• Admin Alert: Basic Tools for the System i Admin Tool Chest

  November 28, 2007 Joe Hertvik

  Like it or not, iSeries, i5, and System i administrators usually have to write small Control Language (CL) programs to help them manage their systems. To make this task easier, I frequently use several common programming and IBM-sponsored techniques to perform different functions. This week, I’ll look at three basic programming and administrative tools for CL programming and demonstrate how they can benefit you when creating operational programs. Tool #1: Sending Status Messages When a User is Running a Program When you’re writing long-running code that has to be run interactively, it helps to flash status messages at the bottom

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• NetManage Fixes Printing, Performance Issues in Web-Based Emulation

  November 27, 2007 Alex Woodie

  NetManage addressed nagging performance and printing issues in its Web-to-host product line this month with the release of OnWeb for iSeries version 7.2.5. On the performance front, support for AJAX will dramatically boost the screen response time of customers that have elected to move their emulators to the Web. And a new feature called “iPrint” will finally give OnWeb for iSeries customers the capability to print PDF documents on local printers without resorting to messy modifications and custom development. On November 15, NetManage refreshed its entire product line with the delivery of OnWeb Server and OnWeb for iSeries version 7.2.5,

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• Verastream Streamlines Host Access for Hospital Billing Specialist

  November 27, 2007 Alex Woodie

  Collecting insurance payment information from hospital computer systems was often a tedious and time-consuming process for Medical Reimbursements of America (MRA). When the company could convince the hospital’s IT staff to run some reports, things went smoothly. But in many cases, MRA representatives sitting behind terminal emulators had to navigate through hundreds or thousands of screens to gather the necessary information. That began to change 11 months ago, when MRA installed the Verastream Host Integration product from Attachmate, which automated much of this work. The billing departments of most hospitals are well equipped to deal with standard patient accounts,

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• Help/Systems Extends Robot to Linux Servers

  November 27, 2007 Alex Woodie

  System i shops that rely on Help/Systems‘ Robot systems management tools recently obtained the capability to manage several aspects of their Linux servers, when the software company announced support for Linux servers with Robot/CLIENT, its open systems extension to the System i-focused Robot world. Help/Systems also unveiled a new release of the Robot Browser Interface, a product that puts an HTML view on top of several popular Robot products, including the job scheduler and the message management and alerting tool. For years, Help/Systems has sold Robot/CLIENT, a product that enabled its customers to control certain aspects of Unix and

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• VAI Gives Retailers a Windows Option for Backup

  November 27, 2007 Alex Woodie

  The new release of VAI‘s ERP system contains a little bit of new functionality for all of its customers, including the distributors that make up the bulk of its customer base, manufacturers, and even retailers. And with S2K version 3.7.6, which was officially unveiled at the VAI user conference earlier this month, retailers can continue to use their point of sale (POS) systems even when the System i or the network connection go down. From its headquarters in Ronkonkoma, New York, Bog Vormitagg’s company continues to buck the trend when it comes to midrange ERP vendors. While many ERP

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• Lawson S3 Is Already 64-Bit on i5/OS, Like All System i Apps

  November 27, 2007 Alex Woodie

  A month ago, we ran a story in this newsletter about how Lawson Software had finished converting its S3 suite of ERP application to run in 64-bit mode on Unix operating systems, but how the i5/OS operating system would have to wait a while longer. As it turns out, S3 was already running as 64-bits on i5/OS, providing a lesson for both Lawson and IT Jungle on the architecture of the System i. In early October, Lawson announced that Lawson 9–another name for S3, which stands for “staff, source, and serve”–was available to run in 64-bit mode on the AIX

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• MPG’s PerfNav Gains New Summary Report

  November 27, 2007 Alex Woodie

  Midrange Performance Group this month launched a new release of Performance Navigator, a Windows-based tool used to analyze the performance of System i servers over time, and for sizing hardware against workloads. With PerfNav version 13, MPG has added a new executive-level report that is viewable through a Web browser, and supports the latest release of the WebSphere Application Server. Since it was introduced in 1998, PerfNav has been helping business partners and large System i shops align their growing application workloads with the latest in midrange hardware. The Windows-based software uses IBM‘s PM/400 data collection facility to gather

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• CYBRA Gives Users More Control Over System i Printing with MarkMagic 6.1

  November 27, 2007 Alex Woodie

  CYBRA recently launched a new release of MarkMagic, the company’s software for designing barcode labels, RFID tags, and electronic forms for printing from System i servers. With version 6.1, the New York company has given customers the option of using a new Print Manager component that CYBRA says will provide greater control over document management activities. The Print Manager component of MarkMagic lets the user define certain rules based on information in the spool file. At run time, Print Manager automatically processes these rules and changes printing instructions to follow them. In this way, users can let their print jobs

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• EPI Updates DB2/400 Database Assistant to Track CL

  November 27, 2007 Alex Woodie

  Excel Program Inventions recently launched Database Assistant version 2.2, a new release of its field-level change and impact analysis tool designed for speeding database maintenance projects for RPG applications. With the new release, the tool gains the capability to track changes made to CL, and to generate SQL for any changed files. From time to time, programmers run into situations where they need to expand the fields in their applications, or add entirely new fields to support the growth of the company or compliance initiatives. In these situations, it’s advisable to use some type of tool to automate as much

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• Teamstudio Supports Notes/Domino 8

  November 27, 2007 Alex Woodie

  TeamStudio recently launched Teamstudio Edition 24, a new release of its suite of development and productivity tools for Lotus Notes and Domino developers. With this release, Teamstudio delivers support for Notes and Domino version 8, and delivers several other enhancements. The Teamstudio suite is a collection of client- and server-side utilities that provide Notes and Domino developers with a variety of useful functions for designing, programming, maintaining, and fixing their applications. The suite is made up of a handful of individual products, including Analyzer, CIAO, Delta, and Snapper, all of which now support the latest release of Notes and Domino

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