AIX Virtual User Group

IBM Electronic Support for AIX and

Power Systems

Julie Craft
June 27, 2013

The ultimate system for

Compute Intensive workloads

2013 IBM Corporation

IBM Electronic Support easy, fast, smart

My Notifications
IBM Systems Director
Automated Problem
Reporting
Electronic Service Agent

Tutorials and
training
IBM Education
Assistant
developerWorks
Online Support
Communities

Before you contact

IBM Support
Online service
requests
Technical Support
Chat

IBM Support Portal

Information
Centers
Product
documentation
IBM Redbooks
Whitepapers and
more

OS, Software and

firmware
Fix Central
IBM Systems
Director Update
Manager
FLRT

Troubleshooting
documents
Problem determination
guides
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IBM Support Portal Gateway to electronic support portfolio

support.ibm.com

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IBM Support Portal Sign in

Sign in to:
Retrieve saved product
selection list
Customize the page
content and layout
Sign in with IBM
ID and
password to
customize the
page

Access support
contracts
Manage your
subscriptions
Download fixes (required
for most downloadable
code)
Open and manage
service requests
Access entitled
documents

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Register for IBM ID and password

Register just once, using your email address for IBM ID

Sign in using IBM ID / password
created on any IBM site

Register

Sign in to:

Customize the Support Portal

Access My Notifications
Access the SR tool
View entitled content
Download fixes and updates
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IBM Support Portal View your page

Choose a
different page
to view
content
relevant to
that task
Enhanced
search helps
you find
information
quickly

Content
displayed in
the center of
the page
depends on
the products
selected

Additional useful
support links and
product related
information is
easily accessible
from any portal
page

Find flashes
and alerts
quickly

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IBM Support Portal Customize the page

Modules display in
center of page.
Content is based on
selected products
and task

Move them up,
down, left or right

Remove them

Add new modules
from the list that
displays to the right
by dragging and
dropping modules
to the center

Click
Customize this
page to set up
your unique
web experience

Click the + to
see available
modules to
drag to the
center of the
page

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IBM Support Portal Choose a page

Choose a page
based on the
task you want
to perform.

Content tagged
for that task
displays in
modules

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IBM Support Portal Manage your product list

Save a list of
up to 100
products and
select the
active 10
products

Quickly
search for
products to
add to your
list and view

Find products
to add by
searching or
browsing

Remove
products from
the list or add
additional
information
such as OS or
version

Work with
your active
product list to
change the
content in the
portal

Set up your
product list
and share it
with others so
they get the
same view
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Product list
Software

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IBM Electronic Support easy, fast, smart

11

My Notifications
IBM Systems Director
Automated Problem Reporting
Electronic Service Agent
My Systems

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Prevent problems & Stay current

My notifications

Consolidated complimentary
subscription includes software and
hardware products

Requires IBM ID sign in

Customizable based on product
family, each user selects:

Products
Document types
Daily or weekly updates
Delivery through email, RSS feeds, or
Support Portal

Ability to create multiple subscriptions

Flashes and alerts help you avoid
known problems. Include in your
subscription or see Flashes and alerts
module on Troubleshooting page
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My notifications Creating subscriptions

Click
Subscribe

Choose a
product
family or
product

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Or search
for your
product

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My notifications Setting delivery and frequency

Customize your subscription

Select a web folder for this
subscription or create a new
one

Choose the delivery method
and frequency

For some products, you can
select the specific information
you want to receive

Click Submit to create the
subscription

Notifications also
automatically appear on the
Support Portal home page in
the Notifications module

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IBM Electronic Support easy, fast, smart

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IBM Support Portal

Information Centers
Product documentation
IBM Redbooks
Whitepapers and more

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Find information
Information Centers, product documentation & Redbooks

Questions about a product?

Information Centers = product
documentation

Available for hardware and
software

Eclipse-based documents

Built-in search makes it easy to
find information

IBM Redbooks, Redpapers,

and white papers available
for many products

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IBM Electronic Support easy, fast, smart

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OS, Software and firmware

Fix Central
IBM Systems Director Update
Manager
FLRT

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Download fixes and upgrades

Finding fixes

Choose Downloads page

Locate your product in the
Downloads and fixes module

Each product with downloads
includes a link to Fix Central or
another repository

Fix Central lets you search by:

APAR
Fix ID
Arbitrary text
Search for recommended groups
Filter search results by category,
product, release, and platform
Include prerequisite and co-requisite
fixes

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Fix Central Central repository for downloadable content

Support Portal links will

take you directly to Fix
Central

AIX supplies TL life chart

Filter types (TLs or SPs) or
by TL

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Fix Central changes

Power firmware

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Fix Central changes

Power firmware

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Entitlement check for hardware

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View Terms and Conditions

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Power & AIX Bulletin Archives

