IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 21, Number 24

IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 21, Number 24

June 17, 2019 Doug Bidwell

We are all excited that IBM i 7.4 will be shipping at the end of the week, on the AS/400’s 31st birthday, but there is still the usual tweaking that needs to be done on the earlier and still-current releases thanks to the changes happening in PTF Land.

But to be honest, there is not that much this week. There is a new Java Group for IBM i 7.3, IBM i 7.2, and IBM i 7.1, and that’s about it.

Also, our apologies but in last week’s IBM i PTF Guide, we did a little “fake news,” but not on purpose. QMGTOOLS for V7R1 is not new, the date on the savf was changed to get us excited, the build date is actually 11/2/18. Thanks to Michael Mayer for letting us know.

As for New (Updated) Links this week, have tweaked the stuff for IBM iDoctor Services.

Now, a tip: CALL QLZARCAPI is neat, so check your joblog and find interesting info.

The Guide at a glance: No, there are new defectives this week (6/15/19). Here is the defective PTF rundown, which is the last defective for each release:
```
	Defect		Defective	APAR	Fixing
	Date		PTF			PTF
	--------	--------	-------	-------
7.3	05/30/19	MH01815		MB04215	MH01816 (Not yet Available!)
	Check the Defective PTF link in the guide for further details!

7.2	05/30/19	MH01815		MB04215	MH01816 (Not yet Available!)
	Check the Defective PTF link in the guide for further details!

7.1	04/26/18	MF64827		MA47056	MF64936 (Nothing changed here)
```
Be sure to access the link in the Guide for further details.

Below is the usual archive of the IBM i PTF Guide to help you work through the PTFs in chronological order:

