RE: Long term storage of iSeries -- MIDRANGE-L

I hadn't thought about disabling most of the user profiles. Probably not a
bad idea.

As far as running an occasional query or otherwise validating that the data
is still there and accessible, this is going to be at the (former) owner's
house; the man never once signed on to the System i (I know, I kept audits).
Not a chance.

Originally he was just going to put the machines in one of those
self-service storage units. I suggested very strongly that this wasn't the
brightest idea he had ever had.

Jerry C. Adams
IBM i Programmer/Analyst
A lot of people my age are dead at the present time. - Casy Stengel
--
A&K Wholesale
Murfreesboro, TN
615-867-5070

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John Jones
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2011 10:31 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: Long term storage of iSeries

While older systems had the IPL-every-90-days requirement to keep the OS
keys valid, I don't know if newer Power systems/OS releases have the same
requirement. Still, in general I concur with the idea of powering up the
box periodically. Maybe every 2 months. Power it up, run a query against
the data (so you have audit evidence the data still exists) and
download/print the results, do a WRKPRB to make sure no new hardware issues
occurred, then power it back down.

Disconnect it from the network & the UPS. Leave it plugged in to a surge
protector. It'll probably draw a few watts but nothing significant.

Essentially the box is isolated physically (in data center, no network
connection) and logically (no remote access/ability to power up w/out
physical access). If your auditors ask about your archive, that should keep
them happy.

Also, disable all user IDs except for the IBM profiles, your sysadmins, and
one or two profiles of the people who would legitimately need to power it up
to query the data. Set their passwords to never expire or force the
passwords to be changed each time the box is powered up. Document the
QSECOFR password & lock it in a safe so it can be recovered in an emergency.

And by all means make at least 2 Save 21s to tape and do any other data
extracts you think you might want to do to have a local copy of the data
available. In fact, do SAVLIBs of your app & data libs to save file & FTP
them to a PC. By doing that, you've covered for the absolute worse-case
scenario where you have to borrow another system to restore your app & data.

On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 9:41 AM, Jerry C. Adams <midrange@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

We are planning to do a complete backup of both systems (Save 21's) to
tape,
plus application/data libraries to both tape and CD (at least two sets).
There are no non-IBM application keys (all software developed in-house),
but
one system is a backup machine with temporary keys, though the other 520

a production box with permanent IBM keys.

My understanding is that the production machine may be needed to do ad hoc
stuff (if requested by regulatory agencies). Once they get their closing
entries from the audit firm, the plan is to do no more application
processing.

One suggestion that I did make was to put all job scheduler entries on

hold

so they wouldn't fire off when the machine powers up each month.

Jerry C. Adams
IBM i Programmer/Analyst
I love California. I grew up in Phoenix. - Dan Quayle
--
A&K Wholesale
Murfreesboro, TN
615-867-5070

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jack Kingsley
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2011 8:38 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: Long term storage of iSeries

I would make sure you have some sort of backup of your system. Do you
actually have to run your applicaitons or just have access to do
query/ad-hoc reporting etc. If running application type software could

you

get into a situation where the licensed keys might expire??

On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 8:39 AM, Jerry C. Adams <midrange@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

My former employer has a similar situation. We used LAN console on the
520's (two of them). The company actually closed its doors (i.e., no
longer
a going concern).

I recommended that the owner store it at his home and that it be

scheduled

to power up for about half-an-hour to an hour each month (GO POWER)

because

I read (here or elsewhere) that if it was shut off for >90 days it

required

IBM intervention to get into it. I, also, suggested that he contract

with

our former BP to do the move and connect to the LAN console because I'm

not

that good at these sort of things and have little time, anyway.

However, I'm looking forward to others suggestions.

Jerry C. Adams
IBM i Programmer/Analyst
It's just as important to know when not to go as it is to know when to

go.

-Ted Williams on stealing
--
A&K Wholesale
Murfreesboro, TN
615-867-5070

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Terry, Guy
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2011 3:48 AM
To: midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Long term storage of iSeries

We no longer use our iSeries (model 520), but have to keep it until at
least
2018 (for legal reasons to do with the data).

Our maintenance will expire this year, and will not be renewed. What is

the

best way to 'store' the iSeries so that it has the best chance of being
operational should we ever need to access the data on it in, say, 7

years

time?

Leave it switched on 24 x 7 (not my preferred solution).
Leave it switched off until we need it.
Leave it switched off, but power it on once in a while (how often?).

Thanks for any advice you can give. If anyone has links to IBM advice

that

I
can show to the boss that would be even better.

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