Informing the IBM Community

Author: Andy Youens

  • Open Source Updates

    To continue my series of articles on Open Source on the IBM i. A couple of months ago I wrote a PowerWire article on how we should now be managing, and keeping up to date, our open source, which can be found here. For those of you, like myself, who have been working on this…

  • Midnight Commander

    IBM is doing such a great job on the Open Source front, it’s difficult keeping up with all their offerings as of late.  That’s not a complaint, keep going IBM! Another great example of software being added to that list is Midnight Commander – what a great name! Midnight Commander is a very helpful graphical…

  • Open Source Package Management

    To follow on from my PowerWire Open Source on IBM i theme, this time I would like to run through Open Source Package Management with you all. So, what is Package Management? Firstly, let us step back and run through how we typically manage our software on the IBM i. If we had a requirement…

  • Node is Weird!

    Firstly, thanks to all that attended my Node.js on IBM i workshop at the International i Power conference in June. Once again, a great event, meeting up with old friends and colleagues. Well done to the organisers. In this article I intended giving you a quick introduction to Node.js on our favourite server, the IBM…

  • A Netserver SMB Alternative?

    Has your organisation been hit with the file sharing SMBv1 being disabled? Can you no longer share files on our servers IFS, as Microsoft is now blocking this protocol? Server Message Block (SMB) is the method used on the IBM i to share files and printers and commonly known on the IBM i as NetServer.…

  • RDi 9.6 – Push to Client Feature

    To continue with my current stream of Rational Developer for i articles, in this issue, I will show how to use a feature that makes administration easier, I’m all for that! How many times over the years have we opened a PMR with IBM on RDi, or all the numerous names their development tool has…

  • RDi 9.6 – Worth a Look?

    Firstly, thank-you to all that attended my RDi session at the last UK iUG meeting. I hope you enjoyed it. At that presentation, I notified all that IBM were due to release Version 9.6 of RDi on the 16/11/2017, which replaces RDi version 9.5.1.2 It will require a new install and also there are new…

  • DB2 Field Procedures – Testing

    In my last article, I wrote how we can encrypt sensitive data in our DB2 database. To recap; IBM has given us the ability to take a field, or column, and let us apply security, or encryption, to that field/column.  It is up to your FieldProc program to perform the measures you have taken to…

  • DB2 Field Procedures

    A few years ago, DB2 for i introduced a new feature that can be used to apply security/encryption to our columns within our database. This enhancement is called Field Procedures, or FieldProcs throughout this article. DB2 FieldProcs have been around since 7.1 of IBM i in April 2010. Before FieldProcs, it was common to see…

  • DB2 Row and Column Access Control

    Introduction DB2 for i has a fantastic feature that is fairly new, Row and Column Access Control, or RCAC, for ease. This feature has been around since 7.2 of IBM i in April 2014, but doesn’t get a lot of exposure, so hence my interpretation of how it works. It is a method of controlling…

  • RPG 2017 Updates

    During the latest round of IBM i Technology Refreshes, TR2 for version 7.3 and TR6 for version 7.2 enhancement, IBM also introduced three enrichments for RPG. These changes will be released as individual PTFs, around the April 2017 timespan, as with the Technology Refreshes. Let us take a look at these. These are: Nested data-structures…

  • Application Runtime Expert – Worth a Look?

    IBM recently announced that their product, Application Runtime Expert (ARE) for IBM I, is now free of charge, along with a host of other products.  The IBM announcement can be found here if you are interested. ARE is a licensed program, 5733ARE, which will work on any IBM i Version 6 or above.  It was…