• Creating Yes/No Fields in SQL Queries

  January 27, 2010 Hey, Ted

  I want to retrieve a list of customers using SQL. I know how to select the customers I want. What I don’t know how to do is create some columns that are not stored in the database, but must be built from information in other files. For example, I want a column that tells whether or not the customer has an open (unfulfilled) order. I’d also like a column that tells if he has ever bought a certain line of product. There are no fields in the customer master file that store this information. Can you help? –Rick Good question,

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• A Few Excel Export to CSV Tips

  January 27, 2010 Michael Sansoterra

  Comma separated variable (CSV) files are frequently used when exporting DB2 data for use with Microsoft Excel. However, because CSV files contain text without any additional formatting instructions, it can be somewhat time-consuming for users to format their worksheets whenever they get a new export. This tip will address a few of the shortcomings of using CSV files with Excel and present a few possible workarounds to make the lives of your Excel user community easier. Many of these ideas are only applicable to CSV exports intended for Excel usage. If the export file is dual purpose (one for users

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• Admin Alert: Speeding Up i5/OS Access Path Rebuilds

  January 27, 2010 Hey, Joe

  Our i5/OS HTTP server jobs crash after we reorganize large production files because the servers can’t open the access paths the system rebuilds after the reorganization ends. The servers can’t run until re-indexing is finished, and some of these physical files have 60 logical files attached to them. How can I speed up access path recreation so I don’t hold up processing? –Rob Access path rebuilds can be a problem after regular file reorganizations. They can also be a problem with abnormal IPLs, where many access paths can become invalid and need to be rebuilt before they can be used

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• Tripwire Rides Log Management Gig into SIEM Business

  January 27, 2010 Alex Woodie

  Tripwire has built its reputation providing configuration assessment, change auditing, and compliance tools to 7,000 customers, including a handful of organizations running i/OS servers, which has been supported since last year. Now, the Oregon company is looking to build on that solid base of log management expertise with today’s launch of Tripwire Log Center, a new security information and event management (SIEM) software product designed to protect customers’ computer systems from attacks by cybercriminals and malicious software. The recent high-profile attacks on Google, Cisco Systems, Adobe Systems, and others (via an Internet Explorer vulnerability that Microsoft rushed

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• ManageEngine Updates Systems Management Software

  January 27, 2010 Alex Woodie

  Systems administrators can monitor the state of their servers and networks from Twitter as the result of a recently released update to the OpManager network management software developed by ManageEngine. ManageEngine, a subsidiary of Zoho, develops a range of tools designed to monitor various aspects of the data center, from individual servers and networking components to open source server software and proprietary ERP applications. The vendor, which seeks to be the low-cost alternative to the “Big Four” systems management vendors BMC Software, CA, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM, supports the i/OS platform within its OpCenter and

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• CCSS Adds MIMIX Monitoring to i/OS Systems Management Suite

  January 26, 2010 Alex Woodie

  CCSS last week unveiled the addition of MIMIX monitors to QSystem Monitor (QSM), its systems monitoring and management software for the System i server. With the MIMIX monitors in place, administrators can receive warnings of errors with the high availability software through the QSM product, as opposed to logging onto the high availability product itself to check for problems. With so many moving parts, high availability systems are notoriously difficult to keep 100 percent shipshape. One of the biggest dangers is that data replication can get out of synch between primary and backup servers, which would compromise the capability to

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• JobQGenie Now Protects Job Queue Contents Through IPLs

  January 26, 2010 Alex Woodie

  Shield Advanced Solutions this month issued a major new release of JobQGenie, its i/OS utility that ensures the contents of job queues can be recovered following an unexpected outage by enabling job queues to be replicated through standard high availability (HA) software. With version 5.1, Shield has completely rewritten the software, and bolstered the product with new features and capabilities. JobQGenie was created to address a functionality gap that exists in all i/OS HA products, according to Chris Hird, president of the Toronto, Canada, software vendor. While the HA products are good at replicating data and objects and managing failovers,

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• LTO 5 Speed, Capacity Lower Than Expected

  January 26, 2010 Alex Woodie

  New specifications were released last week for the fifth generation of the Linear Tape-Open (LTO), and it’s not what we were promised. The LTO Gen 5 design calls for storing 1.5 TB of data on a single cartridge, which is almost double the storage capacity of the LTO Gen 4 specification, but less than the 1.6 TB that had been advertised. Native data transfer rates will be 140 megabytes per second, significantly less than the 180 MBPS that had been expected, and a lackluster 17 percent improvement over the 120 MBPS currently offered with LTO Gen 4 tape. LTO is

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• NGS Updates Accounting Software

  January 26, 2010 Alex Woodie

  New Generation Software (NGS), the Sacramento, California, company that’s best known for its business intelligence software, recently issued an update for its other line of products: the Concert Series, its suite of accounting software for i/OS servers. Concert Series is an integrated package of financial software that includes modules for accounts payable (A/P), accounts receivable (A/R), general ledger (G/L), payroll, and human resources activities in mid size organizations. The software is available with green-screen and Web interfaces, and there is also an Excel plug-in called ConcertPro that allows users to interact with Concert Series data in a spreadsheet. Earlier this

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• Original Software Touts Win at ‘Big 5’ British Bank

  January 26, 2010 Alex Woodie

  One of the UK’s five biggest banks has selected test automation software specialist Original Software to be on its preferred list of suppliers for “agile” development projects around the world, Original announced last week. Original did not disclose which of the so-called “Big 5” British banks–a list that includes Barclays, Lloyds, the Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS, and HSBC–recently put Original’s products on its list of preferred testing solutions. Only one of those banks appears on Original’s client list: HSBC, historically a big AS/400 shop with more than 10,000 developers. We don’t know which bank it is, but we do

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