Support packages

You can use the management GUI or the command-line interface to upload support packages to the support center. If support assistance is configured on your systems, you can either automatically or manually upload new support packages to the support center to help analyze and resolve errors on the system.

You can select individual logs to either download to review or send directly to the support center for analysis.

You can select from the following types of support packages:

Type 1: Standard logs

This option contains many different log files for both the underlying operating system and the software that includes these critical log files:

Event log
Audit logs
Linux based logs that include /var/log/messages

These logs are sufficient to diagnose many problems, especially simple hardware replacement procedures.

Type 2: Standard logs plus one existing statesave

This option contains the standard logs for the system and an existing statesave from any of the nodes in the system. Statesaves can either be a dump or a livedump. A dump file is collected when the software restarts for any reason. This file can be used to understand why the software restarted. A livedump collects the current state of the software with minimal impact to I/O operations. The contents of a livedump are similar to the contents of a dump.

Type 3: Standard logs plus the most recent statesave from each node

Contains the standard logs for the system and the most recent statesave from each of the nodes on the system.

Type 4: Standard logs plus new statesave

This option contains the standard logs and a new statesave (livedump) for all the nodes in the system and packages them with the most recent logs.

When you are deciding what type of package to send, consider the speed of the upload and if more information is necessary later to resolve the issue. The standard logs are uploaded more rapidly since the support package is smaller than the other options. However, the standard logs might not include all the information that is needed to resolve the problem on the first attempt. Support personnel can require more data to resolve the problem. If a new statesave (livedump) is not generated shortly after the standard log, the livedump might not contain the data necessary to resolve the issue. When you generate the standard logs with the new statesave, you have the greatest chance of resolving the issue without more information. However, the support package is larger and can take longer to upload to the support center. You can also set CIMOM logging levels. CIMOM logging provides additional information for advanced error resolution; however, increasing the level can cause performance issues on the system.

The following table shows the four types of support packages with the approximate size for a support package for basic configuration. The table describes common troubleshooting scenarios that require that type of support package. Actual sizes of support packages vary based on the number of volumes and MDisks, the software level, and the compressibility of the logs.

Table 1. Support packages.
Summary of support packages
Description	Approximate Support Package Size: System with 1 I/O group and 30 volumes)	Approximate Support Package Size: System with 4 I/O groups and 250 volumes	Common Scenarios
Standard logs	10 MB	340 MB	Simple hardware replacement Critical performance issues¹ All other issues
Standard logs plus one existing statesave	50 MB	520 MB
Standard logs plus most recent statesave from each node	90 MB	790 MB	2030, 1196 or 1195 errors
Standard logs plus new statesaves	90 MB	790 MB	Compressed volumes issues Host issues External storage issues Metro Mirror or Global Mirror issues² General performance issues Critical performance issues¹
Critical performance issues require that both standard logs and a new statesave are generated and uploaded to the support center. Generate and upload the standard logs first and then create the new statesaves. Generate a support package on both the source and target systems in the remote-copy relationship.