Contacting IBM Support

IBM® 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 technical notes, you can contact IBM Support. Before contacting IBM Support, your company must have an active IBM maintenance contract name, and you must be authorized to submit problems to IBM. For information about the types of available support, see the Support portfolio topic in the Software Support Handbook.

Procedure

Complete the following steps to contact IBM Support with a problem:
  1. 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.
  2. Gather diagnostic information.
  3. Useful information for Domino® problems may include the following items:
    • The computer on which the problem occurred.
    • Any other people who are involved in troubleshooting the problem -- for example, server administrators, database managers, network managers. You might want these people available when you speak with a support representative.
    • Any pertinent information you gathered from troubleshooting the problem yourself prior to contacting support
    • If the problem involves the network, print out the PROTOCOL.INI, CONFIG.SYS, and STARTUP.CMD files. Print out the network file directory, so that you can compare network file dates.

    In addition, depending on the problem, be prepared to provide some of the information in the following table.

    Table 1. Information for a single server

    Required information

    Your system

    Domino version(s)

    Operating system and version, including any patches or fixpacks

    Hardware, including the kind of CPU(s) and modems installed, and the amount of RAM and hard disk space

    Network operating system(s) and version(s), protocols, and network driver version(s)

    Network interface card(s)

    Domino server names

    File names, replica IDs, and ACLs for all databases involved

    Number of users who are affected by the problem -- that is, one user, several users, or all users

    Number of servers that are affected by the problem -- that is, one server, several servers, or all servers

    Changes to the configuration that were made before the problem occurred -- for example, network, hardware, or NOTES.INI changes

    Error message(s), including the exact text of the message(s)

    For problems that involve more than one server on a network, collect the information in the following table.

    Table 2. Information for multiple servers

    Required information

    Your system

    Physical location of the servers -- for example, in different cities or on FIRST DOMINO SERVERs or WANs

    Number of network segments contributing to the problem -- that is, are both machines in the same network segment or in segments separated by routers, bridges, or switches

    Number of Domino servers -- for example, mail hops or replication hubs -- that are between the servers that are having a problem

  4. Submit the problem to IBM Support in one of the following ways:
    • Using IBM Support Assistant (ISA):
    • Online through the IBM Support Portal: You can open, update, and view all your Service Requests from the Service Request portlet on the Service Request page.
    • By phone: For the phone number to call in your region, see the Directory of worldwide contacts web page.

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