Configuring a server subsystem

The default subsystem configuration shipped with IBM® i is a basic subsystem configuration that works well for small systems. However, as the number of users and amount of work increases on the system, you may want to split the work into multiple subsystems to better manage the work on the system.

Server jobs are jobs that run continuously in the background waiting for work. Work can come from network functions, operating system functions, on behalf of a user, another system within the network, or from general system services, such as the clustering server jobs. Server jobs typically run in one of the basic subsystems that are shipped with the system - QSYSWRK, QSERVER, or QUSRWRK. The daemon jobs (the server jobs that route work requests to waiting prestart jobs) typically run in QSYSWRK and QSERVER, while the prestart server jobs that perform work on behalf of users typically run in QUSRWRK, although some of the prestart jobs also run in QSERVER.

The following sections show how to create a user-defined server subsystem and customize the subsystems in which the server jobs run. Server jobs can be routed to a subsystem by IP address, or in some cases, by user name.