How technical questions (Q&A) are handled by IBM Support

Technical question support (excluding some IBM Z agreements that exclude Q&A Support) allows you to obtain assistance from IBM for product specific, task-oriented questions regarding the installation and operation of currently supported IBM software and hardware. In the course of providing answers to your technical questions, we may refer you to product documentation or publications, or we may be able to provide a direct answer to assist you in the following areas:

Short duration problems involving

• Installation
• Usage (how-to)
• Specific usage/installation questions for documented functions
• Product compatibility and interoperability questions
• Technical references to publications, such as redbooks or manuals
• Assistance with interpretation of publications
• Providing available configuration samples
• Planning information for software and hardware fixes
• IBM database searches

IBM Enterprise Support offerings are not structured to address everything -- the following are examples of areas that are beyond their scope:

• Analyzing performance
• Writing, troubleshooting or customizing code for a client
• Answering extensive configuration questions
• Recovering a database, or data recovery
• Consulting
• Interpretation or triage of customer or third party generated defect scanning reports

Most of these types of situations require some form of Developer Support or IBM Services offering. For further information about these services please refer to IBM Support Offerings or contact your IBM Representative who can help direct you to resources who can discuss your needs.