What’s Included in Your SIOS Enterprise Support Plan?
Here are some quick tips for what is covered and not covered with Enterprise level support, and where to go for additional information based on three common scenarios.
24/7 Support for Critical System Downtime
Scenario 1: System Down After Hours
Joan’s team: It’s 7 pm EST on Sunday. The routine switchover between SIOS LifeKeeper cluster nodes should have been simple. But something unexpected happened, resulting in the switchover failure. Despite all of the team’s efforts to resolve the issue, the cluster remains down. Joan needs help, but she is not sure that her SIOS Technical support plan covers weekends or how long it will take to get a support person on the phone.
Customers who have purchased (or renewed) their Enterprise level support prior to an incident have access to receive support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This support includes weekends and holidays to address Critical Issues. Critical Issues mean down production systems or applications, where Customer data cannot be accessed using SIOS Programs. For all Priority 1 (critical) issues, where normal operation results in the loss of access to your production data, SIOS provides a 2-hour response time.
If Joan has valid Enterprise support, she will be able to reach out to the SIOS support team, and her after-hours issue will be covered.
Installation and Configuration Support
Scenario 2: Installation Assistance Needed
Scott’s team: It’s 4 pm EST on Thursday. The approvals have been completed for the new infrastructure project, including the required high availability configuration for critical applications and data. At the kickoff, the stakeholders moved the date for go-live. As a result, the team needs to get the systems installed and configured quickly to avoid service interruption. Scott’s team knows how to configure the application and server, but they want to be doubly sure they install the HA solution correctly. They need help, but Scott’s not sure that their support plan covers help with installation errors.
Since Scott’s team is in the deployment phase, the new infrastructure project involves systems that have not been validated or successfully put into production. If Scott’s team has valid SIOS Enterprise level support, he will have access to SIOS product documentation and installation pointers. However, assistance with installation and configuration is not covered under Scott’s Enterprise support, but he can contact his SIOS sales representative to arrange a paid Professional Services installation engagement. This engagement will ensure that Scott’s team gets the assistance they need to properly install, configure, and validate their cluster. SIOS provides a wide range of professional services designed to help customers quickly and cost-effectively implement, manage, and maintain their HA environments.
Root Cause Analysis (RCA) After Failover
Scenario 3: Post-Failover RCA Support
Amol’s team: It’s 2 am EST on Tuesday. An alert has been sent out to the entire application team at AjaxBjax Corp. The cluster protecting the company’s most critical application system is conducting a failover. Amol checks the application dashboard and discovers that the failover was successful and all applications are functioning. However, Amol knows that management will want some explanations and assurances. Amol wants to make sure that all application services are up and functioning, but he isn’t sure that their support plan covers whatever this is.
Amol’s team is looking for an RCA and the confidence that their system is going to continue to be operational. Amol’s data is accessible, and his application is fully functional. His system is not a critical down production server, nor a P1 issue. However, if AjaxBjax Corp has valid Enterprise support for their cluster, they will be able to reach out to the SIOS support team for guidance around the clock (US East), Monday through Friday, for RCA issues. Amol’s 2 am call will be routed to one of the knowledgeable SIOS support centers, where the team will begin working with Amol.
Additional Questions About Contacting SIOS Support
Amol and Joan were able to contact support via the Support Hotline (US: 877.457.5113; International: +1.803.808.4270) with coverage included by their Enterprise Support. Scott was able to receive the help he needed, not from the Support team, but through the purchase of services to assist with configuration and installation. But what about other scenarios, where can Scott, Amol, Joan, and others find more about their support levels and support details? Or whether their product has reached the maintenance or extended support phases?
When you need to find additional information about your support agreement, you can consult the SIOS Technical Support Agreement (TSA), which is included with each order. The TSA is also conveniently located on our download site, and can be requested via an email to the SIOS Support Team at support@us.sios.com. Additionally, product schedules and support tier information can be found online at the Product Lifecycle page.
Customers who already know what’s covered under their plan, but need help with a problem, answers to a general question, root cause analysis, the latest software, or pointers to more information can open a new case via the Support Portal website or via email to the Support Inbox at support@us.sios.com. Once your case is created, the team will work to provide timely responses and resolution.
Author: Cassius Rhue VP, Customer Experience
