Overview
IBM i, still widely known as AS400 or iSeries, runs some of the most important workloads in banking, manufacturing, distribution, insurance and retail. It is famous for reliability, but it still needs skilled people. Jobs fail, storage fills up, PTFs fall behind, backups go unverified, and the few people who understand the system retire or move on.
VSR Tech provides complete IBM i support, from round-the-clock monitoring to deep L3 engineering and application development. You can hand us the whole platform, or use us to fill a specific gap such as night cover, an upgrade project or RPG development.
What we cover
Monitoring and operations (L1, 24×7)
Our NOC watches every IBM i partition around the clock and acts on alerts using runbooks agreed with you.
- QSYSOPR and system message monitoring, including jobs in MSGW
- Subsystems, job queues and critical batch jobs
- End-of-day and month-end batch schedules
- System ASP usage, CPU, disk and response-time thresholds
- Backup completion and media checks
- IPL support, controlled shutdowns and restarts
- Opening and tracking cases with IBM and your software vendors
System administration (L2 and L3)
- User profiles, group profiles, object and IFS authorities
- Work management: subsystems, memory pools, routing and job priorities
- Storage management, disk balancing and IFS housekeeping
- Job scheduling with WRKJOBSCDE, Advanced Job Scheduler or third-party schedulers
- Performance analysis with Collection Services and Navigator for i
- TCP/IP, host servers, FTP/SFTP, SMTP and printing
- Problem determination using job logs, history logs and service tools
Backup, high availability and disaster recovery
A backup you have never restored is only a hope. We design save strategies around your recovery targets and prove them with regular tests.
- BRMS control groups, media policies and retention
- Full-system and daily saves (SAVSYS, SAVLIB, SAV) to tape, virtual tape or cloud storage
- PowerHA for i with geographic mirroring and independent ASPs
- Logical replication with tools such as MIMIX, Maxava and iTera
- Planned role-swaps and full DR tests with timed results
- Written recovery runbooks, kept up to date
Upgrades and PTF management
- IBM i release upgrades, with prerequisite checks for hardware, firmware and HMC
- Cumulative PTF packages and group PTFs (HIPER, Db2, security, Java)
- Technology Refresh planning
- Change windows outside business hours, with tested rollback plans
- Post-upgrade validation with your application team
Security and compliance
- System value review, including QSECURITY level and password rules
- Audit of users with *ALLOBJ and other special authorities
- Audit journal (QAUDJRN) setup, reporting and retention
- Exit point and network access controls for ODBC, FTP and remote commands
- TLS certificates managed through Digital Certificate Manager
- Evidence packs for internal audit, ISO 27001 and financial-sector regulators
Development and application support
- RPGLE (free and fixed format), RPG IV, CL and COBOL
- Embedded SQL, stored procedures and Db2 for i database design
- Display files, printer files and reports
- Enhancements and fixes for ERP packages such as JD Edwards World and Infor
- L1.5 application support for your business users
- Change control, testing and documentation
How we deliver
| Level | Who handles it | Typical work |
|---|---|---|
| L1 | NOC operators, 24×7 | Monitor, answer routine messages by runbook, restart approved jobs, log and escalate |
| L2 | IBM i administrators | Job failures, users and authorities, storage, backups and performance issues |
| L3 | Senior IBM i engineers | Root-cause analysis, upgrades, PowerHA and DR, architecture changes |
| DEV | RPG, CL, COBOL and SQL developers | Program fixes, enhancements and modernization |
Typical response targets
Final service levels are agreed in your contract. This is a typical starting point.
| Priority | Example | Response |
|---|---|---|
| P1 Critical | Production system or core application down | 15 minutes, 24×7 |
| P2 High | Major function degraded, or a batch failure that blocks the business | 30 minutes, 24×7 |
| P3 Medium | Single user or non-critical job affected | 4 business hours |
| P4 Low | Requests, changes and questions | Next business day |
Why customers choose VSR Tech
- IBM i specialists, not a general helpdesk
- One team for IBM i, AIX and the Power platform underneath
- Structured handover from your current team or vendor, with no gap in cover
- Clear monthly reporting on incidents, changes, capacity and risks
- Flexible models: managed service, dedicated engineers or fixed-price projects
Frequently asked questions
Do you support older releases such as IBM i 7.1 or 7.2?
Yes. We support systems on older releases day to day and help you plan a safe upgrade path to a release that IBM still supports.
Can you work alongside our in-house team?
Yes. Many teams keep their own administrators and use us for night and weekend cover, specialist L3 work or extra capacity during projects.
How do you access our systems?
Through your VPN or jump host, using named accounts with only the access we need. Every change follows your change process and is recorded in your ticketing tool.
How quickly can you start?
A typical transition takes two to six weeks, depending on the number of partitions and how much documentation exists today.