VIO Server Update Tips and Tricks
February 10, 2022
Last month I presented on VIOS Top Tips to the Power Virtual Users Group. During and after that presentation I picked up some tips that I would like to share here. Many thanks to those who asked questions and provided suggestions during the session. Further reading added a few more tips as well. The tips […]
ArticlesIBM Announces Next-Gen FlashSystem Storage Offerings
February 8, 2022
Today, IBM announced the new IBM FlashSystem Cyber Vault, designed to help companies better detect and more quickly recover from ransomware and other cyberattacks. It’s part of a comprehensive suite of data resilience solutions, streamlining all phases of cyberattack recovery and reduce overall recovery time from days to just hours. IBM also released new FlashSystem storage models […]
ArticlesReaders Respond: Updating VIOS on POWER7, and a Simplified invscout Script
January 21, 2022
IBM Champion Rob McNelly reflects on what he's learned from readers—from mixed results updating VIOS on POWER7 to a cleaned-up invscout script
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 […]
AIX 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 […]
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 […]
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) […]
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 […]