• Guru: Regular Expressions, Part 1

  July 25, 2022 Mike Larsen

  In the first part of this series, I will show how to replace characters in a string using SQL and regular expressions. I know I can replace characters using RPG or SQL, and they work great, but there are some cases where I find using regular expressions is a bit easier.

  For the examples I’ll show, I’m using the REGEXP_REPLACE function. REGEXP_REPLACE allows me to search for a particular value within a string and replace it with another value.

  In the first example (Figure 1), I want to search a string that has both letters and digits and I want …

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• Support For Java 7 Ending WAS 8.5 On IBM i

  July 18, 2022 Alex Woodie

  IBM i shops that are running the traditional version of WebSphere Application Server 8.5 atop a Java 7 codebase will need to upgrade to Java 8 or risk running out of support from IBM.

  At the end of July, IBM will cease to support WAS Traditional 8.5 running on JDK 7.0/7.1. Customers will need to upgrade their WAS 8.5 environments to JDK 8.0 to maintain support with IBM. IBM currently provides full support for WAS 8.5 and WAS 9.0 running on JDK 8.0. You can read more about this on the Official Support Statement for the IBM WebSphere Application Server …

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• Let’s Celebrate The Diamond Jubilee Of COMMON Europe

  June 13, 2022 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Europe is a collection of countries that, over centuries of commerce, cultural exchange, and war have learned to come together and create a community of common interest. And so it is not a surprise at all that COMMON Europe, which is celebrating its 60^th year – it’s Diamond Jubilee – and that is something that very few organizations in the world ever attain.

  And so, as the COMMON Europe Congress gets underway today in Alicante, Spain, we wanted to offer our congratulations and celebrate that longevity and continuity. (If you have a hankering to travel this week, you can …

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• What’s New in IBM i Services and Networking

  May 18, 2022 Alex Woodie

  As expected, IBM delivered a slew of new IBM i services with the delivery of IBM i 7.5 last week, giving IBM i professionals handle new methods for working with various components of the platform. The new releases of the operating system also brings a number of enhancements in the networking stack, which are notable for several reasons.

  The past several new releases and Technology Refreshes (TRs) have brought new IBM i services, which are SQL-based alternatives to traditional ways of accessing things on the platform like IBM i objects, system information, and other components. At this point, IBM has …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 24, Number 17

  April 27, 2022 Doug Bidwell

  It was a pretty quiet week in PTF Land, which stands to reason given the various holidays and the Spring Break that a lot of people had last week. It probably won’t last long, so take the downtime while you have it. There is stuff you need to deal with, of course.

  One reminder: A new build for Access Client Services (ACS) 1.1.9.0 is available for download (2170).

  Here is the rundown of PTF Groups by IBM i release level since we last published:

  PTF Groups 7.4:

  • HIPERs
  • Security
  • Backup Recovery Solutions
  • TCP/IP
  • QMGTOOLS

  PTF Groups 7.3:

  • HIPERs
  • Security
  • Backup

  …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 24, Number 16

  April 20, 2022 Doug Bidwell

  It is a new week, and there are two new security vulnerabilities in the IBM i platform. First, there is Security Bulletin: IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty for IBM i is vulnerable to spoofing and clickjacking attacks due to swagger-ui (CVE-2018-25031, CVE-2021-46708), which you can read more about here. The IBM i PTF numbers containing the fix for the CVEs:

  IBM i Release      5770-SS1 PTF Number      PTF Download Link

  7.4                          SI78971                                https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ptf/SI78971

  7.3                          SI78972                                https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ptf/SI78972

  7.2                          SI78973                                https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ptf/SI78973

  Then there is Security Bulletin: OpenSSL for IBM i is vulnerable to a denial of service due to a flaw in …

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• IBM Ships ACS Version 1.1.9.0

  April 13, 2022 Alex Woodie

  IBM this week delivered an update to Access Client Solutions (ACS), the popular Java-based utility that many IBM i professionals use to interact with the platform. IBM is delivering several enhancements with ACS version 1.1.9.0, some of which came through the request for enhancement (RFE) process. It also defaults to opening IBM’s new Navigator for i, rather than the old one, which is susceptible to the Log4j security vulnerability.

  ACS is the universal Java-based utility that IBM unveiled 10 years ago this August to replace older Client Access products, including the ones for Windows, Linux, and Mac. The software, which …

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• Guru: Debugging SQL Stored Procedures With ACS

  April 11, 2022 Mike Larsen

  I use Access Client Solutions (ACS) daily to help with different tasks. I’m usually running SQL scripts or working with the IFS, but recently I was asked if there was a way to debug SQL stored procedures using ACS. More specifically, they were looking for a way that a “non-IBM i” person can debug SQL stored procedures on IBM i.

  After browsing the various menus in Run SQL Scripts in ACS, I found a system debugger. I had seen the system debugger before, but never took the time to explore it further. With this new request in mind, I decided …

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• Guru: Backup to an NAS using RSYNC

  February 14, 2022 Dan Devoe

  Like many small shops, we use a simple tape drive to backup most of our libraries and the contents of the IFS. Each workday, the tape would be changed and the previous tape taken home by someone in IT in case of a disaster.

  But then, COVID hit – there was no one in the office to switch tapes and the same tape was being used to perform nightly backups. What if we discovered a problem with the data from two nights ago? Ordinarily, we would restore one or more libraries or files from the appropriate tape.

  I set up …

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• Log4j Hits Heritage Version of Navigator for i – No Patch Coming

  January 12, 2022 Alex Woodie

  IBM i shops running the old version of the Navigator for i client should be aware that the software is vulnerable to the Log4j security vulnerability, and there will be no patch to fix it, IBM says in a new security bulletin. There will, however, be fixes coming to other vulnerable components, including IWS, IAS, and IBM i Access Client Solutions (ACS), IBM says.

  Just before we hit the holiday break, the extremely severe Apache Log4j security vulnerability was disclosed to the world, resulting in a frantic effort to patch servers, desktops, refrigerators – just about anything with a …

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