Let’s face it, dealing with Oracle Support can be a nightmare. Oracle Support often responds in what feels like a put-them-off-so-they-won’t-bother-me fashion, which drags out even Severity 1 issues. The sobering fact is, sometimes Oracle Support is necessary, and the keys to working with them are:
- Avoiding their involvement in first place
- Knowing how to focus and streamline a request through the system
The advantage to using a managed service provider like Blue Gecko is that we manage many customers who all deal with similar problems. Once we resolve an Oracle bug the first time (through the TAR process or not) we don’t have to go through the entire resolution process again; subsequent customers get the benefit of our collective knowledge with every interaction. Because we see so many issues in so many environments, and because of our outstanding staff, who are less likely to require Oracle Support for more than true software bugs, we help our customers avoid the cumbersome support process in the first place.
When dealing with Oracle Support, the key is focus: Deliver tightly defined diagnostics, clear problem descriptions, keep the Oracle Support engineers focused on the specific problem at hand, and the support process will be faster and more accurate every time. Blue Gecko DBAs deal with Oracle Support on behalf our customers all the time. We are 7×24, so we can follow a Severity 1 issue through the night without burning people out from lack of sleep. Plus, because we are experienced DBAs, we can tell when the troubleshooting process is getting off track and either steer it back in line or escalate within Oracle Support at any time of the day or night.