Changes for Help/Systems GUI Products on i5/OS V5R4 or Higher

Changes in DDM communications in i5/OS V5R4 and higher affect the following Help/Systems Graphical User Interface (GUI) products: Robot/CLIENT, Robot/NETWORK Version 9 (supported on V5R4 only), and Robot/SAVE. To enable communication to a System i running V5R4 or higher, client systems may require a configuration change.

If you have client systems with these Help/Systems products installed, follow the Configuration Steps below to enable connections to a V5R4 or higher system.

Before You Begin

Note: Robot product release/modification levels required may be different depending on whether your System i is on i5/OS V5R4 or V6R1. Use the following information to ensure you have the current levels installed on your systems.

V5R4 Requirements

System i

Your Robot products must be at the following release/modification levels. If they aren’t, update them before continuing.

Robot/CLIENT R05M16
Robot/NETWORK Host R09M63
RBTSYSLIB R01M93 (Note: RBTSYSLIB is updated automatically when either Robot/CLIENT or the Robot/NETWORK Host are updated.)

If you have a firewall on the System i, you must open a new connection port (the default port is 4447) for PC connection requests.

Windows Systems

For each Windows system that will connect to a V5R4 system, the Robot products must be at the following release/modification levels. If they aren’t, you should update them before continuing.

Robot/CLIENT (PC) R05M14
Robot/SAVE (PC) R10M03
Robot Common Objects R01M18

Note: If you are downloading from our Web site, Robot Common Objects is a separate executable file that you should install or update before other PC products. If you are installing from a CD, Robot Common Objects is installed or updated automatically.

UNIX/Linux Systems:

Robot/CLIENT (UNIX) R05M11
Robot/CLIENT (Linux) R05M00

V6R1 Requirements

System i

Your Robot products must be at the following release/modification levels. If they aren’t, update them before continuing:

Robot/CLIENT R05M22
RBTSYSLIB R01M97 (Note: RBTSYSLIB is updated automatically when Robot/CLIENT is updated.)

Note: Robot/NETWORK version 9 is not supported on i5/OS V6R1.

If you have a firewall on the System i, you must open a new connection port (the default port is 4447) for PC connection requests.

For client systems that will connect to a V6R1 system, the Robot products must be at the following release/modification levels. If they aren’t, you should update them before continuing.

Windows Systems

Robot/CLIENT (PC) R05M19
Robot/SAVE (PC) R11M03
Robot Common Objects R01M22

UNIX/Linux Systems

Robot/CLIENT (UNIX) R05M12
Robot/CLIENT (Linux) R05M12

Configuration Steps

On the V5R4 or Higher System:

Make sure your Robot products are updated to the release/modification levels required for your i5/OS version. (See the Before You Begin section for complete information.)
A new job, RSLDDM, will be active in the RBTSLEEPER subsystem. This job listens on a specific network port for connection requests from clients running the Help/Systems products. For each connection request, the RSLDDM job starts an RSL1862 worker job to handle the DDM communication for that specific connection. These jobs also will be active in the RBTSLEEPER subsystem. The default connection port is 4447; you can change to a different port if it is already in use. See Changing the Default Port, below, for more information.

If you use a firewall, you must configure it to allow network traffic on connection port 4447.

Note: The Robot/CLIENT or Robot/NETWORK V9 Host monitor job (V5R4 only) must be running in the RBTSLEEPER subsystem to ensure the RSLDDM job is active at all times.

On each Windows system that will connect to a V5R4 or Higher System:

Make sure your products are updated to the release/modification levels required for your i5/OS version. (See the Before You Begin section for complete information.)
Register Robot/CLIENT to each system that the client will connect to. For complete information on registration, see the Robot/CLIENT User Guide. During registration, you are asked to specify that the system is at V5R4 or higher and the connection port number to use. Use the default port number noted above unless you have changed it. (See Changing The Default Port, below, for more information.) If you plan to use Robot/CLIENT Rotation, you must register the PC to each V5R4or higher system in the rotation list. (See Using Robot/CLIENT Rotation, below, for additional information.)

For V5R4 only: Run the Robot NETWORK V9 System Selector to connect to a V5R4 Host system. You are asked to specify that the system is at V5R4 and the connection port number to use. Use the default port number unless you have changed it. See Changing The Default Port, below, for more information

There are no special steps required to configure Robot/SAVE on the PC. It continues to use the Robot/CLIENT system configuration.

On each UNIX or Linux system that will connect to a V5R4 or Higher System:

Make sure your products are updated to the release/modification levels required for your i5/OS version (see the Before You Begin section for complete information).
Register your UNIX and Linux clients to each system the client will connect to. For complete information on registration, see the Robot/CLIENT User Guide.

Changing the Default Port

Port Considerations:

If the default connection port 4447 is already in use on your System i, you can use an alternate port of your choice. Be aware of the following considerations if you choose to do this:

You must configure each V5R4 or higher system with the same port number.
You must configure each PC product that connects to a V5R4 or higher system to use the same port number.
If you have a firewall on a V5R4 or higher system, it must be opened to accept network traffic on the same port number.

Do the following to configure an alternate connection port number:

Update your System i and PC products as described in Configuration Steps 1 and 3.
Enter the following command on a command line to change the default connection port on the System i:

CHGDTAARA DTAARA(RBTSYSLIB/RSLDDMDA (1 5)) VALUE(‘port#’)

where port# is the new port number. Note: Use a 5-digit port number. For example, for port 1234, enter VALUE(‘01234’).

Configure your firewall for the chosen port as described in Configuration Step 2.
Configure the PC products as described in Configuration Steps 4 and 5. Specify the new port during Robot/CLIENT Configuration and Robot/NETWORK V9 System Selection.

Using Robot/CLIENT Rotation

If your System i is running i5/OS V5R4 or higher, we recommend that you use Robot/CLIENT rotation on your Windows system to aid in the error recovery process. You can configure rotation whether a PC communicates with a single System i or multiple systems.

See the Robot/CLIENT User Guide for complete information on setting up rotation. After you’ve configured rotation, the task processor on the PC must be active before you can start the rotation process. Then, select Robot/CLIENT Rotate to display the Robot/CLIENT Rotation window and select Start
Rotation.

Rotation can be active at all times. Or, if you have Robot/CLIENT R05M19 (PC) or higher, you can execute the program, Rotation.exe, to start and stop the rotation process. For example, you can start rotation and let it run, or start it just before you IPL a System i and then stop it after the IPL completes.

The following command strings are example tasks that you can enter in an RCLEXEC command to start and stop rotation:

c:\Program Files\Help Systems\Robot CLIENT\rotation.exe /started

c:\Program Files\Help Systems\Robot CLIENT\rotation.exe /stopped

Updated Apri 21, 2008

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