Ed Jaffe wrote: >We're a small shop. We *really* don't want to be paying thousands every >month just for the "privilege" of being able to report bugs with, and >get fixes for, our non-Linux mainframe software. (IMHO such support >ought to be included free as part of MLC and S&S payments, but that's a >discussion for another day...)
Ed Jaffe then wrote: >It used to be that if you didn't have at least SoftwareXcel Basic >Edition, you could not logon to IBMLink to search for fixes, you could >not open PMRs electronically (you had L1 voice only), and you could not >download PTFs electronically (you had tape only). You wrote that it's important to be able to report bugs. IBM agrees. SoftwareXcel has never been required to open PMRs by telephone (or fax), to my knowledge. Moreover, you should be able to open PMRs electronically (if you prefer) from this Web page, also at no additional charge: https://www.ibm.com/support/servicerequest/ Click on the "New service request" button to get started. Please give it a try, stopping short of actual submission if you don't have a real PMR, and please correct me if I'm mistaken. It's working for me, though. Moreover, in some countries it's possible to open PMRs via e-mail. (I don't recommend e-mail, though, especially for higher severity issues, since you can't easily check whether and when IBM received your e-mail. But it's available in some countries, with that understanding.) ShopZ is available at no additional charge for electronic PTF and new release/update deliveries. Electronic delivery is the preferred option. (Earlier this year IBM eliminated the Single Version Charge (SVC) limitation, in favor of Multi-Version Measurement (MVM). In short, that means you should electronically order new versions and releases. You shouldn't even have to think about it.) You can search for APARs here: https://www.ibm.com/support/customercare/psearch/search?domain=gapar This search interface ("Granular APAR Search for Z") was first introduced in 2014. Have I ticked all your newly presented boxes? If I haven't, OK, please have a chat with "your friendly IBM representative." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timothy Sipples IT Architect Executive, Industry Solutions, IBM z Systems, AP/GCG/MEA E-Mail: [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
