Restart steps Was: Dev LPAR is down

Folks,

You really need to document restart steps. Don't be afraid to copy/paste
images from your HMC (running the GUI interface remotely from a browser)
into your instructions. I was kind of a text only guy on my instructions
for a long time and lamented the loss of OV/400 and begrudgingly went to
Word.

Also, the days of AS/400 are long dead, long long dead. Pulling the plug,
or pressing the buttons on the console of a system running IBM i to IPL
the machine to clear a MSGW or a QINTER outage should be forgotten. I
have multiple Power 8's running no less than 5 lpars on each and I can't
recall the last time I pushed the front panel buttons. Not even to turn
it on after a full long term power outage. Well maybe the day I first got
the Power 8 and hooked it up to the HMC.

Maybe you're not the "systems" guy. Maybe you're the programmer. Well,
in every shop there needs to be more than one person who knows how to
bring that machine up after a full outage.
- user id / password for the hmc or Lan Console
- Order of starting lpars.
- Lpars that must wait to start until certain actions have been performed
on the other lpars.
- how to do things like remote hmc console sessions, etc.

Periodic doing of this must be done. This helps refresh the person and it
points out things that may have changed. For example, our KVM's are
accessed via a browser. Upgrading to a certain Java level left your PC
unable to use the remote access to the KVM's. We had to upgrade the
KVM's. You don't want to find this stuff out in a critical period.

We bring our systems down one weekend every quarter. We use a 6 person
crew on different shifts. Your shift will change from quarter to quarter.

My instruction sheets stacked up go 3/4 the height of my coffee mug. When
my kids complain about a 2 page report for school I pull these out and say
"look what I wrote this week". And it's not like I can BS my way through
these. Someone else has to be able to follow these instructions and from
them alone be able to upgrade the firmware on a Power 8 after having all
the lpars down and then bring the lpars back up and ensure that their PTFs
were successfully applied. And they are able to communicate even if we
did a Power 6-Power 8 migration or moved the hardware from one city to
another.

You know that training scene in the movie "We Were Soldiers" where the
helicopter lands and Mel Gibson points to three leaders and says you, you
and you are dead; now the rest of you carry out the mission? Think like
that. I have been in the middle of a system installation and had to leave
due to a close relative dying, cops on the doorstep bringing you the news
kind of thing.


Rob Berendt