From the AS/400’s launch in 1988 through to V5R3 in 2004, IBM made no enhancements to CL programming. We thought we were burdened with the same CL forever. We were stuck with restrictions like only being able to open one file in a program or the inability to use printer or ICF files. We couldn’t […]
VIOS: How to create multiple virtual disks in a Shared Storage Pool
I recently installed a Power8 system with VIOS 2.2.3.4 and used this opportunity to configure a Shared Storage Pool (SSP) cluster. I needed to allocate around 34TB of storage space across 2 x IBM i LPARs which necessitated me creating 245 x 140GB virtual disks. While the simple option is to use the HMC GUI […]
How to take advantage of the new, smaller IBM i 7.2
With the release of IBM i version 7.2 Technology Refresh 1, Big Blue has reduced the size requirement for the load-source disk for virtualised storage implementations. “So what?” I hear you cry. “All my disks are physical, they are bigger than 70GB and have been for years. What’s the big deal?” Well, for production workloads, […]
Masterclass: advanced vSCSI disk monitoring (includes scripts)
In my previous article, I showed how you can use nmon in VIOS to display the performance statistics of hdisks that are mapped to client LPARs. This is achieved by creating a file which nmon reads and then displays the relevant performance data. The script I used required that the virtual target devices (VTDs) mapped […]
Can free-form RPG catch on?
Ah, my first article for PowerWire! I hope that the editor chose me for my RPG knowledge, not my photo on LinkedIn (go on, take a look). My experience of RPG goes back to RPG II on the System/36 in the early 1980s. I’m sure a fair portion of you can say you go back […]
7.2 things I love about IBM i 7.2 (part 2)
It’s hard to believe it but 2014, the year that brought us v7.2 and Power8, is almost over. Indeed, it may well be gone by the time you read this. So, without further ado, here is part two of my list of things that I love about version 7.2 of our favourite operating system. Number […]
Masterclass: how to monitor VIOS vSCSI disk performance
In my previous article I showed how you can use nmon in VIOS to display the performance statistics of hdisks that are mapped to client LPARs. This is achieved by creating a file which nmon reads and then displays the relevant performance data. Let’s look at a script I created to automatically generate the file […]
7.2 things I love about IBM i 7.2 (part 1)
I recently gave a presentation at an i-UG event in England on some of the new features in IBM i v7.2. In an attempt to make it a little more fun (and in tribute to Friday nights as a young lad), I delivered this in the style of a Top of the Pops-type countdown. If […]
Is the new HMC interface enhanced or not?
IBM has rather quietly brought out a new interface to its Hardware Management Console (HMC). This became an option in V8R8.1 Service Pack1 of the HMC. IBM has called it the enhanced interface and you will have an option to select it at log in. Don’t worry, you’ll know it when you see it. Before […]
How to monitor client LPAR vSCSI disks in VIOS
Many customers use vSCSI disk-mapping in VIOS to present external storage volumes to their client LPARs. There are proponents of vSCSI, NPIV and Shared Storage Pools. These all work very well. I find that AIX-minded technicians will lean towards NPIV because that’s what they have used traditionally. IBM i technicians will tend to use vSCSI […]