April 4, 2013 at 6:08 am
Yesterday was a long day for me. My SQL2012 Cluster went down and the root cause was the iSCSI initiator mapping to the backup LUN. Of couse, because the Backup LUN was down, the whole SQL failover instance went down too and refused to start.
Long story short, I fixed the issue; with help of our IT guy, we remapped it and I was able to start MS-SQL. But we lost the mapping few times with no apparent reason.
My question is simple: how can I engage Microsoft in order to review the case and/or identify the possible bug? I used to work for a big, big company, the biggest one in the world actually 😉 ... and taking the phone and open a Microsoft's case was piece of cake. Now that I am part of a smaller company, what my options are? I do not want to pay but I do want the mainstream support for my product and able to apply any recent hotfix if that's the case.
The software is Windows 2008R2 with SQL 2012 Standard, running in a Cluster environment with a DELL SAN.
The Cluster has been online few months without any issues and it was fully patch (Windows and MS-SQL) before going live.
Any help or suggestion is highly appreciated...
April 5, 2013 at 5:11 am
To get to premier support, yeah, you've got to cough up cash. If you have a very well documented bug, you can try posting it to the Connect web site. That might lead to you getting a follow-up and engagement that won't cost you a penny, but it might not. Some MSDN licenses come with one or two premier support calls a year. Check your contract to see if you have one of those.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
April 5, 2013 at 7:13 am
Grant Fritchey (4/5/2013)
To get to premier support, yeah, you've got to cough up cash. If you have a very well documented bug, you can try posting it to the Connect web site. That might lead to you getting a follow-up and engagement that won't cost you a penny, but it might not. Some MSDN licenses come with one or two premier support calls a year. Check your contract to see if you have one of those.
Hi Grant,
I used to work for a big company and getting MS support was a matter of dial that number. But now I work for a small to medium size company. We do not have premier support.
I do believe do, my SQL2012 Cluster has a bug, the one addressed by KB2718576.
Long story short, the iSCSI mapping to the backup LUN got lost and the whole Cluster, obviously, went down. My SAN admin and I reviewed the logs and found nothing wrong on MS-SQL but there is no explanation of why the iSCSI mapping got lost. So be believe is a bug.
So I wanted to open a case and review, without paying, but don't know the process or link to follow.
-- Off topic --
It is a real shame that I will miss your presentation at SQL Intersection event 😉 ... too many projects at work plus it was good that my Cluster failed and I was not traveling.
April 5, 2013 at 9:33 am
sql-lover (4/5/2013)
So I wanted to open a case and review, without paying, but don't know the process or link to follow.
If you want to log a case with product support, you will have to pay for it. There are some cases where if it's a new bug they don't charge, but that's the exception. Basically, unless you have premier support or some free support cases from MSDN subscription, opening a case will cost.
See the Assisted Support Options on this page:
http://support.microsoft.com/ph/1044/en-us
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
April 5, 2013 at 1:11 pm
GilaMonster (4/5/2013)
sql-lover (4/5/2013)
So I wanted to open a case and review, without paying, but don't know the process or link to follow.If you want to log a case with product support, you will have to pay for it. There are some cases where if it's a new bug they don't charge, but that's the exception. Basically, unless you have premier support or some free support cases from MSDN subscription, opening a case will cost.
See the Assisted Support Options on this page:
Hmm, I see...
So, if my Cluster is experiencing issue addressed by KB2718576. How can I be 100% sure that's the case? rely on myself? ... I mean, it was fully patched, SAN is an approved hardware and fully patched as well. I see no other explanation, based on what happened, but apply the hotfix.
I just want to make use of the rights I have as a legit software owner. MS products are not cheap and come with warranty.
April 5, 2013 at 3:27 pm
You can contact support. But for premier level support, it's as we've both said. You have it through your MSDN license or you pay for it. That's just how it goes. But, this is an area similar to licensing. I always recommend contacting Microsoft directly when talking about licensing. If you think you're entitled to more support, contact Microsoft. We could be off on this.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
April 5, 2013 at 3:30 pm
You can contact support. But for premier level support, it's as we've both said. You have it through your MSDN license or you pay for it. That's just how it goes. But, this is an area similar to licensing. I always recommend contacting Microsoft directly when talking about licensing. If you think you're entitled to more support, contact Microsoft. We could be off on this.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
April 5, 2013 at 4:24 pm
Part of the reason the KBs are there is to allow you to perform self-support. If you think that's not the case, or you are not sure you can solve this, you need to open a case.
If this is within MSDN/Technet, a bug, or perhaps a new installation, you may not be charged. If you are, it's usually a few hundred dollars (used to be $250 or $350), which is not unreasonable.
You can also call according to this article to see if you have warranty support. Provide your product key
April 8, 2013 at 8:47 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (4/5/2013)
Part of the reason the KBs are there is to allow you to perform self-support. If you think that's not the case, or you are not sure you can solve this, you need to open a case.If this is within MSDN/Technet, a bug, or perhaps a new installation, you may not be charged. If you are, it's usually a few hundred dollars (used to be $250 or $350), which is not unreasonable.
You can also call according to this article to see if you have warranty support. Provide your product key
Steve, thanks for reply.
I am pretty sure the KB I found addressed the issue we had. Our IT /SAN consultant thinks the same as well.
Anyway, I am testing on a Cluster LAB environment which very similar configuration, at least, Windows and SQL version, in order to be more confident before applying.
Appreciate the responses.
Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply