I’ve Got a Cisco Service Contract – Now What?

In part one of our Now What? series, we’ll be addressing the question – I’ve got a Cisco service contract, now what? – with our first blog on Cisco’s TAC (Technical Assistance Center) support.

Cisco’s TAC is a wonderful resource designed to assist Cisco partners and customers with a variety of tasks, from helping you troubleshoot issues associated with your Cisco product to assisting you with returning a defective Cisco product.

Here are a few of the most-asked questions we’ve received…and their answers:

Q: How can I access Cisco Technical Support?
A: Visit the Cisco Technical Support Website at www.cisco.com/techsupport, available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The site contains a wealth of tools and documents for troubleshooting and resolving technical issues associated with Cisco products & technologies. A CCO username & password are required to access most of the information.

Q: How do I submit a service request?
A: For minor issues, the best way to submit a request is through the online TAC Service Request Tool at www.tools.cisco.com/ServiceRequestTool/create/. For major issues where your network is down or severely degraded, contact Cisco TAV via telephone (1-800-553-2447 in US). For both online or phone cases, you will need to provide: service & support contract number and product serial number, network topology and explanation, output from show tech command (if applicable or available), description of problem and symptoms, and software versions & types of equipment.

For more information about Cisco’s TAC support, including severity designations, what you can expect when you create a service request, how you can track your service request, a listing of frequently accessed tools, and more, visit Cisco’s Technical Support Overview page at http://www.cisco.com/tacpage/news_training/tac_overview.html.