PlanetNTF

Everybody who knows me, is aware that i am a big Java fan, but there is one thing in Java which does not work, Java applets. So it will be no surprise that i really hate the whole process to download Cumulative or group PTF's with fix central. The whole process depends on a java applet, which fails most of the time for security reasons.


In older releases the use of the green screen "SNDPTFORD" command was not a workaround because it was limited to download only small PTF's and not big PTF groups. But recently i noticed that this command was enhanced so that it is able to download PTF's to optical images. I will show you how easy this is and i am pretty sure that you will never ever use Fix Central again.

First step is to create a directory where you want to store the images for the downloaded PTF images with "CRTDIR DIR('/imgclg/ptf')" . I have chosen "imgclg/ptf" for this.

Start the PTF order process with "SNDPTFORD" with the following parameters.

PTF indentifier should be the Number of the group PTF you want to download. In my example SF99711 will download all PTF groups except the Cumulative PTF. If you want to download the Cumulative PTF package instead, simply replace SF99711 by *CUMPKG. You can not download a cum PTF package and a group package to the same image catalog. So you have to split the order to get both.

The Delivery format should be *IMAGE.
Set Check PTF to *YES, so that only PTF's which are needed on this particular machine will be downloaded.
The Image directory should be the directory you have created in step one.
Choose a name for the the image catalog which should be created after the images are downloaded by the SNDPTFORD process. I used "ALLPTFGRP"

Verify whether your contact information are correct.

Send your request with option 1 and your Power system will contact IBM to compare which PTF's are needed on your system.

You will get some status messages while your system checks what PTF's are necessary.


After that you will get a message, that your images will be downloaded in the background and that you will get a message to the QSERVICE message queue after the download has finished.

If you want to know how this works in the background have a look at your Job scheduler with "WRKJOBSCDE". You will find a QESECIMG entry which have been created by the SNDPTFORD process. It will check whether the images are ready and download them, or reschedule itself if the images are not ready.


When everything has finished you can find your image catalog with "WRKIMGCLG" and load it into a virtual optical device to install your PTF's on your Power system.


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When you plan an upgrade for your IBM i, you need to upload the iso images of the new release  you have downloaded from IBM to your IBM i. The easiest way is to use a network share with Netserver, but the upload of 30 GB over a file share can be very slow. It is much faster to upload the images with FTP. In this tutorial i will show you how this works without the use of additional software:

Start the FTP server with "STRTCPSVR *FTP" on your IBM i if it is not already started.

Create a directory with "CRTDIR" to create a directory where you want to upload your images.


In my example i have chosen "imgclg/V7R1" and the images to upload are stored on the local disk in my windows workstation "e:v7r1uploadiso".

Start the Windows FTP command line client  with "FTP System" Be sure to replace "System" with the name of your system ;-)



Login to FTP with your IBM i credentials


Change the file transfer type to binary with the "bin" command.
Enter "prompt" to switch to non interactive mode. This will suppress the question whether you really want to upload for every file.
Change the current directory to your IBM i destination directory "/imgclg/v7r1" with "cd /imgclg/v7r1"
Upload all iso files with "mput e:v7r1uploadiso*.iso"


The FTP client will post a status message for every file which was uploaded.


After the upload finished you can leave the ftp client with "quit" All images are now in the directory of your IBM i and you can add this images to an image catalog. If you need help have a look at my tutorial "Fill an IBM i image catalog with images with one API call"

On my machine the use of ftp is approximately 10 times faster then the upload using Netserver and a network share.

P.S. If you like this tutorial please share it on your favorite social network.

Development of server apps with java script is very popular in our days. Since Technology Refresh 9 on V7R1 and TR1 on V7R2 Node.js is now available on my preferred server platform IBM i.  So do not miss the tutorial to create a "Hello World" web server on the IBM Systems Magazine "Node.js the first kiss".

Image catalogs make the installation of new operating system releases or PTF's very easy. You do not need to change many CD's and if you want to install the update remote, image catalogs are the only possible solution. But in V7R1 there is no command to add a whole directory filled with images to an image catalog. You have to add every image with "ADDIMGCLGE"  which can be a very boring task, if you have many images to add.

Fortunately there is a system API which allows you to add all images at once. Folow this easy steps to create your image catalog with this API:

Upload the images either with FTP, Netserver or download them with "SNDPTFORD" to an IFS directory.


Create your image catalog with "CRTIMGCLG". Set the parameters "Create directory" to "*No" and the "Directory" to the directory which contains the uploaded images.


Call the API "QVOIFIMG" with your image catalog name as the first parameter and '*ALL' as the second one. The third parameter is empty, because it is only a placeholder where the API will store a possible error message. This error message can only be used when you call the API from a CL PGM.


If everything works you will see some progress messages.


After all images are added to yout catalog you can associate your image catalog with your virtual optical device with "LODIMGCLG" Fill in the correct name of the catalog and your virtual device. If you do not have an virtual optical device you can create one with "CRTDEVOPT"


It is strongly recommended to verify and sort your image catalog with "VFYIMGCLG" before you use it to upgrade your system, or install PTF's from it. Please choose the correct Verify type whether you want to do an upgrade or a PTF install.


After that your image catalog is ready to make an upgrade, or a PTF install.

If you like this tutorial, please share it on your favorite social network.

REST Webservices are the de-facto standard for integration on the web, but as a RPG programmer you were not part of the game till IBM has released IBM i 7.2 TR1 and IBM i 7.1 TR9. With this releases IBM has added functionality to enable your RPG Serviceprogramms to act as a REST service. The support for REST Webservices is relative similar to that what we had for SOAP Webservices before. IBM has posted a three part tutorial (part1, part2, part three is missing in the moment) on their developerworks site which gives you a quick start with this new opportunity.

From time to time i need the IBM Navigator for i to configure some things on my system which are not possible in greens screen or the Windows based Navigator. Today i have noticed that the Navigator is no longer working with Google Chrome and Firefox 31 and above. The reason is, that Navigator for i still uses SSLv3 and the browsers are no longer accepting such sessions wich are vulnerable by POODLE attacks. Update: I have opened a PMR with IBM and IBM told me, that this have to be a configuration problem on our IBM i. The IBM i box of support engineer works with Firefox 35. They are investigating now what's the root cause for the problem on our IBM i.


As a temporary workaround you can change the "security.tls.version.min" value in about:config to "0" to enable SSv3 in your browser.

Enter "about:config" in your address bar.
Confirm that you will be carefully with your changes.
Enter "security.tls.version.min" in the search bar of about:config
double click the value and change it from 1 to zero.

After you have finished your work with Navigator for I you should restore the original value of 1 in "security.tls.version.min"

Every Power System has a built in Firmware which controls the Hardware and the service processor. It is very important that your server has the correct Firmware version which supports your IBM i OS Version. So from time to time you should check if your Firmware version is still up to date. In earlier releases you have to go to the System Service Tools and run a LIC macro, but since V6R1 there is a new command "DSPFMWSTS" which shows you the currently installed firmware on your permanent and temporary boot side and what firmware is currently active.


As an additional info you can see whether a Server IPL is required to activate a firmware update which you have installed shortly.

Links what firmware version is recommended on which Hardware and OS.

Recommended Fixes for Server Firmware on Power 8
Recommended Fixes for Server Firmware on Power 7
Recommended Fixes for Server Firmware on Power 6
Recommended Fixes for Server Firmware on Power 5

The long awaited draft of the redbook "IBM i 7.2 Technical Overview with TR1" has been posted to the IBM redbook site.  So if you plan to upgrade to the latest and greatest release of "IBM i" read this fantastic redbook.