• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 23, Number 7

  February 17, 2021 Doug Bidwell

  This first bit in the news is a biggy for any Hardware Management Console (HMC) users. IBM has made an announcement regarding firmware for the HMC, and specifically, it regards FW950 and the required minimum HMC level of V9R2M950. What this means is that if the customer does not have a 7063-CR1 or Virtual HMC V9 appliance, they cannot HMC install/manage any Power9 server running FW950.

  See more at this link and look for more coverage in the next issue of The Four Hundred.

  Here is the rundown of PTF Groups by IBM i release level:

  PTF Groups 7.4: …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 23, Number 6

  February 10, 2021 Doug Bidwell

  For those of you who are enthusiastic about the feed and speeds and slots and watts of machinery like we are, you will be happy to know that there is a new Redbook publication called IBM Power Systems S922, S914, and S924 Technical Overview and Introduction, Featuring PCIe Gen 4 Technology, which does exactly what the title says and you can see at this link.

  Also there is a new Security Bulletin: Multiple vulnerabilities in IBM Java SDK and IBM Java Runtime affect IBM i, which you can read about here. The latest Java Group for each …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 23, Number 5

  February 3, 2021 Doug Bidwell

  When you watch PTF patches as part of making your living, you notice patterns. This week, the IBM i PTF Guide is a bit strange, or rather, IBM’s pattern of PTF updates is. Normally, when a PTF group is updated on one release, that same group is updated on the other two releases. This week, it is different. IBM i 7.4 has more groups changed than IBM i 7.3, and weirdly IBM i 7.3 has more groups changed than IBM i 7.2. It’s . . . just a little odd.

  Here is the rundown of PTF Groups by IBM i …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 23, Number 4

  January 27, 2021 Doug Bidwell

  Java Java Java Java Java Chameleon, the PTFs come and go, they come and go. And in this case, during a pretty slow week in PTF Land, all of the four 7.X releases of the IBM i operating system got their patches. Even the mostly quiet IBM i 7.1, which is on extended-extended life support these days but still pretty popular. Java updates on IBM i 7.1? Whodathunkit?

  Here is the rundown of PTF Groups by IBM i release level:

  PTF Groups 7.4:

  • Java

  PTF Groups 7.3:

  • Java

  PTF Groups 7.2:

  • Java

  PTF Groups 7.1:

  • Java, yes, IBM i

  …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 23, Number 3

  January 20, 2021 Doug Bidwell

  The IBM i platform may be more rugged and secure than any other platform out there, but no software, no matter how cleverly written, is impregnable or unassailable. Every piece of software has some attack surface, even if it is minimized to the greatest practical extent.

  And so it is that we learn about Security Bulletin: OpenSSL for IBM i is affected by CVE-2020-1971, which you can read about more at this link and which is yet another vulnerability that comes through the OpenSSL stack. The issues can be fixed by applying a PTF to IBM i. IBM i releases …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 23, Number 1

  January 11, 2021 Doug Bidwell

  This is the first IBM i PTF Guide of 2021, so we wish everyone a Happy New Year and we are declaring here and now that 2021 will be a better year than 2020, and as it is written, so let it be done.

  Here is the rundown of PTF Groups by IBM i release level:

  PTF Groups 7.4:

  • TCP/IP

  PTF Groups 7.3:

  • TCP/IP

  PTF Groups 7.2:

  • TCP/IP

  PTF Groups 7.1:

  • Nothing, as is usually the case unless something really funky is going on. And considering that Big Blue is now supporting IBM i 7.1 on logical partitions on Power9

  …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 22, Numbers 51 And 52

  January 4, 2021 Doug Bidwell

  Welcome to the new year, everyone, but we have some old business to attend to before we get on with 2021. With The Four Hundred being on hiatus since the middle of December, now is the time of the year when we get caught up on the past IBM i PTF Guide updates.

  Let’s start with Volume 22, Number 51. Here is the rundown of PTF Groups by IBM i release level:

  PTF Groups 7.4:

  • HIPER’s (High Impact/Pervasive)

  PTF Groups 7.3:

  • HIPER’s (High Impact/Pervasive)
  • MQ for IBM i – v7.1.0/v8.0.0/V9.0.0/V9.1/V9.2

  PTF Groups 7.2:

  • HIPER’s (High Impact/Pervasive)
  • MQ for IBM i

  …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 22, Number 50

  December 16, 2020 Doug Bidwell

  Here we go again. Last week, we had new defective PTFs for IBM i 7.2, IBM i 7.3, and IBM i 7.4, and this week there is yet another new defective PTF for IBM i 7.4. Also, there is an update for IBM i Access Client Solutions V1.1.8.6.

  Here is the rundown of PTF Groups by IBM i release level:

  PTF Groups 7.4:

  • MQ for IBM i – v9.0.0/v9.1.0/V9.2.0
  • Temporary Storage PTFs

  PTF Groups 7.3:

  • MQ for IBM i – v7.1.0/v8.0.0/V9.0.0/V9.1/V9.2
  • Temporary Storage PTFs

  PTF Groups 7.2:

  • IBM MQ for IBM i – V7.1.0/V8.0.0/V9.0.0/V9.1.0
  • Temporary Storage PTFs

  PTF Groups 7.1: …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 22, Number 49

  December 9, 2020 Doug Bidwell

  Heads up, people. There are new defectives this week for IBM i 7.2, IBM i 7.3, and IBM i 7.4. Also, there is an update to Rational Developer for i, Version 9.6.0.9.

  Here is the rundown of PTF Groups by IBM i release level:

  PTF Groups 7.4:

  • HIPERs (High Impact/Pervasive)
  • Security
  • MGTools

  PTF Groups 7.3:

  • HIPERs (High Impact/Pervasive)
  • Security
  • MGTools

  PTF Groups 7.2:

  • HIPERs (High Impact/Pervasive)
  • Security
  • MGTools

  PTF Groups 7.1:

  • HIPERs (High Impact/Pervasive)

  New (or Updated) Links for this week: Nothing. Sorry! I concentrated on Thanksgiving this week.

  Tips/Definitions: Please, be safe! Mask, distance, and wash your hands –can’t …

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• Security Vulnerability In VIOS, AIX, And Maybe IBM i

  November 23, 2020 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  IBM i shops that use the Virtual I/O Server, which is a cut-down version of the AIX implementation of Unix created by Big Blue, have to be aware that there is a security vulnerability that affects recent releases of AIX and VIOS.

  The vulnerability, announced in Security Vulnerability CVE-2020-4788, affects Power9 machinery running VIOS 3.1 or AIX 7.1 and AIX 7.2, and under what are called “extenuating circumstances” the vulnerability could allow a local user on the system to obtain sensitive information stored on the L1 cache on the Power9 cores.

  The vulnerability was reported on November 18, and …

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