OLAP Archives - IT Jungle

Data Is Streaming Into The Cloud, Including From IBM i

November 14, 2022 Alex Woodie

We are in the midst of a vast migration of data into public clouds, as companies seek to leverage technological innovation occurring in the cloud for competitive advantage. While there are no IBM i runtimes in the public cloud yet, IBM i shops are still getting value by moving their valuable Db2 for i data into the cloud, often using streaming technologies and tools like Apache Kafka and Apache Camel, as well as an updated ETL offering from IBM.

It is tough to understate the magnitude of the transition to the public cloud is having on the $4 trillion IT …
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TRs Deliver Database and SQL Updates for Every IBM i User

November 2, 2022 Alex Woodie

When it comes to SQL services and database updates, there’s something for just about every IBM i user in 7.5 TR1 and 7.4 TR7. With dozens of new and enhanced database functions and SQL services, these TRs in fact may be the biggest releases ever, according to Scott Forstie, the Db2 for i architect at IBM.

During a recent interview with IT Jungle about the new Watson geospatial capabilities that his team delivered in the database (which you can read about here), Forstie pondered the journey he and his team have been on, and how it’s culminated to this …
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Exploring Security Applications for IBM i OLAP

July 13, 2022 Alex Woodie

The IBM i platform is typically thought of as a transactional server, and it does that job very well. But it also has solid analytical capabilities, thanks in large part to new OLAP features added many years ago with IBM i 7.3. Now the platform’s database guru, Scott Forstie, is looking for ways to promote greater use of these OLAP capabilities, and security is emerging as a top application.

Sometimes it takes a while to figure out what a good thing you have. This appears to be the case with IBM i 7.3, which launched way back in 2016 and …
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The Dollars And Sense Of Business Continuity

September 21, 2020 Timothy Prickett Morgan

Those companies that have been in the IBM midrange market for a long time and are still alive and kicking have undergone a lot of change over the decades. But as is also the case, the core people at the company have been there for a long, long time and they understand how to leverage change to drive business and absorb change to help customers cope.

That is one of the secrets of longevity for Datanational, founded in September 1979, which is located in the Farmington Hills suburbs of Detroit and which has always had a strong presence in …
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Guru: Scalar Use of LISTAGG

August 24, 2020 Ted Holt

The SQL LISTAGG function is as handy as a pocket. Only recently I used it to build a string of comma-separated values (CSV) to populate a drop-down box. It sure beats a cursor and a loop. I’ve noticed in my reading that LISTAGG can be used for both aggregate and scalar purposes under Oracle. Db2 doesn’t support the scalar use, but I found another way to do the same thing.

To see what I’m talking about, check out example 7 in the article Oracle LISTAGG Function Usage, Tips & Examples, by Ben Brumm. I recommend studying the entire article; …
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IBM Rolls Out ACS 1.1.8.5

August 12, 2020 Alex Woodie

IBM last week introduced a new release of Access Client Solutions (ACS), the popular IBM i client that’s used by administrators, programmers, and engineers alike. There are enhancements to Run SQL Scripts, new 5250 viewing options, and a performance boost for viewing selected files on the IFS with version 1.1.8.5, among other mostly minor updates.

According to the release notes associated with the new iteration of ACS, IBM made a handful of changes with version 1.1.8.5.

Let’s start with the improvements to Run SQL Scripts, which is an increasingly popular utility in ACS that leverages the power of SQL and …
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The Power S812 Gets Yet Another Stay Of Execution

July 6, 2020 Timothy Prickett Morgan

The Power S812 entry server, which is based on the Power8 processor and which has no analog in the Power9-based Power Systems lineup, has received yet another reprieve from being removed from the Big Blue product catalog. It is a wonder why IBM doesn’t just say it will sell this Lazarus machine indefinitely and get it over with, to be honest.

The Power S812, particularly the “Mini” variant that IBM announced on Valentine’s Day in 2017, are the skinniest – in terms of processing and memory capacity – of the Power Systems line that supports the IBM i operating …
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Analytics Moves To The Cloud, And IBM i Data Goes With It

March 11, 2020 Alex Woodie

The cloud is changing the face of IT, much to the chagrin of IBM i traditionalists who are accustomed to having full control over their applications and data. Change is always hard, but the good news is that, with a little discipline, the cloud presents a number of new and exciting analytical options for your important IBM i data.

As a transaction processing powerhouse, the IBM i server is accustomed to hosting the most important data a business ever touches, including data about customers and their purchases. On-prem servers still run the lion’s share of online transactional processing (OLTP) workloads, …
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NGS Breaks Scalability Barrier With OLAP Client

February 10, 2020 Alex Woodie

New Generation Software is putting the finishing touches on an overhaul of its OLAP client, called QPort SmartView, that it says removes limitations on the amount of data IBM i shops can analyze. The Windows program gives users the ease of use and flexibility of Excel on the front-end, but utilizes the scalability and OLAP processing heft of IBM i on the backend to analyze substantially larger data volumes.

Typically, New Generation Software plays it down the middle when it comes to business intelligence and analytics on the IBM i platform. On the one hand, the company’s predominantly midsize clientele …
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There’s Always A New Last Laugh With Legacy

January 13, 2020 Timothy Prickett Morgan

On my bookshelf beside my desk is a shelf that has all of my relevant AS/400 books and copies of the first decade of The Four Hundred, back when it was a monthly newsletter printed on paper. Sometimes, when I get stuck for ideas, I page through my history and yours, and I am often amazed at the wealth of information that myself and my colleagues – as well as many, many sources – helps us to create. AS/400s were a lot more expensive than IBM i machines, and helping people save money was our primary mission, and there …
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