• Getting A Firm Handle On Power Systems And Storage Firmware

  June 15, 2022 Richard Warren

  Back in the old days of the AS/400 and the iSeries, most customers had a single box or maybe two, one for production applications and databases and one for development of high availability. And everything that box needed was inside of itself.

  And at most, you applied two kinds of PTFs – those for the operating system and those for the microcode – to the machine, and you did that maybe once or twice a year and every once in a while you might add some group PTFs to update security or other important features.

  But the world has changed …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 24, Number 24

  June 15, 2022 Doug Bidwell

  If it seems like just about every week there is a security vulnerability within the broad and deep expanse of the IBM i platform, well it isn’t just seeming like that. It is like that. And this week we start out with four news ones that you have to contend with in the IBM i PTF Guide.

  First, we have Security Bulletin: Due to use of Spring Framework, IBM Db2 Web Query for i is vulnerable to unprotected fields (CVE-2022-22968), remote code execution (CVE-2022-22965), and denial of service (CVE-2022-22950). Find out more about that at this link. Here …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 24, Number 23

  June 8, 2022 Doug Bidwell

  Welcome to this week’s edition of the IBM i PTF Guide. We start out with a correction to the Technology Refresh tab in the spreadsheet, where the “LIC Resave” values that were for 7.4 TR6 and 7.3 TR12 were based on an IBM site that was itself incorrect. That site has since been corrected, and now we have corrected the information in the sheet. Many thanks to Jeff at IBM for catching this!

  And now, a bevy of Security Bulletins – four different vulnerabilities that affect the IBM i platform, to be specific.

  First, we have Security Bulletin: IBM …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 24, Number 22

  June 1, 2022 Doug Bidwell

  Well, there is a lot of stuff going on with IBM i PTFs this week, with cumulative patch rollups, or Cumes as we call them, Technology Refreshes, and other goodies. Specifically, IBM i 7.3 and IBM i 7.2 have Cume rollups, as well as their respective TR6 and TR12 updates of new functionality.

  There are also two new security vulnerabilities. First, there is Security Bulletin: IBM Navigator for i is vulnerable to an SQL injection (CVE-2022-22495), which you can read about at this link. The patches for this vulnerability are as follows:

  IBM i Release	HTTP Server for i 

  …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 24, Number 21

  May 25, 2022 Doug Bidwell

  Not to give you any work to do, but I am going to give you some work to do. There is a new service pack for system firmware level MH1010, and this service pack, which you can read about here, addresses a HIPER issue. Next, compression with the ZLIB algorithm with Geographic Mirroring synchronization is coming soon! You can find out more about it at this link. And finally, check out the infrastructure changes that are coming to IBM Electronic Fix Distribution / IBM Fix Central system, which might necessitate customer firewall and proxy setting changes, which you …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 24, Number 20

  May 18, 2022 Doug Bidwell

  It was busy last week in the world of PTFs, but this week it is pretty quiet, excepting a few things. Which is good, because maybe you are not quite yet caught up anyway, right? It has been a long four years since we have new machines to play with, and we’re looking forward to getting our hands on IBM i 7.5 and, more importantly, seeing what kind of machines and deals that IBM will be making with the Power10 machines in July.

  Here is the rundown of PTF Groups by IBM i release level since we last published, with …

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• IBM i 7.3 TR12: The Non-TR Tech Refresh

  May 16, 2022 Alex Woodie

  The launches of IBM i version 7.5 and 7.4 Technology Refresh 6 a few of weeks ago garnered a lot of attention from the IBM i community, thanks to the new capabilities they bring to the platform. But IBM is also bringing some of the same enhancements to IBM i 7.3. And while it is bundling the PTFs that deliver the enhancements for version 7.3 in a package labeled TR12, it is not an official TR, IBM officials say.

  IBM plans to release IBM i 7.3 TR12 on May 24, according to IBM i TR page for version 7.3 on …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 24, Number 19

  May 11, 2022 Doug Bidwell

  So here is what’s new. Here is a notice at the top of the Fix Central Home Page: “Your action may be required. IBM will implement infrastructure improvements to electronic fix distribution on June 4, 2022. IP and hostnames will change for servers that support fix delivery. New connections are required. You must configure your firewall and proxy server if you have a firewall in your network, or if your machine uses a proxy server to access the internet. Please see preparing firewalls and proxies.”

  And here is another note from the PTF Cume Cover Letter: “IMPORTANT: Permanently apply any …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 24, Number 18

  May 4, 2022 Doug Bidwell

  Well, good people of IBM i Land, you are getting another relatively light week when it comes to PTFs, which makes sense with IBM i 7.5 and IBM i 7.4 TR 6 rolling out this week. This is good news because now you have time to digest all of the announcements and to start thinking about how you might take advantage of all of the new software Big Blue has been working on.

  For those of you who have not kept current on your PTF patches, there is a vast archive of IBM i PTF Guide editions for you to …

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• Power10: A Simple And Smooth Migration To The Cloud

  May 3, 2022 Jason Hardy

  Is it because you like the big upfront capital expense and the depreciating asset? Is it because installing PTFs and doing OS upgrades gives your IT team something to do during slow times? Or maybe it’s because the thought of migration and downtime is just completely overwhelming to you? While I don’t have an answer to the first two reasons above, I’m here to tell you that a migration does not have to be difficult, and downtime can be practically nonexistent.

  I recently spent some time with an IBM reseller, and he walked me through the steps of migrating to …

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