Re: Oracle Support is next to useless !

Greetings;

I am one of the two technical contacts for Oracle at the University of Alaska, and we also have some serious concerns regarding Oracle Technical Support. Our environment consists of:

	Oracle 7.1.4 soon to be 7.1.6
	Silver support
	sql*net version 2
	DEC Alpha 8400 2 gig RAM, 2 cpu's (soon to increase to 6 gig RAM and 4 processors)
	Digital Unix v3.2D
	SCT's Banner suite of products (Finance, Student, Payroll etc) all run Oracle Forms 3
	Currently averaging 150+ concurrent data base connections 8-5 M-F (only live on one application),
		and expected to increase to 500+ concurrent users

Some of the issues we're concerned with are:

	The time it takes to get "emergency, production down" support. A recent system
	crash (Digital Unix) corrupted our production database. The recovery took approx
	30 hours, the first 1.5 of which I was waiting on hold with Oracle TS, and then waiting
	for an analyst to call me back. This after having pressed "9" or whatever it is to indicate
	that this was a "production down" situation. We're currently live with a finance package,
	which is somewhat flexible in regards to outtages, but when we go live with our student 
	system, this kind of response will be unacceptable.

	I've called in lots of TAR's, and with almost every single one, the feeling I get is that the first
	line of support is a "defensive" line, and to a certain extent, I can understand that. We realize 
	that Oracle TS gets zillions of calls, and alot of those are probably dealing with users trying to 
	install, for example, windows products and are running out of room on their C drives. However,  I go 
	through the same old routine with almost every TAR where I attempt (hopefully successfully:) 
	to convince the analyst that i'm not a bonehead, that i'm in a production environment, that I have
	hundreds of users, that i'm dealing with an online financial application, that I've read the manuals.
	When I contact support, I get the impression that they view me as a customer who has screwed
	something up, as opposed to a customer who has a problem and requires assistance. It gets very 
	frustrating.

	How hard it is to get to level 2 support. I'm not sure if that's what Oracle calls it, but i'm
	referring to the next level of support after the initial analyst. Case in point - Oracle Names.
	I've been running names for over a year, yet almost any time I need to call regarding MTS,
	listener problems etc, the first thing the analyst will want to see is my listener.ora, and tnsnames.ora
	files. I don't know how many times I've had to tell the analyst that you don't have a tnsnames.ora
	file when you use Names. I've literally jumped for joy when I've gotten past some of the first level 
	support analysts to someone more qualified. I can tell very quickly when I've contacted an analyst
	who is very competent in regards to the product in question. Why can't the first level analysts tell
	the same about me, and if they're unable to provide the level of support I will likely require, forward
	me on to level 2. I think that the first level folks need to be better equipped to evaluate the caller
	and his/her situation, and environment. I'm not trying to install Personel Oracle7 here, I'm trying
	to support the mission critical applications of the University of Alaska.

	Hearing things like "I'll ask my recovery expert when he gets back". That's what I was told recently
	during a "production down, emergency" situation. Call me greedy, but in that situation, THAT'S the 
	analyst I want to be talking to.

Our initial investment for Oracle software was over $500,000.00 and support costs us more than $100,000.00 per year. We're currently considering going to Gold support in the hopes that that level would alleviate some of our concerns.

Now, in conclusion I would like to say that I have received good support from Oracle as well. I've worked with some very intellegent, and qualified people who have provided me with answers to my Oracle problems. This however, is not the norm, based on my experience.

BTW, is there anything like an Oracle internals class? I do not mean the DBA training stuff. Are the internals documented anywhere?

David J. DeWolfe
Systems Programmer III
Statewide Office of Information Services University of Alaska
<sxdjd_at_orca.alaska.edu> Received on Thu May 02 1996 - 00:00:00 CEST