Connectivity

To make the service environment available, your system must have connectivity to IBM®.

Service Agent uses the Universal Connection to communicate with IBM. What connection method you choose depends on several factors:

• Your hardware, software, and network configuration. This includes whether you have a direct connection to the Internet, whether you use a modem, and whether you connect through a console, such as a Hardware Management Console.
• The level of security your company wants to maintain.
• PTF ordering, problem reporting, and sending inventory are no longer supported over VPN. IBM recommends using HTTP or HTTPS for PTF ordering, problem reporting, and sending inventory to IBM.

You can use the Universal Connection wizard to set up a connection to IBM. You can also configure a connection to IBM by using the Create Service Configuration (CRTSRVCFG) command.