I'm a small shop (1 CEC, 4 LPARs + Sandbox) so life is a little easier. Major changes a Sysprog is on site to (at least) verify the changes were correct.
Sysprog handles all updates to the HMC (we don't use dynamic IPL parm changes) we just update the LOAD profile as needed (maybe once a year). Operators handle all IPL's (really just an Activate). We limited the exposure of multiple LPARs being selected by creating a separate Group on the HMC for each LPAR (a group of one). You can't select multiple groups at a time. Operators instructed to stay away from 'All CPC' and 'All Images'. I would prefer an 'enlightened' operator but realistically there is not enough activity to get the experience. You can't really 'play' with a production CEC and we have little to no need to do anything other than Activate/System Reset. IPL is mostly handled by automation (starting the various tasks) and even automation to tell you what didn't automatically come up! Even have a PFK set up the respond WARM,NOREQ to JES (yet I still got called in one weekend because of a manual reply of WAR,NOREC). Back in the day (before most IPL prompts eliminated we had a PFK set up with stacked responses. Instructions were 'When the console beeps, hit PF1 and enter, next beep hit enter, repeat until no more beeps'. Had some fun IPL'ing with my back turned to the console to prove it worked and was better than keying in the responses. Not that they couldn't but finger checks would occasionally creep up at the wrong time with a call at zero dark thirty for an answer to a never before seen message. Ken Porowski AVP Systems Software CIT Group E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- Linda Mooney These days, we have to minimize or eliminate outages, even during the service window. I have had ONE production IPL this year. Let's face, in most shops, Operators just don't IPL nearly as much as we used to. We don't have a big enough box to give the Operators a sandbox. So we document a lot more fully. We have at least two people, at minimum 1 experienced Operator and a green one, even for minor changes. Anything major, a sysprog comes in. We involve Operations in IPLs, etc on our sysprog test bed as much as we can. I came in on the IPL in May. I supported, I explained, I pointed things out, and generally added on as much training as I could for them. It helps. Mistakes happen and people who are afraid to make them generally don't grow in expertise. Still, when dealing with a slacker, or someone who repeatedly fails to prepare, I don't have much tolerance for that. As for IPLing the wrong LPAR, I have seen that happen. One easy mistake is leaving the LPAR icon highlighted after the LOAD. It's really the kind of mistake the 'rusty' and the green fall into. Then at the next IPL of a different LPAR, the leftover highlighted one comes along for the ride. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
