Version

Argent XT Agent for iSeries 8.0A-0607 and later

Date

Thursday, 4 July 2019

Summary

Technical and support professionals need to understand the header or preamble area of the service log file generated by the Argent XT Agent for iSeries

Technical Background

N/A

Resolution

Each Argent product maintains a service log for support purposes

The header area at the top of each service log file has a standardized format

The standard format differs slightly between Argent’s iSeries products and Argent’s Windows products

An example of a representative Windows product service log is shown below:

The iSeries service log file has a slightly different format for the header area that is written at the top of the file when a new log file member is created

An example of this is shown in the following graphic:

For iSeries, several Windows concepts do not apply and are omitted from the iSeries service log file

They are:

IIS Version

This does not apply to Argent iSeries products

This does not apply to Argent iSeries products

Service Pack

Software updates are applied quite differently on iSeries machines than on Windows machines

The Windows concept of a Service Pack does not apply to iSeries

Database

DB2 is the only back end database supported natively on iSeries

Customers who purchase an iSeries machine will always have DB2 available

The DB2 database is always available and is extremely tightly integrated into the iSeries hardware and software

The following section describes the similarities and some slight differences between the header area of the iSeries service log file and the Windows service log file

Date

This is the product build date

All Argent products are built on the Connecticut development servers

The date and time stamp is the date main product executable was built by the Connecticut development team

Product

This is the official Argent product name and has the exact same meaning as for all other Argent products

This is the official Argent version string and has the exact same meaning as for all other Argent products

Argent products use the iSeries system name for identifying individual servers in service log files

This contrasts with other Argent products, which use the TCP/IP host name to identify each server

On iSeries, the system name and the TCP/IP host name are often different

Although iSeries participates in Windows networks, the Windows concept of a domain does not apply

For iSeries, the domain name is the TCP/IP domain name, not the Windows domain name

The ARB_Kernel is code which provides core OS-level services to all Argent products

The ARB_Kernel version has the same meaning on iSeries as for other Argent-supported platforms

On Windows platforms, the specific level of the operating system code is identified by the Major Version, the Minor Version, and the Build Level

On iSeries, the operating system is know by the version, release, and modification level

IBM calls this the “VxRyMz” naming system

All IBM-provided program products, including the operating system, follow this convention

On iSeries, the most recent level of the operating system is know as V5R4M0, for example

In the sample iSeries service log shown above, the level of the operating system is V5R3M0