Overview
The Netsweeper Support Team strives to resolve all customer issues in a timely manner. However, in order for us to be able to accomplish this, we have created this article to provide guidance on what type of information customers should include when opening a ticket.
There are seven applicable sections to most suport tickets:
- The Title & Summary
- Steps to Reproduce the Issue
- Expected versus the Actual Results
- Visual Proof (screen shots and/or video)
- Impact and Priority
- The Environment
- Relevant Logs and/or Data.
Title & Summary
The Title
Keep the title simple and concise. It needs to describe the core of the issue in a few words or a sentence.
The Summary
Provide a short, specific summary of the issue up-front. This could be anywhere from a sentence to a paragraph or two, depending on the issue.
Steps to Reproduce the Issue
This step is your chance to roll up your sleeves and get detailed. You want to make sure you have all the necessary information needed for the supporting agent to reproduce the issue.
Best practice is to use a bullet-point list and ensure you've included every necessary step required to replicate the issue.
Expected Versus Actual Results
What should happen when you perform the above steps? What does actually happen?
Best practice is to provide a direct comparison:
e.g., "If the Import fails, you should see an error message in the WebAdmin. However, a success message displays, even though the data is not imported."
Visual Proof
A (well placed) picture is worth a thousand words. Seeing is believing, after all.
- If you can, add annotations to highlight the error and draw peoples eyes right to the issue.
- If the issue isn't easily captured in a screenshot, are you able to record a video of yourself reproducing it?
Remember, this step is not a crutch, it's a bridge.
Impact and Priority
This step gives you a chance to describe the level of impact this issue is having on your deployment. The suupport team uses a set of parameters (as layed out in our Netsweeper Support Priorities KB,) to determine to Priority level of the ticket. A good description of the impact this issues is having on your deployment helps them determine the Priority quickly and accurately.
The Environment
What aspect(s) of our product suite are affected by this issue? Is this a WebAdmin/Policy Service issue? Workstation Agent? Client Filter? (What OS or browser build of the Client, version, et cetera).
Always include the product(s), as well as version(s) info, any possible environmental information, etc.
Relevant Logs
There are many various logs available in the WebAdmin, plus our thin clients can produce their own logs.
Be sure to gather the logs that relate to the issue, Reporter Logs aren't likely to help with a Directory Sync issue.
Additional data
Packet Captures are often relevant, as our product is network-based. Console/Broswer logs, as well as OS error logs could also be relevant.
Help Us Help You
By submitting your ticket with these details, it will help our support team triage your ticket, determine the priority/severity, and facilitate a timely resolution of your issue!