Restore programs

Restoring programs to your system that are obtained from an unknown source poses a security exposure. Programs might perform operations that break your security requirements. Of particular concern are programs that contain restricted instructions, programs that adopt their owner authority, and programs that have been tampered with.

This includes object types *PGM, *SRVPGM, *MODULE, and *CRQD. You can use the QVFYOBJRST, QFRCCVNRST, and QALWOBJRST system values to prevent these object types from being restored to your system. See Security-Related Restore System Values for more information about these system values.

The system uses a validation value to help protect programs. This value is stored with a program and recalculated when the program is restored. The system’s actions are determined by the ALWOBJDIF parameter on the restore command and the force conversion on restore (QFRCCVNRST) system value.
Note: Programs that are created for systems running Version 5 Release 1 or later versions of OS/400® or i5/OS™ contain information that allows the program to be re-created at restore time if necessary. The information needed to re-create the program remains with the program even when the observability of the program is removed. If a program validation error is determined to exist at the time the program is restored, the program will be re-created in order to correct the program validation error. The action of re-creating the program at restore time is not new to iseries Version 5 Release 1. In previous releases, any program validation error that was encountered at restore time resulted in the program being re-created if possible (if observability existed in the program being restored). The difference with Version 5 Release 1 or later versions of programs is that the information needed to re-create these programs remain, even when observability is removed from the program.

Restoring Programs That Adopt the Owner’s Authority:

When a program is restored that adopts owner authority, the ownership and authority to the program may be changed. The following applies:

Refer to Restore licensed programs for more information.