• Automatically Detecting And Re-Enabling Disabled NetServer Profiles

  August 27, 2014 Hey, Joe

  I have a few people that no matter what I do, always manage to disable their i5/OS NetServer (NetServer) user profile when they are opening an IBM i file share. Is there anything I can do to automatically re-enable their profiles when this happens? –Matt The first thing I’d do is check to see if there’s a reason your users are automatically disabling their NetServer profile when they try to open an IBM i file share as a Windows network drive. The most common situation I’ve found for auto-disabling NetServer profiles is when a user’s Windows network password doesn’t match

  … Read more

• Use SQL To Read IFS Directories

  August 27, 2014 Ted Holt

  Note: The code accompanying this article is available for download here. The Integrated File System (IFS) is marvelous, and without it this system I love so well would be history. Nevertheless, managing the files in the IFS is challenging. Recently I found myself wishing that I could use SQL to query an IFS directory. Since IBM had not provided me with that interface, I decided to build it myself. Here you are. I didn’t start from scratch. Thanks to Bob Cozzi and Scott Klement, whose code I’ve appropriated over the years, I’ve written programs that access the IFS. Throwing

  … Read more

• Creating A GUID In DB2 For i

  August 27, 2014 Michael Sansoterra

  Note: The code accompanying this article is available for download here. Normally, modesty would forbid me from saying this, but I love Four Hundred Guru. I was looking for a way to create a globally unique identifier (GUID) also known as a universally unique identifier (UUID) so that I could write some DB2 code compatible with SQL Server. Unfortunately DB2 doesn’t have a GUID/UUID function so I had to search the web to find an alternative. What did I stumble upon? A good ol’ FHG article showing how to create a GUID/UUID in RPG that could easily be

  … Read more

• IT Evolution Chicago Style

  August 25, 2014 Dan Burger

  To successfully take on the challenges of building a modern, high-efficiency digital enterprise, IBM midrange organizations should be re-energizing their in-house IT staff for roles that are the natural evolution of enterprise computing. Not making the effort to do so is a missed opportunity. In most IBM i shops the IT personnel have deep experience with the IT infrastructure as well as intimate knowledge of your business and your industry niche. This isn’t the kind of knowledge you can acquire from outside your organizations. Developing the talent to manage the modernization of IT starts with the value accrued in your

  … Read more

• Oracle Bests Rimini Street in Latest Court Battle

  August 25, 2014 Dan Burger

  Rimini Street, the third-party software maintenance company that continues to build business by contracting its services to Oracle and SAP customers, finds itself holding the dirty end of the stick after a federal judge last week ruled Oracle’s copyrights were encroached upon by Rimini Street. The judge also determined Rimini Street’s counterclaims against Oracle for defamation and unfair competition are unfounded. Oracle in 2010 filed a lawsuit claiming Rimini Street stole Oracle intellectual property in the course of building its software support business. The legal drama is playing out in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.

  … Read more

• IBM Gets The U.S. Nod To Sell System x Biz To Lenovo

  August 25, 2014 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  The deal is almost done, and IBM has nearly rid itself of an X86 market that it helped foster, sometimes unwillingly, and yet never could figure out how to dominate. Perhaps that was a good thing for computing as a whole, but it may not be a very good thing for International Business Machines, as we knew it, over the long haul. I am talking about IBM’s $2.3 billion deal to sell off its entire System x business, including all of its X86 based systems and 7,500 employees who design, make, market, and sell its machines, to Chinese computing giant

  … Read more

• CMS/400 Could Switch Hands In $3 Billion Private Equity Deal

  August 25, 2014 Alex Woodie

  A London private equity firm is reportedly in the lead to buy Epicor Software, the American provider of ERP software for midsize manufacturers and distributors, including the RPG-based application formerly known as CMS/400. According to a Reuters story last month, CVC Capital Partners bid of $3 billion was the highest bid to date. Epicor, which is currently owned by another London-based private equity firm, Apax Partners, put itself up for sale earlier this year. Apax bought Epicor and another ERP software vendor, Activant Solutions (formerly Triad Systems) in 2011 and then merged them under the name Epicor Software.

  … Read more

• Reader Feedback On OpenVMS Spinout A Possible Prelude To An IBM i Future?

  August 25, 2014 Hey, TPM

  Nice article, well written and factual. I myself still work on OpenVMS because it “just works.” I too thought it would be a good idea to port OpenVMS to X86, ARM, and others–most of the knowledge in porting from VAX to Alpha made it easier to go from Alpha to Itanium. Your article is one the only I’ve seen that mentions ARM and others or any reference to a comment about not limiting OpenVMS just to X86. I am assuming you are the only one who read everything that VMS Software said, then well done! –No Name Hello there. I

  … Read more

• The Coder’s Shortcut To Satisfaction

  August 25, 2014 Dan Burger

  If the words investigative, inquisitive, and analytical fit you like a kite fits in the hands of ol’ Ben Franklin, you probably don’t shy away from challenges–like building a robotic dog in your basement or learning to fly–programmatically speaking–without SEU, the old green-screen development tool. I can’t help you with your robotic dog, but here’s some help for those of you with SEU abandonment issues. Let me steer you to Susan Gantner’s recently updated version of Favorite Keyboard Shortcuts for RSE. Gantner is possibly the most well-known trainer-educator-author in the IBM midrange. I’d make a bet her

  … Read more

• As I See It: IT At Play

  August 25, 2014 Victor Rozek

  Daniel Borson has a dream. It’s an unusual dream to be sure, shared only by a select few. In fact, just 31 others have achieved it, some by what can only be described as dubious means. But when you stalk great honor, you must be willing to rise above convention. Which in this case is not a problem. Daniel Borson wants to be a SLUG Queen, a dream that bears less resemblance to Dr. King than to Dr. Seuss. Borson works in IT as a developer/analyst for the local water and electric utility. He has the distinction of having gone

  … Read more

Previous Articles Next Articles