June 15, 2019: Volume 21, Number 24

June 8, 2019: Volume 21, Number 23

June 1, 2019: Volume 21, Number 22

May 25, 2019: Volume 21, Number 21

May 18, 2019: Volume 21, Number 20

May 11, 2019: Volume 21, Number 19

May 4, 2019: Volume 21, Number 18

April 27, 2019: Volume 21, Number 17

April 20, 2019: Volume 21, Number 16

April 13, 2019: Volume 21, Number 15

April 6, 2019: Volume 21, Number 14

March 30, 2019: Volume 21, Number 13

March 23, 2019: Volume 21, Number 12

March 16, 2019: Volume 21, Number 11

March 9, 2019: Volume 21, Number 10

March 2, 2019: Volume 21, Number 9

February 23, 2019: Volume 21, Number 8

February 19, 2019: Volume 21, Number 7

February 11, 2019: Volume 21, Number 6

February 2, 2019: Volume 21, Number 5

January 26, 2019: Volume 21, Number 4

January 19, 2019: Volume 21, Number 3

January 12, 2019: Volume 21, Number 2

January 5, 2019: Volume 21, Number 1

December 22, 2018: Volume 20, Number 51

December 15, 2018: Volume 20, Number 50

December 8, 2018: Volume 20, Number 49

December 1, 2018: Volume 20, Number 48

November 24, 2018: Volume 20, Number 47

November 17, 2018: Volume 20, Number 46

November 10, 2018: Volume 20, Number 45

November 3, 2018: Volume 20, Number 44

October 27, 2018: Volume 20, Number 43

October 20, 2018: Volume 20, Number 42

October 13, 2018: Volume 20, Number 41

October 6, 2018: Volume 20, Number 40

September 29, 2018: Volume 20, Number 39

September 22, 2018: Volume 20, Number 38

September 15, 2018: Volume 20, Number 37

September 8, 2018: Volume 20, Number 36

September 1, 2018: Volume 20, Number 35

August 25, 2018: Volume 20, Number 34

August 18, 2018: Volume 20, Number 33

August 11, 2018: Volume 20, Number 32

August 4, 2018: Volume 20, Number 31

July 28, 2018: Volume 20, Number 30

July 21, 2018: Volume 20, Number 29

July 14, 2018: Volume 20, Number 28

July 7, 2018: Volume 20, Number 27

June 30, 2018: Volume 20, Number 26

June 23, 2018: Volume 20, Number 25

June 16, 2018: Volume 20, Number 24

June 9, 2018: Volume 20, Number 23

June 2, 2018: Volume 20, Number 22

May 19, 2018: Volume 20, Number 20

May 12, 2018: Volume 20, Number 19

May 5, 2018: Volume 20, Number 18

April 28, 2018: Volume 20, Number 17

April 21, 2018: Volume 20, Number 16

April 14, 2018: Volume 20, Number 15

April 7, 2018: Volume 20, Number 14

March 31, 2018: Volume 20, Number 13

March 24, 2018: Volume 20, Number 12

March 18, 2018: Volume 20, Number 11

March 10, 2018: Volume 20, Number 10

March 3, 2018: Volume 20, Number 09

February 24, 2018: Volume 20, Number 08

February 18, 2018: Volume 20, Number 07

February 10, 2018: Volume 20, Number 06

February 3, 2018: Volume 20, Number 05

January 27, 2018: Volume 20, Number 04

January 20, 2018: Volume 20, Number 03

January 13, 2018: Volume 20, Number 02

January 3, 2018: Volume 20, Number 01

December 30, 2017: Volume 19, Number 52

December 23, 2017: Volume 19, Number 51

December 16, 2017: Volume 19, Number 50

December 9, 2017: Volume 19, Number 49

December 2, 2017: Volume 19, Number 48

November 18, 2017: Volume 19, Number 46

November 11, 2017: Volume 19, Number 45

November 4, 2017: Volume 19, Number 44

October 28, 2017: Volume 19, Number 43

October 21, 2017: Volume 19, Number 42

October 14, 2017: Volume 19, Number 41

October 7, 2017: Volume 19, Number 40

September 30, 2017: Volume 19, Number 39

September 23, 2017: Volume 19, Number 38

September 16, 2017: Volume 19, Number 37

September 9, 2017: Volume 19, Number 36

September 2, 2017: Volume 19, Number 35

August 26, 2017: Volume 19, Number 34

August 19, 2017: Volume 19, Number 33

August 12, 2017: Volume 19, Number 32

August 5, 2017: Volume 19, Number 31

July 29, 2017: Volume 19, Number 30

July 22, 2017: Volume 19, Number 29

July 15, 2017: Volume 19, Number 28

July 1, 2017: Volume 19, Number 26

June 24, 2017: Volume 19, Number 25

June 17, 2017: Volume 19, Number 24

June 10, 2017: Volume 19, Number 23

June 3, 2017: Volume 19, Number 22
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1. RELIABILITY. Up to 71% of restores from tape contain failures.
- BEST PRACTICE: Use disk-to-disk technology for backups.
With disk-to-disk technology, your backup data resides on disk drives, proven to be far more reliable than tapes. When your backup completes, you know the data is secure and accessible on the disk drive. With tapes you never really know if your data is usable until you try to restore it, at which point it’s too late.
1. BREADTH OF OFFERING. Choice in product and service offerings meet your business’ needs.
- BEST PRACTICE: Don’t settle for less than what you need.
Vendor offerings vary widely. Some are designed primarily for consumers and others for enterprise data centers. Choose a solution that scales and offers the features you need to provide the level of service you expect. De-duplication and delta-block technologies will improve performance, reduce your data footprint and save you money. Find out if their de-duplication offering is at the file level or the block level. Make sure the solution can back up servers, PCs, and laptops as well your applications.
1. SECURITY. 60% of organizations using tapes don’t encrypt their backups.
- BEST PRACTICE: End-to-end encryption with no “back door.”
Using encryption with tape makes backups run slowly and often takes too long to fit within a backup window. As a result, most people simply turn encryption off, creating a security risk. Even with the physical safety of disk-to-disk backup, encryption is essential. Look for 256-bit AES. Find a solution that encrypts your data during transmission and storage. Make certain there isn’t a “back door” that would let someone else view your data.
