We use both. Sometimes my peers have the answers that Symantec has not come up with yet, or have discovered (verified bugs) that Symantec is not aware of.

We have BCS for Availability and Security.

As a contractor deploying EV across Canada and the USA, I refer to this site if I am attempting to resolve a technical issue and I encourage my clients to do the same.

Thank You!

Rick Grigg

 I provide onite support to clients during business hours (usually 8x5) and monitor their Symantec security products.

I rarely contact Symantec support for the issues I encounter.

I visit the site on an almost daily basis mostly to answer posts. Sometimes I request for help while waiting for Symantec to answer.

Well, i came to know about Connect from a Symantec NBU trainer during NBU 6.5 classroom training. I created an account in connect for searching some information about Backup Exec. Filed a discussion under BE forum and got some useful answers and from thereon i started visiting connect site daily and ended up answering to others posts. As i learned BE myself and not much experienced in production environments, sometimes my answeres will go wrong and getting corrected by TAs and other fellow users. In that way also, it is a good learning experience for me.

Symantec Connect 

Thanks...

As a contractor deploying BE and SEP I rarely contact Symantec Support .

Only if I can´t fix the problem or I couldn´t find a solution here or elsewhere.

Hi,

Yes we do...we have support for Backup Exec. Been visiting this site for over 3 years now, and tend to get most of what I am looking for from here at times...I only contact support when I am seriously stuck.

Been working quite extensively with BE for a lot longer, so my knowledge is quite good...

Thanks!

I both use connect to get aware of news, issues arround products, get solutions and mostly get training from connect. I posted myself a lot of videos so that to help others.

Of course, I have support (as Symantec Distributor partner)... and already use it to solve some issues.

Regards

Director of Information Tecnology. We have contracts with SEP and Backup Exec. I usually come to the forums first when I have a problem to fix. If I can't find the solution through an exhaustive search, I'll open a case with Symantec over the phone.

If I have spare time, I'll come to SEP forum to help others, but lately I simply have not had the extra time. A few years ago, I had extra time and was a regular on the SEP forums and earned a TA status as I had a solid understanding of SEP (still do). My job responsibilities grew so much that I barely have time and will sometime browse the forums at night from home.

Support has gotten to be so bad, that I cringe when I have to call them!  I have found many answers on Connect when support has had no clue as to the problem.

Like some other posts, I have used Backup Exec for several releases and I am completely comfortable with the product.  We also use Altiris 6.9 and for primary support, I turn to another independant of Symantec forum for support.

When I'm searching for an Altiris error, it is typically very specific.  I can go to google and rarely find what I'm looking for regarding Altiris products.  It's also rare that I can find anything specific on Connect.  I use connect to get an overview of new products, check out best practices from other folks, and rarely use the forums to find an answer to an issue I'm troubleshooting.  The old kb.altiris.com was slightly better at searches on keywords - but only slightly. 

We have a support contract that includes a TAM, and typically we will use him first to save wasted time searching.

Hi,

We use support using three sources

First We ask our colleagues in Colombia and try to solve locally

Second We visit Enterprise Support web page to try to solve; looking for key words

Third If the problem is related to create new functionality’s like scripts, or best practices We look into connect

After that is anything work to find solutions or way to improve the behavior We use our customer support contract to open a new case with the severity related to the kind of impact.

Best Regards,

Gonzalo Gomez

We do have a support agreement in place.  Using SEP/SEE/BE/NS6-7,HD6-SD7, we find outselves out here quite often.  Great site and a lot of talent out here.  It's hit or miss most of the time on searching for some resolutions, but do get some valid info.  It would be nice to see 3rd-party books (retail) along the lines of the Dummies series ;-) for some products such as creating reports, configurations, etc as there is limited documentation that actually show examples.  Not all companies have the ability to bring in consultants or are able to send their techs to training. 

Z

I have a support contract but check connect first.  Last 2 times I was answered on here before support called me back have making the request.

