Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault Customer Support

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Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support

Table of Contents Submitting an Incident using Maintenance Advantage ................................................................................ 2 Choosing the Proper Severity ................................................................................................................... 4 Raising the Severity and Escalation of an Existing Incident ...................................................................... 5 Re-Assigning An Incident to a New Engineer ............................................................................................ 5 Remote Support – Accessing Your CommCell via a Remote Connection ..................................................... 6 Citrix GoToAssist ....................................................................................................................................... 6 Cisco Webex .............................................................................................................................................. 6 How to Gather and Send Log Files to CommVault Customer Support ......................................................... 7 Overview ................................................................................................................................................... 7 Sending Log Files through the CommCell® GUI ........................................................................................ 8 Uploading Logs via HTTP from the CommVault Website ....................................................................... 11 Uploading Logs via FTP: Passive and Active Methods ............................................................................ 13 Best Practices .............................................................................................................................................. 15 Knowledge Base and Support Forum.......................................................................................................... 16 CommVault Documentation ....................................................................................................................... 17 Creating Your Maintenance Advantage Accounts for your Organization................................................... 18

Commvault Support Hotlines: For a list of all Global Technical Support Hotline numbers please click on the following link: http://www.commvault.com/contact-buy.html#t-2

Information in this document is subject to change without notice ©1999-2012 CommVault Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. CommVault, CommVault and logo, the “CV” logo, CommVault Systems, Solving Forward, SIM, Singular Information Management, Simpana, CommVault Galaxy, Unified Data Management, QiNetix, Quick Recovery, QR, CommNet, GridStor, Vault Tracker, InnerVault, QuickSnap, QSnap, Recovery Director, CommServe, CommCell, SnapProtect, ROMS, and CommValue, are trademarks or registered trademarks of CommVault Systems, Inc. All other third party brands, products, service names, trademarks, or registered service marks are the property of and used to identify the products or services of their respective owners. All specifications are subject to change without notice.

Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support

Submitting an Incident using Maintenance Advantage First you must have access to our Maintenance Advantage Website at: http://services.commvault.com/mainadv.asp If you do not have a Maintenance Advantage account then you will need to have an account created for you (See Page 13). Only one individual in your organization will have the ability to create Sub-Accounts. Please be aware that critical calls cannot be opened on the Web and will need to be called in to the Support Hotline. The maximum severity to be set for a Web Opened incident is a High Severity Incident. Note, also, that the default severity for a Web Opened incident is Medium. If you need the severity increased for an incident please contact us at the hotline. 1. Log into the CommVault Maintenance Advantage web site using your user account (email address as the username) 2. Select the Open a Support Ticket link as seen below.

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Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support 3. You will then need to fill out the form presented to you please note the highlighted area you will need to select the proper product by drilling down to the last selection under the IDA types presented

4. Once the form is filled out as completely as possible select Continue and you will be presented with possible KB articles that may help you correct your issue. If they do not help then select the Finish submitting question and a CommVault Support incident will be created and the incident number presented to you along with the request for you to upload any possible logs or DB that may be required to help in resolving the issue more efficiently.

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Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support

Choosing the Proper Severity When placing a call or Web-submitting an incident through the CommVault E-Support Portal it’s important to understand and choose the proper severity level. Below is a guideline matrix on choosing the proper severity. Please keep in mind that Severity 0-Catastrophic (BCS ONLY) and Severity 1-Critical incidents must be opened via telephone call rather than the eSupport web portal. BCS Platinum Only 0-Catastrophic TELEPHONE ONLY

This severity level is reserved for CommVault Business Critical Support Customers. This severity is used to indicate that all CommVault components are inoperable and no data movement operations are possible. Examples of SEV0-Critical calls are: Complete outage to CommServe. Multiple Server outages/rebuilds issues. Disaster Recovery Event (not a DR Test)

