The Four Hundred Archives - Page 375 of 1506

Data Loss In A Disaster Exceeds Expectations

June 22, 2015 Dan Burger

Just how big of a mistake is it to do nightly backups? Depends what your definition of big is. If a disaster takes down your system at the end of a working day, but before the scheduled backup occurs, how much data will you lose? You probably don’t have an accurate answer to that question. But if you knew, it might change the way you think about how data loss would affect your business.

Most pros who think about data loss and loss prevention have implemented disaster recovery plans, even though the majority of them have little or no idea

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Why You Might Want To Encrypt Your Syslogs Now

June 19, 2015 Alex Woodie

Every day millions of IBM i server events are packaged up in the syslog standard and sent offsite for safekeeping and analysis. In many cases, the syslog files are sent in plain text across the wire because, hey, they’re just boring old log files, and what could anybody ever do with those, right? Wrong, says IBM i security software company Raz-Lee Security.

Syslogs are a bread-and-butter data format for IT professionals around the world. Just about every device in the data center uses the syslog format to transmit data about what it’s done. All sorts of IT activities are

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dbFunnel Provides Native ETL For IBM i

June 17, 2015 Alex Woodie

One of the software startups showcasing new wares at the recent COMMON conference was Hamway Software Solutions, which develops an extract, transform, and load (ETL) application called dbFunnel that runs natively on IBM i. As CEO Laura Hamway explains to IT Jungle, the software fills a need for lightweight data extraction and reporting involving DB2 for i.

Hamway’s journey to becoming an ISV begins, as so many do, with a consulting gig. The programmer was helping Del Monte Foods with an implementation of an automated data collection system for its packing and warehouse operations. The longtime BPCS shop

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LaserVault Moves IBM i Backups Forward

June 17, 2015 Alex Woodie

There’s no shortage of ways to back up your IBM i data, each of which fills a need according to one’s particular budget and requirements. LaserVault recently provided one more option with UBD Replacador, which is aimed at those wanting to de-duplicate and backup their IBM i data to an IBM Storwize array. The company also announced a significant new feature in its software-based virtual tape library (VTL) solution.

IBM’s Intel-based Storwize arrays have traction in the IBM i base, particularly among small and midsized businesses that want the benefits of a centralized storage array but not the cost and

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Mad Dog 21/21: Big Apple

June 17, 2015 Hesh Wiener

IBM was once America’s most valuable company; today Apple enjoys that distinction. Apple’s liquid assets alone significantly exceed the total market value of IBM’s shares. Apple could acquire Big Blue for cash and still have tens of millions left over. Hoping that the knack for making money will rub off, IBM has cozied up to Apple.

But saving IBM will take more than a bunch of iPad apps and some press conferences. IBM isn’t going to escape the consequences of its stupidity by shilling for Apple’s most problematic product, the iPad, in Apple’s worst market, Japan.

In Apple’s most recent

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Surround Tech Goes Up The Stack

June 17, 2015 Alex Woodie

Surround Technologies is a well-known provider of .NET-based tooling for modernizing IBM i applications. If you want to outfit your 5250 application with Web, Windows, or mobile clients using Microsoft technologies, its flagship Accelerator series can provide that. But with the latest version, Surround Tech is going up the stack by offering pre-built apps for things like document management, content management, and even human resources.

Modernizing legacy IBM i applications and moving from 5250 to modern Web and mobile apps is one thing, says Surround Tech CEO Lee Paul. But what IBM i shops need these days goes beyond application

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Two Ways To Rollup

June 16, 2015 Ted Holt

In Three Powerful SQL Words, I showed how to enhance summary queries with aggregate values over subsets of grouping columns. Today I continue that discussion by showing the two syntaxes of rollup and illustrating the difference between them.

First, assume a table of accounting transactions.

select department, account, amount
  from xacts2
 order by 1, 2
 
DEPARTMENT  ACCOUNT     AMOUNT
     1          10      200.00
     1          10      250.00
     1          30      300.00
     2          10      125.00
     2          20      175.00
     2          20      225.00

Here’s a typical summary query using the familiar GROUP BY clause.

select department, account, sum(amount) as tamt
  from xacts2                                  
 group by department, account

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Security Policies Vs. Security Procedures

June 16, 2015 Patrick Botz

It seems that many people don’t understand the difference between security policies and procedures. When I ask to see a customer’s security policy, if I get anything, it is usually documentation about how system security values should be set. Once in a while it contains a description about how certain tasks will be accomplished. For example, updating applications on the production system. While this kind of documentation is useful, it is not a security policy.

In short, security policy identifies acceptable and/or unacceptable uses of various business assets. Importantly, security policy shouldn’t include descriptions of how to enforce, prevent, or

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IBM i Multiple Language Support Generates Value Decisions

June 15, 2015 Dan Burger

IBM i support for multiple programming languages leads to freedom of choice, but that doesn’t necessarily make the choice easy. Many of the application development experts say picking a programming language depends on the goal in mind and, of course, which language skills the user possesses. But to say you can’t argue with that is an oversimplification. RPG is always going to be an IBM midrange programmer favorite no matter what. And then there’s the native versus non-native debate.

IT Jungle turned to several application development experts with deep experience and various opinions on programming language decisions.

For database access

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Big Blue Gives MSPs Monthly Rates On IBM i Stack

June 15, 2015 Timothy Prickett Morgan

Off and on over the past several years, IBM has tinkered around with special pricing for managed service providers that are building IBM i hosting and cloud businesses. The central issue is that Big Blue charges a perpetual license plus annual Software Maintenance fees for the IBM i stack, but MSPs charge customers by the month. The gap between the initial investment and the initial cash flow can be huge–in fact, big enough that building an IBM i cloud can be prohibitively expensive.

Given the legendary ease of use of the IBM i platform and its predecessors, as well as

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