Can't always find what I need on the support site, especially for Altiris products, so I generally head to Connect for Altiris answers.

As others have stated, the search engine could be improved. I search for something in Endpoint Management, and get search results from SEV. Searching on a specific string doesn't always work either. For example, if I want to search for "this doesn't work", I'll get hits for "this" and "doesn't" and "work".

We have BCS & RPS which we use mostly, but we also use this quorm when we are researching problems/issues.

We have a support contract in place with Symantec for both SEP and Altiris solutions. I use Connect as an initial step to find a solution, then the KB, then my support engineer. I also find it useful to see what others are experiencing as many new and creative ideas usually come from the customers and not necessarily from the developers.

We have support agreements for NBU, BE, SAV/SEP, and Altiris.

I basically use Connect as my primary support resource for all of our Symantec products.  Let's just say, I have had less than stellar luck in getting anything resolved when using other support services.  The only reason we maintain any of our agreements is to have upgrade protection.

We have a support contract. I don't use it until all other options have been exhausted first.

yes, we do have support agreement, that includes support for DS, AMS, NS and HD. We rarely call for support except for AMS most often. We use Connect for KB, latest news and update/upgrades.

I use Connect as a first attempt at resolving an issue but with little expectation of actually finding anything useful. I found the old KB much more helpful. Then I call support and I usually find that I wasn't going to find the answer on Connect anyway. I try to help others out when I have time or I post issues as I find them to try to save other people time and headache.

I agree that Connect often has good answers, but too often it is very hard to find those answers.  A better search engine would go along way to helping this.  We generally start with Connect and then move on to support if we can not get and answer.

Support is so bad as a last resort I call in.  Connect is usefull and the KB articles.  The real problem is that when you do call support they are just searching the KB articles with you on the phone. I have had several calls where I have the article open and the tech is reading word for word what to do. Im using CCS10.5 and end up in INDIA frontline support.  Its the worst support for any product ever.

Every time I have requested help from tech's in Houston where the product originated as Bindview and it takes OVER 2hrs to get by front line only to have another tech in india calling back..  If it wasnt for having a connection to a backline support person I would seriously look for a different product.  

I will admit that I may have been spoiled when it was just Altiris but that is my point of reference. If I run into a problem that is over my head, I always log a support case, but continue to look for anwers.  Sense the merger of support services, I have most often been able to find my own solution prior to getting any response from Support. It is almost always days before I get a response.  My current case (logged critical)has been open for 2 weeks and the response I have received has been a couple of e-mails; 1 pointing to an article that I had already stated when I logged the case and another asking for my log files. No phone call, or any interaction to show they understand the nature of my problem.

I use many resources including connect.  I think we have all been let down by the poor quality of the content migration from the former Altiris KB site. I would like to see the paid for support service become worth the money I am paying for it.  I feel it is best to have a support agreement when your business is dependant upon the product.

I would pay extra 30 - 40% for support like I do with Dell for gold support.  You get right to someone that has the answer and helps you.  Not someone in India that follows a script and will not sway at all. 

First, yes, I do keep my maintenance agreements current for the Symantec products I use. Second, while the Connect site is very helpful, I agree that it can be quite cumbersome to find answers to questions. Perhaps returning to something along the lines of the old user Forums, seperate ones for both Consumer and Business/Enterprise, might be the way to go. I use to be a Symantec Support Volunteer about 10 years ago on the consumer side before the Support group on that side was dismantled and sold or transferred to another company instead of remaining as a function of a specific Symantec business unit.

Connect is always my first attempt at solving my own problem.  I do have unlimited Symantec Support, but I hate calling support for various reasons.  I typically visit Connect weekly.  Sometimes to look for anything that I can answer, but mostly for looking for answers.  I don't know what I would do without Connect.

