Hello all, I am working on a trade study and one of the criterias is
how easy it is to get DB2 technical support from IBM. I appreciate if
you guys share your experience with me. Does DB2 have a good tech
support?? Thanks in advance for any input. Shaun

shaun.mostash...@lmco.com wrote:
> Hello all, I am working on a trade study and one of the criterias is
> how easy it is to get DB2 technical support from IBM. I appreciate if
> you guys share your experience with me. Does DB2 have a good tech
> support?? Thanks in advance for any input. Shaun

Shaun,
I am of the opinion that IBM offers the best technical support out
there. I have worked with many different support organizations and by
far IBM has the best hardware and software support that I have
personally used. Microsoft support would be one of the worst for
software followed by Dell for hardware support.

MM

<shaun.mostashari@lmco.com> wrote in message
news:1107371944.027538.64540@o13g2000cwo.googlegro ups.com...
> Hello all, I am working on a trade study and one of the criterias is
> how easy it is to get DB2 technical support from IBM. I appreciate if
> you guys share your experience with me. Does DB2 have a good tech
> support?? Thanks in advance for any input. Shaun
>
As long as you have a support contract for your DB2 license, they have
excellent support.

First you call the IBM support center (for any IBM product), and select the
product group through the keypad response system (database software or
something like that), and then someone will answer your call and get the
following:

1). Your customer number (which determines whether you are entitled to
support).
2). The nature of the problem - They enter that into a computer screen
3). The severity level 1,2, or 3. 1 being the highest priority usually
reserved for production problems. They rarely will question what you say on
that if you don't abuse it.
4) your callback information where you can be reached.

Someone from DB2 support who is familiar with the particular aspect of DB2
you are having a problem with call you back. If it is a 1 priority, they
guarantee a 2 hour callback. But usually the callback is almost immediate
for a 1 and sometimes for a 2. Sometimes they will directly transfer you to
a support technician.

The DB2 support person will work with you to resolve the problem. They will
often ask for information such as traces, etc. You can exchange emails and
phone calls with the support person while working on the problem.

Software patches are downloadable for free by anyone from the IBM website.
You can also search on the status of APAR's on the website if you register
(free).

In article <f7adnRYZIpYcsZzfRVn-qQ@comcast.com>, Mark A
(nobody@nowhere.com) says...
> <shaun.mostashari@lmco.com> wrote in message
> news:1107371944.027538.64540@o13g2000cwo.googlegro ups.com...
> > Hello all, I am working on a trade study and one of the criterias is
> > how easy it is to get DB2 technical support from IBM. I appreciate if
> > you guys share your experience with me. Does DB2 have a good tech
> > support?? Thanks in advance for any input. Shaun
> >
> As long as you have a support contract for your DB2 license, they have
> excellent support.
>
> First you call the IBM support center (for any IBM product), and select the
> product group through the keypad response system (database software or
> something like that), and then someone will answer your call and get the
> following:
>
> 1). Your customer number (which determines whether you are entitled to
> support).
> 2). The nature of the problem - They enter that into a computer screen
> 3). The severity level 1,2, or 3. 1 being the highest priority usually
> reserved for production problems. They rarely will question what you say on
> that if you don't abuse it.
> 4) your callback information where you can be reached.
>
> Someone from DB2 support who is familiar with the particular aspect of DB2
> you are having a problem with call you back. If it is a 1 priority, they
> guarantee a 2 hour callback. But usually the callback is almost immediate
> for a 1 and sometimes for a 2. Sometimes they will directly transfer you to
> a support technician.
>
> The DB2 support person will work with you to resolve the problem. They will
> often ask for information such as traces, etc. You can exchange emails and
> phone calls with the support person while working on the problem.
>
> Software patches are downloadable for free by anyone from the IBM website.
> You can also search on the status of APAR's on the website if you register
> (free).
>
>
>

To add to Mark's remarks, it might make a lot of difference how your
local IBM support is organized. A couple of years ago the DB2 support
in the Netherlands was very bad and every call was sent to central
(Toronto?) support. Because of the timezone difference it always took
a couple of days before the secondline support took care of a
problem.
The experiences I heard from colleques the last months showed that
not much has changed but that might also have been caused by their
lack of experience with DB2 troubleshooting, I'm not sure about that.

"Gert van der Kooij" <gert@invalid.nl> wrote in message
news:MPG.1c6b6a95ac4c03789897c7@news.xs4all.nl...
>
> To add to Mark's remarks, it might make a lot of difference how your
> local IBM support is organized. A couple of years ago the DB2 support
> in the Netherlands was very bad and every call was sent to central
> (Toronto?) support. Because of the timezone difference it always took
> a couple of days before the secondline support took care of a
> problem.
> The experiences I heard from colleques the last months showed that
> not much has changed but that might also have been caused by their
> lack of experience with DB2 troubleshooting, I'm not sure about that.

My answer was regarding support in the US, which may be the same for other
English language countries (not sure). But if you have an IBM support group
in the Netherlands that speaks Dutch to customers, then maybe there is
another layer of interface back to the DB2 support in Toronto.

I have called IBM support regarding DB2 for AIX 4 times in the last 6 months
to open problem tickets. All 4 problem tickets were level 2 severity. I got
callbacks ranging from 0 (direct transfer of phone call to support person)
to about 30 minutes.

Yes.
<shaun.mostashari@lmco.com> wrote in message
news:1107371944.027538.64540@o13g2000cwo.googlegro ups.com...
> Hello all, I am working on a trade study and one of the criterias is
> how easy it is to get DB2 technical support from IBM. I appreciate if
> you guys share your experience with me. Does DB2 have a good tech
> support?? Thanks in advance for any input. Shaun
>