Chapter 18. Contacting Global Support Services
Unless you have a Self-Support subscription, when both the Red Hat Documentation website and Customer Portal fail to provide the answers to your questions, you can contact Global Support Services (GSS).
18.1. Gathering Required Information
Several items of information should be gathered before contacting GSS.
Background Information
Ensure you have the following background information at hand before calling GSS:
- Hardware type, make, and model on which the product runs
- Software version
- Latest upgrades
- Any recent changes to the system
- An explanation of the problem and the symptoms
- Any messages or significant information about the issue
If you ever forget your Red Hat login information, it can be recovered at https://access.redhat.com/site/help/LoginAssistance.html.
Diagnostics
The diagnostics report for Red Hat Enterprise Linux is required as well. This report is also known as a sosreport and the program to create the report is provided by the sos package. To install the sos package and all its dependencies on your system:
# yum install sos
To generate the report:
# sosreport
For more information, access the Knowledgebase article at https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-3593.
Account and Contact Information
In order to help you, GSS requires your account information to customize their support, as well contact information to get back to you. When you contact GSS ensure you have your:
- Red Hat customer number or Red Hat Network (RHN) login name
- Company name
- Contact name
- Preferred method of contact (phone or email) and contact information (phone number or email address)
Issue Severity
Determining an issue’s severity is important to allow the GSS team to prioritize their work. There are four levels of severity.
- Severity 1 (urgent)
- A problem that severely impacts your use of the software for production purposes. It halts your business operations and has no procedural workaround.
- Severity 2 (high)
- A problem where the software is functioning, but production is severely reduced. It causes a high impact to business operations, and no workaround exists.
- Severity 3 (medium)
- A problem that involves partial, non-critical loss of the use of the software. There is a medium to low impact on your business, and business continues to function by utilizing a workaround.
- Severity 4 (low)
- A general usage question, report of a documentation error, or a recommendation for a future product improvement.
For more information on determining the severity level of an issue, see https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/severity.
Once the issue severity has been determined, submit a service request through the Customer Portal under the Connect option, or at https://access.redhat.com/support/contact/technicalSupport.html. Note that you need your Red Hat login details in order to submit service requests.
If the severity is level 1 or 2, then follow up your service request with a phone call. Contact information and business hours are found at https://access.redhat.com/support/contact/technicalSupport.html.
If you have a premium subscription, then after hours support is available for Severity 1 and 2 cases.
Turn-around rates for both premium subscriptions and standard subscription can be found at https://access.redhat.com/support/offerings/production/sla.html.
18.2. Escalating an Issue
If you feel an issue is not being handled correctly or adequately, you can escalate it. There are two types of escalations:
- Technical escalation
- If an issue is not being resolved appropriately or if you need a more senior resource to attend to it.
- Management escalation
- If the issue has become more severe or you believe it requires a higher priority.
More information on escalation, including contacts, is available at https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/mgt_escalation.html.
18.3. Re-opening a Service Request
If there is more relevant information regarding a closed service request (such as the problem reoccurring), you can re-open the request via the Red Hat Customer Portal at https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/mgt_escalation.html or by calling your local support center, the details of which can be found at https://access.redhat.com/support/contact/technicalSupport.html.
In order to re-open a service request, you need the original service-request number.
18.4. Additional Resources
For more information, see the resources listed below.
Online Documentation
- Getting Started — The Getting Started page serves as a starting point for people who purchased a Red Hat subscription and offers the Red Hat Welcome Kit and the Quick Guide to Red Hat Support for download.
- How can a RHEL Self-Support subscription be used? — A Knowledgebase article for customers with a Self-Support subscription.
- Red Hat Global Support Services and public mailing lists — A Knowledgebase article that answers frequent questions about public Red Hat mailing lists.
