The IT Jungle

Firm Brokers MuleSoft’s Passage Into IBM i World

August 16, 2017 Alex Woodie

Open source is not the best model for everything in the computing world. But you’d be hard-pressed to find a better use for open source than data and application integration, which are notoriously messy, expensive, and brittle. Which is why, if you’re not familiar with MuleSoft, you likely will be in the future.

MuleSoft got its start over 10 years ago when Ross Mason decided to start developing an open integration platform. Mason thought: Why should developers toil to build custom-coded integrations over and over again when it could be built correctly one time and then shared with the world? …
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If RDi Was Free, Would You Go For A Ride?

August 16, 2017 Dan Burger

Some interesting developments have occurred with the Rational Developer for i (RDi) team. First came the extraction from IBM Software Group and relocation within the IBM i development organization. Then came the integration of RDi development efforts involving IBM and HelpSystems. What’s next? Perhaps a free lightweight version of RDi designed to entice more IBM i developers to trade in their old tools and take a closer look at what they can gain with RDi.

A new request for enhancement (RFE #108558) may gather enough momentum to bring a free RDi to market. That leads to the question of whether …
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Who Says You Can’t Go Home Again

August 16, 2017 Victor Rozek

As anyone who has ever managed an IT installation can attest, computer technology offers equal measures of empowerment and annoyance. On one hand, computers allow us to run our businesses on a scale of complexity unimaginable just a few decades ago. Multiple platforms churn in multiple time zones, global data transfers clog the ether; and people from different cultures, speaking different languages, are able to collaborate digitally for the good of the enterprise.

On the other hand, management must perpetually contend with the aggravation of the archaic. Even the finest computers and most elegant software are cursed by the specter …
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Four Hundred Monitor, August 16

August 16, 2017 Dan Burger

If you read Steve Will’s blogs and follow his itinerary of speaking engagements, you wonder if the guy is on pace to set a record for promoting the IBM i platform. And we don’t even know all the behind the scenes stuff. The strategy is simple. Have Steve Will talk and blog until every IBM i customer realizes that this system is fully capable of running a modern business. But that the message has to reach beyond the IBM i faithful. By his own admission, he is reaching about 1 percent of those who should be hearing the story. He …
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IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 19, Number 32

August 16, 2017 Doug Bidwell

Greetings IBM i shops. As you know, HIPER PTFs come out every two weeks, and the level is incremented each time they come out. The V7R1 HIPER level hit 201 this week. That means that V7R1 has been around at least 402 weeks. So in September we should hit the 408th week, or, at 52 weeks per year, four years for V7R1.

Scanning the list of Last Updated dates for all levels at all releases, August and September are traditionally dead months. Not much happens in PTF Land. V6R1 had a flurry of updates back in 2015 in those months, …
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Does IBM i Need More Databases?

August 14, 2017 Alex Woodie

There are many things that differentiate IBM i from other platforms, including its storage, security, and programming models. But one of the most unique aspects of the IBM i platform is its integrated DB2 database, which is used exclusively by practically all IBM i customers. You just don’t find this on other platforms. But perhaps it’s time for IBM i to diversify its database support?

In many respects, DB2 for i is the platform’s greatest strength. IBM i is renowned for its transaction processing prowess that drives ERP and other line of business applications, and DB2 for i (formerly DB2/400, …
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IBM Moves HMC Management To Native Power Server, LPARs

August 14, 2017 Timothy Prickett Morgan

Out of band management is not a new thing in the IT sector, and many of the best and most sophisticated pieces of software in the world have a distinct management console of some sort that gathers up the state of a machine or collection of machines and uses it to initially configure those devices and to coerce them to behave themselves despite their nature for electronic mischief.

The Hardware Management Console, or HMC, has been around for so long in the AS/400, iSeries, System i, and IBM i line for so long we can’t remember when people were not …
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Guru: Teraspace To The Rescue

August 14, 2017 Jon Paris

Hey, Jon:

My team has been trying to resolve a problem for the last few weeks and they are running into several obstacles. The main one has to do with RPG restrictions for data structure length.

We use a third-party program to process transactions. In the latest version, the vendor has increased the length of the fields in the data structure that we have to pass them. After our programs were changed to accommodate this increase, the RPG program would not compile because the DS exceeds 16,733,104 bytes. The vendor has told us to use teraspace but by itself that …
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Ransomware Raises The Stakes For Data Insurance

August 14, 2017 Adam Roth

In May, the WannaCry ransomware attack flooded news headlines worldwide. With over 230,000 infected computers, covering a span of roughly 150 countries, it was one of the larger attacks we have seen in some time. WannaCry spread through various operating systems but appeared to have had little impact on IBM i shops.

However, even though IBM i have the reputation as being an impenetrable operating system doesn’t mean that they are immune to attacks. If an IBM i shop has a connected Windows network on a shared drive with the IBM i host, a virus can easily enter and spread …
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What’s Old Is New Again: The IBM i Means Business

August 11, 2017 Dan Burger

It seems like a lot of companies are simply dumbfounded when it comes to IT staffing. Maybe it’s the inability to cope with the accelerated evolution of information technology. Determining how much upgrading is necessary for a given business model is not a follow the leader game. And an IT strategy based on “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” has led to trouble for many businesses where IT is broken and in need of repair. Too often there’s a rush to save business with technology without taking care of the business first.

“The biggest challenge of business is learning …
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IBM Boasts of Big Tape Breakthrough

August 9, 2017 Alex Woodie

Reports of tape’s death have been greatly exaggerated in recent years. But if IBM Research can turn a technological breakthrough it made with Sony in the lab into an actual product, tape will remain relevant for decades to come.

