COMMON POWERUp 2026

Sometimes, the answer to a tricky problem is right in front of you - you just have to know where to look. That’s what the team at PC Richard & Son discovered while rolling out our next-generation POS solution to our fleet of IBM i systems using Ansible. Everything was going well until we hit a hardware issue on one IBM Power Server. Fixing that single machine was easy, but figuring out if the same issue was quietly lurking on other servers? That was the real challenge. Join us for a real-world case study on how we used Ansible and AI in creative ways to find and fix hidden problems before they caused major headaches. We’ll share what we learned, how AI helped us work smarter, and how you can apply these lessons to your own environment.

Learning Objectives:

`- How a simple hardware failure led to a bigger discovery. - How Ansible can be used for more than just automation. - Tips for leveraging AI in solving problems. - Ways to spot hidden issues before they become big problems. - Practical tips to make your infrastructure more reliable.

In this session, you will hear about visualizing performance data using Performance Data Investigator (PDI) in IBM Navigator for i. While I demonstrate some of the key features, you will be learning the basics of how to use Performance Data Investigator (PDI) to perform performance analysis and view performance trends over time.

Topic teasers: collection services, graph history, export, stacking, tabs, breadcrumbs, multiples, custom

Learning Objectives:
1. How to use Performance Data Investigator to perform performance analysis
2. How to use the Graph History feature of Performance Data Investigator to view performance trends over time.

In days gone by the IBM supplied program QSTRUP combined with a couple options on CHGIPLA was good enough for most IBM i shops. It started what seemed to be needed and anything else we stumbled through after each IPL. When it was time to shut down a PWRDWNSYS or ENDSBS command took down whatever was running. We were happy. Today though we often see dozens of subsytems running many web servers, other needed batch jobs and services. We see monitors and queue processing jobs and many writers. For security purposes we should be starting only the TCP servers that we need, not all of them. Likely we should not start IPV6 and start things in sequence as well. Further considerations may be needed in an HA environment. These include not starting jobs until iASPS are available and starting different IP interfaces and services depending on production or backup mode of the server. We may want to handle special startup modes while doing PTFs, backups or other system maintenance. In this session we will work with customizing that startup. We'll discuss staring PASE jobs with QSH, web server jobs and more. Finally we will also work with sequencing the shutdown of the system. As part of this we'll discuss some simple ways to know what needs to be shut down and smoothly handling that.

Learning Objectives:

1. Learn how to control which startup program will run on your IBM i. 2. Examine the various servers to start and how to control them. 3. Learn options for starting different services. 4. Consider ways to control the startup of your server in different operating modes. 5. Understanding an orderly shutdown of your IBM i server.

Are you a programmer now responsible for administrating your IBM I system? Would you happen to know what you need to manage the system successfully? What commands do I need to know? This session will cover the basics of System Administration that you need to know to manage your IBM i. You can learn what you need to know to do your system's daily care and feeding.

Learning Objectives:
1.) Understand how to check your system messages to know everything is ok.
2.) Make sure that you are saving the right stuff.
3.) Basics of security
4.) What are PTFs, and how to manage PTFs

This session will take in a brief review of the history of magnetic media on the IBM i, along with some of the issues along the way.  It will offer a wider variety of options available to backup/archive data from the IBM I today, with a look at techniques that have become more prevalent (and feasible) in current implementations.  Attendees will get information that may provide more possibilities for their own environments than they knew were available.

The IBM i operating system has several different tools to collect data for performance analysis. In this session, you will learn when and how to use the following tools: Collection Services, Job Watcher, Disk Watcher, and Performance Explorer.

Learning Objectives:
1. Learn which tool is the right tool to use in different scenarios.
2. Learn how to run each tool and use visualization tools to analyze the performance data collected.

Many IBM i environments still rely on tape vaulting or backup-only second sites for offsite protection, approaches that struggle to meet today’s recovery, security, and audit requirements. These models introduce operational overhead, slow restores, and increased exposure to ransomware and data integrity issues. This session examines what effective offsite data protection for IBM i should look like today, with a focus on recoverability, immutability, and operational efficiency. We’ll review where traditional offsite strategies commonly fail and clarify the practical differences between replication, backup copies, and offsite recovery data. Attendees will be introduced to a modern, fully managed offsite copy approach designed specifically for IBM Power environments. The solution integrates with existing IBM i backup tools, supports immutable retention, and delivers predictable restore performance, without adding infrastructure or changing day-to-day operations.

Session takeaway:
Attendees will leave with a clear framework for evaluating offsite data protection options for IBM i and identifying approaches that improve recovery confidence while reducing operational burden.

IBM Navigator for i continues to evolve with ongoing enhancements and new features. Whether you're a long-time user or just getting started, this session offers a live demo of the latest capabilities Navigator for i has to offer. Discover how these updates can improve your system management experience and streamline daily operations.

