IBM Software
Support provides assistance with product defects, answering FAQs,
and performing rediscovery.
Before you begin
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 software subscription and support contract,
and you must be authorized to submit problems to IBM. The type of software maintenance
contract that you need depends on the type of product you have. For
information about the types of available support, see the Support portfolio topic in the Software
Support Handbook.
Procedure
- Define the problem, gather background information, and
determine the severity of the problem. For more information, see the Getting IBM support topic in the Software
Support Handbook.
- Gather diagnostic information. For more information, see Collecting data with IBM Support Assistant and IBM Support Assistant Lite.
- Submit the problem to IBM Support in one of the following ways:
Results
If the problem that 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.
What to do next
Be prepared to work with the IBM technical-support representative by using IBM Assist On-Site,
which is a remote-assistance plug-in that you can download to your
computer. The IBM technical-support
representative can use IBM Assist On-Site
to view your desktop and share control of your mouse and keyboard.
This tool can shorten the time that it takes to identify the problem,
collect the necessary data, and solve the problem. For more information,
see IBM Assist On-Site.