IBM last week announced that it set a new record for areal density on magnetic tape when it achieved 201 gigabits per square inch with a prototype for a new “sputtered” magnetic tape format, which it says is 20 times the areal density used in current state-of-the-art commercial tape drives. The achievement could enable the production of a tape cartridge that …
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SoftLanding Gives Supermon A New Look

August 9, 2017 Alex Woodie

They say looks aren’t everything. But for the folks at SoftLanding, the new Web interface created for the Supermon performance monitoring tool will help customers see exactly how their IBM i servers are running, and that’s definitely something.

Supermon for iSeries is a real-time performance monitoring tool that UNICOM Global acquired with its 2009 acquisition of Macro 4, one of several acquisitions the Los Angeles-area company made during that stretch. The software – which bears the name of a server that IBM hasn’t sold in over a decade – enables customers to monitor IBM i-specific server performance metrics …
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Subscription-Based Change Management Added To IBM i MSP Menu

August 9, 2017 Dan Burger

Software subscriptions can be a good solution for companies looking for operational benefits using cloud hosted services for their development systems, as well as their backup systems. Because this type of IT strategy is forecasted to become increasingly common – companies will search for greater efficiencies and cost savings – IBM i vendors Midrange Dynamics and iTech Solutions have partnered to provide a new set of subscription services.

iTech will add subscription-based Midrange Dynamics Change Management Software (MDCMS) to the portfolio of solutions that the Power Systems solutions and services company offers.

The subscription includes codes for HA/backup systems, as …
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Four Hundred Monitor, August 9

August 9, 2017 Dan Burger

We all know the short answer to the “What is Watson” question. Watson is IBM’s cognitive computing superstar. What to do with Watson and how to do it is a little foggy. If you’ve read the IT Jungle articles, you’re ahead of most. But if you’re still sorting out artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning, this interview with IBM’s Alison Butterill and Jesse Gorzinski could help see cognitive more clearly.

Also in this issue, internship programs can help grow your IT staff while injecting youth and new skills. Internships attract talent. Think of it as an extended interview and …
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IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 19, Numbers 29 Through 31

August 9, 2017 Doug Bidwell

It is catch up week for us here in the PTF Realm of IBM i Land, with The Four Hundred being on hiatus for a couple of Wednesdays during the summer doldrums. So let’s go through what happened in the prior three editions of the IBM i PTF Guide in sequential order so you can keep track of it.

In Issue 29, the PTF rundown looked like this. There were updates to Backup Recovery Solution for V7R3, V7R2, and V7R1, as well as for DB2 for IBM i V7R3 and V7R2. WebSphere Application Server V8.5 for V7R3, V7R2, and V7R1 …
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IBM i Gets Some Development Help

August 7, 2017 Dan Burger

Faster, faster, must go faster. In order to pick up the pace of IBM i development, Big Blue has enlisted the support of HelpSystems, with the goal of accelerating enhancements to Rational Developer for i, PowerHA System Mirror for i, and Backup, Recovery and Media Services (BRMS) on i. HelpSystems will take the product enhancement development lead, while working with the existing team in Rochester. IBM will continue to integrate and deliver these products into the IBM i operating system.

The transition is under way. Roadmaps are being discussed. IBM and HelpSystems are building the infrastructure and environments required for …
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A Fresche Start For Mike Pavlak

August 7, 2017 Alex Woodie

If you’ve ever dealt with PHP on IBM i, it would be tough to avoid hearing about Mike Pavlak, who worked directly for Zend Technology, which is the PHP company. But after nine years with the firm, Pavlak is now teaming up with Fresche Solutions, where he aims to work directly with IBM i clients on a wide range of open source and modernization projects.

Pavlak has been a familiar face on the IBM i speaking circuit for just as long as PHP has been supported on the platform. His technological acumen and positive demeanor have been instrumental in helping …
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Guru: The PHP Path To Victory, Part 2

August 7, 2017 Chris Ringer

Part 1 of this article discussed the path a PHP request takes on its way to your backend RPG program through the magic of an external SQL stored procedure. You may need to review the SQL, PHP, and RPG code there before continuing here. If you have not yet downloaded the code to your IBM i (found in Part 1), now would be a good time to do that.

Part 2 will give you the confidence to troubleshoot those times when something unexpected occurs in this PHP environment. And if you are a developer for large company, the responsibility of …
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What Is Driving Application Modernization?

August 7, 2017 Timothy Prickett Morgan

What you don’t measure you cannot manage, the old adage says. And the key vendors in the IBM i community, ever chasing that next opportunity, do a pretty good job querying the installed base of customers about what they are up to and why. A better job than Big Blue, which should be the biggest beneficiary of the 125,000-strong IBM i base, if you want to be truthful about it.

We are always on the hunt for any insight into what is going on out there in IBM i Land, and Rocket Software, a provider of application modernization and …
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IBM i Trading Punches In The Automotive Supply Chain

August 7, 2017 Dan Burger

Manufacturing in the U.S. is experiencing some drastic changes. In the supply chain, IBM’s midrange computers have been a controlling force. The automotive supply chain is a great example. But are the wheels coming off this legendary IT platform? Future-thinking tier suppliers are brain wrestling with the question of whether to modernize or migrate.

There is a combination of technologies, architectures, and costs to balance. And then there’s the wild card of partnerships, trusted advisors, customer feedback, and corporate mergers and acquisitions that factor into decision making. How is the IBM i faring in this sea of change?

It seems …
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