I manage several Mimix and iTera environments and it’s that time again where I want to take an upgrade to the software. The steps I am going to show you below can be used for any PTFs that you need to apply to the system or anything that you need to load to the IFS and then execute through CL. I hope you will find some value in the following examples.
The first step before any upgrade to Mimix or iTera is considered it to run the CHKIBMPTF command to see if the system has the recommended PTFs installed. Side Note: Tools like these help tremendously to know what is needed from the vendors recommendation standpoint to ensure that the product will run at it’s optimal. If you are using products like these or others that have tools/commands that you can run to pre-check your environment, I highly recommend it!
When I ran the pre-check tool it found 4 PTFs missing (this is inconsequential to what I am going to demonstrate but I wanted to walk through the entire process):
- SI74666
- SI74644
- SI74423
- MF67658
You might be thinking to yourself (as I did in the beginning), 4 PTFs to install, that’s not bad. However, I have run many of these upgrades now and 9 out of 10 times you will need prerequisite PTFs. I went to fix central and selected individual PTFs and punched in these 4 PTFs. I selected to download the PTFs and pre/co requisites to my PC. NOTE: You have multiple options here: you could download the PTFs as an image catalog and load the PTFs that way, you could download the latest PTF groups, or download individual PTFs. I opted to download individual PTFs in this case because I didn’t want to schedule a longer maintenance window to install these PTFs.
NOTE: When you install PTFs it’s always a good idea to have a backup of the system in case you need to undo the work and to read the cover letters to know how the PTFs will effect the system.
I uploaded the PTFs to my system using the Integrated File System option in ACS. In version 1.1.8.6 (which is set to release soon) IBM has added the ability to load multiple files at one time. I started out just loading the PTFs that the CHKIBMPTF said were needed. When you load and apply a PTF if prerequisite PTFs are not installed that are needed the system will tell you. Since this was an environment where I needed to load the same PTFs on two different systems; I loaded the PTFs onto the source system and replication sent them over to the target. I then loaded and applied the PTFs on the target system to ensure everything went smoothly (it’s easier for me to reboot this system during the day or with less notice if needed).
I typically load PTFs into library QGPL. To do this from the Integrated File System dialog in ACS here is what you would do.
Load PTFs Using Integrated File System (IFS)
- Open ACS and click Integrated File System (if you do not see it here it may not have been installed when the ACS install was executed which you can rerun to fix)
- Then drill down to /QSYS.LIB/QGPL.LIB. Here is where we can click upload and select the desired PTFs. You can also type characters in the Include area to refine the IFS listing.
3. The dialog box will show you uploaded and then successfully uploaded when the process is complete. This is fantastic!!! I didn’t have to open a command prompt, cd to the directories, switch to binary, upload the file, run a CL command, realize I needed to upload another file but my FTP session timed out, reconnect to the system and repeat the process. HUGE TIME SAVER!
Load and Apply PTFs using Run SQL Scripts
Now that I have loaded the PTFs to the system I am going to run LODPTF and APYPTF to load and apply them.
In Run SQL Scripts we can execute CL commands and get feedback from the system in the messages pane. How nice is that! I don’t have to run the command then hit F1 on the text or type DSPJOBLOG, hit F10, and page up to review the feedback. Another HUGE TIME SAVER if you ask me!
You can prompt on the command and fill it out:
You can use the drop downs to help you select the appropriate criteria if needed.
Build out your strings of commands and execute one at a time (using Run Selected) or sequentially (Run All or Run from Selected).
NOTE: When I ran the first four PTFs I listed for this system it returned that prerequisite PTFs were needed before some of them could be applied. I took the output from what needed to be loaded and built the above list. I went back and forth between Run SQL Scripts and the IFS to load and apply the PTF, find out I needed another PTF, load it through the IFS, run the command again, and repeat as many times as needed to get the PTFs loaded and applied. The list you see here, I pieced together from running this on the target system and then I ran this whole script in one shot on the source system. FANTASTIC! I didn’t have to waste time creating a CL from the green screen or pay for a product to make writing this quick, I just used the tools IBM has provided to us.
If you want to see what PTFs are waiting to be applied you can run these SQL Statements provided by Scott Forstie and his team at IBM.
--
-- Find which PTFs will be impacted by the next IPL.
--
SELECT PTF_IDENTIFIER, PTF_IPL_ACTION, A.*
FROM QSYS2.PTF_INFO A
WHERE PTF_IPL_ACTION <> 'NONE';
--
-- Find which PTFs are loaded but not applied
--
SELECT PTF_IDENTIFIER, PTF_IPL_REQUIRED, A.*
FROM QSYS2.PTF_INFO A
WHERE PTF_LOADED_STATUS = 'LOADED'
ORDER BY PTF_PRODUCT_ID;
The first statement results (I am only showing the first few columns):
The second statement results (I am only showing the first few columns):
Depending on how you use this you could argue that it might not be as big of a time saver as I claim it to be but I find when running it this way having a nice GUI and instant feedback, that is clearly visible that I can take immediate action on, is VERY HELPFUL. I hope you will try this and other CL commands in Run SQL Scripts and get comfortable with the IFS option. These tools are getting enhanced pretty much every release of ACS and provide a more intuitive interaction with the system in my book.
If you have suggestions or ideas for how to improve ACS, read about the RFE process here and click here to submit an RFE. IBM uses the RFE (Request for Enhancement) submissions to improve and enhance the product. You have a say!
