Best Practices when opening a case with Sophos Support.

Hi All, 

To better expedite the support process and ensure that your issue is handled as quickly as possible, it’s highly recommended to ensure that you provide as much relevant information as possible when you raise a support case. 

We’ve outlined some best practices below when raising a support case with Sophos Support.

Important: For any urgent P1 issue (network outage, etc.) we always recommend that you contact Support directly via our Support hotline 

https://support.sophos.com/support/s/?language=en_US
(You can find the number closer to your region by clicking the Critical Cases box)

Available resources to help resolve your issue 

• Before raising a support case, it’s highly recommended that you first check out the available resources below that could help immediately resolve your issue: 

1. Visit https://support.sophos.com/support/s/support-community-search
2. Watch our library of how-to, troubleshooting, configuration videos https://techvids.sophos.com/
3. Post your question to our Sophos Community forums https://community.sophos.com/
4. Reach out on our Sophos Support Twitter account https://x.com/SophosSupport
5. Connect to our Support teams via LiveChat on our new Support Portal https://support.sophos.com/support/s/?language=en_US

Opening a Support Case

When raising a support case, make sure to first reference this KBA (Knowledge Base Article)

1. Basic Information  Make sure the Severity matches your problem.
   • Critical(P1) – Complete loss of mission critical service with no workaround
     Note: Please contact support directly via our Support hotline: https://support.sophos.com/support/s/?language=en_US
   • High(P2)– Significant loss or degraded service that is business impacting 
   • Medium(P3) – Minor loss of service or inconvenience 
   • Low(P4) – General questions or advice 
2. Write a concise subject line 
   • Suggested subject line: [Product - Version : Keywords of issue experienced]
     • Sophos Firewall v19.0 MR1: Experiencing issues with SSL VPN user connection
   • Example of a poor subject line: “Need help ASAP”
3. Provide a full detailed description of your support issue (answer where applicable)
   • Technical Details (Firmware Version, S/N)
   • Make it easy to read and understand
   • What is the current behavior or issue, what is the expected behavior?
   • Do you see any error messages or warnings in the GUI?(Graphical Interface)
   • How many users are affected?
   • Specific timestamp of the issue and frequency of the issue
   • Clarify if it is a first-time configuration issue, or it was working previously
   • Troubleshooting steps that have already been attempted
   • Any relevant content that has already been referenced: KBA’s, Product Documentation, Videos, related Community threads, etc.
4. Include screenshots, enable Support Access to your device, provide relevant device logs, and packet captures of traffic
   1. Provide screenshots of what you are seeing, any error, and your configuration
   2. Provide the logs relevant to your problem:
      • Sophos Firewall Logs: https://docs.sophos.com/nsg/sophos-firewall/21.0/help/en-us/webhelp/onlinehelp/AdministratorHelp/Logs/TroubleshootingLogs/LogFileDetails/index.html
      • UTM Logs: https://support.sophos.com/support/s/article/KBA-000004793?language=en_US
      • Endpoint: https://support.sophos.com/support/s/article/KBA-000006725?language=en_US
   3. Enable support access to your device. This will allow support to check your configuration, collect any necessary logs, check the status of the device, etc. (no changes are made without your authorization)
      • Sophos Firewall: https://docs.sophos.com/nsg/sophos-firewall/21.0/help/en-us/webhelp/onlinehelp/AdministratorHelp/Diagnostics/SupportAccess/index.html
      • UTM: https://docs.sophos.com/nsg/sophos-utm/utm/9.717/help/en-us/Content/utm/utmAdminGuide/SupportAccess.htm
      • Central: https://support.sophos.com/support/s/article/KBA-000004396?language=en_US
   4. Provide packet captures when applicable:
      • Sophos Firewall: https://docs.sophos.com/nsg/sophos-firewall/21.0/help/en-us/webhelp/onlinehelp/AdministratorHelp/Diagnostics/PacketCapture/index.html
      • UTM Logs: https://support.sophos.com/support/s/article/KBA-000006836?language=en_US
5. Let support know how to replicate the issue
   • Provide how-to steps on how Sophos can reproduce the issue and include as much detail as possible
   • Add any relevant screenshots, mention if a 3^rd party software/hardware is involved
6. State your time zone and working hours 
   • When raising a support case using the Support Portal, select your preferred time zone
   • If choosing the 24/7 Global Support Team, please state your working hours and preferred time zone to troubleshooting your case
     • Example: “I’m available to work with Sophos Support from 9:00am to 5:00pm PST”

Things to keep in mind 

1. Set the correct Severity for your case. (Low, Medium, High, Critical)
   • For Critical cases (P1) please Call in
2. Don’t create/duplicate more than one support case for the same issue, this will not expedite the resolution of your problem and may cause delays.
3. The Support hotline is available 24/7 English only
4. If a follow-up email or callback is required, coordinate with your assigned engineer regarding the time and date for your next support session.

Thanks,