IBM i began supporting USB flash drives back in 2012, but their use was restricted to save/restore and IFS options (refer to the blog IBM i Now Supports USB Flash Drives for additional background information). Many users downloaded the IBM Fix (PTF) DVD images, copied them to a flash drive, and then discovered they could not access the fixes because the entire DVD image was “just a file”.
(more…)A common problem many IBM i users have is getting the cumulative group PTF media to their machine in a usable form when using a USB thumb drive. Many users would first carefully format that USB drive on IBM i, move it to an office PC, then copy the cumulative group from IBM distribution onto the thumb drive. When the thumb drive was put back into IBM i, the PTFs could not be loaded.
(more…)A positive out-of-box experience for clients deploying IBM i has been a key point of emphasis from day one, and will continue to be in the future. Much is owed to the integration of the operating system with key functions, such as security and database, and with IBM middleware like WebSphere Application Server. We package and test everything together as a fully integrated stack to ensure the quick and easy deployment of an IBM i system or partition.
(more…)Do you get annoyed when it takes two IPLs to install a PTF package? If so, we’ve got a great, new function for you in IBM i 7.1. When you’re installing PTFs, there are two conditions where we prompt you to perform an IPL to apply some of the PTFs, require you to restart the PTF install after the first IPL, and then make you perform yet another IPL to apply the delayed PTFs:
(more…)I’m going to show you how easy it is to use an electronic download process to get your image catalog set up and ready for your upgrade. If you’ve attempted to use ESD in the past and was overwhelmed with the long file names (e.g., B_GROUP1_01_IBM_i_RS_710-00_20100402_204531879.iso) and the difficulty in setting up an image catalog, then this process is for you.
(more…)On October 20, IBM announced that an IBM i 6.1 environment on a POWER6 processor-based system can be upgraded to IBM i 6.1.1 with an image on the network file server. Prior to this enhancement, you’d have to install with physical media or with virtual media located locally on the system being upgraded. This required a manual FTP the virtual images across the network to the individual partitions to be installed.
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