Support FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I contact Erlang Solutions about Support?
- What is supported?
- Which versions of Erlang/OTP are supported?
- Which environments and platforms are supported?
- What type of support is provided?
- What levels of support are there?
- How is support provided?
- What information do I need to provide when submitting a request for support?
- Can I purchase more Trouble Tickets and/or Consultancy Hours?
- I don’t have a support contract; can I get support right now?
- Can I have non-standard support?
- What does it cost?
- What is a Trouble Ticket?
- How do I log a Trouble Ticket?
- Can ESL work remotely on our machines?
- Will my code be secure?
- What is the status of my Trouble Ticket?
- How do I accept the solution?
- Can I ‘Close’ a Trouble Ticket?
- Can a ‘Closed’ Trouble Ticket be re-opened?
- What other Support Services do you offer?
- How do I find more information?
1. How do I contact Erlang Solutions about Support?
| Phone from UK: | 020 7456 1020 |
| Phone International: | +44 20 7456 1020 |
| Webform: | Support Contact Form |
| Helpdesk for existing customers: | Support Helpdesk |
2. What is supported?
Support is provided for the Erlang/OTP language and associated components and applications, as supplied by Ericsson through Open Source. There are additional systems configurations in which we also have the expertise to meet your support requirements. Platforms not specified in either list will be supported on a Time and Materials Consultancy basis.
The Erlang Components and Applications included as standard varies, depending on which level of support you select. Components that are not included in a particular standard support plan can be added as an optional extra to the plan.
Additionally, we provide support for bespoke projects which Erlang Solutions Limited has developed for and behalf of clients; and those developed in-house or by other organisations.
In all cases, before a contract is agreed, Erlang Solutions Limited will undertake an assessment of your system setup so that a full understanding of your needs can be assured.
3. Which versions of Erlang/OTP are supported?
In all our Standard Plans, we support the three most recent generations of major releases of Erlang/OTP plus all associated minor releases. For example, assuming the current release is R100B3 then ESL supports...
Releases R98, R99 and R100,
AND all intermediary minor releases for R98 and R99
AND all subsequent minor releases for R100.
Refer to the list of Erlang/OTP releases on erlang.org for the most up to date catalogue of major and minor releases.
Refer to the question Which environments and platforms are supported? for details about the operating systems and hardware combinations which are supported in our Standard Support Plans.
In an Extended Support Plan we provide support for all Erlang/OTP releases PLUS non-standard platforms.
With all the Support Plans any Erlang/OTP error needs to be reproducible on a Standard Supported Platform. If this is not achievable then ESL will work to resolve the issue on a separate Time and Materials basis.
4. Which environments and platforms are supported?
It is also important which platform your Erlang/OTP version is installed on as not all combinations of Erlang/OTP version, Operating System and Hardware are supported. Refer to the Standard Supported Platforms webpage for the current list of platforms included in our Standard Support Plans.
In an Extended Support Plan we provide support for all Erlang/OTP releases PLUS non-standard platforms.
With all the Support Plans any Erlang/OTP error must be reproducible on a Standard Supported Platform. If this is not achievable then ESL will work to resolve the issue on a separate Time and Materials basis.
5. What type of support is provided?
We provide four types of support:
- Phone In Consultancy Support between 09:00 – 17:00 on normal working days in the UK
- Offsite Technical Support, where we can replicate your environment on our systems
- Remote Access Technical Support, where we have remote access to your system
- On Site Technical Support, where remote access to your system is not possible.
Our aim is to provide solutions as soon as possible; however, if our first line support contact is unable to resolve an issue quickly they will assign the issue to one of our specific subject matter experts. You will be notified by email of all escalations.
6. What levels of support are there?
We offer three standard Support Plans
- Basic – primarily for early adopters and small scale usage
- Business – aimed at business critical systems (live or still in development)
- Enterprise – for mission critical 24/7 systems
Additionally, there is a general Support Plan...
- Extended – for any Erlang/OTP version on any platform or any Erlang/OTP based open-source Application (including eJabberd)
All Plans can then be customised to meet your specific needs.
Included in each Support Plan are associated Support Consultancy Hours, Training Sessions and a quantity of Trouble Tickets. Refer to the Support Summary webpage for details of each Support Plan. Additional Trouble Tickets and Support Consultancy Hours may be purchased at any time.
7. How is support provided?
Phone-In Consultancy Support is provided between 09:00 – 18:00 on normal working days in the UK. Outside of these hours you will be able to leave a message with your details so that we can call you back during the next Phone-In Consultancy Support day.
If you already have a Support Contract with us then issues may be logged via the Erlang Solutions Ticket Tracking System which is available 24 hours a day.
If you do not yet have a Support Contract with us then you can use the Support Contact Form to notify us of the problem and we will respond by the end of the next Phone-In Consultancy Support day.
Resolving an issue may require logging a formal Trouble Ticket and/or Consultancy Hours.
With all the Standard Support Plans any Erlang/OTP error must be reproducible on a Standard Supported Platform. If this is not achievable then ESL will work to resolve the issue on a separate Time and Materials basis.
8. What information do I need to provide when submitting a request for support?
The type and amount of information varies from issue to issue but in addition to
- contact details
- outline of the issue
We will need to know
- the systems configuration including operation system and version
- Erlang/OTP version
- details of any patches applied to the operating system and Erlang/OTP
- any other Open Source components
9. Can I purchase more Trouble Tickets and/or Consultancy Hours?
Yes. Phone the Support Helpline and select the option to talk to Support Sales or send an enquiry using the Support Contact Form.
