Robot Monitor and IBM i 6.1/7.1 or higher

 

Robot Monitor enables you to proactively and efficiently manage your IBM i environments.

Robot Monitor is capable of running under the most recent versions of the IBM mid-range operating system: IBM i 6.1 and IBM i 7.1 and higher. Following are instructions for deploying Robot Monitor on those operating system releases.

Product Compatibility Information

Robot Monitor is compatible with IBM i 6.1 and 7.1 or higher. In order to ensure this compatibility, the correct release levels of the products need to be deployed. Generally, we recommend using the most current release of the Robot Monitor, as it contains the most recent enhancements.

Instructions

We recommend you follow the procedures below if you're going to run the Robot Monitor on the IBM i 6.1 or i 7.1 or higher. The instructions you follow depend on the answers to two questions:

• Will an upgrade from an OS release previous to IBM i 6.1/7.x  be performed or is IBM i 6.1/7.x  already installed on that system?

• Has Robot Monitor already been installed in the environment?

Depending on your answers, the following actions need to be carried out:

1. If you're upgrading from a lower OS release, obtain and install the IBM i PTFs which IBM recommends in preparation of the OS upgrade.

2. Obtain the latest Robot Monitor release from your Robot representative or from the My Downloads page on our website.

3. Install the Robot Monitor release. If the installed operating system version is older than V5R4, or if your installed QSystem Monitor version is older than v12, talk to Technical Support before installing the products.

4. If you're upgrading from a lower OS release, perform the OS upgrade.

5. Ensure that the required OS and LIC PTFs for the products are applied.

6. If you're upgrading from a lower OS release, perform the Collection Services “Restart” procedure.

Scenario 1: Pre-IBM i 6.1/7.1 System, Robot Monitor is Installed

In this scenario, you start from an existing pre-6.1 release of the OS and from an existing installation of Robot Monitor. Follow these steps to successfully operate the products under IBM i 6.1/7.1 or higher:

1. If the installed operating system version is older than V5R4, or your installed Robot Monitor version is older than v12, talk to Technical Support before installing the products.

2. Obtain and install the PTFs which IBM recommends as preparation for upgrading your OS to 6.1/7.1 or higher. These comprise PTFs for the Base Operating System and for the Licensed Internal Code.

3. Obtain the latest releases for your products from your Robot representative or from the Community Portal. Upgrade your installed products to those releases. Make sure all monitored physical systems and partitions are upgraded. This step needs to be performed before the OS upgrade.

4. Run the Analyze Object Conversion tool for IBM i 6.1/7.1 or higher. More information on this tool is available in the IBM Redpaper "IBM i Program Conversion: Getting Ready for 6.1 and Beyond." You may also want to read the article "Tips for Working with the V6R1 Conversion Tool" in the March 2008 online edition of IBM Systems Magazine.

5. Review the current PTF requirements for your Robot products. .

6. Upgrade your OS to IBM i 6.1/7.1 or higher, following the instructions from IBM.

7. Ensure that the required PTFs for Robot Monitor and for the installed OS and LIC release are applied.

8. If Robot Monitor is one of the deployed products, perform the Collection Services Reset procedure. This procedure corrects problems that sometimes occur when trying to use Collection Services after an IBM i upgrade. Collection Services are a facility of the operating system which is employed by Robot Monitor, for example, to gather Communications Performance information. 

Scenario 2: New IBM i 6.1/7.1 or higher System, Robot Monitor is Installed

This scenario supposes you already have Robot Monitor installed on a number of pre-IBM i 6.1 systems, to which you want to add a new system or partition running IBM i 6.1/7.1 or higher.

1. If you're adding a new physical system, not just a new partition, and would like to run Robot Monitor on the new system, contact your Robot representative for licensing options.

2. Obtain the latest releases for your products from your Robot representative or from the Community Portal.

3. Upgrade your installed products to those releases. Make sure all monitored physical systems and partitions are upgraded.

4. Review the current PTF requirements for your Robot products. on our website.

5. Ensure that the required PTFs for Robot Monitor and for the installed OS and LIC release are applied.

6. If Robot Monitor is one of the deployed products, and the newly added system was previously running V5R4 or lower of the operating system. perform the Collection Services Reset procedure on the newly added system. This procedure corrects problems that sometimes occur when trying to use Collection Services after an IBM i upgrade. Collection Services are a facility of the operating system which is employed by Robot Monitor, for example, to gather Communications Performance information. 

7. Distribute the software from the existing host to the new system running under IBM i 6.1/7.1 or higher.

   1. For both the MMDSTIP/MONDSTIP commands, set the Force Save option to value *YES.

   2. If you're adding a new physical system, you'll need either a temporary or a permanent license key for the new system. You can get this from your Robot representative. See the product user guides for details on entering the license keys.

   3. Be aware that distribution of the product may take longer than on previous occasions when you distributed the product to a new system. The reason is that program objects are recreated from a pre-6.1 state to a 6.1/7.1 or higher state on the target system, which takes longer than the normal object restore process.

Scenario 3: New IBM i 6.1/7.1 or higher System, Robot Monitor Not Installed Yet

In the last scenario you are performing a first-time installation on a system which is already running on IBM i 6.1/7.1 or higher. This scenario is handled in the same manner as the standard scenarios for installation on pre-i 6.1 OS releases.

1. Obtain the latest releases for your products from your Robot representative or from the Community Portal

2. Review the current PTF requirements for your Robot products. 

3. Ensure that the required PTFs for Robot Monitor and for the installed OS and LIC release are applied.

4. Install the desired products.