1-Critical TELEPHONE ONLY

This severity should be used to indicate that a major CommCell component is down or having a serious problem that it is impacting business. Examples of SEV1-Critical calls are: CommServe® is not functioning and server backups or restores are not possible Mission Critical Database Restores (Exchange, SQL, Oracle, Informix etc.) impacting customers business Mission Critical Server Restore/Rebuild impacting customers business

2-High TELEPHONE ESUPPORT

or

3-Medium TELEPHONE ESUPPORT

or

4-Low TELEPHONE ESUPPORT

or

This severity should be used to indicate that a major component has problems that degrade the ability to meet the needs of the business. Examples of SEV2-High calls are: Critical Server Backup failures Directory/Folder and File level Restore failures. This severity should be used to indicate intermittent problems that do not impact the immediate production needs of the business. Examples of SEV3-Medium calls are: Client installation issues Media Management issues Operational problems. This severity should be used to report a defect or inconsistency in the product or request an enhancement to the product.

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Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support

Raising the Severity and Escalation of an Existing Incident While CommVault Customer Support makes every effort to meet Customer expectations in responsiveness, occasionally a situation may arise where an incident should be expedited or the severity level of an incident elevated. In cases where you feel additional attention or further escalation is required, the following procedure should be followed: 

Contact the Customer Support Hotline providing your Support Incident-id number and ask to have the incident escalated. Please provide the reason for escalation so that the incident can be handled accordingly by our engineers.



You may also request to speak with a Support Supervisor or Manager. In most cases a Supervisor or Manager will return your call within one hour. You will have the opportunity to explain the situation currently being faced and we will assist in getting the situation rectified.

Please refer to the Global Services and Support Resource locations available at http://www.commvault.com/contact-buy.html#t-2 for a list of Toll Free numbers to contact your local Support Center.

Re-Assigning An Incident to a New Engineer While CommVault Technical Support makes every effort to meet Customer expectations in responsiveness, occasionally a situation may arise where an incident needs to be reassigned. This may occur when you are working alternative hours to the customer engineer owning the incident or you receive an Out-of-Office notification from the engineer. In these cases where you feel you would be better served by having your incident worked by another engineer, the following procedure should be followed: Contact your local Technical Support Toll free number and advise you would like to have the incident reassigned to an engineer within your working hours. This can mean moving the incident from one support center to another or from one engineers shift to another. When contacting the Technical Support Center please have your incident available for reference. The incident will be update noting the request and put back into the queue in a call back request state. In most cases a call back will be received within one hour or within a time range specified. Please refer to the Global Services and Support Resource locations available at http://www.commvault.com/contact-buy.html#t-2 for a list of Toll Free numbers to contact your local Support Center.

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Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support

Remote Support – Accessing Your CommCell via a Remote Connection CommVault Technical Support employ two primary remote support services to help analyse and troubleshoot customer issues when required. Either Citrix GoToAssist and Cisco Webex are leveraged based on user preference. With these services there is no need to pre-install or configure any software, all that is needed is a standard Web browser. CommVault then can assist in resolving issues regardless of location, and can take full control of the Support session or application, if you desire, or simply observe while functions are being performed by your end user. Other benefits are uploading or downloading files for analysis and downloading patches or updates to resolve specific issues. Both of these commercial standard services are deployed by support organizations the world over to provide secure, transparent remote support access options.

Citrix GoToAssist An essential part of GoToAssist Corporate’s security is its permission-based access control model for protecting access to the customer’s PC and the data contained therein. First, all GoToAssist Corporate sessions must be initiated by the remote customer. GoToAssist is not designed for unattended support scenarios. Secondly, the customer is always prompted for permission before any screen sharing, remote control or transfer of diagnostic data, files or other information is initiated. If remote control and screen sharing has been authorized, the customer can watch what the representative does at all times. Further, the customer can easily take control back or terminate the session at any time. Local security controls on the customer’s computer are never overridden; the customer or the representative must still provide any Windows, Mac® or application authentication credentials. Finally, all connection activities are logged and the screen sharing and chat session can be optionally recorded and played back for review at a later time.

