Edit: I remember seeing John McCain that night, and I still find value in attending IBM Technical University.
Originally posted September 23, 2008 on AIXchange
If you happened to be in the lobby of the Chicago Hilton on the evening of Sept. 8, you might have seen Secret Service agents posted at all the doors. Then, if you looked closely, you would have seen John McCain entering the ballroom for a fundraising dinner. A few nights later, in that very same ballroom, you could have seen Jake and Elwood with a Blues Brothers tribute band providing entertainment.
Readers might have been in the Chicago Hilton those nights since this was the venue where the IBM Power Systems Technical University featuring AIX and Linux conference was held. According to the attendees that I spoke to, and from my perspective, this was another worthwhile event.
After the consolidation of AIX and IBM i onto the same hardware platform earlier this year, the AIX conference was held simultaneously with the IBM Power Systems Technical University featuring IBM i. This was a great opportunity for IBM i focused people to learn more about AIX, and vice versa. I was able to attend some IBM i sessions, and many of the messages are the same on both sides of the house–we all use the same hardware, the same HMC and many of the same procedures to get things done.
Each session consisted of around 20 different classes (taking both conferences into account), covering basic to advanced topics. Many of them repeated, so if you had a conflict, you could usually find a convenient time to attend the class of your choice.
One topic I enjoyed learning more about was virtualizing IBM i partitions. IBM i can act like a VIO server and host AIX and Linux guest partitions, but, as of IBM i 6.1, it can also host another IBM i partition. IBM i can manage the disk for the guest partitions, or you can use VIO to host an IBM i partition. The IBM i administrators at the conference seemed to express some concern about the new interface and command line options that need to be learned when setting up VIO partitions, but, once they get a chance to try it, I’m sure it will all start to make sense.
Put next year’s Technical University on your calendar now. This way, when it comes time to request education, you’ll already have one event that you know you won’t want to miss.