• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 21, Number 44

  November 6, 2019 Doug Bidwell

  Another week, another security vulnerability that is being addressed in the IBM i software stack. As you see in this week’s issue of the IBM i PTF Guide, IBM Navigator for i is affected by CVE-2019-4450. See this link for further details. This CVE can be remediated by applying the following HTTP Group PTF:

  • Release 7.4: SF99662 level 2
  • Release 7.3: SF99722 level 19
  • Release 7.2: SF99713 level 32

  Also, you will see that there is a new WAS 8.5 Group PTF for IBM i 7.2 and IBM i 7.3.

  As we have already reported in The Four …

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• Entry Server Bang For The Buck, IBM i Versus Windows Server

  November 4, 2019 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Some big changes that Microsoft has instituted with its Windows Server platform to make pricing consistent across on premises and public cloud deployments has had the interesting side effect that entry IBM i machinery based on Power9 iron is now more competitive with entry X86 servers using the latest processors from Intel and AMD.

  This is not universally true, mind you, but it is certainly true of machinery in the P05 software tier where a lot of the IBM i base hangs out. There is still a large gap on entry iron in the P10 software tier, and we did …

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• Microsoft Elaborates On Its IBM i-Azure Strategy

  November 4, 2019 Alex Woodie

  Microsoft has launched various efforts over the years to entice IBM midrange users to adopt their products. The fledgling multi-user operating system, Windows NT, was the target of those first efforts, followed by ever-more-capable versions of Windows Server. Now the software giant is holding its Azure cloud as the destination for IBM i shops. The big question is: Will IBM i shops make the move?

  Last week, IT Jungle talked with Eric Lockard, the Microsoft corporate vice president in charge of Azure Dedicated, a department within Azure that focuses on hosting non-standard platforms in the cloud. The company has found …

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• The Skinny On NVM-Express Flash And IBM i

  November 4, 2019 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  A couple of weeks ago, buried in the October Power Systems announcements, we told you about the new NVM-Express flash cards that Big Blue brought to the Power iron and that are specifically enabled in the IBM i 7.4 release with Technology Refresh 1, or TR1. We didn’t have a lot of detail back then about the new drives other than some capacities and pricing, but we know more now and we are going to tell you what we know.

  We will circle back with Big Blue and have a discussion about what the addition of NVM-Express flash means – …

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• Blockchain, Fine Wine, And The IBM i

  November 4, 2019 Alex Woodie

  Of all the overhyped technologies in the world today – and there are many of them – blockchain may be the most overhyped of all. Despite that dismal honor, the distributed ledger technology has already found its way onto an IBM i server. What’s more, the blockchain application implemented by a wine retailer actually makes sense.

  As a technology, you know you’ve ventured into dangerous territory when the comic strip Dilbert hops on the bandwagon. Such is the case with blockchain, which has been the subject of many of Scott Adams’ strips in recent years. The pointy-haired boss doesn’t understand …

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• More Vintage Power Systems Stuff Gets The Plug Pulled

  November 4, 2019 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  We are well into the Power9 era and looking ahead to the Power10 and Power11 era, so it is no surprise at all that IBM is looking to streamline its product catalog and empty out its barns of old equipment. In announcement letter 919-139, which somehow slipped our attention two weeks ago on October 22, a whole bunch of Power Systems stuff got the axe, with withdrawal dates ranging from right now until February 2020.

  On October 22, IBM i 6.1.1, with its machine code, will no longer be available for ordering on a slew of machines. This is …

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• IBM to Kill DeveloperWorks Connections Site

  October 30, 2019 Alex Woodie

  IBM announced last week that it’s planning to sunset the developerWorks Connections website and developerWorks Connections applications on December 31, 2019. The company is planning to launch new websites and apps to host community discussions around its platform. The IBM i community reacted poorly to the announcement.

  IBM started warning developerWorks users about the pending change on October 14. On a FAQ page, IBM stated:

  “As part of the overall IBM effort to reduce the number of duplicate client interaction portals and simplify the user experience with the digital side of IBM, we are sunsetting the developerWorks Connections platform …

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• IBM i TRs Bring Database Enhancements, Too

  October 30, 2019 Alex Woodie

  The heart of the IBM i server is its database, so it’s natural that we would see some enhancements to Db2 for i with delivery of IBM i 7.4 Technology Refresh 1 and 7.3 TR 7 next month. The new features may not be earth-shaking, but they deliver some useful functionality nonetheless.

  Let’s start with some foundational changes to the database itself, including the way that database engineers architect the tables that store information in the database. With 7.4 TR1, IBM i shops can now add a new child table to the database without having an exclusive lock on the …

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• Revenge Of The Zombie Green Screen

  October 30, 2019 Alex Woodie

  Don’t look now, but command line interfaces – which were supposed to have been killed off years ago at the hands of superior graphical user interfaces (GUIs) – are making a comeback in the general IT scene. And the command line love appears to be spilling over into the IBM i.

  Command line interfaces, or CLIs, never completely disappeared from the scene. Even Windows 10 users can summon the dark magic of the DOS prompt with a few tactical clicks of the keyboard, mouse, or (God forbid) touchscreen. But like crazy uncles and credit card debt, the CLI has largely …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, October 30

  October 30, 2019 Jenny Thomas

  In my house, the news of the day is the Houston Astros making a second run at the World Series. If baseball isn’t your thing, you have come to the right place. We have the news you are looking for from in and around the IBM i and our IT community. One article we point out this week actually comes from IT Jungle, but it is so relevant to what we do here in Monitor that it could not be overlooked. Our resident technical guru, Ted Holt, offered up a tip this week that also served as a wonderful reminder …

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