We have a support contract. I am new to Connect so I am used to doing a Google search when I have an issue and when I can't find the answer I move on to support. I found that when I open the case as a SEV 1 I don't typcally have to answer a bunch of nonsense questions that the offshore techs ask you and get right to someone that helps you get to the bottom of the issue in a timely fashion and you can actually understand them. I will try Connect in the future.

very seldom use it. Going by some of the posts I've seen recently I hope it stays that way.

On here daily, mainly to assist as best I can with others issues.

As an aside, just wondering if there's some confusion above between Connect (Forum) & KnowledgeBase? (altho' search on both does leave a lot to be desired!)

Like Jesses' suggestion ( https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/ple... ) to:

"Create a self service troubleshooting tool that is integrated into Connect that asks the user a (probably long) series of questions that will take the user to a more closely tuned set of results and solutions. This could then be continued to potentially link the troubleshooting tool to a case building tool that could be revamped on mysupport.symantec.com."

- could do with something similar just to get the basic information into Connect posts initially!

base level support, so I am on connect almost daily and tend to find answers here quicker than through support. Yes, search function could be improved, but it still gets me an answer quicker than the support. In addition, the site is very helpful to let you know about potential bugs in the software (SEP).

I have actually referred to threads on the connect site when opening up cases with support.

I like connect quite a bit. Unfortunately not very well sorted in terms of tied to specific OS or version...so needs a bit of searching hardship. Have had occassion to call on actual tech support just a couple of times and have not been crazy about the experience,

I search connect for information frequently but have not used support much.  I think our support is lapsed or set to lapse soon.

We have always used Connect and the KB first.  Although it seems that with NS 7 there is not a lot of content our there yet.  There also is not a way to narrow your search to look for just NS 7 content.  The articles on NS 6 are now of very little use to us.

Please continue to enhance Connect and the KB as the call-in support options are very lacking.  Finding someone knowledgeable and getting them to contact you back in a timely manner is EXTREMELY difficult.

The Community support on Connect is really a lifeline.

We are a 1,200 person company with a 45 person IT department, and pay for support.

I am relatively new to Altiris, Symantec and Connect. I always try to answer my questions with Internet (read: Google) searches first, and Connect often comes up at the top of my searches, so I am learning to come here first. I am generally a lurker on Connect, but hope to get good enough to contribute back at some point!

I echo comments here on issues with call in support. The Symantec front line is annoying at best, and at times I have had a lot of run around and waiting before getting to someone who can actually help. The Altiris and Wise people are great when I do finally get to them.

I was a Backup exec customer from the year 2000. To tell you the truth phone support was horrible back then. It got better later for a year or two but I now find it horrendous. I go to connect before anything else and I think I have had every issue discussed and pointed me in the right direction.

I also have SEP and it's phone support seems to be much better the 2 times I have called.. But again I still go to Connect first. There seems to be more actual Symantec employees trolling the SEP forum and for me it has been espcially good.

Maybe a full time engineer trolling the Backup Exec forum-one that know the weird issues especially.

I used McAfee the last 2 years and they have an online chat which I found it very indespensible. You can watch TV at night and do it since you don't have to listen. The would even do a remote session. And that was 24/7 Monday through Friday. Maybe an online chat feature for Symantec.

We do buy support but that really is for licensing and updates etc.

I have been using connect from past 3 yrs and  do find it  very informative , infact have resolved many issues which support could not/ But one thing i really found useful is seer support documents,Also would like Symantec engineers to comeup with some interesting real time issues that they encountred and solved them,

Wonder if there is any index available of the documents , for e.g if i am facing issues on RMAN, would just search RMAN and get all the issues that were faced by customers and resolved by Symantec engineer or customer itself.

I do have a support contract, and use it. I've just begun starting to use the Connect forums for help, but I'm skeptical of their usefulness. A majority of the posts I've seen go unresolved and unanswered, especially with Altiris products.

I do have a support contract, but I think you lost a lot of the altiris people when symantec bought them. Symantec is not very organized and I spend loads of time just looking for infomation. 

