• Microsoft Wants to Migrate Your IBM i Code to Azure

  November 13, 2019 Alex Woodie

  Microsoft is executing a plan with its partner Skytap to bring IBM i into its Azure cloud, as we’ve previously told you about. But another group within the technology giant has plans of its own to migrate IBM i applications to languages that can run natively on X86 servers and integrate more easily with Azure services.

  We caught wind of this group’s code migration plan a month ago when one of the technical specialists in the Microsoft Azure Global Customer Advisory Team (CAT) wrote a blog entry about the work they do. IT Jungle followed up with the IBM i …

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• Remain Hooks Change Management System Into GitLab

  November 13, 2019 Alex Woodie

  IBM i shops that manage their code using Remain Software’s change management software just gained a slew of new ways to hook their system into GitLab, an independent Git-based provider of DevOps solutions. The new software, TD/OMS V12 Milestone 1, also brings better integration with unit testing and cross referencing, while a new release of Remain’s Gravity bolsters management of cross-platform development projects.

  With a steady cadence of quarterly updates and one big release per year, Remain Software is endearing itself to IBM i developers who like predictability and perseverance. IBM i technology may not be moving incredibly fast at …

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• Db2 Web Query Lives On (Just Not V2.1)

  November 13, 2019 Alex Woodie

  There have been some rumors that IBM is going to sunset Db2 Web Query for i, or replace it with Cognos. Neither of those rumors is true, according to IBM, which recently made some changes to Db2 Web Query support.

  Db2 Web Query for i, of course, is the OEM version of Information Builders flagship BI and analytics tool, WebFOCUS, that IBM brought to market in the 2007 timeframe. The Java-based tool enables users to write queries for the Db2 for i database (and other databases) and view the results in a variety of pre-canned and custom dashboards and reports. …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, November 13

  November 13, 2019 Jenny Thomas

  It may not be a question as old as time, but the debate will rage on for what seems like that long. Mac vs. PC, which is better? Essentially, a Mac is a PC because a PC is a personal computer, which is what a Mac is. But most people associate a PC as a computer that runs the Windows operating system, not the operating system made by Apple. Regardless, in our first story below, IBM’s CIO says Big Blue has found that its employees are happier using Mac devices in the workplace. It’s an interesting development and maybe the …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 21, Number 45

  November 13, 2019 Doug Bidwell

  Alright everybody, listen up. Right off the bat, there are temporary storage PTFs – and two for IBM i 7.4. These have been added to the IBM i PTF Guide underneath each of the releases, so check it out.

  Also there is a new Security Bulletin that relates to multiple vulnerabilities in Python that affect IBM i 7.4, 7.3, and 7.2. See this link for details and remediation. Moreover, there is a new HIPER group for IBM i 7.4, 7.3, and 7.2, and there are also new Security groups for all of these supported releases, too.

  New (or Updated) Links …

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• Entry Server Bang For The Buck, IBM i Versus Red Hat Linux

  November 11, 2019 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  In last week’s issue, we did a competitive analysis of the entry, single-socket Power S914 machines running IBM i against Dell PowerEdge servers using various Intel Xeon processors as well as an AMD Epyc chip running a Windows Server and SQL Server stack from Microsoft. This week, and particularly in the wake of IBM’s recent acquisition of Red Hat, we are looking at how entry IBM i platforms rate in terms of cost and performance against X86 machines running a Linux stack and an appropriate open source relational database that has enterprise support.

  Just as a recap from last week’s …

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• On Your IBM i Radar Now: CCPA

  November 11, 2019 Alex Woodie

  Companies in the United States were understandably hesitant to comply with a European law dictating how they collect and use data about customers, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). But American companies won’t so easily overlook the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA), a GDPR-like law that goes into effect in 2020.

  According to HelpSystems‘ 2019 IBM i Marketplace study released earlier this year, 28 percent of IBM i shops adhere to GPDR. That was up significantly from 2018 (the year when GDPR went into effect), when just 12 percent of IBM i shops followed the law. GDPR was the …

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• Guru: Better Check Constraints

  November 11, 2019 Ted Holt

  This article has three purposes. If you use check constraints in your database, the purpose is to help you make better use of check constraints. If you don’t use check constraints, the purpose is to encourage you to use them and to point you in the right direction. If you already know all this stuff, the purpose is to goad you to email me and teach me something I don’t know.

  The purpose of check constraints is to keep invalid data out of the database. That may seem unnecessary. Isn’t that what the applications are supposed to do? Yes, but …

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• As I See It: Speech On Steroids

  November 11, 2019 Victor Rozek

  When Guttenberg first started cranking out Bibles, the religious authorities who dominated life and discourse in the 15th century were cautiously optimistic. Not only could it save monks years of lugubrious work copying and illustrating the volume, but they assumed this new technology would be used solely to propagate a Medieval version of approved speech.

  But of course that didn’t last long.

  Since its Feudal inception, communication technology and free speech have always had a turbulent and tenuous relationship. The easier it became to disseminate information, the more efficient the spread of heretical, seditious, and unpopular ideas. And the more …

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• Private Cloud Spending Steady, Public Cloud Declines

  November 11, 2019 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  It is interesting to watch the progress of the transition from traditional bare metal machines running discrete workloads on separate systems to cloudy infrastructure that is virtualized and is therefore more malleable and also allows for the utilization to be driven up on systems.

  Perhaps the most interesting thing is that the traditional, monolithic architecture is going away over the long term, but in the short term, cloudy infrastructure – at least determined by the amount of money that regular enterprises as well as the hyperscalers, cloud builders, and other service providers spend – rises and falls and is still …

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