• IBM Patches BIND and OpenSSL Flaws in IBM i

  March 18, 2015 Alex Woodie

  IBM has patched several security vulnerabilities in the IBM i OS recently, including some lingering problems with OpenSSL, as well as new ISC BIND Delegation Handling vulnerability. The vulnerabilities affect multiple releases of the IBM i OS, and could enable an attacker to successfully crash impacted servers, so go get your PTFs applied as soon as possible. The more critical vulnerabilities are related to the ISC BIND Delegation Handling vulnerabilities, which impact the Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) software, specifically the Domain Name Service (DNS). Two BIND-related flaws were discovered in December 2014, according to the Internet Systems Consortium,

  …

  Read more

• IBM Unveils ETL Solution for DB2 Web Query

  March 18, 2015 Alex Woodie

  IBM next week will begin delivery of DataMigrator for i, a new extract, transform, and load (ETL) solution unveiled in February that’s designed to work with DB2 Web Query software. DataMigrator for i will give customers a better and more automated way to feed their IBM i-based BI and analytics applications with data originating from (gasp!) outside the platform. The ongoing explosion of data is driving organizations to adopt new business intelligence and analytics solutions designed to help grow sales, reduce costs, improve marketing, and increase customer satisfaction. While the IBM i server is typically utilized for transaction processing, it

  …

  Read more

• Midrange Dynamics Takes Aim At Database Changes

  March 18, 2015 Dan Burger

  Multi-platform application development is often paired with modernization projects that are lighting up the project scoreboards in the IBM midrange. Companies rank modernization as one of their top priorities. Application modernizations are more business logic oriented and more frequently involve database programming as well. Midrange Dynamics, a provider of application development software and consulting services, has all this in mind with the release of a new product and an update to its reputable CMS. MDRapid, the new database tool for deploying upgrades, and Midrange Dynamics change management (MDCMS) work in concert to curtail business application downtime and risk as

  …

  Read more

• OAuth 2.0 Makes Its Way Onto the IBM i

  March 18, 2015 Alex Woodie

  Don’t look now, but OAuth, the open standard for authentication first described by Twitter for allowing people to share data without using a password, is making its way into the enterprise. It’s even becoming adopted in the IBM i ecosystem, where a number of vendors, including BVS Tools, are adopting it as a standard authentication system for IBM i communication utilities. The folks at Twitter initially started developing OAuth nine years ago to provide a way to share files over the Web without passing user IDs and passwords. Instead of sharing credentials, the OAuth protocol allows users to approve

  …

  Read more

• Kisco Debuts Sub-$400 Message Monitor

  March 18, 2015 Alex Woodie

  Organizations that are looking for an affordable way to monitor their IBM i servers may want to check out the new iEventMonitor product unveiled this month by Kisco Information Systems. For less than $400, the software will automatically send an alert to administrators when it detects potential problems, as manifested through message queues. Many of the tasks that humans used to do have been automated. For example, stock brokers and assembly line workers have largely been replaced by computers and robots, respectively. In the IBM i world, the entry-level job of system operator has largely fallen by the wayside,

  …

  Read more

• Look Ahead With IBM To 2018

  March 16, 2015 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  The world today is a much different place from the one that the AS/400 was launched into nearly three decades ago. Back then, it was exotic to be moving from basic accounting systems running on batch oriented machines to real-time transaction processing and database querying using relational database technology. It was also a big deal to be moving away from homegrown software to packaged applications tailored to specific industries. Software is far more complex and so are the systems it runs across, and IBM reflects the complexity of the market it serves. Ever since it nearly went bankrupt in the

  …

  Read more

• IBM i Shops Turn To MSPs For Help

  March 16, 2015 Dan Burger

  Companies are looking to MSPs to help them obtain operational efficiencies and increased value from their IT investments. I wouldn’t call it a hive of activity, but there are more frequent indicators of shops wanting to consolidate IT investment and avoid the upgrading hardware expenses. It is pushing new decisions. Two Connectria Hosting customers that I spoke with last week fit both those descriptions. Here’s what brought them to the popular IBM i MSP. Morgan Craven, director of IT engineering at The Freeman Company, based in Dallas, Texas, described the situation that led him to Connectria as beginning with two

  …

  Read more

• Splunking Through IBM i Log Mysteries

  March 16, 2015 Alex Woodie

  Tracking down problems in the modern data center can be an exercise in extreme patience. Today’s mantra of “loosely coupled yet tightly integrated” sounds great theoretically, but doesn’t give you much to go on things start to fail. When the going got tough for one multi-billion-dollar ecommerce operation that relies heavily on the IBM i server, it turned to Splunk to sort it all out. Splunk made a name for itself as a provider of next-gen power tools that enable IT administrators to collect, analyze, and search vast sums of log files generated by a multitude of systems. Instead of

  …

  Read more

• As I See It: In the Land of the Panel Beaters

  March 16, 2015 Victor Rozek

  A somber-looking man stands in the front of the aisle facing a plane-load of passengers. His arms are crossed above his head and in each hand he holds a high-pressure spray can of poison. Overhead luggage racks are opened, and a brief announcement is made to justify what is about to happen. Two hundred seventy-two passengers descend into apprehensive silence. The man then walks up and down the aisles spraying toxic chemicals ostensibly to kill invasive pests. There are infants and seniors aboard the plane. Everyone is drenched. Welcome to New Zealand. It was barbaric, an uncivilized measure unworthy of

  …

  Read more

• Storagepipe Takes Aim At IBM i Tape Backup And Recovery

  March 16, 2015 Dan Burger

  In the IBM midrange, tape backup is what we do. None of the backup alternatives are even a close second. Internet-based vaulting services, however, continue to make inroads as organizations study ways to achieve quicker recovery times without stepping into the high cost and high complexity of high availability. One of the service companies to keep an eye on is the off-site backup company Storagepipe Solutions. Why are so many organizations completely dependent on tape backup? And why are data recovery plans often an afterthought? You might actually be one of the companies that have given some thought to

  …

  Read more

Previous Articles Next Articles