Hi,

Iam having the support contract with symantec..as we are the cutomers for symantec for past 10 years and this connect is more helpful for me...

I'm on here because we find the Symantec support contract pretty ineffectual for getting timely assistance with issues we experience with SEP.  So I come on the forums begging ideas from fellow users hoping to be able to help myself.

Do NOT have a support agreement, most issues are resolved in house by the team of technicians we have

Before Symantec buy ALTIRIS, we were able to contract separatly a "software Update Assurance", and "Support contract". Now, the "Maintenance" is a single contract, yearly or more, including update & support.

It is a nightmare: Not the fact only 1 contract for both, that is a good Idea, particulary for the Altiris complex platform.

But the fact we need to manage & maintain 2 or 6 contacts, for "MySupport". Never correclty "pre-regsitered", ticket open refused because not able to find the good information. Must open with another email correctly registered if we are in emergency, answer not going goof person... And repeat each year, for each contract, because not a "customer" contract, but a "solution" by "solution" one...

For altiris, we also need to use the "Licensing" portal to manage & must "combine" licenses. the 2 portals are not synchronyzed, but you need the licence info management, tp provide them ourself to "MySupport" for being able to "handle" our support request.

That's seems Symantec support act as no technical support capable partners was existing: and prefer getting ticket opening from "not technical certified" customers, instead of "technical certified partners" ?

But the worst:

We are Partner: So we try to help more 20 Altiris customers. And we are not allowed to register our "servicedesk" email for "MySupport" on our customers. Symantec talk a lot about "Experimented" partners must be, and provide a lot of presale support & materials. But after that, for backline & postsales activities and support: the nightmare to manage hundreds of contracts "MySupport" + "Licensing"...

What we need, SIMPLIFY, AUTOMATION:

Symantec:

• Build a more simple "Licensing" portal.
• Coordinate the "MySupport" automatically with "Licensing"
• Allow a simple "My EPM partner is" association so we can configure 1 time our ServiceDesk system to open customers incidents to Symantec, quickly, simply...

That's it. Thanks your feedback.

We use both Support and Connect.

I visit Connect several times a month to review new posts, help when I can, and find answers to problems.   We have Business Critical Support but honestly the response time we get from either the helpdesk staff or from the dedicated account manager is usually very slow.  All the great folks who contribute to Connect reply faster than anything I have seen from Support.

Use both support and connect though I have much better luck with connect.   I have tried opening a few cases with support but after waiting for a reply then not being able to contact a support agent that left me a voicemail at 2:30am (sorry I'm sleeping), I end up coming to connect where my question is answered.  Personally I will continue to pay because it has proved helpful in the past, but not this year.

Current deployments include; SEP, SEE, Altiris and we are about to jump into the Symantec PGP arena for whole disk and removable drive encryption.  We do have support contracts for all and in addition, are very fortunate to have access to a Remote Products Specialist for SEP.  My RPS is fantastic - quick response and very agile with seemingly common and uncommon issues.  I use Connect sparingly, but it is usually my first stop for support. I have had pretty good luck finding solutions, news and interesting tidbits on the site.        A good example of Connect solved case for me; our recent SMB2 debacle. Solution for this behaviour, prior to the advent of RU6_MP3, located wholly on Connect.  Good Form!!

As we are currently working on a SEP deployment, I tend to contact our remote product specialist directly more than using the site

I'm off-site IT for several dozen companies and have several dozen current suppoirt agreements in a file here in my office with copies on-site.

Because I do so many SEP installs and upgrades I tend to encounter wide ranging problems when I do have one. Fortunately I've only had to actually call sipport twice in the last 12 months and both situations were far from optimal. The answers couldn't be found on the internet or the connect site no matter what phrase or words were used for thre search.

With that said I would almost rather have a finger nail pulled out than go through 2 hours or more of problem solving with some of the phone support people. They try and they are persistent and would take all the time in the world if that's what it takes but I sometimes feel they can't think for themselves. IMO.

