Metalink response time

Hi all,
Has anybody filed a SR in the last few days and still waiting around
for a response?
I filed one Saturday morning (Denver time), about 7:30 am. Yesterday
at 9:30 am (about 50 hours later), it was finally assigned to an
analyst, who finally sent me an email early this morning about 2:30
am, simply saying they are looking into it.
The SR seems like it would be a fairly simple one for them. I was
going to perform an upgrade from 11.1.0.6 to 11.1.0.7, but the OUI
installer is somehow finding an incompatible previous installation of
the 10.2.0.4 Grid Control agent and won't continue, even if I tell it
to ignore it.
As I understand it, we have the 8-hour support option, 24/7, whatever
that equals (Bronze or Silver?).
This is by far the worst response I've ever received from Oracle
support in almost 20 years.
--
-- Bill Ferguson
--
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l

What is the severity level of the SR? If it's a 3 or higher, that is why you are getting slow response.
Robert G. Freeman
Oracle ACE
Author:
Oracle Database 11g RMAN Backup and Recovery (Oracle Press) - ON IT'S WAY SOON!
OCP: Oracle Database 11g Administrator Certified Professional Study Guide (Sybex)
Oracle Database 11g New Features (Oracle Press)
Portable DBA: Oracle (Oracle Press)
Oracle Database 10g New Features (Oracle Press)
Oracle9i RMAN Backup and Recovery (Oracle Press)
Oracle9i New Features (Oracle Press)
Other various titles out of print now...
Blog: http://robertgfreeman.blogspot.com
The LDS Church is looking for DBA's. You do have to be a Church member in
good standing. A lot of kind people write me, concerned I may be breaking
the law by saying you have to be a Church member. It's legal I promise! :-)
http://pages.sssnet.com/messndal/church/parachurch.pdf
----- Original Message ----
From: Bill Ferguson
To: oracle-l-freelists
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 10:00:50 AM
Subject: Metalink response time
Hi all,
Has anybody filed a SR in the last few days and still waiting around
for a response?
I filed one Saturday morning (Denver time), about 7:30 am. Yesterday
at 9:30 am (about 50 hours later), it was finally assigned to an
analyst, who finally sent me an email early this morning about 2:30
am, simply saying they are looking into it.
The SR seems like it would be a fairly simple one for them. I was
going to perform an upgrade from 11.1.0.6 to 11.1.0.7, but the OUI
installer is somehow finding an incompatible previous installation of
the 10.2.0.4 Grid Control agent and won't continue, even if I tell it
to ignore it.
As I understand it, we have the 8-hour support option, 24/7, whatever
that equals (Bronze or Silver?).
This is by far the worst response I've ever received from Oracle
support in almost 20 years.
--
-- Bill Ferguson
--
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l
--
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l

They rated it as a 3 since the database is still running. But, I can't
upgrade and then apply a required patch I need for some spatial
capabilities in the meantime.
--
-- Bill Ferguson
On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 10:08 AM, Robert
Freeman wrote:
>
> What is the severity level of the SR? If it's a 3 or higher, that is why you are getting slow response.
>
>  Robert G. Freeman
--
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l

Update the SR and have them up it to a sev 2. You can also call and ask that they update the SR to a Sev 2.
For those of you who are not aware, here is a Metalink hint...
If you want a sev 1 SR, answer the "Is the problem causing Mission or business critical loss of service..." prompt YES. You will get a SEV 1 SR.
If you want a sev 2 SR, there are three questions that you need to pay particular attention too at the end of the last SR form:
Can you easily recover from, bypass or work around the problem?
Does your system or application continue normally after the problem occurs?
Are the standard features of the system, or application, still avaialbe. Is the loss of service minor?
If you answer all questions NO then you get a SEV 4 SR.
if you answer only the "Can you easily recover from, bypass or work around the problem" question NO, you get a SEV 3 tar automatically.
If you answer the "Does your system or application continue normally..." question NO, then you will get a SEV 2 tar automatically. Answering this with the others YES will still result in a Sev 2 SR.
If you answer the Are the standard features of the system, or application, still avaialbe. Is the loss of service minor? question YES, you will get a SEV 2 tar automatically. Answering this with the others YES will still result in a Sev 2 SR.
If I need support at a reasonable speed, then I always choose to make the SR a Sev 2. Otherwise you just wait and wait.
Hope this helps!
RF

