Dell SupportAssist Version 1.2 for Servers User’s Guide

The primary benefits of SupportAssist are available only for devices that have an active Dell ProSupport or Dell ProSupport Plus service contract. SupportAssist also detects potential hardware issues in devices that have a Dell Basic Hardware service contract. However, a support case is not created automatically for devices with a Basic Hardware service contract.

The following table provides a comparison of the SupportAssist capabilities supported with the Basic Hardware, ProSupport, and ProSupport Plus service contracts.

Table 1. SupportAssist capabilities

SupportAssist capability	Description	Dell service contract type
		Basic Hardware	ProSupport	ProSupport Plus
Proactive detection of hardware failures	SupportAssist receives alerts for hardware events that occur in monitored devices and proactively determines if the alerts indicate a hardware failure.
Predictive detection of hardware failures*	Intelligent analysis of data collected from a monitored device is used to predict hardware failures that may occur in future.
Automated data collection	Data required for troubleshooting a hardware failure is automatically collected from the monitored device and sent securely to Dell.
Automated support case creation	When a hardware failure is detected either proactively or predictively, a service request is automatically created with Dell Technical Support.
Automated email notification	An email notification about the support case or issue is automatically sent to your company’s primary and secondary SupportAssist contacts.
Proactive response from Dell Technical Support	A Dell technical support agent contacts you proactively about the support case and helps you resolve the issue.
Proactive parts dispatch	Based on examination of the collected system information, if the Dell Technical Support agent determines that a part needs to be replaced to resolve the issue, a replacement part is dispatched to you with your consent.
ProSupport Plus reporting	Data collected periodically by SupportAssist enables Dell to provide you an insight into your company’s as-maintained environment configuration with proactive firmware recommendations and other reports.

* Predictive detection of hardware failures is applicable only for the hard drives, backplanes, and expanders of Dell’s 12th and 13th generation of PowerEdge server that have PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) Series 5 to 9. Predictive detection of hardware failures is possible only when SupportAssist is configured to periodically collect and send system information from monitored devices to Dell.