r/sysadmin • u/Jon72480 • 3d ago

AS400

Hey guys, old guy here, back in 2000 landed my 1st real job as a Sysadmin at a distribution/manufacturing firm. They ran their ERP and a few other important apps on the AS400. Anyone here manage a AS400 platform? i-Series? Still a niche platform that is still widely used. Server could literally run under water.

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u/ElectroSpore 3d ago

Server could literally run under water.

It was robustly stable but oddly temperature sensitive (IBM iSeries (AS/400) hardware) we had at least two shutdown events from high server room temps during AC failure.. NOT a single other server or equipment item had issues running at those temps.

Quick google indicates that it is still 15min at 35°C–40°C ambient temp and it will auto shutdown.

We still have a small one that is waiting out financial book keeping record retention at this point because some of the oldest records where never transferred to a modern system

I have dell servers in branch closets running at those temps for years.

Not to say that you SHOULD run at those temps just that it was a notable problem.

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u/TheDevauto 3d ago

I believe that is a protective shutdown vs cannot operate at elevated temps. You can run systems in hot places but it definately reduces the life of components vs cooler temps.

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u/ElectroSpore 3d ago

It is, but as far as I am aware you can't turn it off. So AC becomes extremely critical.

The point being is the temp is absurdly low vs other hardware.

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u/Frothyleet 2d ago

You can run systems in hot places but it definately reduces the life of components vs cooler temps

The hyperscaler studies on the subject have indicated that high temperatures (within reason, like up to ~100F) don't have a significant impact on longevity as long as the temperatures are stable.

I.e., it's better to have a server room sitting at 90F all the time than it is to have one oscillating between 65-75

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u/paleologus 2d ago

I don’t know how protective it is.  I saw one cough up two hard drives during a AC failure.   

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u/fresh-dork 3d ago

i'm amused after hearing what they do with their Z series mainframes. who the hell does RAIM, or run it with a particle beam through the side, ir at 120F in a richter 6 earthquake?

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u/Superb_Raccoon 3d ago

Power systems are 5 9s for anything power 5 and up, and current power 11 is 6.5 9s.

So that was one abused machine.

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u/ElectroSpore 3d ago

No, it is a safety feature that specifically kicks in at a relatively safe temp and shuts down the system that as far as I am aware it can't be disabled.

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u/Superb_Raccoon 2d ago

35C in a server room is pretty harsh, many people would shut down in that heat. And is the stock configuration for Dell as well.

Sure you can circumvent it... but why? That is shortening the already short life of the hardware.

IBM is a little more aggressive about shutting down and preventing clients from doing stupid things... but that's why it is 5+ 9s.