Robert G. Freeman
Oracle ACE
Author:
Oracle Database 11g RMAN Backup and Recovery (Oracle Press) - ON IT'S WAY SOON!
OCP: Oracle Database 11g Administrator Certified Professional Study Guide (Sybex)
Oracle Database 11g New Features (Oracle Press)
Portable DBA: Oracle (Oracle Press)
Oracle Database 10g New Features (Oracle Press)
Oracle9i RMAN Backup and Recovery (Oracle Press)
Oracle9i New Features (Oracle Press)
Other various titles out of print now...
Blog: http://robertgfreeman.blogspot.com
The LDS Church is looking for DBA's. You do have to be a Church member in
good standing. A lot of kind people write me, concerned I may be breaking
the law by saying you have to be a Church member. It's legal I promise! :-)
http://pages.sssnet.com/messndal/church/parachurch.pdf
----- Original Message ----
From: Bill Ferguson
To: Robert Freeman
Cc: oracle-l-freelists
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 10:13:20 AM
Subject: Re: Metalink response time
They rated it as a 3 since the database is still running. But, I can't
upgrade and then apply a required patch I need for some spatial
capabilities in the meantime.
--
-- Bill Ferguson
On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 10:08 AM, Robert
Freeman wrote:
>
> What is the severity level of the SR? If it's a 3 or higher, that is why you are getting slow response.
>
> Robert G. Freeman
--
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l
--
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l

Nice tips on creating a SR.
Thanks Robert!
--
-- Bill Ferguson
--
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l

My only problem with this whole system is the people who say "yes mission
critical" on a test or dev system.
joe
_______________________________________
Joe Testa, Oracle Certified Professional
(Work) 614-677-1668
(Cell) 614-312-6715
Interested in helping out your marriage?
Ask me about "Weekend to Remember"
Dec 11-13, 2009 here in Columbus.

From:
Robert Freeman
To:
wbfergus@gmail.com
Cc:
oracle-l-freelists
Date:
06/30/2009 12:59 PM
Subject:
Re: Metalink response time - Using Metalink to get the right Severity code
assigned to your SR...
Sent by:
oracle-l-bounce@freelists.org

Update the SR and have them up it to a sev 2. You can also call and ask
that they update the SR to a Sev 2.
For those of you who are not aware, here is a Metalink hint...
If you want a sev 1 SR, answer the "Is the problem causing Mission or
business critical loss of service..." prompt YES. You will get a SEV 1 SR.
If you want a sev 2 SR, there are three questions that you need to pay
particular attention too at the end of the last SR form:
Can you easily recover from, bypass or work around the problem?
Does your system or application continue normally after the problem
occurs?
Are the standard features of the system, or application, still avaialbe.
Is the loss of service minor?
If you answer all questions NO then you get a SEV 4 SR.
if you answer only the "Can you easily recover from, bypass or work around
the problem" question NO, you get a SEV 3 tar automatically.
If you answer the "Does your system or application continue normally..."
question NO, then you will get a SEV 2 tar automatically. Answering this
with the others YES will still result in a Sev 2 SR.
If you answer the Are the standard features of the system, or application,
still avaialbe. Is the loss of service minor? question YES, you will get
a SEV 2 tar automatically. Answering this with the others YES will still
result in a Sev 2 SR.
If I need support at a reasonable speed, then I always choose to make the
SR a Sev 2. Otherwise you just wait and wait.
Hope this helps!
RF

Robert G. Freeman
Oracle ACE
Author:
Oracle Database 11g RMAN Backup and Recovery (Oracle Press) - ON IT'S WAY
SOON!
OCP: Oracle Database 11g Administrator Certified Professional Study Guide
(Sybex)
Oracle Database 11g New Features (Oracle Press)
Portable DBA: Oracle (Oracle Press)
Oracle Database 10g New Features (Oracle Press)
Oracle9i RMAN Backup and Recovery (Oracle Press)
Oracle9i New Features (Oracle Press)
Other various titles out of print now...
Blog: http://robertgfreeman.blogspot.com
The LDS Church is looking for DBA's. You do have to be a Church member in
good standing. A lot of kind people write me, concerned I may be breaking
the law by saying you have to be a Church member. It's legal I promise!
:-)
http://pages.sssnet.com/messndal/church/parachurch.pdf
----- Original Message ----
From: Bill Ferguson
To: Robert Freeman
Cc: oracle-l-freelists
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 10:13:20 AM
Subject: Re: Metalink response time
They rated it as a 3 since the database is still running. But, I can't
upgrade and then apply a required patch I need for some spatial
capabilities in the meantime.
--
-- Bill Ferguson
On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 10:08 AM, Robert
Freeman wrote:
>
> What is the severity level of the SR? If it's a 3 or higher, that is why
you are getting slow response.
>
> Robert G. Freeman
--
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l
--
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l

