Overview

Here is a list of the most frequently asked general product questions.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. We are running VxRyMz of a Gumbo product. Is it compatible with the new release of i5/OS?

    2. Yes, all of our products and all of their releases are upward compatible with new releases of i5/OS. When we find IBM® PTFs that are in play we list them at the bottom of http://www.gumbo.com/ptfs.shtml.

    Exceptions for i5/OS V6R1M0:
    Product Required For V6R1M0
    Report Designer V2R6M0 or later.
    Report Manager V2R2M0 or later with current PTFs applied.
    Spool-a-Matic V1R9M0 or later with current PTFs applied.
    SpoolMail V2R2M0 or later with current PTFs applied.
    Gumbo Mail V1R3M0 or later with current PTFs applied.
    Dicer V1R4M0 or later with current PTFs applied.
    Excel-erator V1R6M0 or later with current PTFs applied.
    Dumpster V1R4M0 or later with current PTFs applied.

     

  2. We are running VxRyM0 of a Gumbo product which is several releases back from the current release. Must we load each release, one over the other, or can we just load the current release?

    3. There is no need to load intervening releases, you can skip directly to the new release.

  3. We are upgrading our System i hardware, is a new permanent authorization code required?

    4. It depends, see our Upgrade Policy for the specifics.

  4. We are upgrading our i5/OS to a new release, is a new permanent authorization code or a new release required for our Gumbo product?

    5. No, permanent authorization codes do not depend on your i5/OS release level. All of our products and all of their releases are upward compatible with new releases of i5/OS. When we find IBM® PTFs that are in play we list them at the bottom of http://www.gumbo.com/ptfs.shtml.

  5. We are running VxRyM0 of a Gumbo product which is older than the current release. Is there a way we can run both releases in order to test the current release?

    6. Yes, see New Release Testing for detailed instructions.

  6. We have a Gumbo product running on our production System i. How do you handle licensing for our high availability/hot site/back up/fail over/some other machine? Do I get a discount?

    7. You can either buy a license or take advantage our Hot Site Authorization for free. There are no discounts.

  7. We will be test our back up procedures by running our Gumbo product on a high availability/hot site/back up/fail over/some other machine. Do I need a permanent authorization code or temporary authorization code for the test machine?

    8. No, a temporary authorization code is generated automatically. See Hot Site Authorization for details.

  8. How do we tell which Gumbo products and releases are installed on our System i?

    9. Run i5/OS's Display Software Resources (DSPSFWRSC) command. All of our product identifiers begin with the characters "2A55", locate these in the list displayed which isn't in a strict order. Press the F11 key to display releases.

  9. How do we tell what the most recent release of a Gumbo product is?

    10. See our downloads page for the most recent release.

  10. We have a Gumbo product running in multiple partitions of our System i. Will installing a new release of i5/OS or a new release of the Gumbo product in one of the partitions affect the Gumbo product in other partitions?

    11. No, the copy of the Gumbo product in each partition runs independently and has no knowledge of the other partitions. This is also why an authorization code must be entered in each partition.

  11. Can we install PTFs for a Gumbo product while the software is in use? Do we have to IPL our System i after installing PTFs for a Gumbo product?

    12. We only ship "immediate" PTFs. These can be installed while the software is in use and never require a machine IPL. However, jobs using objects replaced by the PTFs won't see the affects of the changes until they access the new version of the objects.

  12. Must our System i be in "restricted state" to install a new release of a Gumbo product?

    13. No. While restricted state can be used, it is not required. You must however insure that the software is not in use as the installation runs a CLRLIB command (after saving user data if any) on the library as part of the restore process. If the software is in use, for example if a job has the menu displayed, the install will fail. When an install fails, the Gumbo product is automatically restored to the state it was in at the initiation of the RSTLICPGM command. Although the previous release is functional, i5/OS marks the product as in error until the new release is successfully installed. See "software installation , upgrade, and deletion tasks" in the IBM® Information Center for additional details.

  13. We are changing the "system security level" system value QSECURITY from XX to YY on our System i. Will our Gumbo product work correctly?

    14. Yes. Our products are compatible with all i5/OS security levels. We use only published interfaces.

  14. We are preparing to install i5/OS release V6R1. When we run the ANZOBJCNV tool from IBM® some Gumbo objects are flagged as "some attributes will be lost". Is there a need to install a newer version of your product?

    15. No. The attribute lose can be ignored. The lost attributes are the digital signatures that we apply to our objects. When programs are restored to V6R1 they are rewritten, invalidating our digital signature which i5/OS discards. Our software works correctly at V6R1 but you are no longer able to meaningfully run i5/OS's Check Object Integrity (CHKOBJITG) command. The following information is from i5/OS Memo to Users V6R1:

    Conversion impacts on digital signatures
    Programs, service programs and module objects created on releases before V6R1 that are digitally signed and then restored onto a V6R1 or later system will be treated as unsigned. Pre-V6R1 signatures are not recognized on V6R1 and later releases for these object types. Similarly, programs, service programs and module objects created and digitally signed on V6R1 and later releases will be treated as unsigned if restored on a release before V6R1.

    Moving programs, service programs and modules created on releases earlier than V6R1 to V6R1 and later releases will convert these objects to a format compatible with V6R1 before the objects can be used. Programs, service programs and modules created on V6R1 and later releases that are restored to a release before V6R1 will be converted to pre-V6R1 format. The conversion process will cause all digital signatures on these objects to be removed.