10. I don’t have a support contract; can I get support right now?
Yes. In anticipation of your intention to enter into contracted support, we will work on a Time and Materials Consultancy basis to help you resolve the current issue. This can be arranged by calling our Support Helpline. We will set up a temporary account for you on the Support Helpdesk, log the issue and email you with details of the logged Trouble Ticket plus a link to the Support Helpdesk with a username and password so that you can track the Trouble Ticket.
11. Can I have non-standard support?
Yes. We appreciate that our three Standard Levels of Support may not meet everything that you need so any of them may be tailored to satisfy your particular needs. In any case, before a Support Contract is agreed we will undertake an assessment of your systems configuration and applications so that a full understanding of the scope of your requirements can be assured.
Additionally, our Extended Support Plan will cover all historical and non-standard Erlang/OTP applications and platforms.
Note that all our Support Plans can be customised to include other non-standard, open-source packages.
12. What does it cost?
Various factors determine the support plan price. Principally, the price depends on which level of support you require, the complexity of your systems environment and which optional extras you wish to include in the support plan. Typically, the annual cost of support for a single site implementation will be about £2,500 for Basic Level, £10,000 for Business Level and £50,000 for Enterprise Level.
13. What is a Trouble Ticket?
A Trouble Ticket is a formal logging of an issue on our Support Helpdesk. Each level of the Support Plan has an associated number of Trouble Tickets and Consultancy Hours. Additional batches of Trouble Tickets and Consultancy Hours may be purchased on an as needed basis.
14. How do I log a Trouble Ticket?
If you already have a Support Contract
- On the left hand side menu click on the Log a Trouble Ticket sub-menu option of Support.
- Alternatively, you can go directly to our Support Helpdesk.
- To log in use the account name, that we gave to you when you signed the Support Contract, and the password that you set.
- Select Submit a New Request option from the menu
- Enter the details
- Submit
- You will be notified on screen and by email that your submission was successful.
If you do not have a Support Contract then follow the procedure outlined in I don’t have a Support Contract; can I get support right now?
15. Can ESL work remotely on our machines?
Yes, see the section What type of support is provided? for this and other types of support we provide.
16. Will my code be secure?
Yes, absolutely. To avoid any confusion:
- All Trouble Ticket submissions are treated confidentially by ESL.
- With the Business and Enterprise Level Support Plan, the business reasons for your application will never be divulged to anyone.
- If ESL is granted remote access to your systems environments we will not disclose the access protocols to anyone.
- If ESL is provided with a copy of your systems environment then we will keep it secure.
With the Basic Level Support Plans, ESL reserves the right to publish issues to the Erlang community. If privacy regarding the business impact for your logged issues is a concern then please consider the Business or Enterprise Level Support Plan, under which we guarantee not to divulge the situation that generated the problem but only distribute the solution.
Resolutions to all Trouble Tickets will be published and distributed in accordance with your Erlang Licence and Open Source principles.
17. What is the status of my Trouble Ticket?
We will have emailed you with a username and password to access our Support Helpdesk.
- Follow the procedure outlined in How do I Log a Trouble Ticket to log into our Support Helpdesk
- Select Check your Existing Requests
We will notify you by email each time there is an update to the Trouble Ticket
18. How do I accept the solution?
We will notify you by email when we provide a solution and set the Trouble Ticket status to ‘Feedback’. It will be your responsibility to ensure that it is applied according to your release methodology and standards. If needed, we can supply Consultants on a Time and Materials basis to implement the solution.
When you are satisfied that the solution is correct you will set the Trouble Ticket status to ‘Accepted’.
If you are not satisfied with the solution then update the Trouble Ticket with appropriate new information and rest the status back to ‘Assigned’.
In either case an automatic notification will be sent to our Support Team who will investigate the issue further, or set the status to ‘Closed’ as appropriate.
19. Can I ‘Close’ a Trouble Ticket?
Yes. If you have ‘Accepted’ a solution you may also set the status to ‘Closed’. Alternatively, if you no longer require ESL to provide a solution then you may set the status to ‘Closed’
20. Can a ‘Closed’ Trouble Ticket be re-opened?
Yes. If the Trouble Ticket was closed in error then it should be re-opened. If the solution was ‘Accepted’ and there is a subsequent issue then a new Trouble Ticket must be raised and a comment put in the issue description referring back to the 'Closed' Trouble Ticket.
21. What other Support Services do you offer?
Support is not just about fixing bugs.
Our philosophy is that Support is a fully integrated part of the whole project lifecycle. Whether you are planning a new project, in the middle of development, migrating to a new platform or version of Erlang/OTP or just maintaining a working production environment we would like to support you by providing our expert advice on application design and implementation.
Analysis of logged issues will be useful in determining specific training needs that will benefit your organisation; thus increasing your overall efficiency and business productivity. Our modular training offering can be adapted and collated to provide customer specific seminars and workshops which are focused on working towards the success of your projects.
Refer to our Consulting webpages for further details on how ESL can provide technical benefits to your applications and business benefits to your projects.
22. How do I find more information?
There are various ways that you can contact us to get more information:
- Phone our Support Helpline and select the call menu option to talk to a consultant about your support needs
- Submit a written enquiry via the Support Contact Form