FHG Volume: 6 Archives - Page 8 of 14

V5R4 Security: Rochester Rests Not on Its Laurels,

June 7, 2006 Steve Martinson

Part 2

A few weeks ago, I walked you through some of the major security enhancements that IBM has woven into the i5/OS V5R4 release for the System i5 servers. Back, by popular demand, is more insight into the new security enhancements, which Big Blue is hoping you will put into practice to make your i5/OS platforms even more secure than the legendary security of the OS/400 platform.

One key area of improvement found within V5R4 includes a new set of APIs to help in the management of encryption capabilities and the cryptographic keys themselves. With V5R4, the Cryptographic Access

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Admin Alert: Preparing Your i5 Shop for a Pandemic

June 7, 2006 Joe Hertvik

Reminiscent of Y2K fever, i5 administrators are now being asked how they might deal with a global influenza pandemic. Understanding that a real pandemic could usher in radical, albeit temporary, changes to company business and even threaten the business itself, prudent and cautious executives are requesting written feasible plans for keeping their networks and their i5 boxes humming a corporate tune. This week’s column discusses some things to consider in pandemic planning.

The Boring Background

Avian bird flu has already swept through millions of birds in Asia and Europe. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that we are in phase

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Thinking in Sets

May 24, 2006 Hey, Ted

I have a program that contains a complicated SQL command that selects a group of records exactly the way I want them selected. My boss has added a new wrinkle by creating an exceptions file, which would indicate other records that are to be selected, whether they meet the selection criteria or not. I cannot find a way to add the exceptions file without breaking my query. How do I modify my SQL command to handle the exceptions file?

–Clayton

You were taught the solution to your problem in elementary school. Do you remember learning about sets in math class?

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Present Timestamps in the Local Time Zone

May 24, 2006 Michael Sansoterra

The code for this article is available for download.

For companies with locations in multiple time zones that connect to a central iSeries, time stamp presentation can be a problem. For instance, consider a legacy shipping application that records the date and time of a shipment. If the legacy application isn’t time zone aware, the shipments at the various locations will all be stamped with the date and time of the system’s time zone. A desirable solution for this problem would be a routine that can adjust a timestamp from the main time zone to a local time zone.

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Admin Alert: Setting Up Unattended i5 Server IPLs

May 24, 2006 Joe Hertvik

Few i5/OS administrators want to log on to a system in the middle of the night, early Sunday morning, or on a holiday just to IPL that machine for PTF application or to correct a problem. Fortunately, the i5/OS and OS/400 operating systems provide a simple way to automatically power down and power up your system anytime you want, even if you are not signed on to the box.

To review all your IPL options and to set up a schedule for automatically IPLing your machine, there are two places to look on an i5, iSeries, or AS/400 box.

First,

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Debugging iSeries Java Applications Remotely

May 17, 2006 Mike Brown

IBM has provided several approaches for debugging Java applications on the iSeries, such as the IBM iSeries System Debugger. However, if you are an experienced Java developer, yet not experienced with the iSeries, you might find these tools and their instructions for use a little intimidating.

One alternative might be the Java Debugger (jdb) provided with most Java Development Kits. This is a command line utility that supports breakpoints, stepping through your application and examining objects. Unfortunately, IBM does not provide this tool on the iSeries.

I would guess that most Java developers have either not used jdb in a

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Common Sense Comparisons

May 17, 2006 Hey, Esteemed, Professional Colleagues

Today’s technical tip is not rocket science, but that’s OK with me because rocket science won’t help me keep the factory going. No, today’s tip is a practical, yet very simple, SQL (and OPNQRYF) technique that I hope to use regularly for years to come.

One of the first things that was drilled into my bald head in my early days of computer programming was that you can’t compare numeric data to character data. It didn’t matter what the language was–RPG II, COBOL 68, FORTRAN IV, GW-BASIC–numeric and character were apples and oranges.

I never questioned this restriction until I

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STRCPYSCN: The Poor Man’s 5250 Remote Control Program

May 17, 2006 Hey, Joe

When I perform technical support for some remote 5250 users, I don’t always have the ability to remotely log on to their PC and troubleshoot the problem. There are also times when I can’t or don’t want to go through the trouble of starting a GoToMyPC session with the user machine. Do i5 and iSeries boxes provide any native capabilities for working with another user’s 5250 session?

–Bob

While I’m a big fan of remotely logging on to user PCs, I do realize that it’s not always possible to take over a PC running a 5250 session when user machines

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V5R4 Security: Rochester Rests Not on Its

May 10, 2006 Steve Martinson

Laurels, Part 1

We’ve all heard it time and again. You know, how i5/OS security (and OS/400 before that) is better than all of the other widely used platforms or, better yet, how some folks consider this particular IBM operating system to be “bulletproof.” Of course, no system is completely secure, but those of you who have been around this system for any length of time know that i5/OS can most certainly provide a very secure environment for hosting and conducting critical business operations.

According to Jeff Uehling, the chief technical engineering manager for System i5 security, and Paul Godtland,

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Dynamically Sized Arrays

May 10, 2006 Hey, Ted

I have created an array to sort customer shipment data in the correct order for all part numbers that need to ship on a particular day. I want to define the array to grow as needed, as we anticipate our business growing. I don’t want the program blowing up when the number of elements is exceeded. Is it possible to dynamically size an array in an RPG program, rather than specify the number of elements at compile time?

–Jennifer

I have two ideas for you, Jennifer. The first is to use RPG’s memory allocation features to get memory as you

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