CISC AS/400 LIC Tapes

Older, CISC AS/400 might have needed magnetic tapes with the hardware specific LIC saved to it. MULIC is a very small binary blob, less than 1 MB in size.

At some point in time, there was information available which LIC-Tape to use for which group, or class, of machines. The following text is literally taken from the weblink provided at the end of this article.

843916 - This RPQ is used to order a Bxx/Cxx All Models MULIC tape that has all the MULIC required for the B10, B20, B30, B35, B40, B45, B50, B60, B70, C06, C10, C20, and C25 models on one tape. MULIC is not required on the C04 model.

843917 - This RPQ is used to order a Dxx All Models MULIC tape that provides all the MULIC required for the D06, D10, D20, D25, D35, D45, D50, D60, D70, and D80 models on one tape. MULIC is not required on the D02 and D04 models.

843953 - This RPQ is used to order a Exx/Fxx All Models MULIC tape that provides all the MULIC required for the E04, E06, E10, E20, E25, E35, E45, E50, E60, E70, E80, E90, E95, F04, F06, F10, F20, F25, F35, F45, F50, F60, F70, F80, F90, F95, F97, P01, P02, 100, 135, and 140 models all on one tape. MULIC is not required on the A02, E02, and F02 models.

843954 - This RPQ is used to order an All Models FULIC tape that provides all the FULIC required for the P03, 10S, 20S, 200, 300, 310, 320, and 30S models. The All Models FULIC tape will have the FULIC for the 2010, 2031, 2032, 2040, 2041, 2042, 2043, 2044, 2050, 2051, 2052, 2115, 2116, 2117, 2411, and 2412 processor feature codes. FULIC is not required for processor feature codes 2030 and 2114.

So, from the above list, it can be devised which models do not require MULIC/FULIC. For example, P03 models with processor 2115 and above need a tape, while P03 machines with CPU type 2114 do not.

Note! It appears that the MULIC tape is needed only when the load source (aka: boot) disk is exchanged. A reinstall of LIC and OS does erase all of the disk's contents but MULIC. More evidence is required to support this claim, though. It has worked for a P02, and P03, so far. Sector-based backups of at least the load source disk is advised to not lose the MULIC part of a disk.

It's possible that changing MULIC triggers a change of the system's serial number, and thus an invalidation of the system password. So far, this password is calculated from system components — kind of a hashing algorithm —, and up to today can only be calculated by IBM.

See also

• Copying disks with Linux

Weblinks

• Looking IBM 9401-P03, Narkive Newsgroup Archive
• AS/400 Service Functions V3, PDF. See Appendix A for instructions about how to install LIC and how to deduct when MULIC is required.