Change the server name of iSeries NetServer

The iSeries NetServer™ server name is the name you use to install the iSeries Access for Windows and to access your iSeries NetServer over the network and the Internet. Under most circumstances, you do not need to change the server name that iSeries NetServer uses on iSeries. Even though you can connect to iSeries NetServer using any server name you choose, you should not change the server name from its default. The name should be the same as your iSeries system name. If, however, you must change the server name, review the naming guidelines before doing so. You can view the iSeries system name in the iSeries network attributes by using the Display Network Attributes (DSPNETA) CL command.

Note:

You must have *IOSYSCFG authority to change the iSeries NetServer configuration. The change to the server name does not take effect until the next time that iSeries NetServer is started.

To change the iSeries NetServer server name by using iSeries Navigator, follow these steps:

Open iSeries Navigator and connect to the system you want to work with.
Expand Network.
Expand Servers.
Click TCP/IP to retrieve a list of the TCP/IP servers available.
Right-click iSeries NetServer and select Properties.
On the General page, click Next Start. In the Server name field, specify the name that iSeries NetServer should use.

Server name guidelines

The default name configured for iSeries NetServer is typically not the same as the TCP/IP system name. This is done in order to avoid conflicts with older versions of Client Access (pre-V4R4) that look for the system name. However, you are encouraged to have the iSeries NetServer name configured to be the same as the system name when possible.

Therefore, if you are using iSeries NetServer for the first time or if you have changed the TCP/IP name of your system, you should also change the iSeries NetServer name to match the system name when the following are true:

No Windows clients in the network are currently using Client Access for Windows 95/NT (pre-V4R4).
No users currently have network drives or printers mapped to iSeries NetServer shares.

If you have not completed the migration to iSeries Access for Windows for all Windows PCs on your network from a pre-V4R4 version of Client Access, you should keep the iSeries NetServer name different from the system name to avoid inconsistent results for the clients.

If users in your network currently have network drives or printers mapped to iSeries NetServer shares, you should disconnect these mappings before changing the iSeries NetServer name. Otherwise, these mappings fail when automatically trying to reconnect using the older name. You should also update any DOS scripts on the clients that refer to the older iSeries NetServer name.

To avoid making all of these updates simultaneously, you can select the Allow iSeries NetServer access using iSeries name on the iSeries NetServer option on the General Next Start Properties dialog box before you change the iSeries NetServer name. The next time iSeries NetServer is stopped and restarted, both names will be recognized. The new system name can be used when configuring new Windows clients while the existing clients continue to use (map to) the previous name.