I do for SEP but not for all of my backup exec installs.  I prefer to come here first to see if i can figure out what the problem is because sometimes support takes too long or is cumbersome to deal with.

Although some have found support ineffectual, I would like to commend Symantic. Any problems I have ever personally encountered have been quickly, and very effectually corrected with the utmost courtesy and professionalism. After McAfee's terrible support and impolite "help," I would not have any one other than Norton, and I reccomend their products every chance I can. Thank you so very much :)

As a Symantec reseller sitting in an inside sales position, I rarely am involved in technical discussion.  When I do have technical questions, I usually can provide the answers or get them from my sales contacts at Symantec and Ingram Micro.

Consulting in Altiris Asset Management, Client Management, Service Desk, Workflow, SEP 11, and BE, primarily, Connect is my primary place to get solutions, mainly because I can post screen grabs and get feedback quickly....often a lot sooner than when I wait on the phone for 45+ minutes for the more unique problems or that minor irritating, "How did that happen?" 

I am with Technical support with Symantec

Joined as L1, then as Sr. Technical support, Escalation Lead and now serving as IT lead,

Been visiting this site for over 3 years now to share knowledge

Unfortunately happened to create a new ID.

I was previously with Commonwealth of Technology.  I have moved to Workforce Development.  WFD currently uses the service desk and I'm the backup to the current administrator.

I always use it whenever or whatever problem it is i 70% times get solutions :)

Yes, we have a contract.

But Connect give us a whole lot of interesting ideas.

Also sometimes we get to know of possible pitfalls in advance.

Yes, we have a contract but I look to Connect and the Altirigos sites. I am now using phone support only when absolutely necessary. The wait times to talk to someone who can actually help have been 1.5-2 hours. The last times I have called there were no wait time notifications so I had no idea where I was in the queue. 

We are an Altiris shop and have just added Symantec EP. In recent months wait times for both have become unbearable. We are grateful when we get to someone who really knows the business that we are calling about. The former Altiris guys are exceptional!!

I tend to check here first before opening a support case. I will agree with those that have said it's not always that easy to find what we're looking for using this site's search functionality.

Did you want us to vote yes per the thread title

    Please Share Whether Or Not You Have A Current Support Agreement With Symantec 

or by the first sentence which asks a different question

:    We are trying to get an idea of how many people on Connect actually use the site as their preferred method for resolving their issues.   

... because I have a 24/7 support agreemnt AND Connect and KB docs are what I use before calling support.

Thanks

"A parsing or network error has occurred." when trying to submit a vote.

I visit it ocassionally depends on the problem i face :)

We do have a current support agreement with Symantec.  I generally reach out to the board when I want to know how others do what I am trying to accomplish.  With Symantec support, it is mostly a canned response and outside of the box thinking doesn't always occur.  It all depends on the support rep you get on the phone.

We do have a support contract that we just got this year. I always start here first though and then move onto using the support number. I have found it difficult to use support since it seems I need to have a good 1-2 block of time that I can spend waiting on the phone.

     Monthly or less

     None of the above.

I would prefer a way to self support for all issues with DLP; however I find that the site takes quite a bit of time to find the best way to describe your issues at hand and then you may not even find the fix.  A recent example is that I often see a "White Screen" with my DLP and each time I have found different source for causing the issue.  I could not find any help in the support site and did not have time to wait for an answer here. 

Maybe if you Googleized the Search and Return features it would be more helpful.  Also, I would very much like to find documentation that explains how the product works and what each module does so I can hand that off to new staff for thier reading and understanding of DLP.  The confusion of how everything works takes the longest to explain....

We have a supoort contract but I normally use this site to try and resolve any issues I have before calling in the big guns

As an Enterprise Vault consultant I tend to spend alot of time on the Connect forums as they help me keep up with product changes and nuances. It also lets me see other peoples idea's and opinions on technical issues.

