The IT Jungle

IBM Rejiggers DS Array And EXP Enclosure Disk Prices

January 9, 2012 Timothy Prickett Morgan

We have been warning you that in the wake of the tragic flooding in Thailand, where about a quarter of the world’s disk drives and many of the components used in units made elsewhere are manufactured that you should expect price rises for disk drives due to shortages. Interestingly, IBM both raised and lowered disk prices in selected models of its DS series of external disk arrays last week.

As it turns out, as you can see in announcement letter 312-005, some of the price cuts are very deep and some of the price increases are fairly modest on

IBM Chases Power Customers In EMEA With Partner Incentives

January 9, 2012 Timothy Prickett Morgan

As you know from listening to the news, the European economy is not exactly roaring at the moment, so Big Blue is kicking off 2012 by trying to scare up a little Power Systems business in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa with a new cash incentive program that is over and above the deals the company currently has in place.

Under the 2012 Power ISV Solution Connection Program, in announcement letter ZA12-1004, business partners that work with ISVs to find and close Power Systems deals involving the IBM i, AIX, or Linux operating systems will get an additional

A Little .NET Can Go A Long Way

January 9, 2012 Dan Burger

Richard Schoen has been doing presentations on using Microsoft .NET technology in conjunction with IBM i on Power Systems at COMMON for several years. At a recent Omni User meeting in Chicago, Schoen was speaking again on this subject and it certainly seemed to be a topic of interest as a larger than normal attendance was recorded.

This is not exactly a mainstream topic because Microsoft and IBM don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things . . . running Windows natively on Power Systems machines being a perfect example. This is a constantly festering wound that won’t

As I See It: Punxsutawney Blue

January 9, 2012 Victor Rozek

If you were the kind of kid who plotted the ignition point of ants frying under a magnifying glass, or dreamed of creating artificial intelligence because your family didn’t understand you, then growing up to be an IBM researcher is not unlike winning the lottery. Eccentricity is not a barrier. If you’re brilliant enough and have a compelling idea–even an idea that may not find practical application for decades–the vault will open, cash will come pouring out, and you can play with house money for years.

IBM invests billions in R&D, much of which remains closely guarded. But each year

IBM Delivers Open Source Version of EGL Tools

January 9, 2012 Alex Woodie

IBM in December announced the release of Eclipse EGL Web Developer Tools (EWDT) version 0.7, the first open source version of its EGL development tool. The new tool builds on the free EGL Community Edition software that IBM put out in 2008 and gives IBM i shops another option for developing rich Web applications that run on the IBM i operating system and can access RPG logic.

IBM’s decision to make much (but not all) of its EGL tooling open source should not come as a big surprise to anybody who has followed IBM’s activities over the last few years

Rocket Software Buys iCluster HA Biz From IBM

January 9, 2012 Timothy Prickett Morgan

The high availability software market in the IBM i space is getting off to an interesting start in 2012 now that Rocket Software has bought the iCluster software business from IBM. The deal was announced on January 4, but was actually closed by Rocket Software and IBM on December 31 for an undisclosed sum, and it puts iCluster logical replication software in the hands of a third party that plans to invest in the product and grow the business.

Rocket Software has been on an acquisition tear in the IBM space for the past couple of years, having snapped

The World Is Not Going To End In 2012

January 9, 2012 Timothy Prickett Morgan

People are unlike computers in a lot of different ways, but one of the similarities is that both machines and members of the Homo sapiens species like to mark time. Computers need to mark time to function properly, and people, well, we do it to get in rhythm with and to push against our environments and, I sometimes think, just to give us a little drama in our lives. I don’t know about you, but I have had plenty of drama in the past decade and I would like to declare 2012 a No Drama Zone.

Such a declaration

Admin Alert: Hidden Parameters of the Submit Job Command

December 14, 2011 Joe Hertvik

Power i operating system commands are like old friends. You think you know everything about them, then one day they surprise you by displaying a different side of themselves. This week, let’s look at a few hidden parameters available with the i OS Submit Job (SBMJOB) command. These parameters can help you perform some new tricks you may not have thought of.

Non-Obvious Candidates

Everyone knows the standard SBMJOB parameters such as Job Name (JOB), Job Description (JOBD), and Job Queue (JOBQ). But if you search the Additional Parameters section of the Submit Job command (available by pressing F10 from

End-of-Year Odds and Ends

December 14, 2011 Ted Holt

Dear Colleagues:

It’s hard to believe that another year is coming to an end, but it’s happening yet again. Let’s wind up 2012 with some odds and ends. I hope you find something useful.

In response to Message Received, But Not Understood, Michael wrote:

I have used the CMPDTA parameter on the MONMSG command to provide this filter. See CPF2817.

Here is an illustration of Michael’s suggestion:

CPYF       FROMFILE(&FRLIB/&FRFILE) +
             TOFILE(&TOLIB/&TOFILE) FROMMBR(&FRMBR) +
             TOMBR(&TOMBR) MBROPT(*REPLACE) CRTFILE(*NO)
MONMSG     MSGID(CPF2817) CMPDTA(CPF2861) EXEC(DO)
   /* to-file doesn't exist */
   /* do something */
ENDDO
MONMSG     MSGID(CPF2817) CMPDTA(CPF2869) EXEC(DO)
   /* from-file is empty */

I Was Just Wondering. . .

December 14, 2011 Hey, Ted

Note: The code accompanying this article is available for download here.

I was wondering if you have come across any techniques using subprocedures to simulate associative arrays in RPG IV. I’ve just started experimenting with the idea. I’d like to create dynamic associative arrays using service programs and user indexes.

–Steve

As a matter of fact, I had thought about implementing associative arrays in RPG, Steve. I’ll share my thoughts on that topic. But first, let me talk about wondering.

I do a lot of wondering. You’ve seen the results of many of my wonderings in previous issues of

Previous Articles Next Articles

Search for: