• Installing a PHP/MySQL Open Source Application on i

  April 20, 2011 Paul Tuohy

  I have often used PHP/MySQL open source applications on my PC, but I have never had the opportunity, or need, to use one on the IBM i. That is, not until recently. I was working on a project with three other developers, and we are located in Ireland, Canada, and the U.S. We needed some simple project management software that would work over the Web and did not require in degree in “Gant chart” mechanics. After a quick search I came across a PHP/MySQL open source package, ProjectPier, which seemed to suit our needs. So, in this article, I

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• Stuff I Neglected to Mention on February 16, 2011

  April 20, 2011 Ted Holt

  No matter how hard I try, it seems that I often neglect to mention something important in an article. On February 16, Four Hundred Guru included two of my articles–one about commands, the other about output queues and print devices. In each one, I omitted a salient piece of information. Fortunately, readers of this august publication were quick to bring my shortcomings to my attention. Here are some representative comments. Hey, Ted: Another fan of commands here. I think you missed one of the best advantages of using commands instead of CALL–namely, that of managing change–in your article Commands: Underused

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• Best Options for Post-i 6.1.1 Upgrade Backups

  April 20, 2011 Hey, Joe

  We’re performing an i/OS 6.1.1 upgrade this weekend. My boss wants to perform a full system backup after we get done. However, full system backups take six-hours to run in my shop. I have a very tight upgrade window, and the machine can only be down for 18 hours. What’s my best option for backing up a newly upgraded operating system? –Wil There are two overriding goals in tight operating system upgrade scenarios: 1) Protect your work so that you don’t have to perform an i 6.1.1 upgrade a second time if the machine crashes; and 2) Get the machine

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• A View of a View of a View

  April 13, 2011 Ted Holt

  One of the traits of a good database is that users are not forced to perceive the structure of the data as it is stored in the tables, but are free to perceive the data in ways that are meaningful to them. Today I share an SQL technique that achieves that goal. (No, you can’t do this with logical files.) Alternate Reality Before I illustrate the technique, let’s be sure we understand this idea of allowing the user to perceive the data as he wants to. Suppose a table (physical file) of invoices includes the date that an invoice is

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• SQL Bar Charts

  April 13, 2011 Hey, Ted

  A while back I had a problem that appears to be quite common, but just rare enough that it’s a little challenging when it hits you. Often in our roles as database administrators we need to determine various figures, such as how many key values in a table are used up in case we need to extend the field. Or sometimes we just to provide a statistical representation of data. What I needed was to produce a histogram using SQL. Let’s say you have an array of sample statistics and you want to break them into groups of an arbitrary

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• Admin Alert: The Four Faces of Software Vendors During a Hardware Upgrade

  April 13, 2011 Joe Hertvik

  For an upcoming hardware upgrade, I recently contacted all of our third-party software vendors to determine if they were going to increase our fees for running their software on a different machine. My mission was to determine: 1) Whether each vendor would charge us for changing hardware; and 2) Would there be an increase in their yearly software maintenance fees? The results were intriguing and an interesting window on the i/OS software world. The Other Costs of a Hardware Upgrade Hardware upgrades aren’t just about a new box. You also must ensure that your existing software will run on that

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• Taking RSE to Task

  April 6, 2011 Paul Tuohy

  Recently, I have been working on a modernization project with a client. Part of this project has involved me scanning and analyzing a number of legacy programs looking for patterns, commonalities, and such. In this article, I want to highlight a feature of RSE (Remote System Explorer) that has proved very helpful in the above process: Tasks and Bookmarks. Tasks and bookmarks provide an easy mechanism for defining tasks and, if required, placing a corresponding “marker” in a source member. In the past, you might have done this by printing off a source listing, highlighting some lines of code with

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• Today’s Horoscope

  April 6, 2011 Ashley Phix

  Today is April 6, 2011. Venus is in Cancer and Mars is in Leukemia. The sun is ascending faster than the U.S. national debt, and descending faster than the value of the U.S. dollar. The moon is a harsh mistress. See what the stars have to say to you today. Aries (March 21 – April 19): Work to improve the quality of comments in source code. What? is good, but Why? is even more important. Taurus (April 20 – May 20): Master an unfamiliar feature of SQL today. Gemini (May 21 – June 20): Instead of cloning a program, consider

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• Admin Alert: Must Your Rack Be IBM Black?

  April 6, 2011 Joe Hertvik

  Nothing is more ubiquitous in Power i shops than IBM 7014 black racks and Power Distribution Units (PDUs) that house and power most i/OS systems. Starting around $4,000 list for a base rack, most IBM shops routinely buy IBM racks and PDUs because they are standard for a Power i system. But do you realize there’s another option for racking your Power i system that could save you money? How Much Does That Black Rack Really Cost? IBM 7014 racks and Power Distribution Units (PDUs) are so common in iSeries, System i, and Power i shops that no one thinks

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• Duplicating an Entire Table or a Subset of a Table Using SQL

  March 23, 2011 Skip Marchesani

  In my previous article Duplicating CPFY Function Using SQL, I presented three questions that are frequently asked regarding SQL that are interrelated: Can SQL be used to duplicate the function found in the native CPFY (COPY FILE) command? Can SQL be used to duplicate a table similar to the function found in the native CRTDUPOBJ (CREATE DUPLICATE OBJECT) command? Can a field reference file be used as the source for column definitions with the CREATE TABLE SQL statement? I said the answer to all three questions was a qualified YES and introduced the concept of using the INSERT INTO

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