Tasks of the customer

In some cases Customer Support sometimes needs your assistance on site to perform maintenance activities. As a customer, you have the following tasks in the maintenance strategy:

• Permitting access to the SE server

  • Opening remote service access if required (requirement for the service and maintenance strategy)

  • Permitting access to the rack (e.g. to the local console)

• Assisting Customer Support when there are software/firmware updates for the units. In agreement with Customer Support, the following tasks may need to be performed:

  • Transferring the updates from CD/DVD to disk

  • Uploading the updates

  • Uploading, installing and uninstalling add-on packs

  • Deleting update files which are not installed

• Generating and supplying diagnostic documentation
  For the standard generation of diagnostic documents, see the chapter Generating diagnostic data. 
  Other diagnostic documents available on the Management Unit in file form can be made available to the service with the command aisTransfer. Its description can be found in the online help.
  Other diagnostic documents such as screenshots can be sent directly to the service by mail.

• Scheduled provision of an annual maintenance window of approximately 5 hours

• If necessary, also unscheduled provision of a maintenance window

The following also applies when Application Units are operated:

• As customer you are responsible for operating the software on the Application Units.This includes tasks such as software installation, configuration, updates and importing patches. You obtain updates and patches yourself as part of your license agreement.

• If required, you install a new operating system or modify the SE server’s LAN configuration and ensure the connection to status monitoring and remote service.

• When maintenance is performed, you grant Customer Support at least temporary access to the Application Unit’s iRMC and root access to the operating system level of the Application Unit. The procedure and the type of access are agreed on individually between you and Customer Support.

Customer ID and serial numbers

When communicating with Customer Support, always specify the customer ID of your SE server that allows the service to identify your server configuration unambiguously. Determine the customer ID as follows:

>	In the tree structure select Service -> Information. The Information tab shows the customer ID for the SE server.

In addition specify where appropriate the serial numbers of the system components. Determine the serial numbers as follows:

>	In the tree structure select Hardware -> HW inventory [-> <se server> (SE<model>) ] and open the Units tab.
>	Then click the Details () icon by the desired unit. The Show details dialog box informs among other things about the unit's serial number.

Alternatively you can also inquire this information as follows:

>	In the tree structure select Hardware -> Units -> [<se server> (SE<model>) ->] <unit> -> Information. The System tab shows system information for the selected unit.

Maintenance windows of the SE server

The SE server is designed to operate without interruption. To guarantee interrupt-free operation over lengthy periods, Customer Support performs certain maintenance work roughly once a year. This maintenance work (e.g. the installation of corrections) is performed within planned maintenance windows agreed on with the customer (e.g. in periods when there is a minimum load on the server).

Maintenance state

During maintenance work, you or the service team set the maintenance status (SE operating state Maintenance) to make all users aware of the special situation.
See also the "Information" section in the "Managing service-related functions" chapter.