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inventory. Electronic Service Agent can help focus on your company's strategic business
initiatives, save time, and spend less effort managing day to day IT maintenance issues.
Now integrated in AIX 5L V5.3 TL6 in addition to the HMC, Electronic Service Agent
automatically and electronically reports system failures and issues to IBM, and that can result
in faster problem resolution and increased availability. System configuration and inventory
information collected by Electronic Service Agent also can be viewed on the secure
Electronic Service Web portal, and used to improve problem determination and resolution
between the client and the IBM support team. As part of an increased focus to provide better
service to IBM clients, Electronic Service Agent tool configuration and activation is standard
with the system. In support of this effort, an HMC external connectivity security whitepaper
has been published, which describes data exchanges between the HMC and the IBM Service
Delivery Center (SDC) and the methods and protocols for this exchange.
To access Electronic Service Agent user guides, perform the following steps:
1. Go to the IBM Electronic Services Web site at:
https://www-304.ibm.com/jct03004c/support/electronic/portal
2. Select your country or region.
3. Click Electronic Service Agent
Note: To receive maximum coverage, activate Electronic Service Agent on every platform,
partition, and HMC in your network. If your IBM System p server is managed by an HMC,
the HMC can report all hardware problems, and the AIX operating system can report only
software problems and system information. You must configure the Electronic Service
Agent on the HMC. The AIX operating system will not report hardware problems for a
system managed by an HMC.
IBM Electronic Service provide the following benefits:
Increased uptime
Electronic Service Agent enhances the warranty and maintenance service by providing
faster hardware error reporting and uploading system information to IBM support. This can
optimize the time monitoring the symptoms, diagnosing the error, and manually calling
IBM support to open a problem record. 24x7 monitoring and reporting means no more
dependency on human intervention or off-hours client personnel when errors are
encountered in the middle of the night.
Security
Electronic Service Agent is secure in monitoring, reporting, and storing the data at IBM.
Electronic Service Agent securely transmits through the Internet (HTTPS or VPN) and can
be configured to communicate securely through gateways to provide clients a single point
of exit from their site. Communication between the client and IBM only flows one way.
Activating Service Agent does not permit IBM to call into a client's system. System
inventory information is stored in a secure database, which is protected behind IBM
firewalls. Your business applications or business data is never transmitted to IBM.
More accurate reporting
Because system information and error logs are automatically uploaded to the IBM support
center in conjunction with the service request, your are not required to find and send
system information, decreasing the risk of misreported or misdiagnosed errors. When
inside IBM, problem error data is run through a data knowledge management system and
knowledge articles are appended to the problem record.
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IBM Power 595 Technical Overview and Introduction
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