Re: eBay 170 -- MIDRANGE-L

Hello James,

to answer a few of your questions:

The 170s come PCI-only, sorry, no migration of SPD-cards possible.
Normally, the 170 has a combination of a one port communication-controller
and a 4-port twinax controller a base feature. This is intended to be the 
ECS-modem
and the console attachment and gives you 28 twinax adresses to use.

If I would do this migration, I would start from scratch with the new system,
this means start installing from CD with IPL from D.
Empty the disks, see if the disks are all in an modulo-8 RAID set (this is the
best choice for your 10 disk configuration), this means reinstall the LIC
and initialize the system first, then add them all to ASP1 ...
Then you load (manual installation) the system base only and go on
with your user profiles and the authority from a SAVSECDTA from the CISC
machine.
The rest depends on your config and is explained in detail in the CISC-RISC
roadmap, which I can only recommend to follow. (Ok, well, not ALL details
in there, but the direction of actions is clear ..)
If both machines are networked, it should be no problem to get even the
spool files over to the new system (SNDNETSPLF), IF you really need them.

Just ask, if you need more help / infos.

HTH, regards from germany, Philipp Rusch


"James W. Kilgore" schrieb:

> Howdy,
>
> I got a call this afternoon from one of my clients and they bought one of 
>those
> 170's on eBay.
>
> Now they want me to help them get it up to snuff and migrate them from their 
>200
> that they have milked for about 6 or 7 years.
>
> The owner of the business has some knowledge of computers and the AS/400 in
> particular way beyond just knowing the buzz words.  (It's a manufacturing
> company and he writes all the production queries and does his own data mining)
>
> So I have been handed some limitations.  I hate it when that happens :)
>
> What I am asking for is pointers to either manuals, people, or war stories 
>about
> what I am about to face.
>
> >From what I can see the machine that they purchased is a 170 with processor
> feature 2164 which puts them at a CPW of 210/29.  They currently have a CPW of
> 16.8 (although the CICS machines had a bias towards interactive) and both
> machines are in the P10 group.  From this I gather that software price will 
>not
> cause sticker shock.
>
> The web page at eBay has conflicting information about the OS level.  The text
> above the specification bullets states that this IBM refurbished machine is at
> V4R4, but the bullets say V4R2.  I'll have to see what we wind up with, but
> where can I find out what it will take to get them to V4R5?  They do not need,
> nor want V5R1 and for the next couple of months they can get what they are
> after.  That is: RPG, PDM and Query.
>
> They do not now or foresee that they will ever web host from their 400.  This 
>is
> just a replacement for their 200.  Not looking to add anything new.  No SQL, 
>no
> Websphere, no C, no Java, no Linux, no NT, no PASE, no COBOL, no Apache, no
> email.  They are happy with the telnet and FTP that V3R2 has to offer.
>
> The good side is that this machine has 1GB of memory as compared to their 128M
> and from what I can see has 10 8GB drives with RAID as compared to their 4GB
> total with nothing.  This tells me that the box has the side car to house the
> additional drives and that means more expansion slots.  Both machines have
> Ethernet connection and one comm port.  They currently have 2.5GB 1/4" tape 
>and
> that will change to 4GB.
>
> This is the other part, beside OS upgrade cost, that I have questions about.
> They have several high volume dot matrix printers (4234 IPDS and 6400 
>emulating
> 4234) that are, and would like to continue to be, twinax attached.  (If you 
>want
> to know why, just check the archives for things like copies and page range)  
>So
> what is the cost and where can I purchase a twinax (single port) controller?
> (Other than from IBM)
>
> They also have a SPD ASCII workstation controller that they would like to
> continue to use, but can live without.  The question is: does the 170 have any
> SPD slots or is it all PCI.
>
> I've tried looking for the above information at the IBM site but they are not
> very accommodating to those looking for information on "legacy" equipment.
>
> I know that I am asking a lot, but TIA for any info and pointers.
>
> J. Kilgore
>
> P.S. They paid $6k for this machine.  A new 270 with a CPW of 30, 512mb 
>memory,
> and RAID for 6 8GB drives starts at about $55k.
>