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Mainframe and IT 2021 Review, With a Look Toward 2022
January 28, 2022
2020 continued into 2021, giving us more of the COVID-19 era’s new normal. The Oxford Dictionary’s 2021 Word of the Year was “vax”—like vax sites, vax cards, getting vaxxed and being fully vaxxed. Collins Dictionary chose non-fungible token (NFT) as its word of the year. An NFT is a unique and non-interchangeable unit of data—e.g., […]
ArticlesStreamline Fintech Data Management With IBM Hyper Protect Services
January 28, 2022
Many banks and financial institutions are modernizing their IT systems and applications to become more agile and responsive by adopting a hybrid multicloud strategy, which involves minimal lift and shift. IBM is a major provider of hardware, software and services that are geared towards helping customers through their mainframe modernization journey. The process of migrating […]
ArticlesAIX and Power Systems 2021 Review, and a Look Toward 2022
January 27, 2022
As I made my way back up the Bright Angel trail in the Grand Canyon after visiting Plateau Point, I realized that I had not talked about the AIX and Power Systems news and highlights that happened in 2021, and some of the upcoming things that I have to look forward to in 2022. In 2021 […]
ArticlesSend Messages to a Telegram Bot from a JCL Job that Executes on z/OS
January 26, 2022
A JCL Job that executes on z/OS actually can send messages to a Telegram Bot, and I’ll demonstrate how to achieve this through a series of steps.As a note, I worked on this proof-of-concept (POC) project on my Windows machine. Therefore, all instructions pertaining to this POC should be done on a system running Microsoft […]
Articles10 Hidden Gems in the RPM Pile
January 24, 2022
As you probably know, IBM provides hundreds of open-source packages in the RPM Package Manager (RPM) format. This collection of software, which I affectionately call “the RPM pile,” has become a quintessential component of IBM i. The Node.js and Python programming languages, for instance, are now standard vernacular. Some open source, however, is not as […]
ArticlesReaders Respond: Updating VIOS on POWER7, and a Simplified invscout Script
January 21, 2022
A customer was planning to patch their VIO servers on a POWER7 machine. You may recall my mention of another customer that had success running recent code on POWER7 despite the lack of documentation. “I mention POWER7 specifically because a client with that system was wondering about their options. If you go to FLRT and […]
ArticlesMainframe Strategy: Identifying and Solving Common IBM Z Issues
January 19, 2022
One of my recent clients was a Fortune 100 company utilizing many mainframes and all of the complexities that go with it. My client had robust availability, resiliency everywhere, and redundancy exactly where you expect it. They had a multitude of highly skilled individuals keeping their infrastructure and applications running smoothly. They also had an […]
ArticlesA Simplified Approach to Understanding z/OS Performance
January 18, 2022
Knowing and understanding the performance of z/OS systems has always been important for enterprises as mission-critical business processes run in z/OS systems. Each mainframe shop has its own way of dealing with performance, which is a factor of in-house skills. As deep technical skills are becoming rare, a simplified approach to z/OS performance can help […]
ArticlesAIX 7.3 and HMC v10 Upgrades
January 18, 2022
In late 2021, IBM released the final versions of HMC v10 and AIX v7.3. Below is a summary of my experiences upgrading my HMC to v10 and a couple of LPARs to AIX v7.3 HMC v10 Upgrades on Your POWERHMC The first step for me is to login to the BMC interface on the HMC […]
ArticlesCounting the Benefits Part 2: IBM Z and the Global Economy
January 17, 2022
In Part 1 of this article, I set the stage for recognizing that the IBM Z mainframe has many relevant differentiators that need to be specifically accounted for in RPFs and cost-benefits analyses in order to create a fair playing field where implicit strengths of the mainframe are not assumed as being part of other […]
ArticlesSpeech-to-Text Conversion Using Python
January 13, 2022
In this tutorial from Subhasish Sarkar, learn how to build a basic speech-to-text engine using simple Python script
ArticlesThe Value of a COMMON Membership
January 12, 2022
In my last post, I wrote about IBM i resources for continuous learning. This week, I want to talk about COMMONand the value of a COMMON membership. COMMON is a non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance the careers of its members through education, certification, advocacy and networking. Many associate COMMON with the annual conference, but […]
ArticlesPaving a Path Forward on IBM i and AIX
January 10, 2022
As organizations accelerate their digital transformations, IBM i and AIX partners and customers are re-evaluating their approach and planning their path forward. While the pandemic added new challenges, many organizations are facing the same or similar challenges that were present before COVID-19 and now are just at a heightened level of importance. Modernizing RPG Applications […]
