Configuration Changing

For the last few months the device configuration here has changed periodically. Tuesday the device configuration object for one of the virtual workstations got deleted. While that might be an accident on someone's part, that seems to be a stretch. No one else here, even our sys admin (really PC stuff) and my boss (another PC-type guy), knows how to work with the System i5 configuration. And the device was working fine Monday night before I began the application backup.


Another symptom of weirdness is that device configurations are changed. For example, a device object for a printer is changed to a workstation device. This happens about once every two to three weeks.


System values are set so that devices cannot be configured automatically. I.e., QAUTOCFG = 0 (Autoconfigure devices = Off) and QAUTOVRT = 0 (Autoconfigure virtual devices = 0). Obviously these settings have no effect if the device id is already configured; I ran a test to confirm that.


I have not been able to isolate any set of circumstances that could cause such behavior. The company is relatively small as regards the number of hardware devices; perhaps twenty. I have checked the Access for Windows configuration on each PC; all are as they should be. The only commonality (and this is a stretch) is that our application backup ends the QINTER subsystem before it starts the backup; a job scheduler job shuts down QINTER Saturday and Sunday mornings (at 0130). Our System i5 is behind the firewall and should be shielded from external forces.


Has anyone else ever had anything like this happen, or have a clue what may be causing it?
Also, has anyone used the QGYRHRL (QgyRtvHdwRscList) API? It looks like I could use it to compare the configuration to what I expect it to be and, at least, issue a message to me if a discrepancy occurs.


Thanks.