FAQs Regarding SUSE's Support Offerings and Policies


FAQs Regarding How to Register an Incident


FAQs About the Incident Process


FAQs About SUSE CHAT



FAQs Regarding SUSE's Support Offerings and Policies

Does SUSE provide any free support?

Yes. SUSE offers complimentary access to its Knowledgebase, Documentation, and Tools at its Support Website. In addition, we offer access to Support Forums where you can post questions related to any of SUSE’s products. These forums are available 7x24x365 and are monitored by a community of expert administrators, consultants, and highly skilled System Operators.

Does SUSE provide any support for Evals?

Although technical support is not included with evaluation software, SUSE provides email support for registration and activation support during business hours only. For all other issues with your Eval, please contact your SUSE sales representative.

Do I have to use an incident if I just have a quick question, or if it only takes a few minutes to get a resolution?

SUSE technical support is billed on a per-incident basis rather than time and materials, and the price is based on the cost of the average support call. Some calls may be resolved very quickly but will be considered an incident. You may also count on SUSE technical support to handle complicated issues that may take considerable time and effort from multiple SUSE resources, and these very complex issues will also be considered an incident.

For quick questions, we recommend that you visit the SUSE Support Website for a variety of online options, as well as powerful support tools. The Support Website is a very good resource and we have made it easy to find answers to simple questions. If you cannot find the answer you need in the knowledgebase, you may post your question out on our Support Forums. Typically you receive an answer within 24 hours.

What is required to get support, patches and fixes from SUSE?

Customers with a Standard or Priority subscription are entitled to technical support, in addition to product upgrades, updates and patches. Learn more about subscriptions. Academic customers who purchase through an Academic or School License Agreement do not normally receive technical support as a component of their buying program, but may be entitled to support based on the number of servers. Learn more about the Academic Program by visiting: https://www.suse.com/academic/ Channel partners are entitled to purchase discounted support packs from distributors.

Do I have to use an incident to get a file referenced in a Technical Information Document (TID) that is not available in your knowledgebase?

No. All released files are posted on the Downloads site for entitled customer and partner access. However, there is occasion when a TID mentions a file that is not posted on the web. Typically these files have not completed the required testing period. You can acquire such files by contacting a SUSE support engineer. Please keep in mind that when you call, the SUSE Support team will open an incident on your behalf. If all you do is acquire the file, the support engineer will close the call and you will not be charged for an incident. However, if you use this opportunity to ask the support engineer any other questions, it will be considered an incident.

What is the definition of an incident?

An incident is defined as assistance with one issue, problem, or question relating to the use or installation of a SUSE product or product component, regardless of the number of communications required. A single incident is a problem that cannot be broken down into subordinate problems. If a problem consists of subordinate problems, each is considered a separate incident. In addition, SUSE considers access to a support engineer at least one incident. Priority and Standard Support are a break-fix model. They do not include installation assistance, administration, consulting, training, on-site, or scheduled standby. These services are offered as additional options outside the scope of technical support.

Do I have to use an incident to get support for a bug?

Yes. If you are an Academic customer or Partner with limited incident, we will credit back the incident upon your request if the issue you are reporting has not already been documented in our release notes, patch documentation, or as a TID in our support knowledgebase.

Does SUSE define different levels of severity for an incident, and does this influence my response time?

Yes. The severity of an incident is defined when created, and can be set by the customer creating the incident electronically or by telephone. SUSE does prioritize response times by Severity and subscription level.



FAQs Regarding How to Register an Incident

What steps should I take before registering an incident?

Before registering an incident, you should first search our vast support resources including, Knowledgebase, Documentation, and Tools at its Support Website. In addition, we offer access to Support Forums where you can post questions related to any of SUSE’s products. These forums are available 7x24x365 and are monitored by a community of expert administrators, consultants, and highly skilled System Operators. If you cannot find an answer to your particular issue, we encourage you to file an incident.

What is a CID?

A CID, or Contact ID number, is the number given to you by SUSE when you are entitled to support. This number is your unique identifier within our support center database and allows you access to SUSE support on the internet and/or via the telephone. All of your accounts, agreements and entitlements with SUSE support should be tied to this one CID number.

Can I use someone else's CID to register an incident?

