• Admin Alert: V6R1 Changes for the i5/OS Administrator, Part 1

  April 9, 2008 Joe Hertvik

  Last week, I visited the annual COMMON user group conference in Nashville, Tennessee, to see what’s new and upcoming for administrators with the new V6R1 i5/OS operating system. While others have been covering the broader changes to the operating system, this week and next I’ll focus on some smaller changes that will affect the fine art of administering a System i box. Before I begin, I would like to note that all the information contained here comes from available information about the new release as well as information I picked up at COMMON from IBMers and various System i experts.

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• An Alternative to Externally Described Printer Files, Take 2

  April 2, 2008 Ted Holt

  Note: The code accompanying this article is available for download here. Tomorrow, Lord willing, I will present a session entitled “An Alternative to Externally Described Printer Files” at the COMMON conference in Nashville. I’ll be sharing the report-building technique my reclusive colleague Cletus the Codeslinger introduced almost four years ago in this august publication. Since that time, various people have offered feedback, which Cletus and I have used to update the template that he provided. In this article, I present the updated template and two example programs: one using native I/O, one using SQL. First, if you haven’t read

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• Performance Advice from a Mysterious Friend, Part 3

  April 2, 2008 Ted Holt

  Here’s a third performance tip from one of your fellow subscribers, whose identity I have agreed to hold in confidence. I appreciate the feedback I have received in response to his previous tips and hope to publish some of your comments in the near future. Here’s performance tip number 3: “Use CHGJRN to set MINENTDTA to *FLDBDY.” When you journal a file, you record changes that are made to contents of the file. You keep a record of each record added to the file, each record that is removed from the file, and each record that is changed. All of

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• Admin Alert: How System i Boxes Impersonate Each Other, Part 2

  April 2, 2008 Joe Hertvik

  Last week, I began covering how to change the communications identity on an i5/OS box so that it can impersonate another system and take its place on the network. This week, I’ll conclude demonstrating my i5/OS impersonation techniques and offer a checklist for making one System i box look like another System i box on your network. Why We Impersonate? As covered last issue, system impersonation techniques come in handy in the following situations: When replacing an existing System i machine with a new box. During testing, setup, and cutover, both systems may need to run side-by-side and

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• One Save File from More than One Library

  March 26, 2008 Hey, Ted

  I would like to place objects from several libraries in a save file. When I run a Save Library (SAVLIB) or Save Object (SAVOBJ) command that specifies more than one library, I receive message CPF3789: Only one library allowed with specified parameters. I really don’t want a bunch of save files. Is there another way? –Jackie A save file can contain other save files, so here’s a method you can try. To keep it simple, let’s say you want to save the contents of two libraries–MYLIB1 and MYLIB2–to one save file–SOMELIB/SOMESAVF. 1. Create a save file for each library. CRTSAVF

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• Performance Advice from a Mysterious Friend, Part 2

  March 26, 2008 Ted Holt

  On March 5 of this year, I told you that one of your fellow subscribers, who asked not to be identified, sent me some performance tips that he hoped you might find useful. This is the second of them. Here’s what he wrote: “Increase the journal receiver threshold to 6,500 MB.” So what does that mean? Let’s begin with the Create Journal Receiver command, CRTJRNRCV. This command has a THRESHOLD parameter that defaults to 1,500,000 KB, which is 1,500 MB. The threshold is the maximum size a journal receiver is allowed to reach before the system detaches the journal

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• Admin Alert: How System i Boxes Impersonate Each Other, Part 1

  March 26, 2008 Joe Hertvik

  There are three specific instances where System i administrator need to change the communications identity of an i5/OS box so that it impersonates another box and can take its place in the network. Unfortunately, there isn’t a readily available procedure to make sure that this process is easily accomplished. To help, this week and next I’m presenting a procedure for modifying a System i box to impersonate another machine. Why Bother To Impersonate? It’s handy to know how to modify a System i or iSeries box to impersonate another box in the following situations. When purchasing a new machine to

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• Grouping a Union

  March 19, 2008 Hey, Ted

  We have several sales history files–one for each year. When I need to combine data for more than one year, I have to use an SQL UNION. I am trying to group “unioned” data and can’t seem to get it right. Is it possible to group a dataset that is built by a union? –Tom This appears to be an easy problem to resolve, but appearances can be deceiving. If you’re not careful, you can get the wrong results when you UNION two or more tables, especially when you’re summarizing data. Divide the query into two steps: one to union

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• Remember the Allocation

  March 19, 2008 Hey, Brian

  Because we run packages, we do not get to use our i5/OS system knowledge very often any more, and thus some things fall through the cracks. For example, I recently had to add a field to a file that we had made accessible to Microsoft Access. This special physical file (ALTINVEN) reflected a one record view of our two-file item master file. We store static info in one item file (ITEMSTAT) and dynamic info in the other file (ITEMDYN). As well-intentioned as this design may have been, both parts change regularly. The production department has some specific uses for the

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• Stopping User from Using the System Request Menu

  March 19, 2008 Hey, Joe

  We have some users who misuse the System Request menu by locking critical records and then transferring to an alternate job. They also sometimes use System Request-2 to cancel their previous requests when they should let those requests run straight through to completion. We’d like to restrict access to the System Request menu just for those users. How can I lock them out? –Bert There have always been some security and processing issues with allowing everyone to access the System i and AS/400 System Request menu. System Request menu access can be abused and some people need to be kept

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