TechChannel E-book: From Bootcamps to Digital Badges: How to Effectively Develop Mainframe Skills
July 12, 2021
As the existing mainframe workforce gradually ages out of the industry, effective mainframe training has become top of mind for the IBM Z ecosystem. But what strategies seem to work best, and where is there room for improvement? When it comes to mainframe training, there’s not going to be a “one size fits all” answer. […]
ArticlesOvercoming Unconscious Biases on COBOL and Women in Technology
July 12, 2021
TechChannel is excited to announce an upcoming monthly video series featuring conversations with women of COBOL, all of which will be moderated by (and is the brainchild of) Misty Decker, product marketing director, Micro Focus. Decker’s broad expertise within the mainframe ecosystem, along with her dedication to correcting misinformation and shifting unconscious biases, ultimately led […]
ArticlesHow to Use JSON in Your z/OS Program
July 7, 2021
First created in 2001, JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) has become the preferred way of creating structured data. Not limited to JavaScript applications, JSON formats can be found in web requests and responses and NoSQL databases. So, it makes sense that we will want our traditional z/OS programming languages (COBOL, PL/I, Assembler, C and REXX) to […]
ArticlesIBM i Navigator System Monitors
July 6, 2021
Everyone should be proactively monitoring key metrics on IBM i. If you’re not already monitoring your system, I recommend getting started with IBM i System Monitors, which are included with Navigator for i. The feature article, Monitor Your IBM i Application and System Health, reviews why you should proactively monitor your system; this blog post shows you how to get […]
ArticlesOf Stacks, Binding and Other Ambiguous Computer Jargon
July 5, 2021
One of the strangest things about the mainframe is our jargon, sometimes shared with other parts of IT, and based, somewhat oddly, not in Latin, Greek, or even German or French, but in that messiest of common languages: English. Yes, despite valiant efforts by other languages to inhabit computer hardware, software and programming languages (for […]
ArticlesRegister for the ‘Unmasking Our ‘Whole Self’: Can We Create Inclusive Psychologically Safe Spaces in the Workplace?’ Webinar
July 1, 2021
In the third webinar installation of the Making Our Strong Community, Stronger collaborative initiative on diversity, equity and inclusion, ‘Unmasking Our ‘Whole Self’: Can We Create Inclusive Psychologically Safe Spaces in the Workplace?’ we look at how the pressures of the pandemic have heightened racial, gender and additional inequalities. This webinar will take place on July 28 at 9:00 […]
PodcastsDerek Britton on the Language and Application of COBOL
July 1, 2021
Reg Harbeck: Hi, this is Reg Harbeck and today I'm here with my colleague Derek Britton who is a very active member of the enterprise computing community and especially the COBOL community. Derek, maybe if I can get you to start by tell us how did you end up being such an aficionado of both COBOL […]
PodcastsSteve Bradshaw Discusses the Global IBM i Community and NVMe
July 1, 2021
Paul Tuohy: Hi everyone and welcome to another iTalk with Tuohy. I'm delighted to be joined today by my friend and IBM Champion Steve Bradshaw. Hi Steve. Steve Bradshaw: Hey Paul, how you doing? Paul: I'm doing well thank you. I hope you're the same. Steve, I've done an iTalk with you before, but I just […]
PodcastsSusan Gantner, Jon Paris and Paul Tuohy on the Future of Virtual Conferences
July 1, 2021
Charlie Guarino: Hi everybody. Welcome to another edition of TechTalk. This is Charlie Guarino and today we are doing a departure from our traditional podcasts. In the past, it's always been one on one where we have one person, and we have an entire interview about that, but we're doing a different format today. If I […]
ArticlesBest Practices for AIX in a SAN Environment: Part 1
June 24, 2021
AIX supports different SAN topologies, switches and storage servers from multiple vendors. This represents challenges, due to the fact the interoperability among vendors is less than ideal. Therefore, one important aspect to get a reliable AIX is to follow the best practices for the SAN environment. In this article, I want to explain the major […]
ArticlesMainframe Connectivity: What’s Missing?
June 21, 2021
We can, perhaps, all remember a time when a simple 3270 terminal emulator was all we needed to access the mainframe without needing a directly-connected terminal. And we were really pleased that we could work from anywhere using this simple solution to our communication problem. It worked and our expectations were not very high. Next, […]
ArticlesHorses for Courses: Choosing the Right Player, Platform and Tool in the COBOL World
June 21, 2021
“OCCURS DEPENDING ON” is a wonderful clause in COBOL that resonates powerfully with a favorite answer that IBMers like to give to big, generic questions about how to choose and configure their technology: “It depends … ” In the first case, the programmer may be asking for arrays, while in the latter the IBMer is […]
Articles5 Reasons to Choose Open-Source Solutions for Software Development
June 16, 2021
Open source has revolutionized the software development industry. Open source means that the software created is released under a license that allows anyone to use it. The code is also distributed along with the software. Some of the most commonly used software systems in the world are open source. For example, the Firefox web browser […]
ArticlesPower Systems Best Practices Doc Updated, dnf, New IBM Customer Support Portals and More.
