AS/400 and iSeries: A Comprehensive Guide to Setting System Values to Common Best Practice Securit

The purpose of this document is to assist anyone configuring or auditing iSeries (formerly known as AS/400) system values. This document should only serve as an informational guide and represents a security consultant's opinion on what the 'Best Practice' setting should be in a typical corporate environment. Appropriate system value settings for the reader's environment may differ due to varying circumstances. This paper begins with a brief introduction of the iSeries platform. Next a high level overview of how an iSeries machine functions is given which leads into specifically discussing the system values. Fifteen of the most important system values have been chosen and will be analyzed in the following paper. Although system values from all areas of the iSeries platform are analyzed an emphasis has been placed on system values related to iSeries security. Each system value bullet point contains a description of what that value controls and an explanation for each option associated with the system value. Last a Best Practice setting is suggested in addition to the reasoning behind such a suggestion.