Re: IBM Cume and Group PTF Change?

[Jim Oberholtzer <midrangel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The same. Clearly you have to check the cover letters to see if there 
are any broken PTFs, but IBM being IBM, they are rare.  I always tell my 
customers the groups are as and sometimes more important than the 
cumulative fixes.

Keep withing 3 - 4 months of a recent cumulative,  the last one came out 
in February,  (C3037710)  so 2013, 37th day.  A new one is due this 
month so I would plan to get it on very early next year or sooner if 
your downtime schedule permits.

Groups tend to come out more often a HIPER about every two weeks 
sometimes more often, the other groups on about a 90 day rotation but 
that's not written in stone.  So with V7R1 I keep customers within about 
4 - 6 months of current.  Once V7R2 comes out I'll push that to 
quarterly until the rate of change goes down.  As Larry points out PTFS 
tend to come out more quickly when the release is new, but V7R1 has been 
out for some time now.  V6R1 is actually getting ancient.

Jim Oberholtzer
Chief Technical Architect
Agile Technology Architects


On 11/12/2013 5:59 PM, Sam_L wrote:
> I've looked to the cume as being stable and the safest to install
> without fear of unexpected side effects.  What's the approach with
> groups?  (Maybe my cume theory is incorrect.)
>
> Sam
>
>
> On 11/12/2013 12:36 PM, DrFranken wrote:
> > >  I have not heard of a 'change of philosophy' specifically but what I do
> > >  know is that historically the release of CUMes slows as the release
> > >  matures. IBM i 7.1 has been out for 3 1/2 years and is still the current
> > >  release. Contrast this with V3 which went only 4 years from GA to end of
> > >  support (Not just end of being the current release.) and V3R7 and V4R2
> > >  went only 2 1/2 years and out!
> > >
> > >  Much of the reduction in rate of release for CUMes has to do with fewer
> > >  things needing to be fixed as the release goes on. Effort is going into
> > >  'Rnext' (Now 7.2) etc as well as the release stabilizes.
> > >
> > >  Additionally IBM i 7.1 introduced the Technology Refresh group which
> > >  dramatically upped the ability of IBM to deliver new function to an
> > >  existing release. Since each TR group effectively replaces the LIC
> > >  that's a lot of stuff a CUMe just isn't needed for at that point.
> > >
> > >  Add to that as others mentioned, there are a lot of groups that are also
> > >  updated much more frequently now, 25 DB Groups and 23 HTTP groups at
> > >  this point  come to mind!
> > >
> > >            - Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis
> > >
> > >  P.S. IBM i upgrade planning and release dates are here for reference:
> > >  http://www-947.ibm.com/systems/support/i/planning/upgrade/suptschedule.html
> > >
> > >  www.frankeni.com
> > >  www.iDevCloud.com
> > >  www.iInTheCloud.com
> > >
> > >  On 11/10/2013 5:08 PM, Sam_L wrote:
> > >
> > > >>  Our BP tells us there is an IBM change (in philosophy?) on cumes and
> > > >>  group PTFs.  Specifically, he said this:
> > > >>
> > > >>  "I learned today, working with IBM, that cumulative ptf's have been
> > > >>  transitioned to groups and cumulative will not be issued as often. I
> > > >>  will check again monday and see what is available and let you know."
> > > >>
> > > >>  I'm not sure what this means?  Anyone else heard about this?
> > > >>
> > > >>  It came about while looking for the latest cume, which IBM was
> > > >>  projecting for Nov 1 and as of Thursday didn't seem to be available.
> > > >>
> > > >>  Sam
> > > >>
> --