Author: Graham Street
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How Can You Update Your UAK Key without an HMC?
I was working at a customer last week when I noticed the system attention light was illuminated on their Power 9 Server. Looking at WRKPRB (work with problems) log, the SRC code was A7004761 which is the code for an expired Update Access Key (UAK). What is a UAK? If you are wondering what a…
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Convert Spool File To PDF or Text File
On most systems I work on there are simply far too many spool files. Spool files are no doubt a useful source of information but what is also in no doubt is that spool file maintenance is one of the last tasks on anyone’s agenda. However, on every system there are spool files which are…
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Using IBM i Services To Manage User Profiles
Managing user profiles on IBM i can be an onerous task. For those with larger systems user profiles can run into the thousands. As the person responsible for managing this crucial element of the system doing this through the green screen and reports sees you reading through the report looking for the exceptions to whatever…
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The modern way to check your IBM i PTF levels
In the good old days before Covid (remember them) finding out where you were with your PTF levels was a laborious task. You had to manually compare the PTF groups installed on your system with the IBM Fix Central web site and note the level of each group. If the level on your system was…
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IBM i PWRDWNSYS Exit Point
Following on from my introductory article earlier this month about exit points here’s a straightforward (and useful!) one to get you started. Question; have you or a colleague ever executed the PWRDWNSYS command by mistake? On a system with multiple LPAR’s running it is quite easy to forget which LPAR you are working on. Sometimes…
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IBM i Exit Points – The Power To Control and Audit
During this period of enforced lockdown Rowton Staff have been encouraged to spend more time on Training and Education. A recent webinar I watched was one from a series by Robin Tatum from HelpSystems entitled 2020 State of IBM i Security Study. https://www.helpsystems.com/cta/download-state-ibm-i-security-study-guideOne of the points discussed which stood out for me was about Exit Points.…
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More Save/Restore Data Area’s Worth Knowing About
Following on from my save21 article last month it transpires that there are some more system data areas worth knowing about in relation to save/restore date/time/media information. If you needed to know when a file was last saved on the system you would run command DSPOBJD OBJ(LIBRARY/FILE) OBJTYPE(*FILE) Then taking option 5 to display the…
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How Long Is That Save 21 Going To Take?
I was at a customer site the other day, working on a server I hadn’t worked on before doing routine maintenance. HMC upgrade, firmware & ptf install. So what? I hear you ask. Well, everything was going well until I started the save21 (Entire System Save) prior to the ptf install. It took that long…
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IBM Must Gather Tool – Your Best Friend In Times Of Trouble
Oh no! and just when everything was running so well. There’s a problem with the system and you have logged a Problem Management Report (PMR) with IBM. You get a response from IBM asking you to manually collect all kinds of disparate information from areas of the system you might never have delved into before.…
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PRUV Tool
Upgrading your system to a new release of IBM i can be a worrying process with many items to check before taking the plunge. The IBM Pre-upgrade verification (PRUV) tool can help with this process by checking through all the IBM mandated pre-requisite tasks before you start the actual upgrade. This can give you peace…