RE: PTFs, again -- MIDRANGE-L

Rob,

Found them, but not easily, LIC replacement PTFS.
Is this normal, critical PTFs that are needed, but impossible to be aware of, until the failures occur.
I'm wondering if I had these PTFs applied, if my 2 tape failures in the last 2 weeks could have been avoided.

How often do you check for new LIC ptfs?

SF97610
********************************************************************************
PRODUCT NAME: 5761999 V6R1.1 - IBM LICENSED INTERNAL CODE
********************************************************************************
|PTF/ | | AVAIL. | |REPLACED|
|FIX # |PKG# | DATE |ABSTRACT | BY |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MF46918 BASE 10/19/09 LIC-OTHER-UNPRED MF57512

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of rob@xxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2013 1:26 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: RE: PTFs, again

I checked "Recommended PTFs" at
http://www-912.ibm.com/s_dir/slkbase.nsf/recommendedfixes
and I checked PTF Groups at
http://www-912.ibm.com/s_dir/sline003.NSF/GroupPTFs
and I didn't see MF57512.
Perhaps your best bet is to go to:
http://www-912.ibm.com/s_dir/sline003.nsf/ALLPSPBYREL?OpenView
and check out one of these?
SF97610: FIX SUMMARY LISTING FOR VERSION 6 RELEASE 1.0
SF97610: FIX SUMMARY LISTING FOR VERSION 6 RELEASE 1.0: CSV
SF97610: FIX SUMMARY LISTING FOR VERSION 6 RELEASE 1.0: PDF

Rob Berendt
--
IBM Certified System Administrator - IBM i 6.1 Group Dekko Dept 1600 Mail to: 2505 Dekko Drive
Garrett, IN 46738
Ship to: Dock 108
6928N 400E
Kendallville, IN 46755
http://www.dekko.com

From: "Steinmetz, Paul" <PSteinmetz@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion'"
<midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 12/03/2013 12:53 PM
Subject: RE: PTFs, again
Sent by: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx

Was just informed about some V6R1M1 MF PTFs, (LIC) that will probably
solve tape and DUPMEDBRM failures that recently occurred.
They are not part of any group, nor hyper, only discovered via several
PMRs and internal IBM doc.
Did anyone experience any strange tape/dup failures?
Also, is anyone aware of a link or something that would point to recent
LIC PTFs such as below.
Unfortunately, these all require an IPL to be applied, similar to firmware
PTFs.

MF57512 11/13/13
MF57532 11/15/13
MF57533 11/15/13
MF57258 10/16/13

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [
mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mark S Waterbury
Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2013 12:35 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: PTFs, again

Hi, Jim:

AFAIK, no, unless the front panel shows "01 B N T" ...

Mark S. Waterbury

On 12/3/2013 12:23 PM, John McKee wrote:
Just did CHGIPLA RESTART(*FULL).

Will that complete the PTF save file removal portion as well?

John McKee

On Tue, Dec 3, 2013 at 10:13 AM, <rob@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

First, you are on the 'P'ermanent side instead of the 'T'emporary side.
You should not be running on the 'P' side. Unless there are some
pretty serious extenuating circumstances.
You're front panel is set to B N T so a full server IPL should switch
you over to the 'T' side.

Rob Berendt
--
IBM Certified System Administrator - IBM i 6.1 Group Dekko Dept 1600
Mail to: 2505 Dekko Drive
Garrett, IN 46738
Ship to: Dock 108
6928N 400E
Kendallville, IN 46755
http://www.dekko.com

From: John McKee <jmmckee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 12/03/2013 10:28 AM
Subject: Re: PTFs, again
Sent by: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx

Output from DSPFMWSTS

5722SS1 V5R4M0
060210
S1015362 12/03/13 08:47:32 CST

Display
Firmware Status

Service partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Firmware update policy . . . . . . . . . . : *OPSYS

Server IPL source . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Permanent

Firmware product ID/release . . . . . . . . : 5722999 V5R4M0

Server IPL required . . . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

---Server firmware---- ---Operating system---

Fix PTF Fix PTF Update

Copy pack ID pack ID Status

*ACTIVE SF240_219 MH00677

*TEMP SF240_338 MH01053 SF240_338 MH01053 None

*PERM SF240_219 MH00677 SF240_338 MH01053 None

* * * * * E N D O F L I S T I N G * * * * *

No HMC.

Found this:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1015899

I checked the system panel. It is set to B N T already.

Is this just a matter of a second IPL required to finish the PTF

install?

John McKee

On Tue, Dec 3, 2013 at 6:39 AM, <rob@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

MH PTFs are normally firmware.

Since I use an HMC, and have that control firmware upgrades, I had
forgotten about allowing a service partition be in charge of
applying firmware upgrades.

Try the command DSPFMWSTS. Mine looks like the following:

Display Firmware Status

Service partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . : No
Firmware update policy . . . . . . . . . . : *HMC
Server IPL source . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Temporary
Firmware product ID/release . . . . . . . . : 5733906 V1R2M0

---Server firmware----
Fix PTF
Copy pack ID
*ACTIVE EM350_143 MH00000
*TEMP EM350_143 MH00000
*PERM EM350_126 MH00000

Service partition means does this lpar of IBM i control upgrading
the firmware on the FSP?
Firmware update policy means do I control firmware upgrades with my
HMC

or

by applying PTFs on a service partition. If you have an HMC then
you really should use the HMC. Yes it may add some steps but to do
so otherwise may mean you may get your firmware to a level that is
no

longer

supported by your HMC.
Server IPL Source: Much like IBM i has the 'A' side and the 'B'
side firmware has a 'T'emporary and a 'P'ermanent side. Which makes
much

more

sense. At least to those of us who speak English. But like does A
and

B

mean anything to a native language only person from China?
I don't find the Firmware product ID/release nearly as useful as the
'Server firmware' columns below.
Many firmware upgrades are not disruptive. I often perform them
midweek while the lpars of IBM i or Linux are running. Early on in
the product they often demanded a dedicated system or were so
crippled to be

worthless

without an IPL. There are still some which will require an IPL.

