11/20/09 Simplify replication of devices between two systems by matching hardware resource names

Is CMN01 a V.32 interface on your source and an ethernet port on your target? That can prevent device descriptions from replicating properly.

You can change the resource names so that they match, by using system service tools (SST). You may have to juggle a bit and create temporary resource names in order to move things around (because you can’t have duplicates), but with a little work, you can match up the important ones.

Enter system service tools with the STRSST command (you must have *SERVICE special authority, and you’ll need a user name and password for SST (it’s different from your regular login).

• From the SYSTEM SERVICE TOOLS (SST) menu, select option 1 (START A SERVICE TOOL)
• From the START A SERVICE TOOL menu, select option 7 (HARDWARE SERVICE MANAGER)
• Use option 1 (PACKAGING HARDWARE RESOURCES) and drill down to help you find resource names attached to your hardware
• To rename a resource:
  

1. Use option 3 (LOCATE RESOURCE BY RESOURCE NAME)
2. Enter the existing name for the resource on the prompt
3. Use option 2 (CHANGE DETAIL) to give the resource a new name
   

This way, you can make CMN01 match on both source and target, and easily replicate the configuration of the v.32 line, and all the associated controllers and devices. Make sure you’re not using any of the resources you’re changing, and when you do change them, make certain your existing devices and controllers are updated with the right resource names.

Disclaimer: Vision Solutions makes every effort to provide accurate system management information and programming code; however the company cannot be held liable for the accuracy of information nor its compatibility in your own environment. Please review and test thoroughly before implementing. © Copyright 2009, Vision Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Vision Solutions develops and sells iSeries high availability and AIX replication and clustering solutions. IBM, System i, iSeries, and AS/400 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. All other brands are property of their respective registered owners.

10/21/09 Know the impact of using the ENDJOBABN command

If you use the ENDJOBABN command to end an active job that just won’t go away after the ENDJOB is issued, you need to be aware of the longer term impact of using this command.

When you use ENDJOBABN, a marker is set in the system that causes the next IPL to be considered an "abnormal" IPL – that is – the system will behave as if it ended abnormally, instead of in a controlled fashion from a PWRDWNSYS. This means that the first IPL you do after an ENDJOBABN will take longer than a normal IPL.

This is important to remember, because if you only IPL monthly or even less frequently, you might be surprised by the impact of an ENDJOBABN issued weeks prior.

Disclaimer: Vision Solutions makes every effort to provide accurate system management information and programming code; however the company cannot be held liable for the accuracy of information nor its compatibility in your own environment. Please review and test thoroughly before implementing. © Copyright 2009, Vision Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Vision Solutions develops and sells iSeries high availability and AIX replication and clustering solutions. IBM, System i, iSeries, and AS/400 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. All other brands are property of their respective registered owners.

10/2/09 How to rapidly set up a network printer using IBM Personal Communications.

1. Start the configuration of a new 5250 session. The System name should be the name of your system (or IP address) that you want this printer to be available to.

2. Specify a workstation ID as the name of the printer. (This will also be the OUTQ name on the iSeries.)

3. Select the “Type of Emulation,” to be “Printer”

4. Accept remainder of defaults and press “OK”. Your session should display a window to say “Ready,” and “Online.”

The printer session will print to the default windows computer associated with the computer that the printer was configured from. To change this printer, simply open up the 5250 printer session, from the “File” menu, select “Printer Setup,” and select a different printer.

To print to this printer from the iSeries, do the following:

1. Locate the spool file on the iSeries that you wish to print.

2. Use option 2 “Change” to modify the field “Printer” and key in the exact name of the printer.

3. To find the status of this spooled file, go to WRKOUTQ and replace XYZ with the name of your printer.

Note: The 5250 printer session must be active (emulator status of “Online,” and “Ready) in order for the printer to be used from the iSeries.

Disclaimer: Vision Solutions makes every effort to provide accurate system management information and programming code; however the company cannot be held liable for the accuracy of information nor its compatibility in your own environment. Please review and test thoroughly before implementing. © Copyright 2009, Vision Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Vision Solutions develops and sells iSeries high availability and AIX replication and clustering solutions. IBM, System i, iSeries, and AS/400 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. All other brands are property of their respective registered owners.

9/16/09 How to obtain further message logging for interactive or submitted jobs

To change the message logging level, and thus gather more logging information on any job, you need to access and change the job parameters per one of the following:

- To change your own interactive job, enter the CHGJOB command, then press F4.

- To change another interactive job: Locate the job using WRKACTJOB SBS(subsystem), use OPTION 2 next to the job, press F4.

- To change a submitted job: Put the JOBQ on HLD status temporarily (WRKJOBQ jobqname, OPTION 3 to HOLD), submit the job, use WRKJOBQ OPTION 5 to “Work With JOBQ,” and use OPTION 2, press F4.