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Power & AIX Bulletin Archives

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Power & AIX Bulletin Archives

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pSearch
Power/AIX search tool in Fix Central

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Sibling APAR doc and fileset information coming in July

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Sibling doc

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Fileset information

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FLRT for Power Systems

Fix Level Recommendation Tool
The Fix Level Recommendation Tool (FLRT) provides minimum recommended fix level information on
key components of IBM Power Systems running the AIX, IBM i and Linux operating systems. FLRT
can be useful for those who are planning to upgrade key components or for those wishing to verify the
current health of a system.
Used by clients and support centers for both health checks and planning
For health checks: Im told to update the HMC. But what does IBM recommend I do with
the other product fix levels?
FLRT is widely used to look for cross product fix recommendations when a client needs to
update one or more components of his Power Systems solution.
For planning: Time to move up to new versions of IBM software. What if I upgrade one
product? Do other products need to be upgraded, too?
FLRT is a great What If? tool for system administrators wanting to move up.

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Fix Level Recommendation Tool - FLRT

www.ibm.com/support/customercare/flrt

New multi-LPAR support

Inventory save & upload

PureSystems Power
compute node support

VIOS to NIM Master
mapping

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Fix Level Recommendation Tool - FLRT

Release date of fixes

End of Service Pack Support

(EoSPS)

Recommended updates and

upgrades

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FLRT Inventory Save

After making selections,

select Save inventory

Right click and select
Save link as

Save to .txt file

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FLRT Inventory Upload

Select Load saved

inventory

Select your saved
inventory file

Submit for a report or
Load to make changes

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VIOS to NIM Master mapping

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Coming soon HIPER and security tables

AIX TL/SP

Abstract

APAR /
CVE number

Fix Type

link to APAR / bulletin

JFS2 FILESYSTEM HANG IN

BMASSIGN

IV20607

7100-01-05

http://www01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg1IV2
0607

REDUCE EARLY WORKING

STORAGE PAGING

IV27014

IV27014s05.epkg.
Z

http://www01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg1IV2
7014

SYSTEM CRASH DUE TO

FREED SOCKET WHEN
SOCKETPAIR() CALL
USED

IV21235

IV21131s03.epkg.
Z

http://www01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg1IV2
1235

7100-01-05

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Security

AIX TL/SP

Abstract

APAR /
CVE number

Fix Type

link to APAR / bulletin

Perl Digest Module "Digest->new()"

Code Injection

IV10197
CVE-2011-3597

interim

https://www14.software.ibm.com/webap
p/set2/subscriptions/onvdq?mode=
7&heading=AIX61&path=/201301/S
ECURITY/20130128/datafile16380
0&label=UPDATE%20%20AIX%20Perl%20Digest%20Mo
dule%20%22Digest%3Enew%28%29%22%20Vulnera
bility%20CVE-2011-3597

AIX NFSv4 vulnerability

IV11502
CVE-2012-4817

PTF

https://www14.software.ibm.com/webap
p/set2/subscriptions/onvdq?mode=
7&heading=AIX61&path=/201209/S
ECURITY/20120913/datafile15183
5&label=AIX%20NFSv4%20Vulner
ability%20CVE-2012-4817