ArticlesThe Mainframe Ecosystem: A Community Effort
January 10, 2022
Community. That’s the driving force behind the burgeoning IBM Z mainframe ecosystem, whether supported by IBM itself, ISVs, universities or end users—or more likely, all of the above. Indeed, each of these segments benefits from the others by working toward common goals, such as improving mainframe ease of use, cultivating skills for the future or developing open-source […]
ArticlesHashes and How to Create Them on z/OS
January 10, 2022
Hashes can be really handy. Want to confirm that a file was received intact? Compare sender and receiver hashes. Want to see if a file has been updated recently? Compare hashes generated over time. Want a fast key for a lookup table? Use a hash as the key. But what are hashes, and how can […]
ArticlesLog4Shell Part 2: 3 Best Practices for Software Security
January 6, 2022
Security is as important a topic as ever! Organizations everywhere are grappling with their approach to cybersecurity. In my previous post, I addressed some basics about the highly-publicized “Log4Shell” security vulnerability. Log4Shell and others provide a constant reminder that IT security is a perpetual task. A properly protected technology stack requires certain best practices to be […]
ArticlesHow RESTful APIs Streamline RPA Efficiency on the Mainframe
January 6, 2022
Enterprises are increasingly investing in Robotic Process Automation (RPA), a software that automates repetitive tasks to save costs and increase productivity. RPAs are a beneficial way to modernize sequences that are running on the mainframe. However, current methodologies— namely, screen scraping—are proving an inefficient route. Luckily, Jerry Rackley, director of marketing, HostBridge Technology, has found […]
ArticlesNever-Ending IBM i Learning
January 5, 2022
I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions, but I am big on continuous learning. Each day I try to learn something new, usually related to something I’m working on with various clients. Being an obsessive list-maker, I also have lists of subject areas where I want to broaden my knowledge or increase my […]
ArticlesApache Log4j Vulnerability, AIX Tips and Tools, a Look at Time Drift, and More
January 4, 2022
System security is no laughing matter. Well, occasionally it’s a laughing matter, but I’ll get to that in a moment. On Dec. 15 IBM issued a security bulletin regarding a vulnerability in Apache Log4j that affects the Power HMC. Check the IBM PSIRT blog for the latest updates: “… Product teams are releasing remediations for […]
ArticlesFrom Educators to End Users: Leveraging Holistic Approaches and the Importance of Belonging Across the Tech Ecosystem
January 4, 2022
Join us for our first 2022 webinar of the Making Our Strong Community, Stronger collaborative initiative on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the mainframe industry. Register here. We’re mixing up the conversation by sharing the perspective of IBM Z educators and end users. In keeping with our previous discussions, we are continuing our bold, open and […]
PodcastsIBM Power Champion Birgitta Hauser on SQL and Modernization
January 3, 2022
Charlie Guarino: Hi everybody. Welcome to another edition of TechTalk SMB. Today I am joined by the queen of SQL for Db2 for i, a world—renowned expert on SQL, somebody who freely gives so much of her time in the IBM i forums, somebody who I've had the great pleasure of speaking with in many cities […]
ArticlesThe History of Business Computing Part 1: Counting the Benefits
December 20, 2021
How did we go from the joy of the freedom that personal, commodity computing brought us, to unidimensional cynicism about industrial-strength computing, valuing everything by gross costs without a consideration of the nature and amount of what was being delivered? For that matter, how did we get to a place where requests for proposals (RFPs) […]
ArticlesAre Containers on Mainframes Safe?
December 20, 2021
Let’s just start with some basics: What is a container? A container is a standard unit of software that packages up code and all of its dependencies, so the application runs quickly and reliably in different computing environments. In effect, this container can be taken from one computing platform to another, and it will still […]
ArticlesGeocoding and Mapping Data With IBM Db2 Web Query for i
December 15, 2021
Have you ever wanted to apply mapping technology to your data? Ever since Google and Apple Maps became popular, other vendors have used this same mapping technology to provide a basis for business intelligence data analysis. Several towns in my rural area have begun investigating how to improve internet access and have asked vendors to […]
ArticlesWhat Is the TLS Handshake Process?
December 15, 2021
A vast majority of web applications and websites today use the HTTPS protocol that enables data encryption between the client and server. It is, therefore, always a good idea to have at least a very basic understanding of how the whole encryption process works—how the encryption begins and how it is established, and that is […]