• COBOL Is Not The Problem; The Data Is

  June 1, 2020 Brad Thomas

  The COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on COBOL, with multiple news stories about COBOL systems struggling as unprecedented demands have been placed on them. And then there are the urgent requests for COBOL developers to help ensure these mission-critical systems do their jobs.

  Eventually, the dust will settle, but some tough decisions will loom for organizations that rely on COBOL. The reality, though, is these decisions were already on the horizon because of the constant evolvement of other data management technologies, surging data production and the rapidly increasing average age of COBOL developers. When the dust does settle, it …

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• Guru: Introduction to the Administration Runtime Expert

  June 1, 2020 Dawn May

  Business-critical applications must be up and running reliably without failure. When something unexpected occurs, you must identify the cause and correct it quickly. Whether you’re a developer launching a new application, enhancing an existing application, or maintaining a legacy application, or an administrator managing the infrastructure, we all want to find ways to make our jobs easier, and unexpected surprises are not fun. I expect the relentless push to do more with less is only going to intensify while the tolerance for failure keeps dropping. Yet identifying points of failure can be tricky as complexities scale.

  IBM i offers a …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, June 1

  June 1, 2020 Jenny Thomas

  A lot has happened in the last week. There has been some exciting news like seeing astronauts heading back into space, and there has been some upsetting like the unrest in cities around the U.S. So we hope you’ll find Four Hundred Monitor to be a respite from the world. While we can’t completely avoid the coronavirus, we can stick to how it is affecting our industry and keep our focus on computing and the midrange space. It has always been our goal to gather interesting news, helpful resources, and industry happenings into this useable resource as a service to …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 22, Number 22

  June 1, 2020 Doug Bidwell

  First of all, thanks to the readership of the IBM i PTF Guide for catching errors and other issues in last week’s edition. We have fixed a reference to V7R3 defectives. And the number for the V7R3 cume is happening in the future, we cleaned that up, too.

  There is a New Group – TCP/IP for 7.4 – see the link in the Guide for details. Note: This group has not been added to SF99741 (All Groups) yet and it must be ordered separately.

  There is also updated microcode for Machine-Type Models: 9008-22L; 9009-22A; 9009-41A; 9009-42A; 9223-22H; 9223-42H (System Firmware …

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• The Technology Refreshes That Are Not TRs As We Know Them

  May 27, 2020 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  All of us have been expecting the Technology Refreshes – that is IBM i 7.3 TR8 and IBM i 7.4 TR2 – to come out on May 15. And when that didn’t happen, a bunch of us started scratching our heads a bit. Thus far, as we go to press, Big Blue has not put out a formal statement to customers about what is going on, but a number of big IBM i customers received a notification from somewhere up the chain of command about the situation, while at the same time, unbeknownst to many, IBM i chief architect Steve …

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• Thoroughly Modern: Quick Digital Transformation Wins With Web And Mobile IBM i Apps

  May 27, 2020 Kevin Cronin

  The future of IT no longer involves hiding in the basement and pushing buttons. In today’s digital economy, the role of IT – and IBM i – is critical. Internal users and customers are demanding modern, intuitive applications that are easy to access. If you’re an IT leader, you’re likely meeting with business stakeholders, discussing how you can grow and improve your business, and looking at what’s available to satisfy those needs.

  As my colleagues have discussed in previous installments of this column, failing to innovate in your market could put your business at risk. Digital disruption is happening …

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• Seiden Group Offers PHP Migration Service

  May 27, 2020 Alex Woodie

  Change is in the air when it comes to PHP on IBM i. The free Zend distribution of PHP that has been adopted by thousands of IBM i shops over the years is going away, and it’s being replaced by a new community distribution that’s installed via RPM. But how can you move existing PHP apps to the new environment? Seiden Group has a potential solution.

  As we told you last week, the Zend Server Basic environment will stop being offered by Perforce (the company that now owns Zend Technology) or distributed with the IBM i operating system on …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, May 27

  May 27, 2020 Jenny Thomas

  With the passing of the Memorial Day holiday in America last weekend, observed to honor the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military, the summer season is officially underway. Of course, it looks a lot different this year, with many businesses still shuttered and workers making plans for re-openings instead of vacations. The news continues to reflect the havoc caused by the coronavirus, as we see IBM slashing jobs as companies continue to look for ways to stay connected to employees and customers. With any luck, the warmer weather will bring better news, computing- and coronavirus-wise, …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 22, Number 21

  May 27, 2020 Doug Bidwell

  As we report elsewhere in this issue, there really is not going to be a Technology Refresh as we know it and as we were all lead to believe was coming for IBM i 7.3 and IBM i 7.4, but rather just a refresh of all the pertinent groups through the PTF process.

  Also, IBM’s Entitled Systems Support (ESS) has finally finished shedding its old coat, and the new one contains current resaves and a new way of asking for things! So be aware of that and take a gander. Moreover, Domino links have changed, thanks to Michael Mayer in …

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• The End is Near for Zend Server Basic PHP

  May 20, 2020 Alex Woodie

  Zend Server Basic, the free PHP runtime used by thousands of IBM i shops, will cease being offered starting in July 2021. That’s the word from Perforce, the company that now owns Zend and its lineup of PHP tools and technologies. The replacement, of course, is the new community edition of PHP that became available via RPM in late 2019.

  Starting in 2006, Zend Technology began to develop a special version of its PHP runtime for IBM i, which was then called i5/OS. This offering, dubbed Zend Core for i5/OS, provided a familiar way for users of the iSeries server …

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