Best Practices for Creating Support Requests on the Broadcom Support Portal
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Best Practices for Creating Support Requests on the Broadcom Support Portal

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Article ID: 429027

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Updated On:

Products

VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

When experiencing technical issues with VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), vSphere, vSAN, or NSX, the quality of the initial Support Request (SR) directly impacts the speed of resolution. This article outlines the requirements for severity classification, diagnostic data collection, and communication standards.

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation (4.x/5.x/9.x), vSphere (ESXi/vCenter), vSAN, NSX, Aria Suite.

Resolution

1. Pre-Opening Checklist

  • Verify Entitlements: Ensure your Site ID is correctly linked to your Broadcom Support Portal account and that the product is under an active support contract.
  • Search Knowledge Base (KB): Validate if the error matches known issues in the Broadcom KB to avoid redundant cases.
  • Check Interoperability: Confirm the versions are compatible using the VMware Interoperability Matrix.

2. Information Gathering

  • Exact Error: Copy/paste the full error string and provide screenshots of the UI fault.
  • Timeline: Specify the exact UTC time the issue occurred and if any changes (upgrades, configuration updates) preceded the event.
  • Scope: Is it a single VM, a single host, or an entire cluster/SDDC?
  • Environment Details: Provide Build Numbers for vCenter/ESXi and the VCF BOM version.

3. Log Collection (Critical Step)

  • Always attach diagnostic information at the time of creation:
  • vSphere/ESXi: Collect via the vSphere Client (Actions > Logs > Export System Logs).
  • NSX: Collect through the NSX Manager (System > Support Bundle).
  • VCF/SDDC Manager: Run the sos command via SSH: sos --all-logs.
  • Note: Use the Broadcom Secure File Transfer (SFTP) for bundles exceeding 5GB.

4. Severity Definitions

  • Severity 1 (Critical): Production system down; total loss of service. Requires 24x7 availability of a customer contact.
  • Severity 2 (Major): Production system severely degraded; core functions impacted but operational.
  • Severity 3 (Minor): Non-critical issue; system operational.
  • Severity 4 (Cosmetic/Request): General questions or documentation clarifications.

Additional Information

 

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