If you have a whole raft of developers playing solitaire at $150 an hour th=
en having a development system down is a critical problem. I had that argu=
ment once when my SR got downgraded. I thought they were being kind of obt=
use.
Donald Freeman
Database Administrator II
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Department of Health
Bureau of Information Technology
2150 Herr Street
Harrisburg, PA 17103
dofreeman@state.pa.us
________________________________
From: oracle-l-bounce@freelists.org [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@freelists.org] =
On Behalf Of TESTAJ3@nationwide.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 1:05 PM
To: robertgfreeman@yahoo.com
Cc: oracle-l-freelists; oracle-l-bounce@freelists.org; wbfergus@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Metalink response time - Using Metalink to get the right Sever=
ity code assigned to your SR...
My only problem with this whole system is the people who say "yes mission c=
ritical" on a test or dev system.
joe
_______________________________________
Joe Testa, Oracle Certified Professional
(Work) 614-677-1668
(Cell) 614-312-6715
Interested in helping out your marriage?
Ask me about "Weekend to Remember"
Dec 11-13, 2009 here in Columbus.
From: Robert Freeman
To: wbfergus@gmail.com
Cc: oracle-l-freelists
Date: 06/30/2009 12:59 PM
Subject: Re: Metalink response time - Using Metalink to get the righ=
t Severity code assigned to your SR...
Sent by: oracle-l-bounce@freelists.org
________________________________

Update the SR and have them up it to a sev 2. You can also call and ask tha=
t they update the SR to a Sev 2.
For those of you who are not aware, here is a Metalink hint...
If you want a sev 1 SR, answer the "Is the problem causing Mission or busin=
ess critical loss of service..." prompt YES. You will get a SEV 1 SR.
If you want a sev 2 SR, there are three questions that you need to pay part=
icular attention too at the end of the last SR form:
Can you easily recover from, bypass or work around the problem?
Does your system or application continue normally after the problem occurs?
Are the standard features of the system, or application, still avaialbe. Is=
the loss of service minor?
If you answer all questions NO then you get a SEV 4 SR.
if you answer only the "Can you easily recover from, bypass or work around =
the problem" question NO, you get a SEV 3 tar automatically.
If you answer the "Does your system or application continue normally..." qu=
estion NO, then you will get a SEV 2 tar automatically. Answering this with=
the others YES will still result in a Sev 2 SR.
If you answer the Are the standard features of the system, or application, =
still avaialbe. Is the loss of service minor? question YES, you will get a=
SEV 2 tar automatically. Answering this with the others YES will still res=
ult in a Sev 2 SR.
If I need support at a reasonable speed, then I always choose to make the S=
R a Sev 2. Otherwise you just wait and wait.
Hope this helps!
RF

Robert G. Freeman
Oracle ACE
Author:
Oracle Database 11g RMAN Backup and Recovery (Oracle Press) - ON IT'S WAY S=
OON!
OCP: Oracle Database 11g Administrator Certified Professional Study Guide (=
Sybex)
Oracle Database 11g New Features (Oracle Press)
Portable DBA: Oracle (Oracle Press)
Oracle Database 10g New Features (Oracle Press)
Oracle9i RMAN Backup and Recovery (Oracle Press)
Oracle9i New Features (Oracle Press)
Other various titles out of print now...
Blog: http://robertgfreeman.blogspot.com
The LDS Church is looking for DBA's. You do have to be a Church member in
good standing. A lot of kind people write me, concerned I may be breaking
the law by saying you have to be a Church member. It's legal I promise! :-)
http://pages.sssnet.com/messndal/church/parachurch.pdf
----- Original Message ----
From: Bill Ferguson
To: Robert Freeman
Cc: oracle-l-freelists
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 10:13:20 AM
Subject: Re: Metalink response time
They rated it as a 3 since the database is still running. But, I can't
upgrade and then apply a required patch I need for some spatial
capabilities in the meantime.
--
-- Bill Ferguson
On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 10:08 AM, Robert
Freeman wrote:
>
> What is the severity level of the SR? If it's a 3 or higher, that is why =
you are getting slow response.
>
> Robert G. Freeman
--
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l
--
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l

> If you have a whole raft of developers playing solitaire at $150 an hour
> then having a development system down is a critical problem. I had that
> argument once when my SR got downgraded. I thought they were being kind of
> obtuse.
> Donald Freeman
If those developers have nothing better to do than play solitaire when the
dev DB goes down, then they are sorely overpaid. At least if they're going
to play, they should choose Set, which they also would have learned if they
had chosen that time to read some developer blogs (Steven Feuerstein's in
this case).
And unlike a Production ERP system, a downed dev DB should not keep product
from getting out the door. Unless I suppose one works for a software
company...
Rich
--
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l

