February 2008

• Tech Tips - Using Compare and Swap to Increment a Counter * Enabling the Administrator Account Under Vista * Using *START to SetLL * CGI Programs Can Return PDFs
• Running in Place? - Today's technology world demands more than just RPG to create world-class applications. Programmers who have an "RPG and RPG alone" mind-set need to recognize this and branch out.
• Managing Jobs in IBM Director - With IBM Director, you can monitor, manage, and automate i5/OS jobs, servers, and subsystems. What’s more, in addition to these capabilities, you can also manage Windows, Linux, and AIX processes — all from one place.
• Hot New Products -
• PHP Installation, Configuration, and Setup - PHP support in i5/OS means you can run the leading web-scripting language in a native i5/OS environment. Here are the steps to get the tools you need running in your shop.
• 32-Bit JVM for the i - The advent of 32-bit JVM on the System i means reduced overhead and increased performance for regular Java applications. Best of all, it means we no longer need extra resources to run WebSphere.
• System i Vendors Skeptical About IBM/Cognos Deal - IBM’s $5 billion bid to purchase Cognos may have some impact on IBM’s long-range strategy for business intelligence (BI), but many of the System i BI software vendors aren’t too concerned about it over the short haul.
• System i Performance-Monitoring Tools Product Roundup - The largest System i models can do little good if they aren’t kept in tune. These 22 products help system managers and operators get the more efficient processing and help troubleshoot problems and performance bottlenecks.
• Industry Observer (February 2008) - What’s Up with Web 2.0? * Beyond JavaScript Basics * Demand for Some IT Jobs Down, Others Up * Business Intelligence Revisited * Fame Is Fleeting
• Dr. I Doctor (February 2008) - Dr. I Doctor discusses network performance with System i Linux, and how to mitigate broadcast storms resulting from server load balancing.
• Open-Source Web Dev Stack in i5/OS - Deploying web-based applications on i5/OS used to mean using a LAMP stack, which required a Linux partition. Thanks to PHP and MySQL, you now have access to the huge selection of open-community applications directly in i5/OS.
• The Convenience of Modern Appliances - "All things to all people" might be a good approach for some things, but for appliances in the IT industry, that tactic assuredly has pros and cons.
• The Best- and Worst-Kept Secret: The i5/OS Blade - Is there a blade in the offing for the System i? What would it be like if i5/OS ran on a Power6-based blade that would plug into IBM’s popular BladeCenter chassis? Why is IBM so quiet about the possibility?
• IBM Announcements -
• f.y.iSystem - Reaching and Teaching Students About the System i; Does SOA Pay?; New Xcase Modernizes System i Databases to SQL; IBM Number One in Server Sales Despite Revenue Decline
• 17 Project Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them - A Fortune 500 ERP consultant shares his hard-won expertise in how to keep projects on track.
• PHP for Net.Data Programmers - Despite Net.Data’s continued value for web programming, PHP is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with. This article compares the two languages and offers suggestions on how you can combine them in your web endeavors.
• Introduction to Java Server Faces - Java Server Faces offers you a standard MVC solution, blessed by IBM's "System i Roadmap" and well supported by WDSc. Just drag and drop components from a palette onto a design page and set attributes with a properties dialog box.
• Putting Ant to Work - Small, modular chunks of code mean more flexibility in your application development, but you need a tool that helps you orchestrate those chunks — say hello to Ant.
• Structures, Data Types, and Error Notification - Continue your API journey by learning how to handle structures, user data types, error notification, and constants. This installment of the series will guide you down the right path.
• System Values Tuning - Correctly setting key system values ensures that your System i spends more time managing work and less time managing itself. Part two of the Out of the Box Tuning series shows you how to identify and correctly set these key system values.
• X Marks the Spot for Application Analysis - Reconstructing what applications do, what they touch, and how they impact other business operations can be difficult and time-consuming. Databorough’s X-Analysis solution automates the process and lets even nontechnical users analyze application functions.
• The Essential Guide to PHP Basics on the System i - PHP is celebrating two years on the System i. Dive into this scripting language, which offers a powerful way to perform database-to-web functions at little or no cost. Learn the ins and outs in this Essential Guide.
• The Personal i Platform - Determining the workstation requirements of a System i programmer is as much art as it is science and depends not only on the programmer's job description but also on that programmer's personality. Put on your psychoanalyst cap and check out these guidelines.
• Thoughts on Computer Performance - Decisions about computer performance can be confounded when differing definitions of performance are held. A System i performance expert sheds some light on what the term "computer performance" may mean to different people.