HMC PWRDWNSYS

Rudi, thank you for finding the CPI092F message. It is another opportunity to document that the user exit programs do not get run when the HMC shutdown options are used. Not running the user exits in this case is intentional and we do not plan to change to run them from the HMC operating system shut down options. Those new operating system HMC shutdown options were added to attempt to avoid an abnormal IPL after having to use the HMC to power off a partition. The main reasons to use the HMC options are when you cannot access the system to run the PWRDWNSYS command and when the PWRDWNSYS command does not complete. The user exit programs can prevent a power down. The HMC options can be used to bypass the exits when the system must be taken down. The user exits and the command processing program associated with the PWRDWNSYS command require an environment to run in - a user job and an associated IBM i user profile. The HMC does not work like other GUIs such as iNav where an IBM i user signs on and server jobs are established. The HMC connects at a lower level in the operating system. The power down HMC requests result in an event from SLIC and system jobs within the operating system perform the portion of the power down that ends subsystems and user jobs. To help explain we can compare what you saw in the history log from an HMC power down to the PWRDWNSYS command (adding jobs names from F9). QSYSARB4 and QSYSARB5 are system jobs where part of the power down process runs. DSP01 is the user job where the PWRDWNSYS command runs. QWCEPGPD is a batch job running one of the user exit programs.

HMC option:

QSYSARB5 CPI092F PWRDWNSYS *CNTRLD RESTART(*NO) command in progress.
QSYSARB4 CPI0995 PWRDWNSYS command issued with parameters specified.
QSYSARB4 CPF0930 PWRDWNSYS command in progress.

PWRDWNSYS:

DSP01 QIBM_QCA_CHG_COMMAND
DSP01 QIBM_QCA_RTV_COMMAND
DSP01 QIBM_QWC_PWRDWNSYS-PWRD0200
QWCEPGPD QIBM_QWC_PWRDWNSYS-PWRD0200
DSP01 QIBM_QWC_PWRDWNSYS-PWRD0100
QSYSARB4 CPI0995 PWRDWNSYS command issued with parameters specified.
DSP01 CPF0901 PWRDWNSYS command issued by user QSECOFR and is being processed.
QSYSARB4 CPF0930 PWRDWNSYS command in progress.

Hope this helps you understand what you are seeing.

Please have a look at the fragment taken from the history log from the LPAR which is shutdown from the HMC:

PWRDWNSYS *CNTRLD RESTART(*NO) command in progress.
PWRDWNSYS command issued with parameters specified.
PWRDWNSYS command in progress.

The details of the first line are:

Message ID . . . . . . : CPI092F
Date sent . . . . . . : 01-11-19 Time sent . . . . . . : 21:33:40

Message . . . . : PWRDWNSYS *CNTRLD RESTART(*NO) command in progress.

Cause . . . . . : Power Down System (PWRDWNSYS) is in progress with the
*CNTRLD option and restart *NO because the partition was powered down from
the Hardware Management Console (HMC).

With the information above I do not understand why is stated that a PWRDWNSYS is not run on IBM i when you shutdown an LPAR through the HMC, because according to the history log the PWRDWNSYS command is used.

I am just trying to understand what is happening, so I hope you can explain what I see.

Greetings Rudi

IBM does not plan to deliver this request in the next release for IBM i.

The HMC shut down operations are not an ease of use replacement for the PWRDWNSYS command run on the IBM i. The intended use of the HMC shut down operations is when you cannot access the the logical partition to perform the PWRDWNSYS command. The HMC operating system shut down command does not result in the PWRDWNSYS command being run on the IBM i. But with the HMC operating system shut down enhancement, the system does end subsystems and jobs in an attempt to avoid an abnormal IPL.

The existing power down system exit programs are used for more than stopping applications in an orderly manner. They allow the power down to be stopped or delayed. The limited HMC interface does not allow the user to see warnings and take corrective action.

Using the PWRDWNSYS command instead of the HMC has many advantages:
- you can specify parameters like the delay time for a controlled power down
- confirmation screen with system name
- IBM i user is checked for authority to perform power down and actions taken by user exit programs
- IBM i user performing the power down is audited and logged
- you can see error messages or handle them from a program

Knowledge Center documentation for the power down exit does have a usage note:
The user-written exit programs are not called for the following:
- If shut-down was initiated from outside the partition, such as from the control panel or HMC.

We will recommend an update for the HMC interface to bring back the sentence from the previous version -- "For IBM i logical partitions, use this window only if you cannot shut down the IBM i logical partition from the command line of the operating system."

Due to processing by IBM, this request was reassigned to have the following updated attributes:
Brand - Servers and Systems Software
Product family - Power Systems
Product - IBM i
Component - Work Management and Messaging
Operating system - IBM i
Source - COMMON

For recording keeping, the previous attributes were:
Brand - Servers and Systems Software
Product family - Power Systems
Product - IBM i
Component - Core OS
Operating system - IBM i
Source - COMMON