Bill
What always works is escalation. Oracle has a perfectly funtioning
escalation process -- and contrary to what some may believe, this does *not
only* apply to severity 1 SRs....
Occasions where I frequently escalate service requests:
- You have to meet some kind of deadline (application rollout, upgrade, etc)
- You've tried to explain the same analyst the same thing 5 times and he
still asks you for an RDA (or insert other non-relevant thing here)
- You need dedicated support for a sustaining period of time (not 24/7, but
you need a timely resolution which is only possible wiht a dedicated
engineer keeping an eye on your SR updates)
- You need someone on standby at a given time (i.e. during a critical phase
of applying a patch they sent you, and you only have a tiny downtime window)
BUT -- and here's the thing, don't simply type into the SR "I'd like to
escalate" .. this gets ignored more often than not. Call them, and (very
important) ask for management callback --this way the HUB guy or girl on the
phone will call the duty manager directly. In virtually every case I've had
a support manager on the line within minutes of calling them. Then, explain
the situation to them (they speak good english !! ;-) , and have them work
with their support staff. YOu can be amazed sometimes how the same engineers
that you'd wait for days answering silly questions all the sudden start
getting reasonable when they have their manager looking over their
shoulders.
Another thing that helps, is to involve your sales reps. They want you to be
happy (so they are welcome when trying to sell you more licenses and support
renewals) , and especially those that have been around a bit have good
contacts into oracle support -- that can also speed up your SR by orders of
magnitude.
Oh, and the very same applies to BUGs as well, but you need to be a bit more
convincing there :-)
All in all I have to say, even if a lot of people are complaining -- it's
the best vendor support I've worked with. By far.
Just my CHF 0.02 ;-)
Stefan
=========================
Stefan P Knecht
CEO & Founder
s@10046.ch
10046 Consulting GmbH
Schwarzackerstrasse 29
CH-8304 Wallisellen
Switzerland
Phone +41-(0)8400-10046
Cell +41 (0) 79 571 36 27
info@10046.ch
http://www.10046.ch
=========================
On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 7:02 PM, Bill Ferguson wrote:
> Nice tips on creating a SR.
>
> Thanks Robert!
> --
> -- Bill Ferguson
> --
> http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l
>
>
>

Well, for one thing it should not be necessary to get a manager involved in
order to get an answer. Oracle has published standards for response that
supposedly they require their support personnel to meet. In my experience,
that standard is rarely met. In many cases, the response to a simple
question is a request for an RDA output, which had no relevance to the
question, and appeared to be requested in order to meet some sort of service
level.
On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 1:36 PM, Stefan Knecht wrote:
> Bill
>
> What always works is escalation. Oracle has a perfectly funtioning
> escalation process -- and contrary to what some may believe, this does *not
> only* apply to severity 1 SRs....
>
> Occasions where I frequently escalate service requests:
>
> - You have to meet some kind of deadline (application rollout, upgrade,
> etc)
> - You've tried to explain the same analyst the same thing 5 times and he
> still asks you for an RDA (or insert other non-relevant thing here)
> - You need dedicated support for a sustaining period of time (not 24/7, but
> you need a timely resolution which is only possible wiht a dedicated
> engineer keeping an eye on your SR updates)
> - You need someone on standby at a given time (i.e. during a critical phase
> of applying a patch they sent you, and you only have a tiny downtime window)
>
> BUT -- and here's the thing, don't simply type into the SR "I'd like to
> escalate" .. this gets ignored more often than not. Call them, and (very
> important) ask for management callback --this way the HUB guy or girl on the
> phone will call the duty manager directly. In virtually every case I've had
> a support manager on the line within minutes of calling them. Then, explain
> the situation to them (they speak good english !! ;-) , and have them work
> with their support staff. YOu can be amazed sometimes how the same engineers
> that you'd wait for days answering silly questions all the sudden start
> getting reasonable when they have their manager looking over their
> shoulders.
>
> Another thing that helps, is to involve your sales reps. They want you to
> be happy (so they are welcome when trying to sell you more licenses and
> support renewals) , and especially those that have been around a bit have
> good contacts into oracle support -- that can also speed up your SR by
> orders of magnitude.
>
> Oh, and the very same applies to BUGs as well, but you need to be a bit
> more convincing there :-)
>
> All in all I have to say, even if a lot of people are complaining -- it's
> the best vendor support I've worked with. By far.
>
> Just my CHF 0.02 ;-)
>
> Stefan
>
> =========================
>
> Stefan P Knecht
> CEO & Founder
> s@10046.ch
>
> 10046 Consulting GmbH
> Schwarzackerstrasse 29
> CH-8304 Wallisellen
> Switzerland
>
> Phone +41-(0)8400-10046
> Cell +41 (0) 79 571 36 27
> info@10046.ch
> http://www.10046.ch
>
> =========================
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 7:02 PM, Bill Ferguson wrote:
>
>> Nice tips on creating a SR.
>>
>> Thanks Robert!
>> --
>> -- Bill Ferguson
>> --
>> http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l
>>
>>
>>
>
--
Andrew W. Kerber
'If at first you dont succeed, dont take up skydiving.'

