NetWare 5 Service and Support

Chapter 2: Using Electronic Research Tools When Troubleshooting

 

Objectives:

This chapter introduces two research tools: Novell Internet Services and Other web based information sites. The objectives important to this chapter are on page 2-1:

1. Find Troubleshooting Information with Novell Internet Services
2. Find Troubleshooting Information with Technical Information and Vendor Web Sites
3. Choose the Appropriate Research Tool

Concepts:

This chapter tells you about several ways to get help with Novell problems, and with hardware problems.

The first tools described are Novell's online services, specifically three services available through the Internet:

• www.novell.com - This is Novell's main web site, where you can find lots of company and product information.
• support.novell.com - This is Novell's support web site, where you can access detailed information about their products, including the answers to many questions that have been called in to Novell.
• ftp.novell.com - This is Novell's ftp (file transfer protocol) site, where you can download patches and other software.

The text specifies minimum requirements for connecting to the Internet:

• a connection, such as is provided by an ISP (e.g. Earthlink, AT&T, AOL, etc.)
• a browser, such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Communicator
• one of the following: an IP stack, an IP/IPX gateway, or access to an Internet access provider who does not require its clients to use IP (e.g. AOL)

These online resources are preferred over CD based versions, because they are more likely to be regularly updated. A CD is a snapshot of the resources available at the time it was recorded. The support site, called Novell Support Connection, is the most relevant site for this course.

To summarize, you can use the CD if you have no access to the Internet. You can converse with other users and Novell experts, get the most recent files and information from Novell itself on its web sites.

Major features of the Support Connection web site include:

• Site Assistant - an automated tour of the site
• Incident Tracking - access to information about "incidents" you have reported to Novell. An incident is a trouble call.
• Technical Answers - You can access Novell experts through forums (web boards) where you post questions for an expert to answer.
• Colleague Communication - The forums can also be used to share information and concerns with other Novell users.
• Technical Information and Files - drivers, patches, and information about their use. I find the Knowledgebase and the Product Specific Support pages to be most useful when I am looking for a procedure or the answer to a problem.

On page 2-8, the book begins its discussion of some information you can find on Technical and Vendor sites on the Internet. The critical thing for certification is first to know that you look up Novell information on the Novell site, while you look up information about networking hardware on the Technical sites, or sites provided by specific hardware vendors..

Novell states that it is not endorsing any specific web site that provides general technical information. It provides some examples of such sites in Chapter 2, but there are many more. I recommend that you become familiar with some sites you find useful, and that you practice using a good web search engine (such as Google) to find information you may not know about.

You should review the chart on page 2-16 and the table on page 2-17, to make sure you understand which of the three information sources you should use in a given situation. Review the advantages and disadvantages listed for each one.