There seems to be a difference of opinion about how safe it is to simply rename the cpload and apply maintenance at Level 1 instead of burning it in on Level 2. You seem confident that this is doable with minimal risk. others say never make changes without first implementing them at Level 2 first and at least IPLing.
George, the absolute safest answer (both in terms of CYA and general practice) is to always test 2nd level, then apply to 1st level. Over time, you become more confident in the process and you can skip steps, but if you want the best possible practice to document, do it 2nd level, then 1st. DASD is cheap compared to a production outage because you borked something and got the machine in an non-IPLable state (and it will be your fault, no matter whether IBM did it to you, or you did it to yourself). Be safe. Apply virtual, test virtual, apply prod. (This message brought to you by the language C and the number F. 8-))
