Dawn May
Contributor
Dawn May is an IBM i consultant. She owns Dawn May Consulting, LLC in the Greater Boston area. Dawn is also a former Senior Technical Staff Member with IBM.
Never-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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
ArticlesActive Prestart Jobs in New Navigator
October 13, 2021
With New Nav, you have a graphical user interface and you no longer need to craft your own queries to get at the data. Learn the benefits from Dawn May here.
ArticlesIBM i New Navigator
September 21, 2021
One of the most exciting functions is Navigator for i – new version!, which IBM refers to as “New Nav.” The existing Navigator web console is now called the “Heritage Version.” The IBM announcement included the following text: “Navigator for i has been completely reimagined from the ground up. Leveraging the very latest in web technology, […]
ArticlesDitch DSPLOG—History Log Info Is Superior
September 7, 2021
The history log is a great repository of messages on your IBM i partition; all messages sent to QSYSOPR, QSYSMSG and QCFGMSGQ are also sent to the history log. There are many functions that log additional messages to the history log, although they may not send those messages to the system operator message queue. Mining […]
ArticlesGet Notified When Nearing the Maximum Number of Spooled Files
August 11, 2021
An issue I encounter more frequently than I should is systems with a very large number of spooled files. This is a concern because IBM i has an upper limit on the number of spooled files. IBM i creates spooled output all the time, if for no other reason than job logs. If you hit […]
ArticlesUnderstanding Disk Space Utilization With IBM i Navigator Performance Tasks
July 14, 2021
Disk space utilization is simply how much of your available disk space is in use. Understanding disk space utilization is something all shops need to do since disk space utilization tends to creep up over time. In my experience, those who are not proactive in understanding where their disk space is going often end up […]
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 […]
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 […]