1. ACCESSIBILITY. Companies waste thousands of hours waiting on tapes.
- BEST PRACTICE: Ensure that you can get your data back with minimal delay.
You should have direct access to your backups, with no time spent on physical transport (no trucks, no warehouses). Restores should take minutes, not hours or days. Set yourself up to work with your data, not wait for it. Make sure your solution provider can meet your Return-to-Operations (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) which determine how quickly you can recover your data and maintain business continuity. Inquire about onsite and offsite replication that provide both improved performance and a solid disaster recovery strategy.
1. CYBER SECURITY. More than 80 percent of U.S. companies have been successfully hacked, according to a Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey.
- BEST PRACTICE: Regular cyber security training and phishing tests for all employees using company email are essential to your organization.
Your end-users are the weak link in your network security. Today, your employees are frequently exposed to advanced phishing attacks. Trend Micro reported that 91% of successful data breaches started with a spear-phishing attack. Be sure your vendor of choice includes cyber security training as part of their backup and DR package.
1. SCALABILITY. Some backup systems can’t scale readily.
- BEST PRACTICE: Invest in a data protection architecture that can grow with your business.
You should be able to back up your data no matter how large it grows. Starting small? Look for an option that handles your backups automatically. Then, as you grow, gives you tools to manage complex environments. Look for “changes-only” and compression technologies to speed backups and save space. And insist on bandwidth throttling to balance traffic and ensure network availability for your other business applications. Make sure that their solution offerings rely on common technology to scale easily as your business––and data––grow.
1. COST-EFFECTIVENESS
- BEST PRACTICE: Calculate the true total cost of tape-based back up.
A 2019 Server OS Reliability Survey found that one hour of downtime costs at least $100K for 98% of companies to over $5 million for 34% of surveyed companies. When you do the math, the dollars make sense: Go with disk-to-disk. Unlike tape, there are close to zero handling costs—no rush deliveries, loading, accessing, locating, or repeated steps. And there’s one benefit you can’t factor directly: Reputation. Reliability and security can make an incalculable difference with just one avoided breach or failure.
1. COMPLIANCE. Most companies have problems satisfying privacy, security, and data retention regulations.
- BEST PRACTICE: Choose a data protection partner who has deep know-how about compliance, and the technology to ensure it.
1. Disaster Recovery. Most companies lack a comprehensive, tested plan for disasters.
- BEST PRACTICE: Find a vendor that delivers a complete DR solution.
You can’t say your data protection is complete until you have a disaster recovery plan that is itself complete and tested. Your backup vendor should have both the product mix and professional services team to help you prepare for a worst-case scenario. Make sure they can help configure your backups so you rebound quickly. Best bet: A vendor who can train you to deal with disasters confidently, based on your company’s actual configuration.
1. EASE OF USE. Some companies don’t —or can’t—manage their backups from one place.
- BEST PRACTICE: Get control and reporting you can use anywhere, with ease. Managing your backup environment should be simple, and the software you use should eliminate any guesswork that could lead to lost data. You should know at all times if your data is protected across your entire network—including remote offices—by simply looking at a dashboard. The software should be simple to configure using wizards, yet powerful enough to meet your specific needs with customizable views, job propagation, and roles-based security.
1. OPERATING SYSTEM AND PLATFORM SUPPORT. Most backup vendors support a limited range of OS, server types, and applications.
- BEST PRACTICE: Look for broad and deep technology that supports your complete environment. Your backup solution should accommodate your environment, not vice versa.
1. CUSTOMER SUPPORT. Backup vendors’ product support varies widely.
- BEST PRACTICE: Find a vendor whose support is passionate, maybe even slightly obsessed. Customer support should be one of your vendor’s main selling points. You shouldn’t have to wonder if they’ll be there to help when you need them most. Do they offer phone support or email only, and who exactly are you talking to when you call that 800 number? Find a vendor that will treat your data as if it were their own.
1. REPUTATION. Does your backup vendor have a quality reputation and the financial resources to stay in business for the long haul?
- BEST PRACTICE: Find a vendor with strong financial backing and customer references. There are a lot of vendors that have come and gone. When you consider a service provider, look for one that has strong financial backing, a solid business plan and the ability to be in business as long as your data needs to be stored. Ask for customer references and case studies as their customers are the best validation you can get.
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IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 21, Number 24

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