• IBM Inks In End Of Support For Power6 And Power7 Iron

  September 25, 2017 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  In case you didn’t notice it, IBM is getting ready to embark on a new generation of systems, based on its “Nimbus” and “Cumulus” Power9 chips.

  When new gear is entering the product catalog, IBM has a few tools to help encourage customers to move ahead rather than sitting tight. First, it tends to withdraw the older stuff – in this case systems using Power6, Power6+, Power 7, and Power7+ processors – from marketing. That sends the signal that customers won’t be able to get new processor cards, memory cards, and other peripherals for these machines. Then, IBM can raise …

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• Cloud Provides A Third HA Option

  September 20, 2017 Alex Woodie

  In the third part of our series on IBM i high availability options, we’re looking up — to the cloud, that is.

  If you’re in the market to implement an IBM i high availability solution – and the best data we’ve seen indicates that many IBM i shops are shopping in 2017 – then you basically have three options to choose from: logical replication software solutions, IBM’s Power HA hardware solution, and a cloud-based HA solution.

  We covered the first two offerings in previous stories (you can find our story on logical replication here and our story on PowerHA here …

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• Following Equifax, Focus On Database Encryption

  September 20, 2017 Alex Woodie

  In the wake of the massive data breach at Equifax that has impacted millions of Americans, suspicions are arising that the company did not even encrypt its data. As hard as it is to believe that one of the big three credit agencies neglected to use encryption, a survey suggests that storing data in plaintext is a common business practice at the vast majority of IBM i shops.

  Despite all the news coverage of this major data breach, critical facts and details are scarce. It’s hard to know exactly what steps Equifax’s IT department took to protect its data, for …

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• Dynamic Solutions Lowers Cost For Entry-level VTL

  September 20, 2017 Dan Burger

  If you’ve been waiting for virtual tape libraries to become more affordable, your waiting days may be over. Virtual tape libraries — automated backup systems designed to replace manual tape backups — have found a niche mostly in highly regulated industries and businesses with backup complexities that make simple tape backups time consuming and risky. Dynamic Solutions International, a data storage software company with experience in IBM i data management, believes it has reduced the entry costs to a level where small to midsize shops can affordably apply backup automation with its DSI425 Series, a package designed to …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, September 20

  September 20, 2017 Dan Burger

  Last time I checked, the SAP on IBM i community was not greatly enamored with the idea of adopting HANA, the SAP in-memory database. You would get a different idea after reading the pro-HANA article in IBM’s in-house magazine. Although SAP markets HANA for business intelligence workloads, it has also repeatedly stated that its goal is to eventually replace all underlying relational databases. Some SAP on i shops are not ready for that.

  Also in Monitor this week: IBM’s CEO Ginni Rometty condemns the fear-mongering that stalks artificial intelligence; predicting the future of IT based on current spending trends; and …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 19, Number 37

  September 20, 2017 Doug Bidwell

  Just a reminder from your friendly neighborhood IBM i PTF Guide. Java 6 will be going out of support on December 31, 2017. So be sure to update your Java applications to Java 8 or Java 7 to ensure a safe and secure application environment.

  The licensed programs for both Java 7 and Java 8 are available on Entitled Systems Support (ESS), in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. They don’t take up much room, it is suggested you put them all on your system. Changing the default version of the JDK (Java Development Kit) is done by changing the …

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• Crazy Idea # 542: Port IBM i To The Mainframe

  September 18, 2017 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  In case you didn’t know it, and why would you care, IBM launched the new System z14 mainframe back in June, was talking about the new z14 motors it uses in August, and has just last week launched the LinuxOne “Emperor II” Linux-only mainframe variant of that platform. The machine, as always, has some impressive engineering. And it got me to thinking. Which is always dangerous.

  Here is a crazy idea. No, this is really crazy, unlike some of my other inspirations, which of course make perfect sense. Maybe IBM should converge the Power Systems and System z lines, and …

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• More Database Tools Highlight Latest IBM i Access Client

  September 18, 2017 Dan Burger

  Remember IBM i Access for Windows? Many IBM i advocates do because they never stopped using it, despite its replacement by IBM i Access Client Solutions more than four years ago. Access for Windows hasn’t seen an enhancement since ACS arrived and ACS is on a continual enhancement schedule. The most recent round of upgrades arrived in mid-July without much fanfare, which is the way IBM seems to prefer.

  SQL developers and database engineers (those that have the title and those that only have the responsibility) are among the professionals benefiting the most from the expanding ACS toolset that usually …

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• Guru: Consuming A REST Web Service Using SQL And GET

  September 18, 2017 Mike Larsen

  The use of web services in the industry continues to grow, and sometimes it can be challenging to find information on how to work with them on IBM i. So, what is a web service? In a nutshell, web services allow systems to communicate via the web using file formats such as JSON and XML.

  This article demonstrates how to consume a REST web service using SQL. The example I’m working with uses the ‘GET’ verb to retrieve information from an Amazon Web Service (AWS). I created a simple REST Amazon Web Service that retrieves information about a pet from …

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• Three Lessons IBM i Shops Can Learn From The Equifax Hack

  September 18, 2017 Alex Woodie

  The recent Equifax data breach exposed extremely sensitive data of 143 million consumers, putting more than half of Americans at risk. While an IBM i server was likely not involved here, Equifax’s actions – and more importantly, its inactions – can teach IBM i shops something about data security.

  Just when you thought the string of major data breaches couldn’t get any worse, Equifax happened. The number of people impacted by the hack is relatively small, as these things go. When you consider that Yahoo’s 2014 breach exposed the data of 1.5 billion people, and that Adult Friend Finder’s 2016 …

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