Cisco Webex As with GoToAssist Webex sessions must be initiated by a remote engineer and the end user is invited or asked to join the session. The user is always prompted for permission before any screen sharing or remote control can occur. Once remote control or sharing has been granted the end user can easily monitor and take control back at any time. WebEx by default encrypts all presentation content using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm and further provides the option of securing all session content by encrypting the communication channel between the WebEx Meeting Service Manager and the MediaTone Meeting Switch using a 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption tunnel.

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Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support

How to Gather and Send Log Files to CommVault Customer Support Overview This document outlines procedures associated with the collection of logs relating to a failure within a CommVault process. The intent of this document is to provide customers with relevant tasks necessary to streamline information collection associated with that failure in order to reduce the time to resolution for the issue. This document also describes the tasks associated with opening an incident with CommVault Technical Support and the incident creation process. Following the processes outlined in this document, customers will receive the most effective CommVault Customer Support Assistance for incident resolution. Prior to contacting support it is highly recommended that customers search for possible solutions in our Knowledge Base (see page 11) on our Support Portal, “Maintenance Advantage” and/or load the latest service pack and updates. If the problem persists, collecting log files along with having the latest Service Pack and updates installed will help expedite your issue. Not doing so can lead to longer resolution times.

Required job and problem related information (when accessible): 1. CommCell ID (CCID) of CommServe and name (for example F88B7). Always use the correct CCID of where the issue is being observed 2. Date and Time when the issue occurred 3. Job ID (if applicable) 4. Client and Media Agent names 5. Error Message and Error Code from Event 6. Job Status information from Job Details 7. Often CommVault Support may need to see Operating System or Application system/event/alert logs. Especially if a hardware issue is suspected (i.e. Disk Drives, Tape Libraries)  Windows Operating Systems we would like the Application and System Event logs saved in .csv format. (These are usually captured by our Send Logs feature as long as the OS Logs is checked when gathering logs)  NetApp we would like a copy of the messages log that covers the time frame for the issue  Unix/Linux system log location varies: (These are usually captured by our Send Logs feature as long as the OS Logs is checked when capturing logs) 1. 2. 3. 4.

Linux and AIX = /var/log/messages HP-UX = /var/adm/syslog/syslog.log Solaris = /var/adm/messages Oracle Specific – RMAN Logs and Alert Logs

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Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support

Sending Log Files through the CommCell® GUI

1. Always use the CommVault Send Logs function to capture logs unless for the rare occasion that communication is having problem which you may have manually zip/tar up the Log Files directory on the client. 2. Send Logs must be performed as soon as the problem is encountered or observed Note: Older logs, or logs captured at a later time are not useful and can add to delay of trouble shooting the incident. 3. From the Action Menu or Right-Click the top level of the CommCell Browser, select Send Log Files There is an option to select FTP or HTTP

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Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support 4. Type in a summary of the issue in the Description field and TR number. This description assists the Support Engineer with context associated with the issue

5. Always select the Client systems, Media Agents and the CommServe. If multiple clients/datapaths are impacted, provide a sample of two or three.

6.

Always select the OS logs and Crash Dump options under the Machine Information tab.

Note: If CommServe database is very large then it may not be able to be captured in this fashion. If this happens please zip a copy of latest CommServe database and upload manually using one of the preferred upload methods. (Often you can grab the most recent CommServe database dump file under X:\Program Files\CommVault\Simpana\CommServeER directory on the CommServe)

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Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support

7.

