By now you should be familiar with IBM’s awesome free toolbox, QMGTOOLS. If you are not familiar with QMGTOOLS, I recommend you read this excellent article written by my colleague at iTech, Marc Vadeboncoeur.
For today’s article, I am going to focus on Option 24 of QMGTOOLS – “PTF Menu”
To get to this menu, simply add QMGTOOLS to your library list, and then enter “Go MG”
Choosing option 24 brings you to the PTF Menu, and this is where you can find some important information about the PTF’s on your system.
Option 1 “Compare group PTFs from IBM” will compare the Group PTF’s on your system, against IBM’s database of current Group PTF levels for your OS Version and Release. When the compare has been completed, you will see a message at the bottom of the screen saying “Spoolfile created with results…”
The spoolfile generated is called QSYSPRT and will be under the user profile you used to run the compare. Displaying the Spool File will show the current Group PTF levels from IBM’s website and the status of those levels on your system. (Not Found, Back Level, Installed or Related Group)
Paging down on the Spool File will then show a comparison of the Group PTF levels on your system against the current Group PTF levels from the IBM website.
Next, choosing Option 2 “Compare HIPER PTF’s from IBM” will generate another spool file, also called QSYSPRT. Displaying this spool file will show a list of HIPER PTF’s not found on your system.
Next, choosing Option 3, “Compare DEFECTIVE PTFs from IBM” will compare the list of defective PTFs on your system against the list of PTFs that superseded them on IBM’s website. This process will once again create a spool file under your user profile called QSYSPRT. This will show the defective PTF’s found on your system that have not been superseded.
These 3 Options under the PTF Menu of QMGTOOLS do a really nice job of giving you a quick and easy overview of your current PTF status. I strongly urge you to take advantage of these quarterly.
One last note, whenever you open QMGTOOLS, please first choose Option 13 – “Check IBM for updated QMGTOOLS” as this will make sure you have all the latest functionalities and updates for the tool.
Keeping your PTF’s current is the best insurance against system problems down the road!…
The post Do I Have Defective PTF’s On My System? first appeared on iTech Solutions Group. Read More
