• Reader Input: /QOpenSys Redux, PC5250 Popup Keypads, and Even Farther Beyond Replication

  June 24, 2009 Hey, Joe

  It looks like the links that you detailed in the Matryoshka Doll article on nested QOpenSys links probably occur after installing PASE on the iSeries. Check out this IBM document that very briefly discusses recursive /QOpenSys links in the AS/400 IFS. IBM doesn’t say why this happens, but at least it points the finger at what causes the problem. –Bill Speicher Earlier this year I wrote this article and a tip on one of the great mysteries of the AS/400 Integrated File System (AS/400 IFS). The purpose of the article was to explain why there are multiple /QOpenSys symbolic

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• V6R1 Run SQL Scripts: Saving Scripts to a System i Source File

  June 17, 2009 Skip Marchesani

  V6R1 brings some nice enhancements to Run SQL Scripts—which is part of the Database function in System i Navigator–that provide more function and make it easier to use. One of these V6R1 enhancements is the ability to save, and retrieve or open an SQL script to/from a System i source file, in addition to saving it to a PC or a stream file. The following example shows an SQL script called “custmstr3” that was originally saved as a PC file, and which will now be saved as a System i source file. The first step is to click on File

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• A Testing Tip

  June 17, 2009 Ted Holt

  One of the annoyances of maintenance programming is that testing a program change often takes longer–even several times longer–than the process of making the change. One impediment to testing is the inordinate amount of time required to load a test database with the data appropriate for a good test. In the following paragraphs, I share a simple tip that in some situations reduces the effort to establish a good test environment. Many shops maintain a separate system (either another computer or a logical partition of the machine that houses their production system) for program testing. This testing system may contain

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• Admin Alert: A Simple Save While Active Backup Program

  June 17, 2009 Joe Hertvik

  The problem with 24×7 environments is that it’s difficult to make time to run complete system backups. Modern processing needs dictate that you can rarely, if ever, take down your machine to back up the entire system. This week, I’ll look at a hybrid backup scheme that lets you achieve the dual goal of performing occasional full system backups while still saving all your critical system and user data. A Simple Strategy The following is a simple save strategy that you may be able to use in your shop. It consists of two system backup elements that allow you to

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• Configuring Run SQL Scripts for Ad Hoc Queries

  June 10, 2009 Skip Marchesani

  Many months ago, when I needed to create and execute an ad hoc query using SQL, my tool of choice was Interactive SQL, available via the System i green screen interface. I don’t recall any dramatic change taking place–I suspect it was gradual–but these days I find myself using Run SQL Scripts (a.k.a. SQL Script Center or Script Center) from System i Navigator, instead of Interactive SQL, to execute an ad hoc SQL Query. The Script Center offers a couple of advantages over Interactive SQL. Specifically the Script Center allows you to intermix and execute SQL statements and batch CL

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• Advanced DB2 for i Data Access Techniques with .NET

  June 10, 2009 Hey, Mike

  There are a lot of shops like mine where one or two people are responsible for everything and we are very busy trying to learn new technologies and push the business forward. My project is very large. It will eventually replace 90 percent of the green-screen menu driven system we currently use. I am working on this project alone and building it slowly from the ground up. I want to have a well-built base. I want to understand how .NET and DB2 work together before I start building a lot on top of the base program. I am working with

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• Taking Care of PC5250 Popup Keypad Problems

  June 10, 2009 Hey, Joe

  We just ghosted and sent out 20 new PCs with iSeries Access for Windows V5R4M0 on them. Now we’re getting complaints that the Popup Keypads on the new machine’s PC5250 display sessions aren’t working correctly. On the old PCs, we had three Popup Keypads available to the users. The new PCs only have two keypads and some of the functions are missing. What’s going on? –Beth I suspect your problem isn’t so much that things have changed; it’s that the Popup Keypad configuration went back to its default settings with the new install. Here’s what I think happened. For readers

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• RPG Beans from VB Apps

  June 3, 2009 Hey Mike

  Recently we implemented the use of RPG beans on the iSeries. Some of us like it, some of us hate it. I think it’s great because I have some exposure to C# and Java. We also benchmarked it for performance and didn’t find any problems in the iSeries side. We are planning on instantiating the RPG beans from VB apps. Do you know if there are any performance issues from instantiating the RPG beans from a VB application? Do you know if someone has done any research related to this topic? –Frank Hi Frank, You pose two very good questions:

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• Changing the Library List for Run SQL Scripts

  June 3, 2009 Skip Marchesani

  The Run SQL Scripts function–a.k.a. the SQL Script Center or Script Center–is an easy-to-use option in System i Navigator that allows you to interactively create and execute one or more SQL statements and/or batch CL commands. One of the most frequently asked questions I get is: How do I access or find my tables and views using the Script Center? Accessing Tables and Views There are two options for finding or accessing your tables, views, and other database objects from the Script Center. One option is to qualify the object name with the library name in your SQL statement or

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• Admin Alert: Beyond Replication in an i5/OS High-Availability Environment

  June 3, 2009 Joe Hertvik

  One company I deal with has two different high-availability setups that mimic production partitions for its main systems. They’ve been running this configuration for two years, and it’s amazing how many high availability issues occur that have little or nothing to do with basic replication. This week, I’ll look beyond basic replication in building a Capacity BackUp (CBU) system and how these issues can affect failover processing. The CBU in One Paragraph A CBU is a specially configured iSeries/System i/Power i machine that communicates with your main production partition to replicate production data and applications by using high availability software

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