June 1999

• Buyers Guide: AS/400 Disk Subsystems - Buyers Guide
• RPG IV Style: Expect the Unexpected! - This article focuses on evaluating arithmetic expressions. I describe the errors you must learn to expect and explain how to keep them firmly under control.
• In This Issue -
• Letters -
• The Dark Side of the Internet - Robert Tipton, pointing out that the Internet has become a recurring theme in youth violence, says it's time to take control.
• Stop Fooling Yourself - Your Old Code Is Worthless! - Your "legacy" systems may run just fine, but Roger Pence speculates that their algorithms and subroutines may not be much help when it comes time to rewrite these old programs.
• 100% Canned ERP: The Right Way to Be? - Scott Steinacher opines that ERP solutions are useful for automating general business practices, but their ability to adapt to specific situations is often overstated.
• Hot New Products -
• Take the Explor V4R4 Challenge and Earn a V4R4 Explorer T-Shirt -
• Domino and AS/400 Working in Concert - Sharon Hoffman shows you how integrating Domino functions with AS/400 functions gives you many options for creating a new class of applications.
• What Is WebSphere? - IBMer Jelan Heidelberg explains that WebSphere lets AS/400 shops create dynamic, interactive Web pages and integrate them with AS/400 applications. WebSphere has two main components: WebSphere Application Server, which runs on the AS/400, and WebSphere Studio, a set of PC-based Web application development tools.
• COLD Technology Heats Up - Scott Steinacher explains that "COLD storage" has become a limiting misnomer because COLD technology now encompasses report-mining features and Web enablement.
• ERP Adapts to e-Commerce - Nahid Jilovec says e-commerce presents formidable challenges for today's enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, most of which were never designed to perform Web-related tasks.
• AS/400 TCP/IP: What's New in '99? - Mel Beckman describes the wealth of security enhancements that V4R4 brings to AS/400 TCP/IP, including SSL for Telnet and other protocols and a standards-based Virtual Private Networking (VPN) implementation interoperable with many third-party operating systems. IBM also boosted TCP/IP performance considerably but left out a few key features.
• IP Addressing: The Future Is NAT - Mel Beckman explains how V4R3's Network Address Translation (NAT) lets you conserve public IP addresses and eliminate future changes.
• Commerce Server/400 1.0 - Jim Hoopes reviews Commerce Server/400 - I/Net's secure, easy-to-administer Web server - and shows you how it stacks up to IBM's HTTP Server.
• FTP to Your AS/400 with Anonymity - Brian Singleton explains how to use the AS/400's anonymous FTP to distribute files to public users or over your company's network.
• Check This Out: RPG Does Domino! - Robert Anderson introduces IBM's RNHLIB library, a set of V4R2 RPG prototypes, templates, and sample programs designed to help you create RPG programs that access the Domino database.
• SCKTPROC Eases RPG Socket Programming - Amit Mukherjee describes his ILE RPG service program SCKTPROC, which contains procedures for calling the eight main sockets functions plus a few more.
• Enterprise JavaBeans Technology Comes to the AS/400 - Clark Scholten and LindaMay Patterson show how EJBs provide a simplified way to write multiuser Java applications and enhance productivity by component-based development.
• Configuring Domino for AS/400 - Lori Mueller, a veteran Domino for AS/400 installer, walks you through the configuration process and outlines strategies for success.
• Getting Started with Thin-Client/Network Computing - Kris Neely discusses the benefits of replacing PCs with thin clients (TCs) or network computers (NCs) and gives some general guidelines for setting up an AS/400-based TC/NC environment. For an expanded version of this article that includes more vendor listings in the sidebar, "Thin-Client and Network Computer Vendors and Information Resources," see the June 1999 article archives at http://www.news400.com.
• A Start-and-Stop Command Interface for AS/400 NetServer - Todd Mason presents commands STRNETSVR and ENDNETSVR, which let you start and stop AS/400 NetServer without the need to use Operations Navigator, giving you the ability to schedule NetServer availability.
• Tech Corner -
• Can I reduce the time that my system spends in a restricted state when I run the SAVSYS (Save System -
• PTF Watch - PTF Watch lists selected High Impact Pervasive (HIPER) PTFs that aren't — or aren't yet — part of a cumulative PTF package.
• Street Talk -
• Have there been any recent performance improvements for saving small objects on an AS/400 backup dev -
• Can I put extra labels on my 3570 tape media? -
• What security distinctions exist between a client using a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection and -
• Suppressing Job Log Messages -
• SQL Printer Output Problem -
• Obtaining Query Definitions with CA Macros -
• Accessing User Properties with Opnav -
• Convert Time-of-Day Fields -
• Excel-to-AS/400 Transfer -
• CEEDAYS API -
• Stop Clearing the Clipboard -
• Printing a Logo -
• Client Access FAQs -
• Backup & Recovery FAQs -
• In Focus: SanFrancisco Still Struggling for Respect -
• In Focus: OfficeVision-to-Domino Migration Path Gets Smoother -