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Enhancement history

History of enhancements to Fix Central

The following lists major enhancements to Fix Central.

July 2009

  • Removed 2Gb download restriction for HTTP downloads.

May 2009

  • Additional impact categories added to better reflect the types of fixes published.
    • Added Fixed Regression and High-Impact / Pervasive (HIPER) categories.
    • Changed Security to Security Vulnerability (Sec/Int).
  • Performance enhancements for identifying and ordering fixes.

December 2008

  • Search results can now be filtered by Fix Type.

November 2008

  • Search results can now be filtered to display fixes that do not upgrade the currently installed version.

August 2008

  • The Fix Central initial web page now has an “All software” option under Product Family. Selecting this option displays an alphabetical list of all available products.
  • The wildcard character is now permitted in text search.
  • A new field, “Release date”, has been added that displays the release date of the fix.
  • A new field, “Upgrades product to version”, has been added that displays the resulting product level after applying a fix.

January 2008

  • New software product searching options
    You can now search for software products by keywords and by recommended fixes. The recommended search option lets you find fixes recommended by IBM tech support for the product, version and platform you have selected. The results contain the latest published maintenance upgrade and any critical interim fixes.
  • Software product upgrade advice
    When the software product fix you are looking for has already been superseded by a newer maintenance upgrade, Fix Central will now show you both the latest published maintenance upgrade and any critical interim fixes.

December 2007

  • Software updates for the IBM Integrated Removable Media Manager (IRMM)
    Fix Central now supports Software updates for the IBM Integrated Removable Media Manager (IRMM). All IRMM product updates and fixes can be obtained via Fix Central.
    The following IRMM updates are available:
    • Support for Windows, Solaris and HP-UX IRMM clients (APAR OA23191)
    • IRMM Server update (APAR OA23267)
  • Expanded disconnected ordering availability for System i
    Fix Central now supports the option for disconnected ordering for all i5/OS releases. Disconnected ordering allows you to complete the following:
    • Order your fixes on virtual CD images without connecting to your System i
    • Download your virtual CD images using Download Director or FTP (Download Director available for i5/OS release V5R3 and above only)
    • Order fixes without tailoring to a specific System i

November 2007

  • System p and AIX support
    The following enhancements have been added for System p and AIX:
    • Full distribution of fix packs now available as either a Service Pack or a Technology Level package
    • New features for AIX support including fix search, fix recommendations, security advisories, automating downloads, and best practices
    • Can now cross-reference between the reported problem and the fix packs that contain the fix provided
    • The file names for newer AIX fileset updates will be in the format PTF.bff, where PTF is the PTF record number (for example, U810251.bff)
    • New Java technologies selection for System p
  • Additional software support added
    The following software is now supported:
    • Informix Client Software Development Kit 3.00
    • Lotus Domino 6.5.4+, 7.0.1+ (Fix Packs only)
    • Lotus Expeditor 6.1.1
    • Lotus QuickPlace 7.0
    • Tivoli Netcool Webtop 2.1
    • Tivoli Usage and Accounting Manager 7.1
    • WebSphere Portlet Factory 5.12 and 6.0

August 2007

  • Additional software support added
    The following software is now supported:
    • WebSphere Application Server 6.0

July 2007

  • Additional software support added
    The following software is now supported:
    • Lotus Connections 1.0
    • Lotus Quickr 8.0

June 2007

  • Additional software support added
    The following software is now supported:
    • Informix Client Software Development Kit 2.90

March 2007

  • Additional software support added
    The following software is now supported:
    • WebSphere Portal Server 5.1 and 6.0
    • Informix Dynamic Server 10.00 and 9.40

February 2007

  • Fix Central disconnected ordering for System i
    Fix Central now supports the option for disconnected ordering for i5/OS V5R3 and later.

    Disconnected ordering allows you to:

    • Order your fixes on virtual CD images without connecting to your System i
    • Download your virtual CD images using Download Director or FTP
    • Order fixes without tailoring to a specific System i

    The connected ordering option is still available.