Learning Objectives:

`- Explore the newest features and improvements in IBM Navigator for i - Learn how to apply these enhancements to optimize system administration tasks

Discover how AI agents can transform your daily system administration workflows on IBM i. This session introduces practical approaches to building agents that automate routine tasks, monitor system health, and respond to operational issues—all while leveraging the IBM i MCP server for seamless integration. You'll learn how to create both individual agents for specific tasks and orchestrated teams of agents that collaborate to solve complex administrative challenges. Through real-world examples, we'll demonstrate agents handling everything from performance monitoring and job scheduling to capacity planning and automated troubleshooting. Whether you're analyzing system logs, or optimizing Db2 for i performance, you'll leave with actionable knowledge to implement AI-powered automation in your own environment. This session is designed for system administrators who want to enhance their productivity without becoming AI experts, focusing on practical implementations using open-source tools and the official IBM i MCP server.

Learning Objectives:

Understand the architecture and capabilities of AI agents specifically designed for IBM i system administration, including how agents interact with IBM i APIs, CL commands, and Db2 for i through the MCP server interface. Implement individual AI agents for common administrative tasks such as system monitoring, job queue management, and performance analysis using practical patterns and best practices. Design multi-agent teams that collaborate to handle complex workflows, including how agents communicate, share context, and coordinate actions across different administrative domains. Evaluate appropriate use cases for AI agent automation in your environment, distinguishing between tasks best suited for agent-based solutions versus traditional scripting approaches. Deploy AI agents using the IBM i MCP server framework, including configuration, security considerations, and integration with existing system management tools and processes.

IBM i and IBM Power Servers combine to deliver a fabulously reliable environment. The operating system has rich work management capability and strong error reporting. Despite that you shouldn't ignore it or you will eventually find yourself dealing with something serious. In this session we'll cover the things you need to watch and understand allowing you to deal with them before they become serious issues.

Learning Objectives:

1. Learn where to look and what to look for to know how your system is running. 2. Learn what to configure for automatic reporting of errors and problem. 3. Learn the points at which you need to begin to apply effort well before issues occur. 4. Be able to tell management: "Yes our IBM i is running well!"

Effective performance data management is essential for maintaining a healthy and responsive IBM i environment. In this session we will cover best practices for configuring and using IBM i performance data collectors—including Collection Services, Job Watcher, and SQL collectors—balancing proper data collection with efficient use of storage. Attendees will learn how to set up data collection according to IBM-recommended guidelines, determine appropriate data retention policies, and choose storage locations for historical data. Whether you're troubleshooting performance issues or building long-term trend analyses, this session will equip you with the strategies and configurations needed to make the most of IBM i’s powerful performance data collectors and visualizers.

Learning Objectives:

Understand how to configure IBM i performance tools following best practices for proper and efficient data collection. Gain insights on how to balance proper data collection with efficient use of storage. Learn how to determine appropriate data retention periods and storage strategies based on your needs and goals.

Join us on a transformative journey as we explore secure, scalable and resilient Cloud solutions purpose-built for the IBM i.   How can you unlock the modern capabilities of IBM Power Systems without introducing the complexity and risk while driving positive business outcomes?  How will POWERVS solve this.  Public, Private, Multi-Cloud -  What cloud is right for you?
 

• Resiliency Solutions Delivering Uptime Results
• Hybrid Cloud Architecture: Enhancing resiliency, security, and compliance
• Three reasons Why Cloud Computing is Important for Businesses

               Bonus - 1 BIG reason you may have never considered.

Join us for a session where we will explore the new components and concepts related to partitioning IBM Power Systems. You will learn how these components are interconnected, how to set them up, and how to manage and upgrade them. We will cover components such as the Hardware Management Console (HMC), the Flexible Service Processor (FSP) or eBMC depending on your processor generation, and the Advanced Systems Management Interface (ASMI). Additionally, we'll discuss firmware in your machine and how to perform necessary updates in both LPAR environment and standalone machines. You'll also receive tips on upgrading and establishing communication between the HMC and FSP/eBMC, as well as insights into the role of ASMI. By the end of the session, you will have current knowledge about these crucial hardware features of IBM Power Systems & IBM i.

Learning Objectives:

1) Understand how to upgrade and update your HMC. 2) Understand how to upgrade your FSP or eBMC. 3) Learn how everything connects and interacts.

Learn about the latest updates and tools to manage your IBM i. IBM Navigator for i is the strategic tool for managing the IBM i operating system. In this session we will demo using some great Navigator wizards, how to configure TLS for the many servers on the IBM i. Learn how to deal with user profiles across multiple systems, we will even do a quick demo on how to configure MFA. Plus your questions.

Learning Objectives:

Learn best practices for managing and securing the IBM i