Skip to Main Content
IBM Power Ideas Portal


This portal is to open public enhancement requests against IBM Power Systems products, including IBM i. To view all of your ideas submitted to IBM, create and manage groups of Ideas, or create an idea explicitly set to be either visible by all (public) or visible only to you and IBM (private), use the IBM Unified Ideas Portal (https://ideas.ibm.com).


Shape the future of IBM!

We invite you to shape the future of IBM, including product roadmaps, by submitting ideas that matter to you the most. Here's how it works:

Search existing ideas

Start by searching and reviewing ideas and requests to enhance a product or service. Take a look at ideas others have posted, and add a comment, vote, or subscribe to updates on them if they matter to you. If you can't find what you are looking for,

Post your ideas
  1. Post an idea.

  2. Get feedback from the IBM team and other customers to refine your idea.

  3. Follow the idea through the IBM Ideas process.


Specific links you will want to bookmark for future use

Welcome to the IBM Ideas Portal (https://www.ibm.com/ideas) - Use this site to find out additional information and details about the IBM Ideas process and statuses.

IBM Unified Ideas Portal (https://ideas.ibm.com) - Use this site to view all of your ideas, create new ideas for any IBM product, or search for ideas across all of IBM.

ideasibm@us.ibm.com - Use this email to suggest enhancements to the Ideas process or request help from IBM for submitting your Ideas.

Status Not under consideration
Workspace PowerVM
Created by Guest
Created on Dec 27, 2017

UAK Longer validated period

We want to have UAK validated period extended to 1 year at least. Currently implemented period of 180 days is considered too short. When system attention lamp turns on at UAK expiration, customers are forced to take reactive actions to decide if any trouble exist or they can simply turn off the lamp. We as a business partner are involved each time, which is quite troublesome to both customers and us.

For your reference, similar requirement was raised and rejected as below.

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rfe/execute?use_case=viewRfe&CR_ID=108638

Idea priority Medium
  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Feb 22, 2022
    The Power UAK ensures that machine code updates are enabled for IBM Power8/9 servers, covered by IBM warranty, an IBM Hardware Maintenance Service Agreement (HWMA), or Machine Code Special Bid, (some exceptions apply).  

    HWMA agreements are typically procured with a multi-year term, allowing equipment to be added or removed throughout the contract period, in accordance with the HWMA agreement. Because of this flexibility permitted under the HWMA, there is no firm association between the life-cycle/planned usage of a machine and the term for which support has been procured. Because of this factor, UAKs are renewed in 180 day increments and not aligned to the HWMA termination date.

    In regards to UAKs that are about to expire, system generated messages will provide the user appropriate warning. A system's HMC will generate warning messages at 30, 20, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 day(s) before the UAK expires. The Message will read: "The Update Access Key for this server expires in{number} days. Please note that an expired UAK will not impact the performance of a server and many clients simply choose to update the UAK during a planned Machine Code maintenance window. Managing UAKs manually can be avoided if users enable Electronic Support tools, which work in conjunction with the Call-Home feature. In addition, users may choose to request and replace UAKs manually via the the following site:
    http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/ess.
  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Mar 22, 2018

    The Power UAK ensures that machine code updates are enabled for IBM Power8/9 servers, covered by IBM warranty, an IBM Hardware Maintenance Service Agreement (HWMA), or Machine Code Special Bid, (some exceptions apply).

    HWMA agreements are typically procured with a multi-year term, allowing equipment to be added or removed throughout the contract period, in accordance with the HWMA agreement. Because of this flexibility permitted under the HWMA, there is no firm association between the life-cycle/planned usage of a machine and the term for which support has been procured. Because of this factor, UAKs are renewed in 180 day increments and not aligned to the HWMA termination date.

    In regards to UAKs that are about to expire, system generated messages will provide the user appropriate warning. A system's HMC will generate warning messages at 30, 20, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 day(s) before the UAK expires. The Message will read: "The Update Access Key for this server expires in{number} days. Please note that an expired UAK will not impact the performance of a server and many clients simply choose to update the UAK during a planned Machine Code maintenance window. Managing UAKs manually can be avoided if users enable Electronic Support tools, which work in conjunction with the Call-Home feature. In addition, users may choose to request and replace UAKs manually via the the following site:
    http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/ess.??