I think they have a RDA macro setup that they press for most SR's.... :)
RF
Robert G. Freeman
Oracle ACE
Author:
Oracle Database 11g RMAN Backup and Recovery (Oracle Press) - ON IT'S WAY SOON!
OCP: Oracle Database 11g Administrator Certified Professional Study Guide (Sybex)
Oracle Database 11g New Features (Oracle Press)
Portable DBA: Oracle (Oracle Press)
Oracle Database 10g New Features (Oracle Press)
Oracle9i RMAN Backup and Recovery (Oracle Press)
Oracle9i New Features (Oracle Press)
Other various titles out of print now...
Blog: http://robertgfreeman.blogspot.com
The LDS Church is looking for DBA's. You do have to be a Church member in
good standing. A lot of kind people write me, concerned I may be breaking
the law by saying you have to be a Church member. It's legal I promise! :-)
http://pages.sssnet.com/messndal/church/parachurch.pdf

________________________________
From: Andrew Kerber
To: knecht.stefan@gmail.com
Cc: wbfergus@gmail.com; Robert Freeman ; oracle-l-freelists
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 12:51:45 PM
Subject: Re: Metalink response time - Using Metalink to get the right Severity code assigned to your SR...
Well, for one thing it should not be necessary to get a manager involved in order to get an answer. Oracle has published standards for response that supposedly they require their support personnel to meet. In my experience, that standard is rarely met. In many cases, the response to a simple question is a request for an RDA output, which had no relevance to the question, and appeared to be requested in order to meet some sort of service level.
On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 1:36 PM, Stefan Knecht wrote:
>Bill
>
>What always works is escalation. Oracle has a perfectly funtioning escalation process -- and contrary to what some may believe, this does *not only* apply to severity 1 SRs....
>
>Occasions where I frequently escalate service requests:
>
>- You have to meet some kind of deadline (application rollout, upgrade, etc)
>- You've tried to explain the same analyst the same thing 5 times and he still asks you for an RDA (or insert other non-relevant thing here)
>>
>- You need dedicated support for a sustaining period of time (not 24/7, but you need a timely resolution which is only possible wiht a dedicated engineer keeping an eye on your SR updates)
>- You need someone on standby at a given time (i.e. during a critical phase of applying a patch they sent you, and you only have a tiny downtime window)
>
>BUT -- and here's the thing, don't simply type into the SR "I'd like to escalate" .. this gets ignored more often than not. Call them, and (very important) ask for management callback --this way the HUB guy or girl on the phone will call the duty manager directly. In virtually every case I've had a support manager on the line within minutes of calling them. Then, explain the situation to them (they speak good english !! ;-) , and have them work with their support staff. YOu can be amazed sometimes how the same engineers that you'd wait for days answering silly questions all the sudden start getting reasonable when they have their manager looking over their shoulders.
>
>Another thing that helps, is to involve your sales reps. They want you to be happy (so they are welcome when trying to sell you more licenses and support renewals) , and especially those that have been around a bit have good contacts into oracle support -- that can also speed up your SR by orders of magnitude.
>
>Oh, and the very same applies to BUGs as well, but you need to be a bit more convincing there :-)
>
>All in all I have to say, even if a lot of people are complaining -- it's the best vendor support I've worked with. By far.
>
>Just my CHF 0.02 ;-)
>
>Stefan
>
>=========================
>
>Stefan P Knecht
>CEO & Founder
>s@10046.ch
>
>10046 Consulting GmbH
>>Schwarzackerstrasse 29
>>CH-8304 Wallisellen
>Switzerland
>
>Phone +41-(0)8400-10046
>Cell +41 (0) 79 571 36 27
>info@10046.ch
>http://www.10046.ch
>
>=========================
>
>
>
>On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 7:02 PM, Bill Ferguson wrote:
>
>>>
>>Nice tips on creating a SR.
>>
>>>>Thanks Robert!
>>>>--
>>-- Bill Ferguson
>>
>>--
>>http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l
>>
>>
>>
>
--
Andrew W. Kerber
'If at first you dont succeed, dont take up skydiving.'