Knowledge Base Tips
Table of Contents
Search tool distinctions
How to search
Navigating and refining search results
Service Request Tool
Additional search help
Nortel's Knowledge Base is a database containing a quality set of detailed technical solutions, complemented by a natural language search facility
to assist you in locating the troubleshooting information that meets your needs.
Technical Support searches for Partners and Customers can be accomplished through four separate, distinct search utilities that are used in different
ways depending on the type of information being searched for.
The Four Search utilities are:
| Utility |
Description |
| Search Nortel / Portal Search |
For high-level searching of all content within the Nortel.com portal. Visible from the Nortel.com page in the top right of the screen and
within each sub-menu. |
| Knowledge Base |
For searching the database of Technical Support troubleshooting articles. Available from the Nortel.com/support page for registered external users. |
| Known Issues Tool (KIT) |
For searching public updates to technical cases routed to Nortel's Product Support teams. Accessible from the Nortel.com/support portal. |
| Partner Information Center (PIC) |
For searching on product documentation and bulletins specifically generated for Partner use. Note: PIC contents are not searchable
within the Knowledge Base or the KIT search tools. |
Refer to the table below to understand which tool is best to use for the type of search or information you are looking for:
| Nortel Content Type |
Search Nortel |
Search Knowledge Base |
Search KIT |
Search PIC |
| Nortel Product Documentation (NTPs) |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
| Technical Bulletins (including Security, PCN, and Lifecycle) |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
| Product and Solution Overviews |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
| Knowledge Base Solutions1 |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Service Requests (cases) |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
| Partner Bulletins |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Partner Documentation |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Software |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
| CRs (design updates) |
No |
No |
Yes2 |
No |
| 1Knowledge Base solutions are authored by Nortel engineers to summarize complex, common, Service Request, Documentation, or Bulletin
information. They are usually identified in the format NORTnnnnnn or with a numeric-only identifier. Knowledge Base solutions are different from Clarify
Solutions that have a naming format of Snnnnnnn (such as S00783294). |
| 2KIT searches invoke user-level entitlement to ensure data security across partners and customers. |
To perform a search, follow these steps:
- Enter your question or problem statement. Be sure to include spaces between words.
- Choose a document filtering option (optional).
- Choose the product you would like to search (optional).
- Click ">" or press Enter.
In general, searching works best when you use natural language and include specific problem symptoms, error
messages, or other unique system output.
By default, search results appear in order of highest relevancy with up to 25 results displayed per page, to a maximum of 300 total results.
Within the search results area you can perform the following tasks:
- Open an item by clicking on the title.
- View the next or previous page of search results by clicking Next or Previous at the top or
bottom of the search results.
- Change the sort order using the Sort By option. The available selections are Most Relevant and Most Recent.
- Filter the results by selecting one of the Focus Your Results choices, which display common concepts
dynamically extracted from the set of results. If there is a number next to the concept name, the number
indicates the quantity of documents found pertaining to that concept. Where the number of concepts exceeds
five for a particular category, select the more… option to display the full list of concepts.
- Search within the results using the Search Within option. This is most useful when the maximum number of
300 results are returned.
- When you have only a few returned search results, alternative search options may also be offered. Select
one of the options to perform that particular search.
If you are unsuccessful in finding an answer using the available search tools, you can open the Service Request
tool by selecting the “Open Service Request” link found at the bottom of the search results page. Your search
query string(s) are captured and included as part of your service request.
Try searching on KB Help to browse a selection of articles which can further assist you with the Knowledge Base.
Additional general search tips are also available.
