Maintaining and managing IBM i and related software

This topic indicates how you can manage and maintain IBM® i licensed programs and fixes in your network. It also describes how you and IBM can manage the usage, documentation, and the maintenance of software license information for certain IBM i licenses and packaged products

If you are looking for information about software installation, go to the Installing, upgrading, or deleting IBM i and related software in the information center. Managing these areas is so important for several key reasons:

The time it takes to operate a system

Regardless of how big or small a computer system or network is, it can take a significant amount of time to perform the daily operations, such as upgrading software, managing fixes, and resolving system problems. Time spent fixing a problem with a resource is a direct expense. Time spent operating without that resource contributes to lost revenue or increased overhead expense. Time spent upgrading software around the network is time that could have been better spent.

The costs associated with managing a system

Money spent managing the system is money that does not produce revenue. It has been estimated that the cost of implementing a distributed computing environment is far less than the cost for the management and support of that environment. Companies who find ways to reduce or eliminate these expenses are the companies who have a better chance of surviving in today's business environment.

The distribution of data

In the past, if you had a question about your company's operation, you walked down the hall and talked to the person who had the answer. However, with the globalization of industry and the proliferation of computers, information is no longer centralized but is distributed in nature, making it more difficult to obtain and requiring more people to control and manage it.

To help you manage these areas, IBM Navigator for i provides an easy to use interface for the web-enabled IBM i management tasks. This interface includes managing software and PTFs under the Configuration and Service section in Navigator for i. In addition to Navigator for i, there are other tools that can help you manage your PTFs, and also automate this process. These tools include IBM Administration Runtime Expert for i and Ansible.

IBM Administration RunTime Expert for i - 5733-ARE

The ARE product can be used to automate the ability to understand what fixes are on an endpoint IBM i by comparing the endpoint system to Fix Central or comparing to a 'Central' system. Additionally, the sending and installing of PTFs can be automated against any number of IBM i endpoints. Details on how to leverage ARE can be found at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ibm-administration-runtime-expert-i.

Ansible

Ansible is a very powerful tool for automating the management, setup and day to day activities of virtually any compute endpoint, including IBM i. There are playbooks that have been created specially for helping with the automation of PTF management on IBM i. Details can be found at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ansible-support-ibm-i.

In addition to using these tools, you can develop an effective strategy for managing and maintaining software.