• Running Down Cache Battery Rumors and More on Damaged Objects

  September 21, 2011 Hey, Joe

  I read your article about changing iSeries disk caching batteries. You said that iSeries administrators should call IBM to send out new batteries, and then schedule an IBM service call for replacement. Is this considered standard IBM maintenance or are batteries a consumable item that is billable? I’ve heard rumors of changes in IBM’s policy, where they are starting to charge for batteries… –Brian With some help, I ran this issue past both an IBM Certified Engineer (CE) and someone in IBM CE dispatch. Both people said that it was just a rumor and that cache battery maintenance falls

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• Learn To Debug Authority Failures, Part 1

  September 14, 2011 Patrick Botz

  It is truly amazing how many IBM i administrators and programmers do not understand how to debug authority failures. When a user they support encounters an authority failure, many typically do one of two things: Give the user *ALLOBJ authority Or, if they can identify the object on which the authority failure occurred, they make sure *PUBLIC has *ALL authority to it Attacking authority failures in this way results in huge security holes. And this practice is almost certainly non-compliant with the organization’s written or unwritten security policy. Further, when the change happens to fix the authority failure, they

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• Now Where Did I Leave That Source Member?

  September 14, 2011 Bruce Guetzkow

  Note: The code accompanying this article is available for download here. During execution, programs rely strictly on their compiled objects. The source used to create the object is not used in any way for execution. There are, however, some instances where source is of value during processing. In a source member, one could store FTP commands to be used with the FTP (Start TCP/IP File Transfer) command, SQL statements to be used with the RUNSQLSTM (Run SQL Statements) command, or REXX statements to be used with the STRREXPRC (Start REXX Procedure) command. Knowing where the proper source exists is

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• Admin Alert: Three Common Problems with CBUs

  September 14, 2011 Joe Hertvik

  Power i Capacity BackUp (CBU) systems are complicated critters. Aside from the basic tasks of configuring, testing, and enabling a CBU for taking over processing from a production box, there are a lot of different problems that can occur with CBU configuration, and even when the CBU is running in replication mode. This week, let’s look at a few not-so-obvious CBU configuration issues that can hurt your CBU or production system setup. Issue #1: Problems with libraries that start with “Q” By default, many Power i replication packages do not replicate objects in libraries whose names start with “Q”, such

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• Adobe Flash Builder for the iSeries Programmer, Part 2

  September 7, 2011 Shannon O'Donnell

  NOTE: The code accompanying this article is available for download here. In my last article, I introduced you to the Adobe Flash Builder tool and showed you just how easy it is to create Flash-based user interfaces. In addition, I showed you how to integrate Flash components that other people create without having to know much, if anything, about them. And I told you that in future articles I would be showing you how to use Flash Builder to display and interact with iSeries DB2/400 data. Well, the future has arrived! In this article, which is the first

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• Dynamically Invoke SQL UDFs From RPG Code

  September 7, 2011 Hey, Mike

  I’m wondering if it is possible to use dynamic SQL (prepare/execute or execute immediate) to call a User Defined [scalar] Function (UDF). I understand we can use the SET statement in our code but we would like to “soft” code some RPG business logic and we are looking at having the RPG code dynamically call certain UDFs based on certain conditions. So it would be nice to create dynamic SQL statements to call certain UDFs. Thanks! –Brian Hi, Brian: Today is your lucky day because there is a way to do this. Starting with V5R1, the VALUES INTO statement can

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• Admin Alert: Starting Multiple PC5250 Sessions in a Batch File

  September 7, 2011 Joe Hertvik

  In a recent column, I demonstrated how to configure a PC5250 session so that you can run multiple sessions on the same PC to a single iSeries/System i/Power i partition. The problem with that technique was that it only worked using sessions that connected to the same partition. This issue, I’ll demonstrate how to automatically start multiple PC5250 sessions on the same PC that connect to different partitions. Today’s column was inspired by reader Bill Swann, who reminded me that the iSeries Access for Windows package includes a very simple procedure for launching multiple PC5250 sessions at the same time

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• An Indicator By Any Other Name

  August 24, 2011 Jon Paris

  Because indicators have been around forever, we kind of take them for granted. I often find that RPGers don’t really understand all the ways in which they can be used. This tip is an attempt to highlight four things that every RPGer should know about our little friends. 1. Indicators, or at least the standard set, are an array. You may not need to use indicators *In01 – *In99 as an array, but the fact that they are an array offers an opportunity to name them with minimal effort. I have always hated the fact that we have to rely

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• Add a Record to Any File

  August 24, 2011 Bruce Guetzkow

  Note: The code accompanying this article is available for download here. Sometimes it is handy to be able to write simple data records to a file from a CLLE module/program without having to write additional programs or procedures. Since IBM has not provided a direct way to do this as part of the operating system, here is a simple method that you can install and use in a matter of minutes. I’ve seen several examples over the years of ways to add a record to any file. Usually a temporary file is involved using a program-described file in the

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• Admin Alert: Two PC5250 Configuration Secrets

  August 24, 2011 Joe Hertvik

  With a history that spans well over a decade, the PC5250 program that comes with iSeries Access for Windows 6.1 contains tons of features that the average user or administrator may be unaware of. This week, I am discussing how you can use PC5250 to delete unneeded macros and to run multiple unique green-screen sessions on your desktop. Let’s get started. Deleting a PC5250 Macro In an earlier issue, I demonstrated how to record and play PC5250 macros. After that article was posted, several readers wrote in asking me how to delete existing macros on their systems. Here’s the

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