Contacting IBM Support

IBM Support assists with product defects, answers FAQs, and helps users resolve problems with the product.

After you try to find your answer or solution by using other self-help options such as technotes, we can contact IBM Support. Before you contact IBM Support, your company or organization must have an active IBM software subscription and support contract, and we 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.

To contact IBM Support about a problem:

Steps

  1. Define the problem, gather background information, and determine the severity of the problem. For information, see the Getting IBM support topic in the Software Support Handbook.
  2. Gather diagnostic information.
  3. Submit the problem to IBM Support in one of the following ways:

    • Use IBM Support Assistant (ISA):

    • Online through the IBM Support Portal: We can open, update, and view all of your service requests from the Service Request portlet on the Service Request page.
    • By telephone for critical, system down, or severity 1 issues: For the phone number to call in the region, see the Directory of worldwide contacts web page.

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 we 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

Parent topic: Support Information