -pmr pmr_number
```
where the pmr_number is the number of an existing PMR. The command generates a new support package and uploads it to the support center with the identifying PMR number. If you do not have a PMR number that corresponds with support package, then you can use the following command:
```
satask snap -upload
```
The command generates a new support package and uploads it to the support center by using the machine type and serial to route the package.
To verify the progress of the upload to the support center, enter the following command:
```
lscmdstatus
```
In the results of this command, verify that the supportupload_status is Complete, which indicates that the upload is successfully completed. Other possible values for this parameter include Active, Wait, Abort, and Failed. If the upload is Active, you can use the supportupload_progress_percent parameter to view the progress for the upload.