Easiest method to find the number of users logged into the system

Hi,

The easiest method to find the number of user logged into AS400 system, is by issuing command WRKSYSSTS ( Work with system status).

Take F21 ( shift +F9)

Take option 1 (basic) in Assistance level, 

Press Enter,

You will get in Users section, Number of signed on users. In below example, 12 users are signed on.

How to limit a user profile to one particular subsystem or limiting the user to submit his job to a particular subsystem?

Hi Readers,

You must be thinking why it is required to limit a user profile to access a particular subsystem or submit job to one particular subsystem. Why and how is it beneficial?

Well we can do this by creating a private subsystem or a separate subsystem or by assigning the user profile to access only that subsystem. Now, when is it required. In scenario's where you want a user to access the system resource during a particular time period. For example, in most of the IT scenario's the admin department accesses the system in OOH(Out of office hours). It is not required by other user's to access the system during this time. You might need only the admin team to carry on with their processes during backups or when system is in restricted state. For this, if you set up a separate subsystem and assign the team members of Admin team to it, then you can bring down QINTER subsystem ( default subsystem for all interactive users) thus restricting all users except Admin to access the system.

Lets now, see how you can create a private or separate interactive subsystem and segregate user profiles to access them.

1- Create new subsystem for interactive processing.
2- Create a job queue that feeds interactive jobs to that subsystem and assigns that job queue to the subsystem.
3- Change your subsystem attributes to allow specific workstation names or workstation type to enter this subsystem.
4- Change QINTER attributes to not allow the devices and jobs which are intended to run in private subsystem.

Note :- This process allocates the devices ( that is workstation by name or type) to the particular subsystem and does not restrict the user profile. When a user profile signs on the the particular device, it automatically redirects to this subsystem.

1 - Create Subsystem :- 

Let us now create a new interactive subsystem named QINTER1.

We can use CRTSBSD or CRTDUPOBJ to create this subsystem.

CRTDUPOBJ OBJ(QINTER) FROMLIB(QSYS) OBJTYPE(*SBSD) TOLIB(QGPL) NEWOBJ(QINTER1)

2- Create Job queue to feed new subsystem :- 

Use CRTJOBQ to create a new JOBQ.

CRTJOBQ JOBQ(QGPL/QINTER1) TEXT ( NEW JOB QUEUE FOR INTERACTIVE WORK)

3- Add Job Queue to new subsystem to accept the jobs from the Job queue.

Use command ADDJOBQE

ADDJOBQE SBSD(QGPL/QINTER1) JOBQ(QGPL/QINTER1) MAXACT(*NOMAX) SEQNBR(30)

4- Since, QINTER1 is a duplicate of QINTER, it inherits QINTER Job Queue. Need to remove this QINTER job queue from QINTER1 subsystem, so that jobs that should run under QINTER will go there and not be diverted to QINTER1.

Use RMVJOBQE
RMVJOBQE SBSD(QGPL/QINTER1) JOBQ(QSYS/QINTER)

Check, which all JOBQ was added to QINTER subsystem and remove them from QINTER1 as it is a copy of QINTER subsystem. To do this, DSPSBSD SBSD(QINTER)

TAKE OPTION 6 :- JOB QUEUE ENTRIES
Seq  Job                       Max   ---------Max by Priority----------
Nbr  Queue       Library     Active   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9
 10  QINTER      QGPL        *NOMAX   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *
 20  QS36MRT     QGPL        *NOMAX   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

This means, QINTER subsystem, feeds QINTER and QS36MRT job queues to it. So, now remove QS36MRT from QINTER1 subsystem job queue enteries.

RMVJOBQE SBSD(QGPL/QINTER1) JOBQ(QS36MRT)

5- Limit the workstation types that can enter subsystem QINTER1.

To authorize workstation whose name start with letter AD* (exa -AD001, AD002)

ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER1) WRKSTN(AD*)


You can view which all workstation are added for this subsystem QINTER1 by DSPSBSD SBSD(QINTER1)

Take option:-

4. Work station name entries
5. Work station type entries

You could see AD* in option 4 and *CONS and *ALL in option 5. You can remove *CONS and *ALL and thus it will limit access only to AD* workstation.

To remove,

RMVWSE SBSD(QGPL/QINTER1) WRKSTNTYPE(*CONS)

RMCWSE SBSD(QGPL/QINTER1) WRKSTNTYPE(*ALL)

What is colocation?

