Jim (what a great name! :-) this is an excellent idea and one that we have all tossed around in planning discussions. A BOF or even SCIDs would be a reasonable start to at least get the questions addressed and then possibly put together an outline of something that could help others with the same issues. This is one of the many reasons SHARE is successful; you can get real issues nailed down because all the right people are within arms reach.
We can do this formally (BOF) or informally (SCIDs) or somewhere in between (Dinner!). If there are more folks that would like to address "ordering service for z/VM" questions, then a BOF would probably be a good option. >>> If others speak up before SHARE <<< I will schedule a BOF and tag some other folks that could help such as Martha, Mike Walter, and a few choice IBM'rs that need more work to do like John Franciscovich. The good and bad is there is more than one way to approach this topic. Everyone doing service work will probably have a different spin on how to do it. It isn't like the good ol' days where the options were IBMLINK (the 3270 version!) or calling IBM Support - now there are more ways and none are really intuitive unless you do it often as you noted. The good news is that you can still simply call IBM and ask them to order the latest/greatest RSU for you. I have not done that in years and would guess you would end up with physical media as your only option though. _______________________________________ James Vincent Systems Engineering Consultant Nationwide Services Co., Technology Infrastructure Engineering Mainframe, z/VM and z/Linux Support One Nationwide Plaza 3-25-02 Columbus OH 43215-2220 U.S.A Voice: (614) 249-5547 Fax: (614) 677-7681 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] VM/ESA and z/VM Discussions <[email protected]> wrote on 02/17/2006 08:50:27 AM: > [email protected] > > Perhaps a BOF would be an appropriate gathering to answer some questions > that have been building up for me and, probably, others. I maintain VM, > z/VM 4.4, which is as current as our hardware will allow. VM is so stable > that I don't spend half of my time anymore living inside IBMLINK looking > for a PTF to fix the latest CP abend. A couple of times a year when I do > try to apply maintenance and I go to IBMLINK or whatever is the redirected > URL de jour, I flounder around trying to figure out how to order the must > current RSU and COR. I am certain that the Endicott IBM people have this > all memorized and it is very logical for them, but for the occasional > visitor, trying to figure out where to go is a real challenge. > > If others have the same kind of questions and could pose them to an IBM'er > or two, perhaps a logical, easy to follow roadmap could be put > together. I'm not volunteering to lead or host a BOF because I don't have > the foggiest idea how to go about that, but I would certainly be interested > in, at least. cornering a couple of likely looking IBM'ers or other experts > such as Martha Mc. or Jim V. at skids and plying them with the beverage of > their choice to coax the secrets out of them. > > Jim > > Jim Bohnsack > Cornell Univ. > (607) 255-1760