No. CIDs are to be used only by the person to whom they are assigned.

How do I add Contact IDs?

To learn how to add extra Contact IDs please visit our SUSE Technical Support Handbook.

How can I get a faster response time or higher level of service?

SUSE offers two subscription levels with tiered levels of response and access, as well as add-on programs such as Premium Support, which offers higher levels of service and expedited response times. SUSE also has programs to extend the amount of time (lifecycle) you receive support on a solution and programs to support other Linux platforms. Learn more on our Support Offerings page.

Does SUSE offer any immediate, direct phone access to support representatives when opening an incident?

Immediate direct phone access is an option for Severity 1 issues. Read more in the SUSE Technical Support Handbook.

How do I register an incident?

The process for logging your incident varies depending on the severity of your issue. For Severity 1 issues, first submit your incident online, and then contact your SUSE support center by phone to ensure the issue has been appropriately escalated to a Severity 1. For all other severities, these two steps are not necessary, and you can open an incident by phone or online. As part of the process, you choose your preferred response method:

  • Chat—Request real-time access to SUSE support engineers. Using this technology, you can also allow your support engineer to connect to your system for improved troubleshooting and easier walk-through directions. You can even grant full control of your desktop or server so that he or she can work directly on your problem, with no assistance from you required. Chat support is available in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese or Polish depending on availability.
  • E-mail or call back—Request support via a call back or e-mail and a SUSE support engineer will contact you within the response time parameters of your support agreement.

FAQs About the Incident Process

What is SUSE CHAT?

SUSE offers the ability for customers to choose chat as a method of receiving support. This method provides the ability for Technical Support Engineers to chat, diagnose, and establish remote control all through a single tool and session.

Can you tell me approximately how long I'll have to wait for an initial response?

Your response time will vary depending on your entitled support level and the severity of the issue. Learn more about Target Response Times | Support Delivery Information | Hours of Coverage and Target Response Times

What if the support engineer doesn't resolve my problem? Am I still charged for the support?

If you spent time working with a support engineer, you will be charged for an incident. If you never communicated with a support engineer, your incident will be canceled and you will not be charged.

What if I am not satisfied with the way my incident is handled?

Please call the support center to register any complaints or concerns regarding your incident.

How can I provide feedback about my support experience?

You may provide feedback about the SUSE website at any time via the feedback tab on the side of this page. You can also provide feedback through your support tickets, either electronically or via telephone. Additionally, unless you choose to opt out, a short survey will be sent to your e-mail address each time one of your incidents is closed. SUSE uses this information to improve our products and support services.

Under what circumstances and time frame can I re-activate my incident?

SUSE's policy is to allow customers to re-activate their incident within two weeks after closure date, providing the same original issue still occurs. Beyond two weeks, the customer must open a new incident referencing the old one. SUSE can then determine whether or not to charge for the new incident. The call agent will coordinate with the support engineer and support management to make this determination.

How do I request to escalate my incident?

Many things can happen during the course of troubleshooting technical problems that may necessitate escalating your SUSE incident. SUSE may initiate such an escalation on its own. To request an incident escalation yourself, you may use any of the following methods:

  • Contact the assigned Technical Support Engineer (TSE) to ask him/her to escalate the incident.
  • Initiate a chat with the call center agent to request an escalation.
  • Call the SUSE Support Center to ask the 1st Line for a manager to request escalation.
    When you request the escalation, specify what you would like to see happen. Escalating an incident may mean raising its severity level, reassigning it to another engineer, involving second level resources, or speaking with a manager.

    SUSE is committed to resolving problems quickly. By using this process to communicate clearly what you need from us, we can do a better job of helping you be successful with SUSE technology.

What happens to my incident once a defect is logged?

Defects that meet the initial requirements for a fix will be scheduled for an upcoming program temporary fix (PTF), patch, or release. Your engineer will set the expectation on the release date and may choose to close the incident depending on the severity of the issue and the schedule date for the fix release. Defects that do not meet the initial requirement for a fix will be logged and considered for a future release and the incident will be closed. an incident with an associated defect can be reactivated at any time to check the status of the defect.

FAQs About SUSE CHAT

The downloadable client is about 900 KB.

Which ports need to be open in order for Bomgar CHAT to work?

Port 443.