Re: Application Runtime Expert interpretation

While you may never run DNS on i (obviously your network guy's call) the DNS Server option includes things like NSLOOKUP, DIG, NAME all of which are tools used to troubleshoot DNS issues. When you need them they are gold. Many of us install that option for just this reason. Remember you may say "But from my PC...." which is to say "NOT from i." Testing FROM your server is critical

So one of your name servers is down, gone, moved, blocked. This is bad. Doesn't look bad now but it's kinda like Dual wheels on your truck. One goes flat you can continue on. But go far enough without fixing it and you lose the other and you're hosed.

DNS is fabulously important to your network and to your i. When it goes away lots of things don't work well, or at all. I would absolutely pursue correcting the missing server issue.

- Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis

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

On 5/16/2014 11:05 AM, Buck Calabro via MIDRANGE-L wrote:

Tim Rowe reminded me of the Application Runtime Expert (ARE) which Dawn
May first wrote about some time ago. I ran it in QShell just now
/QIBM/ProdData/OS/OSGi/templates/bin/areVerify.sh -network and I have
some items it tells me I should look at.

First thing to note: I am a green screen programmer. I do not run, own,
operate, diagnose, configure or monitor our network. There's a Network
Guy who does that. He feels that the network is optimised for our use
and aside from some firewall issues I'd agree. And yet, ARE reports errors.

Two of the DNS entries in CFGTCP 12 show this:
Warning: DNS Server 10.1.0.21 appears to be unavailable on the network.
...This doesn't worry me too much because I can still reach internal and
external machines without any obvious(!) issues. Clearly, someone
thinks this should be looked at, but without understanding exactly what
ARE is looking for, it's hard to suss out how to repair it.

What has me puzzled though, is this:
ERROR! Product+5770SS1+option+0031+%28V7R1M0%29+is+not+installed
...Option 31 is Domain Name Server. We're never going to use the i for
DNS; why is this critical enough to be an error rather than a warning?
Is there something inside IBM i that really wants DNS running on i? Or
can I disregard this for our site?
--buck