On 2/21/2018 11:40 AM, Greg Wilburn wrote:
IBM'ers will (in their mind) have a perfectly good reason why things are like this... because they think like IBM. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is shaking their heads. It would do them (IBM) a world of good to sit in their customer's position once in a while.
The following is mostly for the archives, as this comes up somewhat
frequently. Search keywords might be Passport Advantage and ESS.
I don't speak for IBM.
Heck, most days I can hardly speak for myself!
tl;dr If you need keys, pester the BP until they set you up as an admin.
I believe that IBM actually /are/ sitting in their customer's position.
You and I are not their customer. (mostly. There are independents, but
they've always had their own labyrinth to run.)
The business owners are. The IBM support system is built around
accommodating large customers who have a designated, knowledgeable, and
interested admin. Smaller businesses can outsource that position to
their Business Partner. It all works pretty well when the BP is engaged
- my BP designated me as the admin here and I haven't had to fuss about
keys... well, ever.
It doesn't work at all when the BP is not engaged, and that is very
frustrating. The system is designed to keep you out unless you are an
admin, and it's also designed to allow only the BP to designate new
admins. (mostly) None of this knowledge helps you get keys today.
I'm not going to tell you to kick an underperforming BP in the shin and
find a better one, but I am going to tell you that I did, and I couldn't
be happier with that decision.
Now it can certainly be argued that RDi is not the same as the rest of
IBM i 'enterprise-y' software. Honestly, I'm in that camp. But /that/
doesn't help you get keys either. The only thing I can advise is to
pester your boss who will pester the BP to get them to set you up as an
IBM i admin. Then you can get keys.
midrange.com
