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TechTalk: Choosing Your Alternate IPL Unit

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CONTRATULATIONS! You justified that new high-speed or high-capacity tape drive for your AS/400. You have cut your tape costs and dramatically reduced your system backup time by converting all of your save processing activities to the new unit.

A few months later, you decide to upgrade your machine microcode, operating system software, and licensed program products. If media errors occur and the upgrade process fails, you risk corrupting the system PTF index. You may have to restore your system from the processor panel. If your last SAVSYS backup was from the cartridge unit and the changes listed below were not made, you will not be able to restore your system from the processor console.

When you begin the restore from the processor panel by (Selecting Option 'D') the system will try to automatically restore your system from the alternate IPL unit. If you have been saving your system on TAP02 (the new cartridge drive), and TAP01 (that old 2440) was still configured as the alternate IPL unit, YOU LOSE.

What choices do you have?

1. Call for hardware support and have them reconfigure the hardware to use the new tape unit to get your system back to the point where it was before you started the upgrade. Hopefully, it isn't Sunday evening.

2. Call for software support and have them send you another upgrade tape. This could take a few days. Your system status will remain incomplete until it arrives and you upgrade.

If you plan to use the cartridge drive for your SAVSYS processing you will want to ensure the following:

o Change the address for the cartridge unit to 7, within the tape drive itself.

o Make sure the interface card for the new unit is installed in the slot where your previous tape drive card was installed.

o Contact your software support group and notify them of the new tape drive enhancements to your system.

o When you order a cumulative PTF tape be certain that it comes on the same media that you are using for your SAVSYS processing. This is one key indicator that will tell you whether you would or wouldn't be able to restore your operating system from the distributed tapes.

Edward Koziol Kenosha, Wisconsin

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