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Trapping the Elusive Error with AIX Kernel Tracing

Mark J. Ray

April 1, 2018

Every computer administrator must deal with error conditions. This is because every operating system, database and application experiences its own particular types of annoyances. Learning how to combat these conditions requires a combination of experience and instinct. Error conditions can manifest on a regular, recurring schedule, or at totally random times. They may occur in […]

Articles

Centralized Cloud and Security Management Empowers IT

April 1, 2018

For IBM Power Systems clients, transforming their virtualized data center into a self-service private cloud and protecting it with automated security management just became an easier and more powerful proposition. IBM has introduced important new capabilities by advancing IBM Power Security Center (PowerSC) and Power Virtualization Center (PowerVC) software. Both were recently announced at Think […]

Articles

The Art and Science of AIX Performance: Intuition and Instinct

Mark J. Ray

March 1, 2018

Over the course of this article series, we’ve developed a methodology to attack and resolve performance problems. We’ve laid the foundation of our remediation efforts by developing a coherent and complete history-taking formula. We’ve learned about the importance of keeping current on system and device firmware, along with the importance of keeping careful and up-to-date […]

Articles

The Art and Science of AIX Performance: The System Monitors

Mark J. Ray

February 1, 2018

The first three installments in this series of articles cover much ground. We’ve learned how to deploy statistics-gathering programs to collect data on the behavior of system workloads, we understand that maintaining a complete history of those systems and what runs on them is essential to our diagnosis, and we know that keeping firmware up […]

Articles

Your Partner in the Cloud

Steve Sibley

January 2, 2018

McKinsey & Company predicts that enterprises building multiclouds with infrastructure on-premises are expected to double provisioned workloads by 2018 (bit.ly/2iz4a5k). Private clouds, when designed with the right technology, can deliver the simplicity associated with public cloud solutions, while retaining the security, availability and freedom traditionally associated with infrastructure fully under your control. IBM Power Systems* […]

Articles

The Art and Science of AIX Performance: The Stats Utilities

Mark J. Ray

January 1, 2018

This is the third installment in my series on AIX performance. Part 1 focuses on current firmware, the foundation upon which any good AIX system performance is built. I also explain why taking a detailed history is so important to diagnosing performance problems. Part 2 explores the depth to which one can understand how a […]

Articles

Top IT Concerns

Tom Huntington

September 11, 2017

We’ve heard it at trade shows and read about it in surveys: The top challenges for IBM Power Systems* clients are security, high availability and modernization. It’s no surprise because every CIO needs to keep their data safe and available in order to stay competitive—all while keeping the company’s name out of headlines covering the […]

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CICS Tools Identify Performance Issues

Jim Schesvold

August 1, 2017

This article focuses on CICS performance. On the mainframe CICS is known as CICS Transaction Server (TS), but on other platforms the product is named TXSeries, and for special functions, CICS Transaction Gateway. All products are developed and supported by CICS development, and are designed to interact with each other via facilities such as CICS […]

Articles

Words in Action

Jim Utsler

August 1, 2017

Imagine being able to predict the onset of a mental health condition before it hits. Or receive a diagnosis at home instead of a psychiatrist’s office. Or being able to adjust your medications based on patterns in your speech when you casually talk with family and friends. Within the next five years, you may not […]

Articles

Take a Holistic View

June 19, 2017

If your enterprise system has gotten more complex over the last few years, with new applications and users, it may be time to revisit your hardware configuration to optimize performance. Companies benefit when they practice taking a holistic view of enterprise systems every two years or so, says Jaqui Lynch, a solutions architect and independent […]