Latest IBM Storage Announcements Address Key Hybrid Cloud Pain Points for Clients
October 12, 2021
As hybrid cloud environments grow in popularity, organizations must develop strategies that address increasing IT complexity, public cloud costs, cyberattack threats and other data destructive events. Today, IBM in announcing new capabilities and integrations designed to mitigate these pain points—helping organizations reduce IT complexity, deploy cost-effective solutions and improve cyberresilience across hybrid cloud environments. These […]
ArticlesAIX Patch Management With Ansible, and the Broader Benefits of Automation
July 15, 2021
I made one of the classic blunders during a recent trip to the Grand Canyon. This had nothing to do with a land war, or a Sicilian, but as an Arizona resident and avid hiker I should know better: always, always carry your water bottle, especially during the summer. I venture to the Grand Canyon fairly often. This […]
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 […]
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 […]
ArticlesHow to Simplify the Lives of Non-Mainframe Trained IT Employees
April 23, 2021
Many people think that using a mainframe is hard. They have a picture in their minds of green screens and arcane subsystems that are incredibly hard to get to grips with. The trouble is that so many of the people who work on mainframes have been doing so for 40 years. And that means they […]
IBM i Gets a Refresh, Increasing Automation and Storage Options
April 20, 2021
The latest round of IBM i technology refreshes (TRs) provides enhancements to offerings, services and hardware. On Tuesday, April 13, IBM announced the latest round of OS TRs—IBM i 7.4 TR4 and 7.3 TR10. These TRs demonstrate a commitment to IBM i services, showcase a continuing push toward automation and represent a heavy investment in […]
ArticlesAnnouncing IBM i 7.4 TR4 and 7.3 TR10
April 13, 2021
Today, IBM announced the latest round of technology refreshes (TRs)—IBM i 7.4 TR4 and 7.3 TR10. With these latest updates, IBM has prioritized extending automation across various components of the IBM i OS—including the database, security and high availability. IBM i 7.4 TR4 and 7.3 TR10 deliver the following new features: Db2 for i enhancements, including […]
ArticlesOpen Mainframe Project Launches Tessia, and Expands the Open-Source Ecosystem
February 17, 2021
2020 was a year of widespread instability in the world of business. Companies across the globe, from small businesses to massive corporations, experienced intense financial instability as the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically affected daily life. Despite widespread uncertainty, several companies actually found themselves experiencing the opposite in 2020, reporting significant growth. One such company was the […]
ArticlesAutomate Your TSO Logons With Vista TN3270 Application Macros and a Windows Batch (.bat) File
January 13, 2021
In this tutorial, we look at all the steps that are involved in the process of automating TSO logons, using the Vista TN3270 application and a Windows Batch (.bat) file. Components Involved Step by Step Instructions Step 1: Create a new session file for your Vista TN3270 Terminal session Application As the very first step, […]
ArticlesThe Many Faces of Application Creation: Part 2
March 16, 2020
This is a continuation of last month’s article, which chronicled application tools and options in context of development projects I’ve worked in and programming alternatives used, including design, coding, and validation. I’ve used various programming facilities, along with their strengths and weaknesses. My experiences start in the early 1970s, and the evolution I’ve experienced spans […]