For issues that appear to affect the entire CommCell, use the CommCell Information tab to send the CommServe Database and Database Logs

8. When complete, click OK and logs will be sent.

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Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support

Uploading Logs via HTTP from the CommVault Website CommVault Software Log Upload Manager Log files can be transferred via HTTP in the event that the CommServe cannot attach to the Internet for log file transfer. Once necessary log files are gathered it is possible to upload them from the CommVault Support Website: https://www.commvault.com/mainadv.asp 1. Log in to the CommVault eSupport site with appropriate credentials. 2. Once logged in click the Software Log Upload Manager

3. To complete this operation, enter the necessary TR number, and install the applet if necessary.

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Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support 4. In the Add File/Directory button, browse to the cab file that was created by CommVault (or logs that were manually assigned and compressed).

5. Once the logs have been uploaded, an email will automatically be sent to CommVault Support by the Upload Manager Software. We would also like you to update the incident via the Web letting us know this has been done.

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Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support

Uploading Logs via FTP: Passive and Active Methods Passive FTP provides the fastest possible transport for logs/databases that are uploaded to CommVault Customer Support. Use of Passive FTP for this process requires that you add a registry key to allow for management of possible timeouts that are associated with this connection and the transport of larger log files/databases. NOTE: Prior to making any Windows® registry changes, please make sure to review Microsoft® warnings regarding this type of action. See this article for more information. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310516 The registry key should be added on the CommServe for use with the Console GUI Send Logs feature. The registry key should also be added to any server/workstation where the manual FTP upload method is used.

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK. 2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\InternetSettings 3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value. 4. Type KeepAliveTimeout, and then press ENTER. 5. On the Edit menu, click Modify. 6. Type the appropriate timeout value (in milliseconds), and then click OK. For example, to set the timeout value to two minutes, type 120000 (default is 1 min).

To configure the Console GUI to use the new Send Logs connections: 1. Navigate to Control Panel from the Console GUI. 2. Inside the Control Panel window, double-click the Troubleshooting Setting icon. 3. Do Not modify the default User Name or Password in step 4 or step 5.

4. In the FTP Location box, enter Fasterqnma.commvault.com . User Name: galaxylogs Passwd: tr0bleSh0ot

5. In the HTTP Location box, enter https://fasterqnma.commvault.com/httplogupload/ . 13 Information in this document is subject to change without notice.

Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support User Name: customer Passwd: tr0bleSh0ot

For manual FTP only, to upload FTP data to Customer Support Log Upload Server, use the following FTP link from the Command Prompt or Browser: ftp://Fasterqnftp01.commvault.com/incoming/CommCellID Login= ccust01 Passwd= qu1ckR5f Passive FTP will have the FTP server generating/ listening on a random port once initial communication is established whereas Active FTP will always use ports 20/21. With Active FTP, there will be an outbound connection initiated by the client with 21 as the destination port and source port as a random port greater than 1023. There will be an inbound connection initiated by the server with a random port greater than 1023 as the destination port and port 20 as the source port. Active FTP (default) does not use the faster FTP transport but allows for a more secure transport of log information, based on the use of specific ports. 14 Information in this document is subject to change without notice.

Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support ________________________________________ Additional Information: CommVault's standard send format is to bundle all logs into a *.cab file. These *.cab files have a maximum size of 2GB. In order to address the *.cab file size limitation for larger log captures Simpana Version 9.0 offers an additional send log file format option for those customers with large file and or database (DB) sets. Please test your log send feature by sending a test set to a local drive on the CommServe and determine if your log and or DB set(s) exceed(s) the 2GB limit for a *.cab file. Customers with large CommServe, SRM or CommNet databases should confirm the log set sizes for various data set scenarios. Version 9.0 Send Log Files from the CommCell Console Version 9.0 Setting the File Format for sending the Log Files Version 9.0 bSendLogUseZIP registry key Product Version(s) : 9.0, 8.0 Subject(s): Send Logs, Files, DB using FTP Language(s): ALL Operating System Version(s): All OS's that support FTP, HTTP Acknowledgement(s): N/A

