Sonicwall support is useless
jst3751
Newbie ✭
On 08/12/2024 I opened a support ticket for the secondary unit of a NSA2700 HA pair that just stopped responding and had to be physically powered off then powered on.
I recieved no response from Sonicwall support until 08/15 asking for logs. Me, having been administrating Sonicwall firewalls for about 22 years now, I had gathered all the logs and attached them to the case when I opened it.
I immediately responded that the logs were already attached. (this is becoming a reoccurring theme with Sonicwall support, they seem to just do an initial canned response without looking at the provided attachments and case details.)
By 08/17 I had received no further response, so I posted an update saying HELLO ANYBODY HOME?
Still no response by Sonicwall support.
Just now, the problem happened again.
I am now forced to get on the phone and try to get someone to work on this now.
Case 44597141
Answers
There was a webinar for SonicWall partners more than a year ago (should still be in SW University) that contained instructions on how to work with Support. It kind of up-ended a lot of what I thought I knew about the process. It also made me realize that "the powers that be" have no clue about what we have to deal with.
Best solution I've found so far:
Create the email case and attach all the relevant documentation (which you have manually put together because there's no automation to do it). Yes, that's right, 7 files from disparate screens and locations.
Wait a few minutes, call Support, and provide the case number the email create - then wait for the appropriately assigned queue technician to answer.
Accept the request for a remote session and insist on re-sending all the documentation.
Humble yourself, acknowledge that you don't know the answer, wait patiently while they go through their script, click through your screens, take a backup, and - whatever you do, DO NOT let them change settings - and when the results seem hopeless, ask that the issue be raised to a higher level of support.
After a week or so, someone with some sense should pick up on the problem.
I'm not saying this approach will fix the problem you have. It is merely designed to keep your frustration level at a realistic minimum.
The only alternative is to NOT use SonicWall products - but then you're gonna have to deal with another vendor's mishegas.
If only the thing that's called a "tech support report" was actually an exhaustive report that you could export and give to Sonicwall! Every time I am having to export all these files again and again, and carefully naming them so that they're not too long for Sonicwall's god-awful customer facing support system, I think I should be writing a macro for this tedious repetitive task. But I never get around to it.
I find it useful to .zip the files before I upload so that I do not have to do them all one at a time (just make one zip and upload that), and this also gets around the fact that their upload system doesn't contemplate the number of characters that are now in the Gen7 settings files.