January 2007

• Industry Observer - Considering Copyrights; Banking on Business Intelligence; Understanding the System i SQL Query Engine; The Possibilities Are Endless
• The Essential Guide to Using XML for Data Interchange - XML is great for data interchange — but creating XML documents from System i data and processing XML documents in System i applications presents a challenge. In this Essential Guide, learn the tricks of the XML trade that will enable you to share information using XML.
• f.y.iSystem - iTera, Vision Solutions Merge; UNICOM Acquires SoftLanding; Study Shows Elevated Cancer Deaths for IBM Manufacturing Workers; Certifications, Smertifications
• Hot New Products -
• Blueprint for Mergers and Acquisitions - Mergers and acquisitions don't come with instruction manuals. Managers are often left to their own devices. Whether your company is acquiring a smaller firm or merging with a peer, your first step is to learn about the new technology group.
• Workplace Implementation: Tricks and Traps - Previously, we examined the reasons for implementing Workplace; in this article, find the keys to starting your own implementation, and learn abut the common snags to success and how you can overcome them.
• IBM Announcements -
• Turns of Fortune - Kick off the celebration of System iNEWS's 25th anniversary later this year with a trip down memory lane. This month we review predictions made in past anniversary issues.
• The Do's and Dont's for 2007 - Did you make some serious IT mistakes in 2006? Let's make sure that lessons learned from the past build a bright future. Here's a brief list of do's and don'ts for the upcoming year.
• Survival of the Fittest? - Find out what's hot or not in server technology. Sean's choices might surprise you.
• Identify Network Problems with a Communications Trace - Dig deeper into TCP/IP troubleshooting by using a communications trace to capture and record packets traveling through your network. What do you do with the data you collect? Learn how to format it, analyze it, and use it to solve network problems.
• Ajax Field Guide - Before diving into your first Ajax application, get the lay of the land. Learning about the vast ecosystem of Ajax libraries, frameworks, widgets, and coding patterns will save you weeks of effort.
• System i IT Help Desk Applications Product Roundup - The Help Desk is one of the most common and important IT functions to end users. These help-desk and password self-service automation features may help relieve burdened IT service personnel.
• Exploring System i's Excess Power - Is the System i scaling faster than its customers? Are changes in the size and power of the box related to IBM System i financial declines in recent quarters? Can IBM's own innovations decrease the company's bottom line?
• Rounding the Post Again - We round out the System i's 2006 with some useful service announcements and a brief review of the most interesting products announced last year for developers and system managers.
• Virtual Tape: The Real Deal - Virtual tape increases the success rate and reduces the time and overhead of your backups and restores, and provides many benefits that physical tapes alone can't produce. It's new to i5/OS and can make physical tapes obsolete (well, almost).
• Tech Tips - Initialize an Automatic Batch FTP Transfer; Getting on a System with the Console Varied Off and GINTER Shut Down; Document Host and TCP/IP Servers Configured to Autostart; Restrict Access to Change Security-related System Values; Change the Printer Port
• Business Continuity with External Storage - The new I/O Processor that lets you IPL your system directly from external storage has many dreaming of instant high availability. If only it were that simple. Learn how to evaluate data replication solutions and pick the best one for your shop.
• Disaster Recovery on a Shoestring - Full-fledged high availability solutions are the best way to ensure that all your data survives system downtime, but if you are on a tight budget or don't immediately need the full protection of HA, this approach offers an excellent alternative.
• To Err Is Human, to Error Trap Is Divine - A simple business problem example illustrates good programming techniques that provide a layer of logical, redundant error checking and error handling using System i modules.
• Let Your System i Call Home Over the Web - ESA in V5R3 let you perform IBM service tasks over the Internet. But ESA required outbound VPN permissions, a problem on well-secured networks. In V5R4, you can use HTTP/HTTPS proxy for e-support, which is easy to configure even on locked-down networks.
• Give Users Flexible Parameters - This utility provides you with a flexible alternative for some of your system-prompting requirements.
• Ajax in Action - Ajax lets web pages exchange information with a server without refreshing the entire page. Users can click a link or button to refresh just a portion of the page. Read on to discover how to implement Ajax on your website and improve usability.
• UDTFs: The Unsung DB2 Function - Learn how to use table functions to encapsulate complex SQL processing and, more important, how you can use UDTFs fom SQL interfaces to access nonrelational data sources such as S/36 files and stream files residing in the IFS.
• FAQs: System i Access Family -
• Dr. I Doctor - Dr. I Doctor discusses the kinds of cabling required for Gigabit Ethernet, and explains the ins and outs of i5/OS Network Address Translation.
• 5 Essential Ways to Use iSeries Navigator — Visual Explain - One of the most useful DB2 for i5/OS SQL feedback mechanisms is Visual Explain. And with the significant i5/OS V5R4 enhancements to iSeries Navigator, Visual Explain also received some valuable improvements.