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| Moving into the New World of RPG Programming |
by Joe Pluta
It's
hard to believe but it's been over a decade since IBM introduced ILE
RPG, and yet companies are still using RPG III coding techniques -- or
worse! V6R1 is just around the corner; are your RPG skills still in the
last millenium? What will you do if IBM decides to unbundle support for
older compilers? Are you willing to pay extra just to be able to still
write old code? Or are you ready to move forward into the next
generation of RPG programming? Read More |
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| Maximize Your ROI with the System i |
| An
article in IBM System magazine makes the case for using the System i to
improve your bottom line. It says, "Going back to its System/38 roots,
the System i platform has always offered many money-saving
technologies. For example, virtualization has been around since the
inception of i5/OS, and subsystems "have been enabling managing
multiple jobs and processes, within a single image of the operating
system, balancing processor priority and memory," says Ian Jarman,
manager of System i and i5/OS product offerings. "They've always been
used to separate batch and interactive transaction processing, as well
as different classes of business processes and workloads."
Additionally, LPARs have been part of the System i architecture for
nearly a decade, enabling multiple operating-system images to run on a
single server. Other systems are increasingly adopting virtualization,
but the System i virtualization technologies are much more mature,
having been hardened over many years. As Jarman explains, "Not all
virtualization is equal. In the case of the System i platform, the goal
isn't necessarily to co-locate servers, but to actually fully integrate
applications using virtualization technologies, which is what we do
with subsystems." An IDC study showed that "the System i platform does
this so efficiently that it averages 5.86 workloads per server,
compared with 1.21 workloads per x86 server." Plus, Jarman points out
it's easier to manage one System i, than having to manage 30 different
servers. Fewer servers require fewer people to operate and less power
to run, which saves money as well. Read More |
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| Formtastic 5.4.1 Available |
| Quadrant
Software released version 5.4.1 of Formtastic, its electronic forms,
barcode labels, and MICR check printing solution. According to the
press release, "Formtastic is equipped with advanced design tools and
features which allow users to easily design polished documents, laser
MICR checks, and barcode or thermal labels and populate them with data
from their System i business application, without ever having to leave
their desktop. Among the many innovative upgrades of Formtastic, this
latest version, 5.4.1, brings a new audit reporting feature and a
variety of enhancements to the user interface." Formtastic integrates
with major application vendors such as Oracle (JD Edwards), Infor,
Lawson, and others. Application programming or source code changes are
not required because Formtastic extracts and remaps data already
available in spooled files. Read More |
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| Profound Logic Releasing Web 2.0 Tool |
| This
month, Profound Logic Software is releasing a new Web 2.0 database tool
for the System i called iData. According to the press release, "this
new tool provides a fast and intuitive way for users to access and edit
their DB2 data directly from any of the major browsers such as Internet
Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. iData makes use of AJAX and
patent-pending Web 2.0 techniques to give users the ability to add,
delete, edit, search, sort, mass update, graph, export, and much more.
Although iData runs in a browser, the interface resembles
feature-filled desktop applications. There are many easy-to-use
features that allow this browser-based tool to work similar to
client-based applications including toolbars, movable tabs, resizable
grids, pull-down menus, drag-and-drop capabilities, pop-up dialogs, and
animated charts. Users are able to scroll through and work with massive
amounts of System i DB2 data with the same ease as working on Microsoft
Excel, but without any of the record limitations." Read More |
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| Linoma Releases New RPG Toolbox |
| Linoma
Software has released version 4 of RPG Toolbox, which offers
modernization of RPG applications and clean up of unused RPG source
code. According to the press release, "RPG Toolbox is a comprehensive
product which System i (iSeries) shops can use to quickly modernize
their RPG applications with minimal effort. This proven product has
been used by thousands of customers all over the world to successfully
convert millions of lines of RPG source code. The RPG Toolbox will
modernize both RPG III and RPG IV source code to the latest RPG IV
syntax in either fixed format or /Free form style. In this new release,
RPG Toolbox will convert most RPG operations to /FREE form syntax. For
customers on i5/OS version V5R4 and higher, an important new feature
will convert embedded SQL into its /FREE form equivalent. RPG Toolbox
performs a much more thorough conversion to /Free form than the
standard IBM conversion found in WDSc. It includes over 40 options for
customizing the conversion process, allowing customers to choose how
operations are converted and how the syntax will be styled. RPG Toolbox
converts complex RPG syntax to /Free form, such as left-hand
indicators, right-hand indicators, calc-defined work fields, MOVEAs,
CALLs, Key Lists, and MOVEs with dissimilar field lengths and types.
Source can be converted to upper case, lower case or mixed case." Read More |
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| Unique Cache Battery Monitoring Capability Saves Disruption and Downtime |
| CCSS,
announces the launch of a new cache battery monitoring capability for
QSystem Monitor, their IBM ServerProven performance monitoring and
reporting solution. Unique to the market, the cache battery monitor
means Systems Managers can save considerable time in checking the
existing life for every cache battery in the system and any associated
downtime linked to replacing them. Read More |
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| System i Security Pros Launch Group8 Security |
| Founded
by Michael Grant, a new security consulting company called Group8
consists of industry professionals including Patrick Botz, the former
Lead Security Architect for the System i and i5/OS. According to the
press release, "Group8 Security, Inc. will provide consultancy that
demystifies security to what has until now been seen as a complex,
technical issue. Focusing first on the business processes behind
security rather than the software and technology, Group8 Security will
partner with businesses to help them establish and manage business
processes that lead to sound IT security business decisions. The end
result is a security infrastructure that meets an organization's
specific requirements in the most efficient and cost-effective way
instead relying on simple one-size-fits-all software solutions that can
only be partially effective." Group8 intends to focus on "security
processes and policies as a foundation" and then guide organizations
"through the implementation, monitoring, and verification of those
security policies." Read More |
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| Enterprise System Logging Comes to the System i |
| Patrick
Townsend & Associates and BalaBit IT Security have formed a
strategic alliance to bring an Enterprise system logging application
called syslog-ng Premium Edition to the System i. According to the
press release, "System i customers will now be able to deploy syslog-ng
Premium Edition on all of their server platforms in a common Enterprise
strategy to collect and manage system logs. Syslog-ng provides
Enterprise customers with the means of meeting the PCI Data Security
Standard log collection and management requirements, as well as the
requirements of other data security regulations. Customers now have the
ability to bring their IBM System i platform into a common system
logging strategy for compliance." The Syslog-ng solution "can be
combined with the existing Townsend Alliance LogAgent solution for the
System i to integrate the proprietary IBM System i security journal
with Syslog-ng. When deployed together the IBM System i customer can
collect IBM security audit journal messages, system operator console
messages, IBM Apache web server logs, and security logs from OpenSSH,
MySQL, PHP, Perl, and other open systems applications running on the
System i. When combined the solutions provide an unmatched ability to
collect and manage system logs on the IBM System i platform." Read More |
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