Best Practices Do not cycle Simpana and/or Microsoft SQL Server services right away unless directed so by CommVault Support or if you determine the situation to be severe where service cycling must be done. In normal cases, however, work to escalate the issue and bring subject matter expertise to see the situation realtime. Logs are historical, but seeing the problem as it happens may accelerate resolution. When a Remote Support session (GoToAssist, Webex) is performed in real-time to review the issue affecting job performance, Support is looking for unusual activity (for example, high memory, CPU, high handle counts of CommVault services). Screenshots of this detail may remove the need for a follow on Support WebEx. Perform a backup of the CommServe Database from the GUI at the time the problem is happening or from SQL Management Studio if it is not possible to access the CommCell GUI. Certain CommServe issues are diagnosable only at the moment of the problem, so having the database copy from the point in time of the issue is valuable. Always zip raw log files (that did not originate from the Send Log Files action) and database and dump files to avoid space issues on the ftp sites. 15 Information in this document is subject to change without notice.

Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support Caution: Never sent an uncompressed CommServe Database via FTP or HTTP

Knowledge Base and Support Forum Accessing the CommVault Knowledge Base and Support Forum requires access to our Maintenance Advantage Web Site. http://services.commvault.com/mainadv.asp Upon logging into Maintenance Advantage you will be able to access both the Knowledge Base and Support Forums. Here you can run searches for known issues or join the Forum to participate or ask questions. The Forums is often frequented by experienced CommVault Support Engineers or some CommVault customers that may also can be very helpful.

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Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support

CommVault Documentation CommVault Documentation can easily be accessed from anywhere without logging into Maintenance Advantage: http://documentation.commvault.com

Tip:

You can run searches or sometimes it can be easier to navigate manually to find what you are

looking for.

Tip: You can use Google Advanced Search and point directly to our documentation site. http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en

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Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support

Creating Your Maintenance Advantage Accounts for your Organization If you have never accessed Maintenance Advantage before then you will need to have a Sub-Account created for you. Someone in your organization may have this access to create an account for you. The instructions outlined in this section of the document are for the Main Maintenance Advantage Account holder for your organization. If that person is you then follow the below instructions. If you have problems feel free to all the CommVault Hotline.

1. Creating your personal logon for your Organization a. Before you can create your personal logon, you must first login to your main Maintenances Advantage Web Site (Maintenance Advantage) account using your CommCell-ID and password. If you do not know your Maintenance Advantage password, and you are the registered user for the Main account (see special note below) use the password reset on the logon screen to receive the new logon password be sure to enter the CommCell ID not your email when requested. Special Note: The main account can only be assigned to a single individual in your organization. The person will have the ability to create Sub-Accounts for others. If at any time this person leaves your organization you will need to contact us to have the account assigned to someone else within your organization. Once you are logged into your Maintenance Advantage account, you will notice the tab for User Services go to this tab then to the highlighted link seen on the screen below.

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Quick Reference Guide: Working with CommVault® Customer Support b. The next screen will provide you a list of all the contacts associated with the CommCell ID used to login. Find your name in the list, and click it. If you do not see your name on the list,. At the bottom of the page there is a section for you to ADD USERS, all fields must contain correct information. Shortly after clicking the “create account” link, you will receive a confirmation e-mail. c. Once you have received the email please go to the Link with in this email then use the password provided in the email on this logon page this will enable your sub-account. Please set your password so that you will remember it. 2.

Logging on with your personal logon, and creating your profile. a. Now that you have created your personal logon, you can logon to Maintenance Advantage with your newly created account as opposed to using the main Maintenances Advantage Web Site (MA) ID. b. After logging on with your new account, it is important that you set up your personal profile. This is needed for the “Enhanced Web Portal“. i. Click the “Edit User Profile” icon as noted in the image on the following page to start personalizing your account.

ii. When the user profile page opens, there will be some fields which are automatically populated. Please try to complete the form with as much information as possible as this will make opening up tickets through the “Enhanced Support” portal more accurate. iii. Once the form has been completed, hit the submit button to save your changes. 19 Information in this document is subject to change without notice.