The 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) […]
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 […]
ArticlesAIX Tips, Tricks and Useful Tools
December 13, 2021
Periodically I like to remind everyone about the tools they have at their disposal as well as providing a few tips and tricks to help with maintaining systems. In this article we will look at some of the tools you can use to help in your day-to-day work. YUM and DNF If you’re dealing with […]
ArticlesPerformance and Management Tools for AIX and Power Systems: Features and Use Cases
December 7, 2021
While monitoring and management solutions perform somewhat similar tasks, they’ve traditionally served different enough functions to keep them from being optimally paired as a collaborative unit. Management tools ensure that your system is available, configured properly or optimized and its components are connected correctly and as expected, whereas monitoring tools look for overall system, communication, […]
ArticlesFunction Usage Replaces Application Administration in New Navigator for i
November 29, 2021
In the Heritage Version of Navigator for i, Application Administration was used to allow or deny user access to functions—among them, the ability to customize what tasks were available to users in the Navigator console. Application Administration in Navigator for i had been ported from the original Client Access support and featured a very dated and cumbersome […]
‘Being in a Minority of One Did Not Make You Mad:’ The Only Mainframer in the Room
November 29, 2021
How often have you been in a meeting where you explain the power and capabilities of the mainframe to a room full of intelligent people, who just don’t get what you are saying? And in your mind, you recall a similar meeting, perhaps three years previously, where a different group of people ignored your recommendation […]
ArticlesInteresting Points About the Power HMC
November 10, 2021
Jaqui Lynch on a real-life experience upgrading a 7063-cr1 HMC from 931 to 951, and new HMC upgrades
ArticlesWhy Everyone Should Capture Performance Baselines
November 2, 2021
With most numerical data, a number requires a reference point for meaning, and performance data is filled with numbers. Baseline data provides reference points for numerical data and are essential for good performance management. A baseline is simply a collection of system performance metrics saved from a known point in time. Baselines are useful to […]
ArticlesChristian Jacobi, Chief Architect for IBM Z Processors, on the New IBM Telum Chip
November 2, 2021
IBM’s new Telum chip fulfills clients’ business imperatives with a new cache infrastructure, optimized core and the ability to embed AI directly into enterprise workloads. First announced at the annual Hot Chips conference, this innovative processor chip enables IBM clients to leverage AI technologies and grow their workloads. Christian Jacobi, Distinguished Engineer and Chief Architect […]
Articles5 Quick Ways to Speed up Your z/OS Batch Without Application Changes
October 28, 2021
z/OS users understand that batch is still important. However, with pressure to reduce downtime and offer 24-7 online services, it seems we always need to reduce our batch window. Or in other words, make our batch jobs run faster. The good news is that z/OS has a lot of features that may speed up batch, […]