TFH Volume: 30 Issue: 71 Archives

How Much Does NVM-Express Flash Really Boost IBM i Performance?

November 9, 2020 Timothy Prickett Morgan

With the NVM-Express protocol, a storage overlay for the PCI-Express peripheral bus that allows flash to be addressed in a parallel fashion as flash in its own right and not as emulated disk storage using a SATA or SCSI protocol, the idea is to get those vintage storage drivers out of the way and let the operating system kernel speak directly to the flash. This is done so the impressive – and seemingly always growing – I/O bandwidth of flash can actually be brought to bear to speed up applications.

Flash in general, and NVM-Express flash in particular, has been …
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Thoroughly Modern: A Wealth Of Funding Options Makes It Easier To Take On Modernization

November 9, 2020 Jeff Lovette

Investment in IT is being driven by a new conversation – the value-aligned technology stack. The pandemic/recession is triggering the need for coordinated, business-led technology strategies that bring costs under control and harvest more value from technology to transform the business. Even before the events of 2020 began to play out, it wasn’t always easy to get funding for key IT initiatives, and now, as the world tries to come to grips with our new reality, it may seem even tougher. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

From a business sense, three key notions stand out from our …
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Guru: Manage PTFs With The Administration Runtime Expert

November 9, 2020 Dawn May

This fourth article in my series on using the Administration Runtime Expert (ARE) reviews how ARE is used to manage PTFs. This article assumes you have already learned the basics of how to use ARE from the prior articles.

PTF management with ARE features these key functions:
- Check your installed group PTF levels compared to the latest levels available from IBM
- Verify consistent PTF levels installed across multiple partitions
- Distribute PTF images to endpoint systems
- Optionally load and apply PTFs
The ARE Template Editor provides the interface to define your templates for PTF management.

Start by determining what type of …
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As I See It: Reviewing Performance Reviews

November 9, 2020 Victor Rozek

I started working at the age of 15 for a ship chandler on the San Francisco docks. Like many entry-level blue-collar positions, there wasn’t any talk of job descriptions or performance expectations. Basically, some burly guy told me what to do, and I did it.

Over the ensuing decades, however, I’ve had a goodly number of white-collar jobs replete with detailed job descriptions, project goals, and deadlines, all anchored by the assurance of regular performance evaluations. None of it materialized exactly as advertised. In a dynamic, rapidly changing environment, what you end up doing is often not precisely what you …
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Additions To The Db2 Web Query Family

November 9, 2020 Alex Woodie

Change is in the air for Db2 Web Query, the primary business intelligence tool for IBM i environments from Big Blue. Earlier this year, IBM launched two new versions of the product, and this fall, IBM delivered version 2.3 of the product. Finally, there’s been a change of ownership of the third-party company behind the software.

Let’s start with the change in ownership. Last month, TIBCO Software announced its intent to acquire Information Builders, the privately held New York City business intelligence software company that Gerald Cohen founded way back in 1975. IBI’s primary product is WebFOCUS, which forms …
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How Much Does NVM-Express Flash Really Boost IBM i Performance?

Thoroughly Modern: A Wealth Of Funding Options Makes It Easier To Take On Modernization

Guru: Manage PTFs With The Administration Runtime Expert

As I See It: Reviewing Performance Reviews

Additions To The Db2 Web Query Family

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