GSS - Support and Services VMWARE - Free user manual and instructions

USER MANUAL GSS VMWARE

VMware Global Support Services

Accelerate Your Return on Investment

GSS Overview

BROCHURE

Tap Into Unique Expertise in Virtualization and Cloud Infrastructure

Successful implementations of virtualization and cloud infrastructures share important attributes: fast and easy access to a pool of knowledgeable support professionals and extensive self-help resources. VMware® Global Support Services provides significant expertise in these areas to help ensure the success of customers and partners with VMware virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions.

As part of the VMware Services family, Global Support Services works in conjunction with VMware Consulting Services, VMware Education Services and VMware Certification Services to accelerate return on investments while mitigating risk. VMware employs the largest technical force dedicated to virtualization and specializes in the support of highly complex, varied, heterogeneous and mission-critical virtual and cloud computing environments.

"I personally appreciate the outstanding service that Global Support Services has provided. My team also is very impressed with your organization's work ethic and the 'do whatever it takes' attitude."

IT Architect, Global Technology Provider for Industry, Healthcare, and Energy Sectors

Global Support Services

The combination of VMware customer-proven virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions, and world-class Global Support Services enables customers and partners to follow an evolutionary path to cloud computing. By preserving existing application and infrastructure investments while accelerating realized value from a cloud computing approach, customers can achieve efficiency through utilization and automation, agility with control, and freedom of choice. To meet the needs of organizations—large and small, global and regional—VMware offers:

Production Support

VMware Production Support is ideal for enterprises that require access to continuously available support on a global basis. Support experts and online resources enable organizations to maintain continuous operation of their IT environments.

Mission Critical Support

As a complement to VMware Production Support, VMware Mission Critical Support is recommended for environments that have little tolerance for downtime and desire a premium support service. The Mission Critical Support option provides the highest level of personalized, proactive customer support available from VMware. The service includes the following:

• Assigned Support Account Manager - An escalation and management point person to provide proactive planning and communications, conduct quarterly reviews and create a customized support plan.
• Environment inventory - Scheduled, proactive onsite visits to periodically review and help optimize customer environments.
• Support inquiry reporting and analysis - Regular reporting and trend analysis based on activity to identify ongoing issues and mitigate their impact.
• Onsite support - Proactive onsite assistance, as needed, to troubleshoot issues and help minimize downtime.
• Upgrade and migration support - Support process recommendations to cover any time-sensitive issues that might occur during planned migrations or upgrades.

Basic Support

VMware Basic Support is for non-critical applications that require support only during normal business hours. Basic Support provides access to industry-leading experts to ensure success in deploying and maintaining virtualized and cloud infrastructures.

Developer Support for VMware SpringSource

Ideal for the application development phase, VMware Developer Support provides how-to guidance on the use of SpringSource® software. Developer Support also includes assistance with application configuration to enable the most efficient use of resources during development.

SDK Support Program for VMware vSphere

The VMware SDK Support Program is recommended for independent software/hardware vendors and enterprise-class organizations that build solutions to manage the VMware vSphere™ platform. This program helps third parties get vSphere solutions to market rapidly by providing access to vSphere application programming interface (API) expert engineers.

Support Contract Renewals and Upgrades

VMware partners help facilitate the process of renewing or upgrading an existing support contract. VMware works closely with its partners to ensure the process is smooth and seamless and there is no interruption in service. Visit www.vmware.com/support/form/contract_renewal.html to request a renewal or upgrade quote.

Product Licensing Assistance

Global Support Services has an experienced team of agents available to assist with inquiries related to product licensing and entitlement for customers with and without an active support subscription. The Licensing Support Team will update profiles, change account information, and adjust license relationships as requested to aid the use and management of VMware products. To learn more, visit vmware.com/support/licensing.

Global Support Services At A Glance

VMWARE GLOBAL SUPPORT SERVICES	PRODUCTION SUPPORT	MISSION CRITICAL SUPPORT	BASIC SUPPORT	DEVELOPER SUPPORT FOR SPRINGSOURCE	SDK SUPPORT FOR VSPHERE
Recommended Audience	Enterprise-class environments requiring continuous operation	Environments that have little tolerance for downtime and desire premium support service	Non-critical applications that require support only during normal business hours	Application development phases	Third-parties building solutions for the vSphere platform
Hours of Operation	24x7	24x7	12x5	12x5	12x5 (6 a.m. - 6 p.m. local time)
Target Response Time	30 minutes or less: 24x7 for Severity 1 issues	30 minutes or less: 24x7 for Severity 1 issues	4 business hours for Severity 1 issues	1 business day	Standard: 2 business days Premium: 1 business day
Receive Product Updates/Upgrades	Yes	Yes	Yes	n/a	n/a
Remote Support	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Access to Discussion Forums and Knowledge Base	Yes	Yes	Yes	n/a	Yes
Number of Support Requests	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited

To learn more, visit vmware.com/support/services

Extensive Online Self-Help Resources

VMware has made significant investments in online, self-help resources to speed time to operational status and enable rapid return investment for existing systems. This wide array of support tools helps ensure that customers and partners have a fast, reliable and comprehensive support experience.

For product questions or managing account details, self-directed support can be the quickest path to resolution. VMware provides a variety of easy-to-use, online self-service tools:

• Knowledge Base (kb.vmware.com) - Designed to be the first, go-to resource for issue resolution, the VMware Knowledge Base contains thousands of articles on best practices and the use of VMware products.
• Product Support Centers (vmware.com/support/product-support) - VMware product-focused Support Centers provide resources to solve technical, licensing and/or customer service issues.
• Documentation, release notes and technical papers repository (vmware.com/support/pubs) - VMware provides a full range of technical documentation on current and older

products. This documentation includes technical manuals, release notes, tools and libraries. Users can also access to technical papers written by VMware partners.

• Download portal (downloads.vmware.com) - VMware customers can keep their environments up-to-date through the Download Portal, which provides access to drivers, tools, patches, release notes and security updates. The portal also enables access to older product releases and documentation.
• Online Support Request (vmware.com/support/contacts/file-sr.html) - VMware enables organizations to quickly complete a support request online. Online support requests are offered to customers with a support contract.
• Account Management portal (vmware.com/support/licensing) - Authorized visitors to the VMware Account Management portal can obtain a new license, modify an existing license, register or activate a license and manage the use of license keys.

Collaborative Social Support Interaction

VMware leverages the power of social networks, and other collaboration tools, to provide rich customer support. These tools proactively engage customers and partners, and allow organizations to easily connect with experts who have deep knowledge of virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions. They also provide a way for VMware to evolve its technical content based on input from customers and partners.

• Online communities (vmware.com/community) - VMware sponsored community forums enable customers and partners to network with peers and share best practices, issues and resolutions. Participants learn about new releases, discuss current issues, register for events and more. VMware communities are the place to meet online with virtualization experts who use the technology every day.

• Twitter (twitter.com/vmwarecares or www.twitter.com/vmwarekb) - VMware uses a variety of product-centric Twitter accounts to provide interactive support to customers and partners. VMware experts tweet regularly to answer questions and proactively provide updates related to announcements, issues and alerts.
  VMware Toolbar (vmwaretoolbar.com) - The VMware Toolbar can be installed on an Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari browser to connect with VMware experts and staff to receive instant access to patches, documentation and more.

• RSS feeds (vmware/simplefeed.net/subscription) - RSS feeds are available to customers and partners interested in receiving informational blogs, automated notifications regarding newly released patches and Knowledge Base articles, as well as notifications about product launches and other marketing information.
  YouTube (youtube.com/vmwarekb) - VMware KBTV leverages YouTube to deliver tutorials from virtualization and cloud infrastructure experts on a number of topics.

• Blogs (blogs.vmware.com) - VMware regularly publishes how-to articles on product-specific blogs written by VMware experts. Customers and partners can subscribe via RSS and stay up to date on the latest VMware product information and implementation best practices.

Customer Support Days

Customer Support Days (vmware.com/support/customer_days. html) is a collaboration that brings together VMware Support, Sales and customers. These events provide a forum to share VMware product best practices, tips and tricks, and have discussions with senior VMware technical staff and fellow customers.

Realize the Promise of Virtualization and Cloud Computing

With an experienced staff, extensive self-help resources and proactive use of interactive social media to reach customers with vital information, VMware Global Support Services delivers exceptional customer support that goes beyond the basics to help ensure IT success.

To learn more about VMware Global Support Services, please call toll-free 1-877-486-9273 in the U.S., or for global contact options, please see www.vmware.com/support/us_support.html to find the phone number for your region.

"I cannot praise the support we received enough! The Technical Support Engineer again resolved our issue swiftly. The support I have received over the past month from VMware has been second to none."

Senior Systems Engineer, Major Banking and Financial Services Organization