A Colocation center is a type of data center, where space, bandwidth are available for rental. The organization basically provides, physical safety of your server with rental charges on space, bandwidth, network facility and safety of the server at a minimal cost. The organization, handles many customer servers under the same roof.

Sometimes, the organization might provide you the data center management as well. This is quiet common in IT sector, due to the connectivity over internet. Organizations, like to focus on IT work instead of managing and building its own data center. However, when your organization is considering Colocation facility , you need to focus on the Service Level agreement, and look if it has some hidden rules or charges.

In my experience, my organization has have a colocation facility for its DR system. We have the production system in our own data center. Since, DR system needs to be kept at another location, taking up Colocation was a best choice, as we need not require to build another data-center for DR system. But, yes Colocation facility could be a concern if you manually need to visit the site often. That would incur to additional expenses. In our case, we had a agreement with the Colocation provider to raise ticket with them to provide any authorized person to get access to it when needed. And when need arises, we let the Vendor IBM to provide Customer Engineer (CE) to visit that location and fix the issues. Though, this is little tedious compared to getting CE at our own premises, but its manageable. For, AS400 system colocation facility is apt according to me as this is quite robust and does not usually need a manual intervention. 

Changing IP address of the system

Hi Readers,

I had kept busy for a while so could not blog in meanwhile. Now, the latest challenge in my work place is to get one of our iSeries system moved to another data center. This machine will have to moved to its assigned data center via another place. So, we might have to change its IP address and work with data mirror IP address change twice before we settle this.

Since, I would connect to it remotely and won't have any physical connection, we have things to clarify before we go ahead and do it.

In IBM TCP-IP, we can add the new IP address before we shut down the system and after it is relocated to it destination, we can remove the old IP address and connect to the new one. So, how to get this done. Here is a set of procedure for it.

The following are steps to change a TCP/IP address on IBM OS/400 or IBM i5/OS:
    1.
    On an operating system command line, type the following:
   
    CFGTCP
   
    Press the Enter key, and select Option 1.
    2.
    Select Option 10 to end the Interface.
    3.
    Press F12 to get back to the Configure TCP menu.
    4.
    Select Option 2 to work with routes.
    5.
    If there is a route that is associated with the interface, it will need to be removed.  Otherwise, you will get an error later when trying to remove the old TCP/IP address.  (Press F6 to print this screen.  It will go to your spooled file so you can have a record of it.)
    6.
    Once the route is removed, press F12 to return to the configure TCP screen.
    7.
    Select Option 1 to work with TCP interfaces.
    8.
    Select Option 1 to add the new TCP/IP address.
    9.
    Select Option 9 to start the new TCP/IP address.
    10.
    Select Option 4 to remove the old TCP/IP address.
    11.
    Press F11 and the new TCP/IP address should be in an active status.
    12.
    Press F12 to get to the Configure TCP/IP menu.
    13
    Select Option 2 to work with TCP/IP routes.
    14.
    Select Option 1 to add a route if needed.
    15.
    Press F12 to get to the Configure TCP/IP menu.
    16.
    Select Option 10 to work with the Host Table.  If you have the old TCP/IP address associated with the Host Name of the iSeries family system, you must remove the old address, then add a Host Name with the new TCP/IP address.  If you do not have anything there, then you do not have to do anything.
    17.
    Press F12 to get to the Configure TCP/IP menu again.
    18.
    Select Option 12 to change TCP/IP Domain.  If the TCP/IP address of a Domain name server changes too, you will change it here.  If you do not have an external Domain name server, then you will not need to make any changes.
    19.
    Your PCs should now be able to connect to the new TCP/IP address on OS/400 or i5/OS.
   
Similarly, we can change the IP address in data mirror. Since, we are using icluster, we have option to add the new IP address. Just before, shuting the system, we can change the IP address and then shut the system down for shipping. 

Configuring HMC

HMC or Harware Management Console, is now an integral part of Iseries system. This has two standard models:-
1- The desktop model, it has only one Ethernet port.
2- Rack model , it has two standard Ethernet port.

Once, a new system is purchased, it comes with HMC, the HMC software is pre-loaded and also a CD is shipped for recovery purpose. Once, HMC is connected to the system. The procedure that you need to follow to configure HMC is as below,

1- Managed System Powered off.
2- Power on HMC
2- Login as hscroot or root with default password (hsroot = abc123, root = passw0rd)
3- Set date and time
4- Change default password for hscroot and root
5- Create additional user profile's to access HMC
6- Configure HMC network connection
7- Configure HMC to connect to network provider
8- Reboot HMC
9- Check HMC software version

If this is a new HMC , you will automatically be prompted to Guided setup, after you power on the HMC. Once, you switch on the power switch. You can see the initialization messages on your screen. After, this it will prompt you to login with a user name and password. Use hscroot or root user id. This will take you to the screen to set date and time.