Firmware to HMC support:

https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/power5cm/supportedco
de.html

Rob Berendt
--
IBM Certified System Administrator - IBM i 6.1 Group Dekko Dept 1600
Mail to: 2505 Dekko Drive
Garrett, IN 46738
Ship to: Dock 108
6928N 400E
Kendallville, IN 46755
http://www.dekko.com

From: John McKee <jmmckee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion

<midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

Date: 12/02/2013 05:06 PM
Subject: Re: PTFs, again
Sent by: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx

They are MHxxxxx PTFs. Even with IPL restart type set to
*SYS,according to the help, firmware should be restarted. Only one
partition. This is a 520.

John McKee

On Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 3:54 PM, DrFranken <midrange@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

wrote:

When it says "SERVER IPL required" that means firmware was updated.
So that means shut down all other partitions (if they exist) and
then do

a

PWRDWNSYS RESTART(*YES) on this partition. That will then initiate
a 'deep IPL' where the server itself will do PTF work.

Chances are the PTFs in question will be MHxxxxx numbers as those

apply

to the firmware.

As for all those save files they are not cleared up by perm apply.

They

may still be needed for other servers if you use management
central

to

distribute PTFs for example. If they are temp applied then they may
be needed for SAVSYSINF. You need to clean them up when you
determine

they

are no longer needed.

- Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis

www.frankeni.com
www.iDevCloud.com
www.iInTheCloud.com

On 12/2/2013 4:44 PM, John McKee wrote:

Thank you for your insight, Rob.

Earlier this morning, I did a DSPPTF to an outfile. A query on
that

file

shows:

Cover letter only 1
On order only 2
Permanently applied 3,760
Save file only 1
Superseded 5,043

Value of QABNORMSW = 0
hows
A DSPPTF with no parameters shows Server IPL required. Pressing

help

shows

CPD35F8. Causw states reason code 1, Program temporary fixes have

been

applied for the server firmware portion of the Licensed Internal

Code.

DSPPTF LICPGM(5722999) SELECT(*ACTRQD) shows eight PTFs. And, I

remember

some of these. All state Permanently applied - IPL. They are all

MH

PTFs. And they are 1076, 1073, 1070, 1053, 1007, 1004, 1001, 997

Maybe just another IPL with restart type *FULL clears this all up?

But,

I

don't recognize any CHGIPLA attributes that might need to be

changed,

other

than retsart type.

Vast majority of the save files are for v5r4m0. I found some

ancient

v1r2m0 save files with ANZOBJCNV. Wanted to let PTF process
delete

the

v5r4m0 save files so I would not accidentally confuse things by

deleting

wrong save file manually.

Maybe I can find out when PTFs were perm applied.

John McKee

On Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 3:09 PM, <rob@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Where, exactly, are you seeing "server IPL required"?
On an individual PTF when looking at 1. General information?
On the list of ptf's when looking at the column "IPL Action"?

Try this:
DSPPTF OUTPUT(*OUTFILE) OUTFILE(QTEMP/DSPPTF) sql that and delete
the ones which are permanently applied. Then

start

your analysis from there.

Other things which will affect PTF application include if your
IPL

was

'abnormal'. WRKSYSVAL QABNORMSW.
Sometimes you may have PTF's that are missing coreqs or prereqs.

See

GO

LICPGM, 50. Display log for messages. You may have to delve into

the

joblogs for SCPF, active and past. If it's been too long since

your

last

IPL you may be missing this history. GO CLEANUP will clear it
out

after

the number of days you tell it to.

Also, look closely at those PTF save files. Are some PRIOR to

V5R4?

If

so, and you failed to apply them permanently before upgrading to

V5R4

they

will remain there for all eternity. Years ago I started applying

all

PTFs

permanently (along with an extra IPL or two) before upgrading my

OS.

This

helped prevent new ones from being left over. The older ones I
had

to

manually delete. I think I even discovered some V2 PTFs.

Oops look at the time. This may be chopped - gotta go.

Rob Berendt
--
IBM Certified System Administrator - IBM i 6.1 Group Dekko Dept
1600 Mail to: 2505 Dekko Drive
Garrett, IN 46738
Ship to: Dock 108
6928N 400E
Kendallville, IN 46755 http://www.dekko.com

From: John McKee <jmmckee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion

<midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

Date: 12/02/2013 03:52 PM
Subject: PTFs, again
Sent by: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx

I know I asked this before. Just tried to search, but didn't
find

it.

Maybe wrong terms. What I used, with Google, was:

perm applied ptfs savf file remains

I know there were a large number of temporary applied PTFs. Just

looked,

and they are all permanent applied now.

DSPPTF still shows "Server IPL required". IPL source is ##MACH#B

##SERV#P

And, all the PTF save files are still in QGPL.

I don't know when PTFs were permanently applied. I thought I
read

that

the
save files were removed when PTFs were permanently applied.

I do remember changing the IPL attribute for restart type. It is
currently set to *SYS, and I know I changed it per the suggestion
of another

user.

Been a while, but I am wondering if the SERV value stated T at
the

time.

This is v5r4m0

I am confused, and it is getting more routine.

John McKee
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