Month: July 2022

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Below is a table of the major group PTFs for the last few releases. This is what we are installing for our customers on iTech Solutions Quarterly Maintenance program.

7.5
7.4
7.3
7.2
7.1
6.1
V5R4

Cumul Pack
22104
22125
22132
21084
17192
15063
12094

Tech. Refresh
–
6
12
9
11
–
–

Grp Hipers
8
84
163
217
283
210
204

DB Group
1
21
29
27
43
33
33

DB2 Mirror
1
19
–
–
–
–
–

Java Group
2
15
26
36
48
41
34

Print Group
–
–
–
3
13
31
49

Backup/Recov.
2
32
58
77
75
61
57

Blade/IXA/IXS
–
–
–
1
16
30
15

HTTP
3
21
40
51
53
46
36

TCP/IP
–
7
11
12
11
17
22

Security
5
36
76
109
110
60
 33

High Availability
1
10
18
21
18
 5

Hardware
–
2
18
35
44
 17

Open Source
–
–
6
6
6
–

The easiest way to check your levels is to issue the command WRKPTFGRP. They should all have a status of installed, and you should be up to the latest for all the above, based upon your release. Now there are more groups than the ones listed above, but these are the general ones that most people require. We can help you know which group PTFs you should be installing on your machine based upon your licensed programs. Here is a nice tidbit. The Cumulative PTF package number is broken down as YDDD, where Y is the year and DDD is the day it was released. Therefore, if we look at the cumulative package for 7.3, the ID is 21245. We can determine that it was created on the 245th day of 2021, which is September 2, 2021. Look at your machine and this will give you a quick indication of just how far out of date in PTFs you may be.

HMCs

Fixes are listed below in the order in which they should be installed for each software version. If you are upgrading to a new release, install the base version from recovery media or network image and then apply updates in the order listed. If you already have fixes applied and your current fix level is not in this list, just start with the next higher-numbered fix pack in the list. Be sure to read the release …

The post IBM i, FSP, and HMC release levels and PTFs (July 2022) first appeared on iTech Solutions Group.

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The post iAdmin Fall 2022: A Virtual IBM i Conference Hosted by iTech Solutions first appeared on iTech Solutions Group.

This newsletter includes:

Four Reasons to Implement MFA For Your IBM i
 SMB Version Support for IBM i NetServer 
Are YOU Staying Current?
Do You Want It All In Life? You Probably Already Do
iTech iTip Videos
Webinar Replay: The Value of Staying Current 
Sips & Tricks: Coffee with iTech
iBasics: IBM i Education for the Beginner System Administrator
Let iTech Take You Out to the Ballgame  ⚾
iPower Hour Podcast: The Value of Staying Current (NEW!)
Upcoming Events
iTech Spotlight
IBM i, FSP, and HMC release levels and PTFs (July 2022)

Well to say July was the month of all months combined would be an understatement.  First, and foremost iTech Solutions was acquired by Service Express, a leader in global data center and infrastructure solutions, announced the acquisition on July 1st of managed services provider iTech Solutions Group and cloud hosting provider iInTheCloud.

The acquisitions bring expanded IBM-specific offerings and IBM Gold Business Partner status to Service Express customers in the U.S. This deal replicates the company’s existing IBM services, expertise, and IBM Gold Business Partner status in the U.K. to bring comprehensive solutions to customers internationally. Really they couldn’t have picked a better company in the industry than iTech, and likewise, I spent quite a lot of time interviewing prospective suitors, and Service Express was the best company by far to continue to grow the services we had begun 20+ years ago. I never put the company up for sale but had 7 companies interested in acquiring us. Service Express had the values that I thought were important for my customers and employees, and made the decision easier for me.  Everyone is staying, including me.  I have no plans to leave and will work here at Service Express until retirement.  The 2 or 3 weeks leading up to the sale were crazy. I was spending 80+ hours a week, providing details to Service Express, and at the same time managing and continuing to run the company. It was the quarter end, and my head was spinning like a top. Thank god we had the 4th of July holiday to recover.  Now, we are starting the transition phase, and it’s just as busy.  I expect this to last about 3 months before I can get back to just doing the technical side. This means more interaction with customers, more webinars, articles, speaking at conferences, and getting …

The post July 2022 Newsletter first appeared on iTech Solutions Group.

We at iTech are asking our customers if they are ready to receive the next set of PTFs or upgrade their OS to something newer. As Pete showed in a recent presentation, there are benefits to the processing you’re responsible for by doing these updates. Anyone who has worked on almost any platform has had to apply one patch that fixed that one annoying issue that you can finally cross off your daily list.

But what about you and your career? Our worlds are busier than ever with so many demands; are you taking the time to improve your personal situation in one small way?

For me, one thing that has added to my success over my career has been the incorporation of “update time” for me. I am not writing this to get into the motivational speaker circuit or to increase the number of people who are using our iTech website. Below are just some of the things I do or have done that equated to improved work experience that also improved my skills to improve my career. None of these are perfect but neither are our worlds. Mostly this is not things you have not heard about, but hopefully, these items serve you as a gentle reminder they are meant to be. Many can be accomplished by blocking off just one hour a week.

Cross-training

In larger shops, there tend to be people specializing in certain subjects. Then those people are always the go-to for those same issues. Hopefully, your management will recognize these bottlenecks in your organization and approve scheduled cross-training meetings. I was put in charge of working within my group and/or bringing in someone from another group to review a skill monthly. This was so successful in reducing the need to call people when they were out. And because not everyone likes presenting, this was accomplished with both casual screen sharing by the SME to the very formal presentations.

If approved, inevitability, the presenter might not be able to make the assigned date. What a terrific opportunity to go to your favorite vendor’s website and play a relevant video or two 😊.

Networking/Collaboration

I have been fortunate on more than one occasion to find a coworker who was already expanding their skills but wanted to work with someone. We did some checking and there were 2 or 3 of us who were interested in the …

The post Are You Staying Current? first appeared on iTech Solutions Group.