September 2008

• Why I Like .NET - You can use Microsoft .NET technology to create fresh apps for your System I that integrate and re-use your existing databases and code. What’s not to like?
• Why I Like Java EE - JavaServer Faces and Enterprise Generation Language form a mighty combo in smoothing Java EE development. It’s all about simplicity.
• Industry Observer (September 2008) - Who’s That? * Remote Office Options * Unintended Consequences * The Greening of the Data Center
• A Storm in Your Hand - Is the combination of small, light, and trendy sufficient to create a perfect storm for the success of pint-sized PCs and media players?
• f.y.iSystem (September 2008) -
• IBM Announcements (September 2008) -
• A Virtual Day is Dawning - System i has run virtual workloads for nearly a decade. Still, the more recent virtualization capabilities of x86 processors seem to have grabbed all the attention. Incidentally, IBM changed the name of its virtualization technology—PowerVM—to raise awareness of its virtualization prowess.
• Hot New Products (September 2008) -
• Real-World Business Intelligence - The advances in BI tools and techniques present many opportunities for enterprises to leverage their IT capabilities. With this basic guide, you're prepared to make your efforts in support of BI a real success.
• Best Practices for Great Business Intelligence Performance with IBM DB2 for i - IBM DB2 for i 6.1 is a powerful solution to many business intelligence problems. If you’re looking for a way to handle work management, trying to decide if you should avoid IPLs, or figuring out how to monitor queries, take a look.
• Power BI with IBM i - Although I’ve written many articles on business intelligence (BI) specific to the System i community, it seems that the topic constantly evolves over time, with a never-ending stream of new things popping up. So once again, I’d like to share some of the happenings around BI for i!
• Unicode and System i: Where Do I go and How Do I Get There? - Explore the efficiency of the Unicode encoding standard and how to make it work for you on your System i.
• Server Consolidation: It’s Not Just for Data Centers Anymore - The practice of server consolidation benefits both businesses and vendors alike. Why is it, then, that we shriek like little girls on a school yard when server vendors consolidate their product lines?
• Play it Safe with QMessage Monitor - Discover a new way to handle changes companywide from your System i environment and let your developers get away with fewer headaches.
• City Partners with ASNA to Give Attorneys Web Access to Case Files - When attorneys in Sioux City, Iowa, needed round-the-clock access to case files, government officials turned to ASNA’s Visual RPG 8.0 for Visual Studio 2005. The result: an integrated website open 24 hours a day.
• A Fresh i (September 2008) - In this new column, we’ll talk to young i professionals about their views on the industry. This month, meet Colin Dams, a young web developer from Excel Systems.
• Give Web Services a REST - What’s behind web services door number one? Why, it’s SOAP! Hmm. But what’s behind door number two? Clue: It’s RESTful.
• A New Perspective of Your Database - If you don’t feel familiar enough with SQL to forgo Query/400, fear not! WDSc’s Data Perspective has an SQL Builder that walks you through the creation of a query. Read on to find out how it works.
• Renovate Your Application Databases Using DDL - When modernizing applications, update your databases, too. By redefining DDS databases as DDL, you'll improve application databases' performance, integrity, and functionality and establish your System i applications on a standard database platform.
• Call a Web Service with WDSL2RPG - WSDL2RPG lets you convert from RPG to XML and vice versa, helping you modernize your applications by calling web services through your existing programs. This article shows you how to install WSDL2RPG and how to use it for integrating with web services.
• Navigator for i5/OS Database Gets Even Better in V6R1 - System i Navigator for V6R1 has a plethora of enhancements for you to sink your developer teeth into. This article highlights some of the major changes in System i Navigator for V6R1.
• Parallel Methods for Un-Paralleled Events - Throwing hardware at an application doesn't always result in better performance. Sometimes you need to replace the application. "Acme Enterprises" leveraged multithreading and the power of SQL while continuing to run a batch process already in place.
• SELECT from INSERT: New SQL Function in System i V6R1 - What was previously two separate functions (Select and Insert) has now become one function in V6R1 (Select from Insert). This article explores the new function and offers helpful ways to use it, including syntactical examples.
• Tech Corner (September 2008) - System Command Shortcuts with Proxy Commands * Print a Spooled File on More Than One Printer * Are You Watching Your Trigger Programs? * Protected Fields in an RPG Service Program * Retrieve Source Code
• Dr. I Doctor (September 2008) - Dr. I Doctor explains the causes of email delivery problems, and describes how to employ VLANs for shared Internet failover.
• Inside Systems Management: Controlling Access in IBM Director - IBM Director lets you manage your System i environment, your virtual environments, and your Windows, Linux, and AIX environments all from one location. This article explains how you can control access to the tasks and systems that IBM director offers.