History of enhancements to Fix Central
The following lists major enhancements to Fix Central.
November 2011
IBM has significantly updated IBM Fix Central recently, with improvements to make this worldwide one-stop site for updates for all IBM products even more effective and useful for our clients. Some are requests from our clients, others are redesigns to improve our clients' efficiency in finding the information they need. Here's a quick rundown of new capabilities to look for.
Highlights:
- Multiple User Interface Updates
- Improved search interface on the Fix Central homepage and "Select fixes" pages
- Ability to search all of Fix Central's fix library, then filter your fix content on the "Select fixes" pages
- Recent fix selections remembered and retrieved at the click of a link
- "Fix Finder" pilot - now clients will be able to use the IBM Support Assistant (ISA) Data Collector to upload their system's products and versions - this feature will then show fixes relevant for their system automatically!
Complete details plus multiple screen captures may be found at the IBM Electronic Support Blog.
June 2011
- Overall enhancements
- Enhanced Fix Central navigation
- Improved site stability
- Translation of Fix Central's drop down labels and navigation features
- Modified User Interface
- Existing FC Firmware/HMC user interface modified to integrate System Directory Management Console (SDMC) into the flow.
- Enhanced Bulk FTP display
- When downloading large fixes using FTP, the number of files is now displayed. This will help to confirm that the entire file set has been downloaded if the ftp command hangs or stops and the download needs to be restarted.
- Updated Fix Central menu
- When Version is set to "All" the user may now select a specific platform. When "All" versions is indicated and displayed for a product on the Fix Central entry page, instead of defaulting to "all" as the only platform choice, Fix Central will aggregate all the platforms for all the product's versions, and display them as choices in the version drop down (in addition to "All").
- Improved bookmarking of specific pages plus updated "Share this download list" feature
- Now have the ability to bookmark from the "Select Fixes" page using either the "Share this download list" link or copying the the URL from the actual browser bar.
Important Note: Using "Share this download list" link will customize the list of fixes for easier sharing or communication.
- Now have the ability to bookmark from the "Select Fixes" page using either the "Share this download list" link or copying the the URL from the actual browser bar.
- Ability to download IBM Systems Director fixes using FTP
- IBM Systems Director has added the ability to download fixes using bulk FTP in addition to using Download Director or the HTTP download option.
November 2010
- Overall enhancements
- Seamlessly transfer from the IBM Support Portal to the Fix Central web application without having to re-key data, improving usability and client satisfaction.
- New translation capabilities in Fix Central for increased understanding of dynamic content and use of fixes and downloads worldwide.
- Entitlement enhancements for authorized PartnerWorld members
- Easier access to entitled content for PartnerWorld members.
- External search engine integration improvements
- Search results from Google and masthead search points directly to updates provided in Fix Central, reducing the number of clicks needed.
- Fix Level Recommendation Tool (FLRT) integration
- Direct access to FLRT, for proactive maintenance advice with related products when using Fix Central to upgrade the maintenance level of IBM software.
- Additional FTP support introduced in Fix Central for selected products
- Support for single, MGET-style FTP download of your selected fixes.
May 2010
- Power and AIX support
- Power and AIX support through Fix Central has been improved.
- Pending fix information available for software products
- Pending fixes are "placeholders" for fixes that are not yet released. Pending fix information is useful for planning future maintenance cycles.
- Bookmarks for quick ordering
- Fix Central now provides the ability to bookmark web pages after searching for fixes allowing for quicker fix ordering at a later date.
- Globalization
- Fix Central now includes multiple language support. Fix Central, including help text, is now available in the following languages:
- Portuguese (Brazil)
- Traditional Chinese
- Simplified Chinese
- French (France)
- German (Germany)
- Italian (Italy)
- Japanese (Japan)
- Korean (Korea)
- Spanish (Europe)
- Fix Central now includes multiple language support. Fix Central, including help text, is now available in the following languages:
February 2010
- Changes specific to IBM i
- Simplified entry page eliminates the need to specify a release or ordering option.
- New Quick order streamlines ordering Cumulative, Hiper, and Database groups.
- New My download list displays the fixes currently selected.
- Automated downloading of Download Director image orders to an existing image catalog or create a new image catalog during the download.
- Ability to view and reorder previously placed orders.
- Improved order flow reduces complications related to client's network restrictions.