As for support I tend to find SYMC support to be a little slow, I have a critical case that has had one response in 2 weeks, great explaining to a customer that without supports input we are dead in the water.

As a AV Consultant we do have support and we are Symantec Partner. However I don't call support, if there is really a need I always get someone to call them 

+1

Even I learned SEP on connect which didin't after attending training from Symantec Team.

Gr8 and knowledgeable forum site and have all users are veru much expertise here to understand and providing solutions.

Heads UP :).......

STS here in many Symantec products.  (NBU, EV, BE, SEP)

Symantec support at least Tier 1 is terrible.  

Contact times are horrendus and NEVER meet SLA's that are paid for

Resolution often takes weeks.  

These forums offer a faster response time than anything short of a premium BCS contract can provide.  I'd rather engage in a 3rd party Symantec support company than Symantec itself if I could.  But that would mean paying for support twice which is not smart.

I utilize our SE for everything. Seems to be my best bet as it gets escalated quickly.

When I need information for PGP I go to the forums.  My needs have not been many once PGP is set up.  Prior to the merger with Symantec PGP offered chat and evenlogged onto my machine to take care of my issues without charge.  Does Symantec still offer that?

We don't have support contracts; we licensed Symantec products from the Symantec donation program. Those NFR licenses don't come with a support contract, which is fine up to the point where you experience a disaster. Also, sometimes it is frustrating to depend on connect support, especially the major issues often cannot be solved on connect forums. However, connect community is awesome besides the fact that the servers are sometimes  a bit slow in europe. Also I'm very thankful for Symantec donation program; non-profits IT often don’t have the resources to work with decent equipment such as BE or SEP.

I use Connect, but it has the most god-awful login/account system EVER. Just refused to

log me in ONCE AGAIN so I had to create yet another account. Symantec needs to figure out why this is so error-prone.

We have a support contract. many interesting things here, it's helpful for me

I've got current support agreements for both Backup Exec and Endpoint protection.  Both good products with great support.

We have support for Netbackup, Endpoint, and Enterprise Vault. I usually find an answer here on connect (albeit with some digging), but sometimes a support call is warranted.

We have a current support contract, but I find that I can get about 50% of my issues resolved by searching the connect community.  The searches are very well indexed.  I just have to know what strings I need to search for.

Some issues that I can't resolve, I open up a ticket with Symantec.  They can usually get it resolved, and resolution time depends on the severity.  I've had lower-level calls resolve in 3 weeks and higher level calls resolve between 3-8 hours.

I am one of those people who had a contract with PGP when it was incorporated into Symantec.  That agreement included both telephone and web support.  Unilaterally Symantec cancelled the phone support.  The web based support diminished in both timeliness and quality to the point it was nearly useless.  I asked for a refund but was denied since my original contract was over 90 days old.  They never did understand that I was happy until the Symantec decision to change the contract and I was within the 90 days on their decision.  So, the 90 days should have been counted from their decision which, in effect created a new contract.

I foiund the KB to be in error on several occasions and email responses to be educated guesses that sometimes were good but most times not.

As a result of this experience I definitely am not a Symantec supporter or fan.  As a result I know of several people who have picked products by other companies.  Maybe small potatoes in Symantec's mind.  But,,potatoes never the less.

On a related subject the Knowledge Base is poorly organized and actuually conflicts with itself on several matters.  The reality is that when a customer installs a Symantec Procuctt (specifically PGP) the customer is engaging in an experiment with no, or very little, help by Symantec.  If one is an employee of a large company and can afford to do test installations prior to expanding to the whole company this may work even though it is not very economical.  For those of us who have 3-5 computers this is totally unacceptable.

When the experiment runs into a problem the Support answer is usually to refer to a Knowledge Base article that was eiither wrong to start with, or was so poorly written it was easitly misinterpreted.  The "support" technician generaly had no clue and since we couldn't talk and were imited to email no way to clarify.