On a new HMC change the default passwords. If you wish to create more user profiles, then the required screen will have new user id tab, new password and re-enter new password tab along with roles  tab , in which you have option to choose from below roles,
1- HMCSERVICEREP
2- HMCVIEWER
3- HMCOPERATOR
4- HMCPE
5- HMCSUPERADMIN

1- HMCSERVICEREP - hmcservicerep is a service representative id for IBM support personnel to access HMC.

2- HMCVIEWER - the user can only view HMC information, but has no authority to modify or change HMC options.

3- HMCOPERATOR - this user can perform daily tasks, but do not have authority to add new users or modify the roles.

4- HMCPE - Product engineer and service representative can perfom almost every task. However, PE can additionally shut down HMC and close virtual terminal windows which service representative cannot do.

5- HMCSUPERADMIN - Super admin has same authority as the hscroot or root. They have all the access to HMC and can manage and modify almost everything in HMC.
.
Once you have completed adding users, it will prompt you to configure the network Settings. I will discuss about this tomorrow in my next post. 

How to fix the drawer issue in AS400 Printer?

In our shop we did a hardware and OS upgrade from V5R4 to V6R1 15 days back. After, the production system was up, we got an unusual problem with the printer. The printer which worked perfectly after migrating to new system, was asking the user to press OK button before it starts printing. The AS400 system reported below error message,

Operator action required on device XXXXXX.(C R)

From message ID CPA403D.

In order to fix this issue, we first compared both the printer device description , work station customization object and it was same in both. Then, we tried testing both printers, and we found that when the printer was printing from paper tray/drawer 2 it was working fine, however, it was  it configured in such a way that it selected drawer 1. But, this is how normally it should work. In order to fix the issue, we just directed the spool files to print from same printer using drawer 2. 

Below, is the command to do so.

Option 2 to change next to the spool file

OUTQ(XXXXXX) SAVE(*YES) DRAWER(2)

Otherwise, another option would be to try different values for the Manufacturer type and model (MFRTYPMDL) parameter in your *LAN 3812 DEVD or RMTOUTQ to see if another value will send the PCL Paper Source command for the "correct" paper tray on this printer without having to specify DRAWER(2) in your spooled files. For example, if you are currently using MFRTYPMDL(*HP4000) and WSCST(*NONE) then you could try specifying MFRTYPMDL(*HP5) and MFRTYPMDL(*HP5SI) to see if one of the other choices prints with DRAWER(1).

By changing the Manufacturer type and model, the problem was resolved.

Useful System information that vendors need to know

When purchasing i5/OS third-party software, vendors may request system control information for the partition their products will be installed in. Vendors including IBM need to know some of these information to verify the caller. This information is used to create unique licensing keys that must be installed with the product for piracy prevention. Unfortunately, IBM doesn't have one screen to find vendor-required system information.

System serial number--The seven-digit number that uniquely identifies your machine. It's common to see the serial number printed in the format xx-yyyyy, where xx equals the first two digits of the serial number and yyyyy equals the last five digits of the serial number.  

Command

DSPSYSVAL QSRLNBR

GO SERVICE

Option 6

Machine type--A four-digit identifier that IBM traditionally uses to identify different types of machines in each of its product line. Common System i, iSeries, and AS/400 machine types include 9402, 9404, and 9406. The same machine type is commonly used across several different types of models.

Command

GO SERVICE

Option 6

Model number--The four-character value that defines the specific type of System i machine that you own. Common System i models include the models 550 and 570. Although IBM stores this value in a four-character field, many model numbers are only three characters long.

Command

DSPSYSVAL QMODEL

Processor feature--The processor feature code level of the system, which identifies the processor used on the system. 

Processor group--The processor category that IBM considers your processor feature to belong to (i.e., P10, P20). Because many vendors price software by processor group, this is one of the more important values when purchasing third-party software. The higher processor group that your partition belongs to, the more expensive it may become to purchase your software.

Command

WRKLICINF

Partition ID--In a partitioned system, the individual number (starting with 1) that identifies your partition to the system.

Command

GO SERVICE

Option 6

Number of processors that are allocated to this partition--This value displays how many processors out of the machine's total processor pool belong to the partition where you want to install the software.

Ops Navigator System Status Screen. Right click on the AS400 system and select system status.