July 1996

• In This Issue -
• Letters -
• Plug In to the Net - The Internet is global and relatively inexpensive and provides standard connections for all. NEWS/400 Publisher Wayne Madden says we will use the Internet because, like electricity, it's there. All we have to do is plug in.
• There's a Hollow Client in Your Future - Hollow clients are designed to simplify the lives of IT managers who have to keep everything running. Bob Tipton predicts that the cost of complex IT infrastructures will prompt your shop to consider hollow clients in the near future.
• Newswatch -
• International Update -
• Update -
• AS/400 Meets the World Wide Web -
• Explore IBM's New AS/400 Web Server - Jim Finkenaur, one of HTTP Server's creators, introduces the new IBM Web server, explaining that it serves HTML documents, binary objects such as audio and video clips and graphical images, and client/server applications. HTTP Server produces two client/server applications written to the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) standard: an imagemap program and DB2 Web Connection, which lets you create simple database queries.
• Web Server/400 1.1 - Michael Otey reviews I/Net's Web Server/400, which lets an AS/400 provide HTML documents to clients via World Wide Web browsers. Special features include the ability to provide Web pages that can access IFS files or pass data to AS/400 HLL programs.
• Firm Puts AS/400 to Work as Web Server - Lois Kaplan, a member of Menlo Logistics' IS staff, explains how her company's IBM-developed AS/400 Web server will provide information to business customers.
• Access Your DB2/400 Data Through the Internet - With the release of Internet Connection/400, you have several ways to let Web clients access your DB2/400 data. Brian Smith explains how to use Common Gateway Interface, which lets you combine the power of high-level programming and the simplicity of the HTML interface.
• 19 Quick Tips to Toughen AS/400 Security - Newly available AS/400 functions make securing your AS/400 easier and more foolproof. Jelan Heidelberg's 19 tips, ranging from simpler, more effective management of user profiles to more secure communications, may be able to save you hours of time managing your AS/400 security.
• RPG IV Gets the Point - Learn how to use RPG IV's pointer capability to directly access the data APIs place in user spaces. Author John Watson provides a utility (UtLstFldR) that returns a pointer to a list of fields contained in a record format. Watson also offers a sample program that shows how to plug in and use UtLstFldR and that provides a more complete field list than the DSPFFD (Display File Field Description) command.
• DDS Basics: Display and Printer Files - Application programming languages can use DDS's external data definition language to describe many types of files. Here, Ernie Malaga shows you how to define DDS's display and printer files.
• Access Gate/400, WinTronix Server, and Z-Share/400 - John Enck reviews three low-end LAN-AS/400 gateway products: Connectronix Corporation's WinTronix Server, Development Concepts, Inc.'s Access Gate/400, and Z-Nax Communications, Ltd.'s Z-Share/400.
• Step-by-Step Setup for TCP/IP - Mark L. Bauman and Robert Dick provide a step-by-step guide to configuring your networked AS/400 for TCP/IP. The authors first explain the information you need to collect and then show the AS/400 screens at which you enter the necessary values.
• ShowCase Data Access 1.0 - Michael Otey reviews ShowCase's Data Access, which addresses both sides of the end-user data access issue, providing powerful end-user data access tools as well as administrative tools that let IS control end-user access.
• Calling Client Access APIs Through REXX - Clark Scholten and Tong Tang provide a REXX data queue library, which contains functions that call the Client Access data queue API functions. The authors also show how to call the REXX functions from a REXX command file.
• 6 Commands to Simplify Library Lists - Library lists are ubiquitous on the AS/400 but are not easily managed. In this article, Peter Clifford and Ernie Malaga present two load 'n' go utilities change that. One utility saves and restores library lists so you can easily make slight, temporary modifications to a library list and then restore the original list with a single command. The other utility creates a new AS/400 "object," the library list description, which lets you switch among several different library lists simply by executing a command.
• Tech Corner -
• Newsmart -
• The Hardware Report - Ted Hooten looks at the market for previously owned AS/400 processors and peripherals, gives some tips on buying and selling equipment, and highlights some good used hardware buys.
• Buyers Guide to Half-inch Tape Subsystems - This Buyers Guide reports tape subsystem features for a group of representative manufacturers.
• New Products & Services -
• Street Talk -
• ActiveX Activates AS/400 Apps -
• RISC FAQs -