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  • 1.  MATMATR option 0x01E0 logical serial number

    Posted Wed April 06, 2022 09:10 AM
    Can anyone shed any light on how the logical serial number value in the partition information option (0x01E0) of MATMATR is generated?

    It appears to have changed to use an alpha-numeric character sequence based on the partition number. A suffix is appended to the hardware serial number according to the position in the sequence 1-9A-Z of the partition number so partition 15 will have 'F' , partition 16 will have 'G' and 35 will have 'Z' appended to the hardware serial number to make the logical serial number. After 'Z' I presume the suffix will change to 11-19, 1A-1Z so partition 70 would have '1Z' appended. 

    This used to be constructed by taking the partition number, converting it to hex and appending the result to the hardware serial number so partition 35 would have '23' appended to the hardware serial number. 

    It seems to depend on the OS version and/or the hardware model as to which method is used. Sometimes we're seeing the hex value appended to the serial number other times a character value. Does anyone have any definitive information on this please?

    Thanks.

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    Paul Wren
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  • 2.  RE: MATMATR option 0x01E0 logical serial number

    IBM Champion
    Posted Thu April 07, 2022 03:30 AM
    Mr. Paul

    All IBM information web pages on MATMATR that I visit carry the following WARNING: "The following information is subject to change from release to release. Use it with caution and be prepared to adjust for changes with each new release."

    So, your understanding expressed in your last paragraph is correct. There appears to be no definitive info on this.  You need to consult IBM web page of MATMATR for a specific IBM i release to know the convention used in that particular release:  https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/i/7.1?topic=ssw_ibm_i_71/rzatk/MATMATR.htm  (You select IBM i release on the upper left corner of the page).


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    Satid Singkorapoom
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  • 3.  RE: MATMATR option 0x01E0 logical serial number

    Posted Thu April 07, 2022 04:11 AM
    Thanks for that. I am very familiar with the reference information for MATMATR.

    The reason for my question is that the description for the logical serial number value in the data returned by option 0x01E0 simply says 'Logical serial number provides a unique machine identifier for the current partition'. It does not have any explanation as to how this value is derived. I need to be able to anticipate in advance, without any additional tools on our customer's system, what this value will be based on the data that is available to the customer which is just the hardware serial number and the partition number. 

    In the past we could be sure that the logical serial number would be the server hardware serial number plus the partition number as a hex value. This has now changed on some newer servers to have an alpha-numeric suffix instead. I want to find out what rules are being applied to generate this new suffix so we can replicate those rules in our license generation processes.



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    Paul Wren
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  • 4.  RE: MATMATR option 0x01E0 logical serial number

    IBM Champion
    Posted Thu April 07, 2022 04:26 AM
    Edited by Satid Singkorapoom Thu April 07, 2022 05:05 AM
    Mr. Paul

    I have read the information web page on MATMATR more and Logical Serial Number is displayed in CHAR(10) format.  For the explanation that you seek, if no one else responds to you, I see that it is best for you to contact IBM i SW Support at your local IBM to ask your question. I'm not sure if the proper IBM i developer who can answer your question subscribes to this group or not.

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    Satid Singkorapoom
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  • 5.  RE: MATMATR option 0x01E0 logical serial number

    Posted Thu April 07, 2022 09:36 AM
    Edited by Paul Wren Thu April 07, 2022 09:37 AM
    After some discussion with a colleague and further analysis of a customer's partition information I may have answered my own question.

    It appears that the logical serial number is derived by applying the following rules:

    Partition numbers 0-31 have the serial number suffixed with the corresponding character in the 32 character sequence [0-9A-V]
    Partition numbers > 31 have the serial number suffixed with the partition number converted to hex in the range 0x20-0xFFF 

    If anyone is in a position to confirm this it would be helpful.

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    Paul Wren
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  • 6.  RE: MATMATR option 0x01E0 logical serial number

    Posted Thu April 07, 2022 09:50 AM

    i ran a very unscientific test, our partition IDs goes up to 34 on one frame

    i noticed the following appended to the serial number; 1-9 then A-V then 20-22 

    maybe base 32 counting ??




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    Bryan Dietz
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  • 7.  RE: MATMATR option 0x01E0 logical serial number

    Posted Thu April 07, 2022 10:16 AM
    Thank you Bryan! That's exactly the sort of confirmation I'm looking for. It's not base 32 otherwise it would go from 'V' to '10'. It appears to switch to partition number converted to hex after that. That's very helpful.

    I think it may be a throw back to when partition information was originally stored in single byte values. See the "legacy" data items in the 0x01E0 format that are now deprecated.

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    Paul Wren
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  • 8.  RE: MATMATR option 0x01E0 logical serial number

    IBM Champion
    Posted Fri April 08, 2022 09:15 AM
    Will this change with the new capability to apply virtual serial numbers to support H/A replication?
    IBM enables ordering of virtual serial numbers on selected IBM Power technology-based servers for use with IBM i

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    Robert Berendt
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  • 9.  RE: MATMATR option 0x01E0 logical serial number

    Posted Mon April 11, 2022 07:43 AM
    I don't believe so. Virtual serial numbers will probably have a reserved two character prefix to identify them as such in the same way that current hardware serial numbers are prefixed with a country of manufacture code.

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    Paul Wren
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