    Connected ordering allows you to:

    • Download your fixes immediately to your System i using HTTP or download virtual CD images using Download Director or FTP
    • Reduce your total download size by removing previously installed PTFs from your fix cart
  • New prerequisite information, supported software, and FAQ added to help text
    Help text for creating fix orders for Lotus, Information Management, and WebSphere software added.

December 2006

  • Fix Central save user preferences for System i orders
    Fix Central now supports saving multiple ordering preferences for System i reducing the selections you need to make to complete your order. To save your ordering preferences, click the Create a new preference set based on this order link on the Fix Central order summary page.

    To use the saved ordering preferences, click Work with preference sets from the Fix Central entry page and select the named ordering preference you want to use.

    You can save the following information:

    • Selections from the entry page (product family, product name, ordering option, and OS level)
    • PTFs (useful for group and cumulative PTF orders)
    • Packaging options (include requisites, reorder PTFs, and only order fixes for products on your system)
    • Download options (immediate, Download Director, FTP, media, and maximum download size)
    • Contact information
    • Download location
    • System name or IP address
    • System i user ID (your password is not saved for security reasons and is never transmitted to IBM)

    Note: You must be using a 1.4.2 or higher Java plugin in your web browser to save your ordering options preferences.

March 2006

  • Electronic Fix Distribution
    IBM has enhanced the Electronic Fix Distribution functionality through use of Fix Central and SNDPTFORD. These enhancements provide the ability to download fixes for IBM® eServer™ i5 systems on demand. Fixes can be downloaded directly to the system, or they can be ordered on virtual CD media that can be downloaded and loaded into an image catalog or burned to a physical CD for later use.

    The following features are available when using Fix Central or the SNDPTFORD command:

    • Download using multi-threaded download over HTTP/HTTPS
    • Order size is virtually unlimited
    • Order save files or virtual CD images
    • Delta cumulative functionality - order only the PTFs from the cumulative package you need

    V5R4
    For i5/OS V5R4 and later, the functionality is built-in to the operating system. Fix Central will be able to order using the advanced features with no additional PTFs. You are required to have installed Java plug-in version 1.4.2 or 1.5x for your Web browser.

    V5R3
    Use the following steps to enable Fix Central to use the enhanced ordering features:

    1. Go to Fix Central and order SI19413. Include requisites with the order. You may need to request FTP delivery due to the size of the order. Order SI19413 through Fix Central
    2. Apply SI19413 and its requisites to your V5R3 system
    3. Ensure you have Java plug-in version 1.4.2 or 1.5x for your Web browser
    4. Return to Fix Central and you can take advantage of the advanced ordering features using your V5R3 or later iSeries and Fix Central

    Note: Steps 1 and 2 can be used for both Fix Central and SNDPTFORD enhancements.

November 2005

  • Order Enhancement
    Enhanced to help you distinguish between individual orders on the FTP site. When placing an order, you can now specify a portion of both the file name and the directory location on the FTP server.
  • E-mail Notification
    E-mail notification you receive when your order becomes available for download on the FTP server now includes the order number, a list of the fixes ordered, and a link to your order in Fix Central, for your convenience.

November 2004

  • Fix Central announces a new ordering option
    Fix Central provides the option to create a customized PTF package based on the operating system, features, and products installed on your system. By using this new feature, you only need to review the cumulative PTF packages, group PTFs (including HIPER and Database), and individual PTFs that your system currently needs.

    To use this new feature in Fix Central, select the Customized PTF package option under Ordering options on the entry page.

August 2004

  • More options to customize your PTF order
    Fix Central has been enhanced to provide more flexibility when creating a customized cumulative PTF package order. Now included is the ability to exclude the database group, HIPER group, or both groups from your order.

    This new option is available after selecting the PTF package to customize. Simply uncheck the boxes next to each group you want to exclude from your order.

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