How often have you searched the lifecycle informations (start of general availability and end of support) for AIX, VIOS, PowerHA or HMC via Google?
This information can also be found easily using the command line of the IBM FLRT API (https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/flrt/sas?page=jsonapi). All you need is:
- a direct internet connection or connection via an HTTP proxy
- an installed version of curl
You can get an overview of all AIX versions with the help of the following curl command:
$ curl "https://www14.software.ibm.com/support/customercare/flrt/liteTable?prodKey=aix&format=json"
{"results": [
{
"input": "7200-04-02",
"inputurl": "http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/aix/quickorder?fixids=U887468&function=fixId&includeRequisites=1&includeSupersedes=0&release=7.2&source=flrt",
"ga": "2020.05.15",
"eosps": "2022.11.30"
},
{
"input": "7200-04-01",
"inputurl": "http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/aix/quickorder?fixids=U886355&function=fixId&includeRequisites=1&includeSupersedes=0&release=7.2&source=flrt",
"ga": "2019.11.15",
"eosps": "2022.11.30"
},
...
The output is in JSON format and is greatly shortened in the example.
We packed everything necessary in a small shell script (show_life_cycle) and made it available in our download area (https://powercampus.de/download).
Here is a sample run of the script without arguments:
$ show_life_cycle VERSION GA EOSPS UPDATE UPGRADE 7200-04-02 2020.05.15 2022.11.30 - - 7200-04-01 2019.11.15 2022.11.30 - - 7200-04-00 2019.11.15 2022.11.30 7200-04-01 - 7200-03-04 2020.02.14 2021.09.30 - 7200-04-01 7200-03-03 2019.05.10 2021.09.30 7200-03-04 7200-04-01 7200-03-02 2018.11.16 2021.09.30 7200-03-04 7200-04-01 ...
All AIX versions are listed. However, other products can be selected for display via an argument, e.g. RHEL versions, SLES versions, VIOS versions, HMC versions, PowerHA versions and even HMC models or power systems. A complete list can be found at https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/flrt/doc?page=prodTable. Here is a list of the RHEL versions as an example:
$ show_life_cycle rhel VERSION GA EOSPS UPDATE UPGRADE 8.0 2019.05.07 NA - - 7.7 2019.08.06 NA - - 7.6 2018.10.30 NA 7.7 - 7.5 2018.04.10 NA 7.7 - 7.4 2017.07.31 NA 7.7 - 7.3 2016.11.03 NA 7.7 - 7.2 2015.11.19 NA 7.7 - 7.1 2015.03.05 NA 7.7 - 7.0 2014.06.10 2015.03.05 7.7 - 6.10 2018.06.19 NA - 7.6 6.9 2017.03.21 NA 6.10 7.6 6.8 2016.05.10 NA 6.10 7.6 6.7 2015.07.22 NA 6.10 7.6 6.6 2014.10.14 NA 6.10 7.6 6.5 2013.11.21 2014.10.14 6.10 7.6 ...
The output is very long in some cases. An additional argument can be used to specify a prefix for the desired versions, shown here using PowerHA 7.2.2 as an example:
$ show_life_cycle hacmp 7.2.2 VERSION GA EOSPS UPDATE UPGRADE 7.2.2.4 2020.05.28 2021.04.30 - 7.2.3.2 7.2.2.3 2019.09.13 2021.04.30 - 7.2.3.2 7.2.2.2 2018.11.30 2021.04.30 7.2.2.3 7.2.3.2 7.2.2.1 2018.06.29 2021.04.30 7.2.2.3 7.2.3.2 7.2.2 2017.12.15 2021.04.30 7.2.2.3 7.2.3.2 $
If only a connection using a proxy is possible, then the following options are available:
1. The HTTP proxy is specified using the ‘-p‘ option, e.g..:
$ show_life_cycle -p http://10.0.0.3:8000 hmc V9 VERSION GA EOSPS UPDATE UPGRADE V9 R1 M941 2020.05.22 2021.04.30 - - V9 R1 M940 2019.11.22 2021.04.30 - - V9 R1 M931 2019.09.11 2021.04.30 - - V9 R1 M930 2019.05.17 2021.04.30 V9 R1 M931 - V9 R1 M921 2018.11.16 2021.04.30 V9 R1 M931 - V9 R1 M920 2018.08.17 2021.04.30 V9 R1 M931 - V9 R1 M911 2018.05.25 2021.04.30 V9 R1 M931 - V9 R1 M910 2018.03.20 2021.04.30 V9 R1 M931 - $
2. The HTTP proxy is set directly in the script, shell variable PROXY:
$ grep ^PROXY show_life_cycle PROXY="http://10.0.0.3:8000" $
3. If the script is executed as root on AIX, the proxy configuration of the Electronic Service Agent (ESA) is automatically taken over. This can be overwritten by using the command line option ‘-p‘ or by setting the variable PROXY.
The script should run on any UNIX system with a Korn shell (including MacOS). This means that searching via Google for lifecycle data is no longer necessary.
On the subject of Inventory Scout we have an article Automating Inventory Scout and another script for download available!