June 15, 2021
The Power Implementation Quality Standard for Commercial Workloads document has been updated. Get the details from Rob McNelly here.
ArticlesPowerVM Upgrades and Top 12 Tips for Maintaining Your VIO Servers
June 15, 2021
PowerVM v3 has now been out for some time. In this article, I’ll go over what you should think about when maintaining VIO servers. I’ve noticed that once a VIO server is installed, people tend to ignore it until they are forced to upgrade it—this is not recommended. So, here are my top 12 tips […]
ArticlesWhere to Find the Next Generation of IBM i Developers
June 14, 2021
Finding qualified developers is the single most important issue employers on IBM i face today. The issue is two-fold: there are less people in the workforce with IBM i experience and many developers with experience don’t have the modern knowledge to stay current. Today’s college degrees very seldom, if ever, contain IBM i education leaving very […]
ArticlesConsolidate SQL Educational Resources With the SQL Tutor
June 8, 2021
Developers often use SQL to access data in Db2 for i. With the ever-increasing number of IBM i Services, system administrators have a need to learn SQL as well. Regardless of whether you are new to SQL, or an experienced SQL developer, there is always more learn. A relatively new resource, the SQL Tutor, is available […]
E-BooksTechChannel E-book: Why Knowing Your Organization’s Security Needs Can Help Keep Data Locked Down
June 7, 2021
IBM Power Systems hardware and AIX are innately secure—but even top-notch security requires monitoring, patching and security planning to guard against bad actors and keep data locked down. Complacency is a recipe for disaster when it comes to security. An effective security plan requires a multilayered approach that starts with people, then physical security measures, […]
ArticlesSecurity Analytics Market to Gain Traction Across Healthcare Sector
June 7, 2021
The global market for security analytics solutions and services is set to churn out massive profits in 2021 and beyond. Here’s how: The 21st century is no doubt one of the profitable eras for large-scale digitization. With massive shifts toward digital platforms being a protocol of the current COVID-19 age, digitization has, perhaps, touched the apex. […]
ArticlesEmbracing Automation Enables Effective IBM i HA/DR Planning
June 4, 2021
Automation is a boon for systems administrators. They can, for example, schedule jobs to run at specific times and days, considering issues such as job types and runtimes, differing time zones, end-of-day office closings and resource consumption. Although not entirely hands off—admins may have to respond to various job alerts—automation has addressed some particularly acute […]
ArticlesHow the Software World and Programming Practices Have Evolved
June 3, 2021
Programming, or writing software as it is commonly known today, has been my profession for 51 years, and for fun for 10 years before that. Like most things, it has changed dramatically as I have grown up with it. Starting out in 1960, we had only one manual of about 50 pages, a principles of […]
ArticlesAutomate the Execution of Python Scripts With Microsoft Windows Task Scheduler
June 3, 2021
In this tutorial, we will learn how to automatically execute Python scripts using the Microsoft Windows Task Scheduler. For simplicity, we choose to use a Python script that simply writes to a text file, the date and time that the script executes, every time it gets executed. Create a new, empty text file anywhere on […]
ArticlesThe Latest in RPG Built-in Functions
June 3, 2021
Jon Paris on the three new RPG Built-in Functions from the IBM i 7.4 TR4 announcement—%Upper, %Lower and %Split
PodcastsNicole Fagen on SHARE and Women in IT
June 1, 2021
New: Subscribe to TechChannel podcasts on Apple. Reg Harbeck: Hi, this is Reg Harbeck and today I’m here with my colleague and friend Nicole Fagen, who is really deeply involved in the whole mainframe ecosystem including SHARE and including Women in IT. Well Nicole, tell us. How did you end on the mainframe, at SHARE and all […]
PodcastsCharlie Guarino Speaks With the Original Voice of Aussie Siri, Karen Jacobsen
June 1, 2021
New: Subscribe to TechChannel podcasts on Apple. Charlie Guarino: Hi everybody, welcome to another edition of TechTalk, I’m really thrilled today to introduce a very good friend who I met in New York City roughly about 10 years ago and I have to be honest. I don’t have many friends that I can say have appeared on […]