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I did put a smiley face on that.

MF* PTFs: Licensed Internal Code (LIC) fixes. Traditionally the realm of
IBM hardware more than software. You see these in DSPPTF 5722999. Anyone
with a valid hardware maintenance contract can order these. (Although I
do not think that IBM unbundles hardware and software maintenance
anymore.) These ptf's used to almost always require an IPL to apply.
Although more and more are being applied without requiring an IPL as newer
releases of the os come out. If you are doing an abnormal IPL. (Like you
ran an ENDJOBABN or any of a number of other functions) then these will
still apply at the next IPL.
SI* PTFs: fixes for other LPPs (Licensed Program Products) like os,
iSeries access, etc. You see this in DSPPTF 5722SS1 or most of the rest
of your software resources. These normally require a valid software
maintenance contract to order. A vast majority of these can be applied
without an IPL. There may be special actions required, like kick all
users out of a certain function. If you are doing an abnormal IPL. (Like
you ran an ENDJOBABN or any of a number of other functions) then these
will NOT apply at the next IPL. You should perform two IPLs. The first
will reset the IPL from abnormal to normal. The second will apply the
PTFs.

CUME: A cumulative distribution of PTF's. Not all PTFs make it on a
cume. Generally if IBM feels that is HIPER it will make it on a cume.
Some examples of what may not make it include a ptf that only a small
selection of customers ever needed. IBM may be concerned that it wasn't
distributed to enough customers and there may be a negative side effect
that was unnoticed. Typically cumes only come out once a quarter or so.
Unless IBM ships a really nasty defective PTF on a cume then they may
announce a new cume right away.
You can see what cume you are running with WRKPTFGRP or DSPPTF 5722999 or
5761999 at V6. The highest TL* should be indicative of the cume. A
sample cume might be 08190. Which means it was generated on the 190th day
of 2008.
You can see what the latest cume is by
http://www-912.ibm.com/s_dir/sline003.nsf/ALLPSPBYREL
and drilling down for SF98### where ### is replaced by the appropriate
version, release and modification level. For example SF98530. Once you
read that you end up ordering SF99### (notice I replaced the 8 with a 9?).

Group PTF's: Groups of related PTF's. For instance there may be PTF's
for LIC, os and 5722TC1 (TCP/IP) itself all related to ensuring that
TCP/IP works fine. These will all be in a group for TCP/IP. Most people
do not have a need for all of these groups. For example, it's a rare shop
indeed that will be running all flavors of Websphere at the same time.
However there are some groups that all shops should strive to stay
somewhat current in, like Hiper. You can see what groups you have
currently installed on your system with WRKPTFGRP. Pay close attention to
the "level". You can see what groups are available at IBM with:
http://www-912.ibm.com/s_dir/sline003.NSF/GroupPTFs?OpenView&view=GroupPTFs
Groups may come as often as once a week. The hiper group often does.
Common groups, at V5R3, are:
SF99529: 530 Group Hiper
SF99528: 530 Group Security
SF99503: 530 DB2 UDB for iSeries
SF99346: 530 Print Group PTF for V5R3M0
SF99314: 530 TCP/IP Group PTF
SF99298: 530 Electronic Service Agent
SF99269: 530 Java
SF99139: 530 Performance Tools
SF99099: 530 IBM HTTP Server for iSeries
SF99185: 530 530 Backup Recovery Solutions
Less common ones are:
SF99322: 530 WebSphere App Server V6.1
SF99303: 530 WebSphere MQ for iSeries - v6.0
SF99301: 530 WebSphere App Server V6.0
SF99295: 530 WebSphere MQ for iSeries v5.3
SF99293: 530 WBI for WebSphere Portal V5.1
SF99290: 530 WebSphere App Server Adv Single Server Edition
SF99289: 530 WebSphere App Server Advanced Edition V4.0
SF99288: 530 WebSphere App Server ND V5.0
SF99287: 530 WebSphere App Server V5.0 (Base Edition)
SF99286: 530 WebSphere App Server ND V5.1
SF99285: 530 WebSphere App Server V5.1 (Base/Dev. Edition)
SF99284: 530 IBM Grid Toolbox V3 for OS/400
SF99282: 530 WebSphere Portal Express/Express Plus Service P
SF99275: 530 WebSphere App Server - Express V5.1
SF99272: 530 WebSphere App Server - Express V5.0
SF99173: 530 IBM Business Solutions

Service Packs: These apply only to iSeries Access. You can download and
install them directly on each PC, or you can install them on the i and
modify the Service properties in iSeries Access to occasionally check the
i, in a certain directory, and it will download whatever SP you loaded on
the i. Another common technique is to put them on a network server out
there and download from that. You can see these on your system with
DSPPTF 5722XW1.
For the latest SP's available check out:
http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/i/software/access/windows/casp.html

Recommended PTFs: These are PTF groups, and some individual PTF's that
may not be on a CUME or group.
You can see these at:
http://www-912.ibm.com/s_dir/slkbase.nsf/recommendedfixes

Keep in mind that support for V5R3 dies April 30, 2009. After that ptf
support withers. You can verify this at:
https://www-304.ibm.com/systems/support/i/planning/software/i5osschedule.html
And, if you want to see what new version of OS you can load on that
hardware you can see that at:
https://www-304.ibm.com/systems/support/i/planning/upgrade/osmapping.html

Someone care to stick this in the wiki?

Rob Berendt

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