RE: HMC

Compared to the 'old' primary partition process that we had before the
HMC is definitely better and easier to manage.  It's different and you
need to realize that it isn't without some effort and understanding to
keep it up to date, backed up, etc.  But these are very minor in the
scheme of things.

Originally, the quality and reliability of the software was
rather......unacceptable.  I was thinking along the lines of Rob's
festering road apples or perhaps festering possum roadkill.  Definitely
not up to the standards of what we were used to.  Not all of the
reluctance in our market was due to it being different.  However, the
current code levels seem to be pretty darn good.

Today, I would not want to work without it.

Michael Crump
 
Manager, Computing Services
Saint-Gobain Containers, Inc.
1509 S. Macedonia Ave.
Muncie, IN  47302
765.741.7696
765.741.7012 f 

Incompetence
When you earnestly believe you can compensate for a lack of skill by
doubling your efforts, there's no end to what you can't do.
This email and its attachments may be confidential and are intended
solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. Any views
or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily represent those of Saint-Gobain.  If it did, it would be
folded, mutilated, watered down, politically corrected, and would show
up a week later if at all.  If you are not the intended recipient of
this email and its attachments, you must take no action based upon them,
nor must you copy or show them to anyone.
Please contact the sender if you believe you have received this email in
error.
 
-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Haase, Justin C.
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 9:12 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: RE: HMC

1.  It's great.  It's just fantastic - it allows for a true lights-out
datacenter as long as you have network access.  Across the campus,
across town, around the WORLD.  Just install the WebSM client on your PC
- you've got system control anywhere you go.
(http://yourhmc/remote_client.html)  Config your System i Access
correctly and you've got consoles from your desk.
2.  It's not hard once you figure it out.  It's *DIFFERENT*, and that
was a huge hurdle for this market.
3.  Downtime is not affected in a meaningful way if you plan properly.
You can reboot the HMC without affecting your i5 systems, unlike a
primary partition on the old systems.  Also, doing updates of FSP code
can be done concurrent in some cases, and in others it doesn't take too
long (< 30 mins).  Not any longer than a single-image non-HMC-managed
system doing an IPL after a cume with a firmware update on it.

Don't be afraid.  Mainframes have been using an HMC for ages, although
not this exact code base, same idea.

There is absolutely NO WAY I'd go back.  This is the biggest thing to
happen to this platform since LPAR.

Justin C. Haase - Solution Engineer
IBM Certified Systems Expert - System i
Kingland Systems Corporation

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ketzes, Larry
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 7:29 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: HMC

I hope I'm exaggerating the appearance of some maintenance that I'm
seeing
discussed on this board for the HMC, but I have a question.

        Are the people working with HMC happy with it in regards to the
following?

        1) Functionality of HMC compared to alternatives.
        2) Ease of ongoing maintenance of care needed to keep HMC
current
and running.
        3) Downtime that has changed (maybe for the worse) for both HMC
and
i5 because of #2 above.


Also, if anyone with an HMC could now change their minds and use an
alternative, would you?

Thanks, Larry

Larry Ketzes
iSeries Senior System Administrator
American Life Insurance Company

One ALICO Plaza
600 King Street
Wilmington, DE 19801
Phone: 302-594-2146
Mobile: 302-559-1631

Fax: 302-830-4524


Email: larry.ketzes@xxxxxxx



-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jones, John (US)
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 8:08 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: RE: i5 Firmware to HMC Code level table?

We just updated our DR system last week.  First we took the HMC from 4.5
to 6.1 in one shot.  No intermediate upgrade to 5.x required.  This took
a few hours as it included fixing a problem we had, backing up the HMC,
doing the upgrade (more of a reinstall) and then backing up again.

Then we took the iSeries firmware from what shipped in the machine back
in Oct 05 to the current release (240 IIRC) again in one shot.  Took
about an hour total including power off, firmware update, and IPL.

This was on a 'small' 570.  The only iSeries downtime was for the
firmware install.