*CAUTION* Holding the JOBQ will hold all jobs being submitted into that JOBQ for the duration that the JOBQ is actually on hold. Once the message level is changed, it is critical to release the JOBQ.)

Once the interactive or batch job is identified, and the OPTION 2 “Change,” menu has been entered, do the following:

1) Press F10 for further detail.

2) Modify the parameters as follows: Message Logging: Level 4, Severity 00, Text *SECLVL, Log CL Program Commands *YES, press enter.

3) Release the JOBQ. (WRKJOBQ jobqname, OPTION 6 “Release”

*Note* The message level will only remain for the job it was changed for, and would need to be repeated anytime it is needed unless further measures are taken to change the Job Description, in which doing so affects all jobs that utilize that Job Description.

Disclaimer: Vision Solutions makes every effort to provide accurate system management information and programming code; however the company cannot be held liable for the accuracy of information nor its compatibility in your own environment. Please review and test thoroughly before implementing. © Copyright 2009, Vision Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Vision Solutions develops and sells iSeries high availability and AIX replication and clustering solutions. IBM, System i, iSeries, and AS/400 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. All other brands are property of their respective registered owners.

8/27/09 How to find the primary key of a file created using DDS (rather than SQL)

Primary keys are called Unique keys in iSeries DDS. The Unique key can be held to two places, on the physical file itself or on a logical file based over that physical file.

To check the physical file, on a command line use the Display File Description command over the physical file; e.g. DSPFD library/file. Page down the displayed information looking for "Access Path Description." If the Access Path is shown as "Arrival" then the physical file is non-keyed and the records are stored by Relative Record Number (row number) sequence. If the Access Path is keyed then the file is keyed, but the key will only be a primary key if the "Unique key values required’ value is showing "Yes." The key fields themselves will be listed on the lines just below this entry.

To check whether there is a logical file with a Unique key use this two step process: First, find the names of all the logical files based over the physical file by using the Display Data Base Relations command, eg DSPDBR library/file. Second use the Display File Description command (DSPFD) for each logical file, as described above, checking the Access Path information as previously described.

Disclaimer: Vision Solutions makes every effort to provide accurate system management information and programming code; however the company cannot be held liable for the accuracy of information nor its compatibility in your own environment. Please review and test thoroughly before implementing. © Copyright 2009, Vision Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Vision Solutions develops and sells iSeries high availability and AIX replication and clustering solutions. IBM, System i, iSeries, and AS/400 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. All other brands are property of their respective registered owners.

8/09/09 Using RUNRMTCMD to tell other systems to perform tasks and run scripts

You can have Linux, UNIX and Windows servers do tasks and runs scripts right from an i5/OS command line or a CL program. If you use CL, your program will even wait until the other sever completes its task before moving to the next instruction.

Use the RUNRMTCMD command and enter the foreign system command in the COMMAND parameter, the IP address or host name in the REMOTE LOCATION parameter, and indicate *IP for Type. Of course, you’ll also need a user name and password for the remote server.

The RUNRMTCMD will end and the next CL statement will execute when the command completes on the target system. If you want things to happen "asynchronously," use the COMMAND parameter to run a script on the foreign system that submits another job or spawns off another process. Just remember, whatever process you invoke on the target system has to finish before control returns to your CL. If the target system gets stuck, so does your program.

Using this command can also be a handy way to automatically perform functions when switching servers using the your high availability automation; you can trigger scripts that automatically change DNS, clear DNS cache, alter software configurations, and more.


Disclaimer: Vision Solutions makes every effort to provide accurate system management information and programming code; however the company cannot be held liable for the accuracy of information nor its compatibility in your own environment. Please review and test thoroughly before implementing. © Copyright 2009, Vision Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Vision Solutions develops and sells iSeries high availability and AIX replication and clustering solutions. IBM, System i, iSeries, and AS/400 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. All other brands are property of their respective registered owners.

7/17/09 How to find journaled files that are regularly cleared

If you are using a logical replication or high availability solution and you have certain files that are cleared on a regular basis, the following command can be used to identify those objects. If the file is cleared then it may be a file that does not need to be replicated, which will save you bandwidth in the replication process.

DSPJRN JRN(library/journal) RCVRNG(*CURCHAIN) ENTTYP(CR)

Disclaimer: Vision Solutions makes every effort to provide accurate system management information and programming code; however the company cannot be held liable for the accuracy of information nor its compatibility in your own environment. Please review and test thoroughly before implementing. © Copyright 2009, Vision Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Vision Solutions develops and sells iSeries high availability and AIX replication and clustering solutions. IBM, System i, iSeries, and AS/400 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. All other brands are property of their respective registered owners.