FAQ
Frequently asked-and-answered questions at Sirius Software.
How do I contact Sirius Software for product support?
E-mail to the support address (mailto://support@sirius-software.com) is distributed to all support personal. This is the best way to quickly route your problem to the right support person, as we all see the message.
The technical support phone number is +1.617.876.6677 Ext. 1
Support features of the Sirius website
The Sirius Software website allows any visitor to download technical documentation in PDF format. The manual download page is here: http://sirius-software.com/maint/manlist
The general support page is here: http://sirius-software.com/support.html and the following features are provided to users registered at any site holding a license for Sirius Software products:
- Downloading of full installation object decks for assembler-based products
- Downloading fixes (zaps) for assembler-based products
- Downloading Model 204 dump files for User Language-based products
- Downloading fixes for User Language-based products
- Downloading authorization zaps for temporary authorization of Sirius products on alternate CPUs. This is typically used for Disaster Recovery (DR) testing and for actual Disaster Recovery operations.
- Uploading of snaps, SVC dumps and other files to assist Sirius in diagnosing problems.
Contact Sirius Software Support to request a userid for access to the online support system.
Registered users can download object files for installations of assembler-based products, Model 204 dumps of the User Language products, fixes (zaps and User Language change decks
What material does Sirius need to resolve a problem?
Sirius Software's products fall mainly into two categories, assembler-based products and User Language-based products.
For any problem, we need to know the version of Model 204 you are running, the version of the Sirius Mods, and which fixes have been applied to the load module. You can get all this information by typing SIRIUS at the command level. If the problem is in a User Language product in the UL/SPF product set, the UL/SPF version can be viewed in the title of any help text screen from inside any UL/SPF product (all UL/SPF products share the same version number).
For any product, if the problem is an unexpected result in an operation (like, 1+1=3), we might need to see some sort of test-case for the problem.
For any problem resulting in a SNAP Dump, we need the error message displayed either on the console or the user's terminal, and will probably need to see the SNAP dump itself. To keep SNAP dumps to a reasonable size, Sirius recommends setting
SNAPCTL X'28'
The most convenient way for Sirius to receive SNAP dumps is via the website upload feature (https://sirius-software.com/maint/upload). If the web upload is inconvenient for you to access, you can either attach the SNAP to an e-mail message or we can provide access to an FTP server. It is generally a very bad idea to put SNAPs or other diagnostics into a word processor like Microsoft Word, as this can mess up the long lines in diagnostic output.
The other information that is often useful in diagnosing problems is a section of the journal at and near the time when the problem occurs. The journal output can be captured via Rocket's AUDIT204 utility or Sirius's SirScan product. Again, we'd like to see this in plain-text mode, so try to not put it into a word processor like Microsoft Word.
Remember that Model 204 is highly parameterized, so problems might be related to your environmental settings and we might need more information about particular Model 204 settings.
Again, registered users can upload diagnostic material to our website, or we can accept it via e-mail. The website upload utility provides a space for you to include a note, and the upload automatically notifies all support personnel.
Does Sirius provide 24-hour support?
Sirius's headquarters is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, so we operate on Eastern Standard or Eastern Daylight time, and support staff are typically available during normal business hours via telephone. Messages left on the support line will automatically be forwarded to support personnel during off-hours.
If you require off-hours support for some known period, please notify Sirius Software and we'll arrange for support personnel to be available.