7100-02-00

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By Issue
Abstract

AIX TL/SP

APAR

link to APAR

fileset levels

SPs effected

Interim fix, PTF or

Service Pack

A tcp
connection
can hang
and never
send the
last bytes

7100-02-02

IV31960

http://www01.ibm.com/su
pport/docview.
wss?uid=isg1I
V31960

< bos.net.tcp.client
7.1.2.15

7100-02-00, 7100-02-01

7100-02-02

7100-01-07

IV20656

http://www01.ibm.com/su
pport/docview.
wss?uid=isg1I
V20656

< bos.net.tcp.client
7.1.1.18

7100-01-00, 7100-00-01, 7100-0102, 7100-01-03, 7100-01-04,

7100-01-05, 7100-01-06

7100-01-07

7100-00-09

IV33484

http://www01.ibm.com/su
pport/docview.
wss?uid=isg1I
V33484

< bos.net.tcp.client
7.1.0.23

7100-00-00, 7100-00-01, 7100-0002, 7100-00-03, 7100-00-04,

7100-00-05, 7100-00-06, 710000-07, 7100-00-08

7100-00-09

7100-00-08

IV33484

http://www01.ibm.com/su
pport/docview.
wss?uid=isg1I
V33484

< bos.net.tcp.client
7.1.0.23

7100-00-00, 7100-00-01, 7100-0002, 7100-00-03, 7100-00-04,

7100-00-05, 7100-00-06, 710000-07, 7100-00-08

IV33434.epkg.Z

6100-07-06

IV32392

http://www01.ibm.com/su
pport/docview.
wss?uid=isg1I
V32392

< bos.net.tcp.client
6.1.7.18

6100-07-00, 6100-07-01, 6100-0702, 6100-07-03, 6100-07-04,

6100-07-05, 6100-07-06

IV32392.epkg.Z

6100-06-10

IV33483

http://www01.ibm.com/su
pport/docview.
wss?uid=isg1I
V33483

< bos.net.tcp.client
6.1.6.22

6100-06-00, 6100-06-01, 6100-0602, 6100-06-03, 6100-06-04,

6100-06-05, 6100-06-06, 610006-07, 6100-06-08, 6100-06-09,
6100-06-10

IV33483.epkg.Z

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System Software Maps

https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ssm1maps&wv=1

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IBM Electronic Support easy, fast, smart

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Troubleshooting documents
Problem determination guides
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Support Portal Troubleshooting page

View
RETAIN tips
with
solutions and
links to
updates

Find out what

to do before
contacting
support

Upload
diagnostic
data to IBM
Support

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Easily find the

newest
troubleshooting
information

Find links to
additional
support
resources
available to
you

Look up the
status of the
warranty for
your systems

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IBM Electronic Support easy, fast, smart

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Before you contact IBM

Support
Online service requests
Technical Support Chat
IBM Assist on-Site

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Service Request & ESC+

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Service Request YouTube video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJhPpSG_Xq8

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http://tinyurl.com/mrhq98j

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Work with IBM Support

Top 10 Tips for Submitting AIX problems

Always check the error logs before you open a problem.

Be clear and precise on the problem description and severity
Indicate exactly the error received (entire error code, LEDs, error report entries).
Provide clear description of the problem and your environment - analysts do not know your
environment nuances.

Include all OS, fix and patch levels in the PMR with you open it. Include TL and service
packs levels.

The three most common data gathering tools are snap, zsnap or perfpmr.
Snap comes pre-installed on AIX systems. You may be asked to download the latest versions of
zsnap or perfpmr to gather additional data.

Make absolutely sure you follow the naming standard in uploading data. Update the PMR
with filename and location of where uploaded.

Be sure to execute any steps given by the support analyst precisely.
Deviating from what the analyst asks you introduces new variables into the problem determination
and can delay resolution.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. If something is unclear or you are concerned about doing
something the analyst asks you to, speak up.

If asking a 'how to' question, explain what you are trying to accomplish.

Utilize resources such as Developerworks, Redbooks, forums, etc., for how to information.

Follow up! Don't be afraid to ask for status if you don't hear back from support after a
reasonable amount of time.
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Work with IBM Support

Electronic Service Call

Place and monitor hardware

service requests
electronically

Reduce the time spent in
voice communication

Place a service request

Monitor status

Cancel a request

Provide additional
information needed to
resolve your problem

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IBM Electronic Support easy, fast, smart

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Tutorials and training

IBM Education Assistant
developerWorks
Online Support
Communities

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Learn more - Customer Replaceable Unit

http://www-947.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/docdisplay?lndocid=POWR-MOVIES&brandind=5362951

Online learning modules

embedded in product
Information Centers
Customer replaceable unit
installation and removal
videos

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Learn more
developerWorks

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In-depth technical information for

developers and administrators

New technology introductions

Technical tutorials and training

Downloads

Communities and forums

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Learn more Online Support Communities

Find
forums,
blogs, and
wikis

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Software Product Compatibility Reports

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/prodguid/v1r0/clarity/index.jsp

Externally available Web tool

Used by Customers and Customer
facing teams to create product version,
release, mod level centric reports
Reports viewed as top level sheets
Users are able to determine what works
together at a glance
URL
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/prodguid/v
1r0/clarity/index.jsp

Designed to complement existing Info

Centers

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What Software is available on AIX 7.1?

AIX 7.1

In seconds a user has

the answer to their
critical business
question

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Power Twitter accounts

Please follow the accounts for your products.

@IBMPowereSupp - IBM Power eSupport News on latest firmware
levels, support news and more

@IBMAIX_eSupp IBM AIX eSupport Security advisories, HIPERs,
latest service packs and more

@IBMClustereSupp IBM Cluster software eSupport latest fixes for
software and technical docs

@IBMVirtualeSupp IBM Virtualization software eSupport VIOS fixes
and technical docs

@IBM_FLRT IBM Fix Level Recommendation Tool FLRT latest news
and release info

@IBM_i_eSupp IBM i eSupp latest fixes and links to get info

@IBMPlateSupp IBM Platform Computing eSupport latest support
news

@IBMPwrLinux IBM Power Linux eSupport links to wikis, new on
updates to support tools
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IBM Electronic Support easy, fast, smart

Stay up-to-date on new IBM

electronic support offerings
Follow us on Twitter, YouTube and
the IBM Electronic Support blog

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