i Can Blog Archive
Technical Tips for i by Dawn May
Trace Output Formatted for PCAP
Dump a Communications Trace was a blog I wrote back in 2009. That article reviewed the support for dumping the trace data in “packet capture” (PCAP) format and hinted that the DMPCMNTRC command would likely be updated to support this feature (without the need for a data area).
read more…End Subsystem Options—Optimize Ending Your Subsystems
The End Subsystem (ENDSBS), End System (ENDSYS), and Power Down System (PWRDWNSYS) commands all have the End Subsystem Options (ENSSBSOPT) parameter. This is nothing new—it’s been there for a long time. In case you are now aware of this parameter, this blog is for you.
read more…Route FTP and SMTP Workloads to Their Own Subsystem
Way back in V5R1, IBM introduced the ability to route FTP and SMTP workloads to their own subsystems. By default, FTP and SMTP server jobs run in the QSYSWRK subsystem, along with a lot of other IBM i server jobs. The Server Table in the IBM i Knowledge Center documents all the IBM i server jobs along with the default subsystem in which they run. The server table does state the subsystem is configurable for these servers, but it doesn’t give you any more information.
read more…Integration Between Navigator and Access Client Solutions
You should already be familiar with the fact that you can launch Navigator for i from Access Client Solutions (ACS). But did you know that there are now functions, that when requested from Navigator for i, are executed with ACS?
read more…Stacked Charts Extend Graph History
With the 7.3 release, IBM introduced historical performance data collection and the ability to view your historical data graphically with Graph History. With the recent Navigator service pack (HTTP Server Group PTF SF99722 Level 7 or later), graph history was expanded with stacked charts. Stacked charts allow you to display and compare a historical data metric over days, weeks, months, or years.
read more…Subsystem Configuration Documentation
Some of you may have read the subsystem configuration experience reports that were written way back in 2004, which was about when V5R3 became available. The experience reports were under the related information section of the Work Management topic. The subsystem configuration experience reports were covered in three sections:
- Why multiple subsystems are important, along with how to configure subsystems for server jobs
- How to configure interactive subsystems
- How to manage server jobs
IBM i Monitors: Automatic Notification and Replacement Variables
IBM Navigator for i (the web console) added support for message monitors and system monitors in the 7.2 release. For those of you familiar with Management Central monitors, the Navigator monitors are quite similar; however, the underlying implementation is different.
read more…PowerVM LinkedIn Group
One of the challenges with IBM i on IBM Power Systems is simply knowing everything you need to know. It’s what you don’t know that can get you into trouble! This blog generally focuses on IBM i information.
read more…Copy an Open Spooled File
In the past, you could not copy a spooled file when it was still open; if you attempted the copy, it would fail with CPF3482, “Copy request failed. Spool file &1 is open.” The spooled file had to be completed before the copy would be allowed.
With IBM i 7.3, you can now copy an open spooled file.
read more…Subsystem Management with Navigator for i
The December 2016 update for Navigator for i included a number of enhancements; one of the most significant extends the work management tasks to include IBM i subsystem creation and configuration. This support is available for all current releases.
read more…Determining the Size of QTEMP
In the 7.2 release, the List Job (QUSLJOB) and the Open List of Jobs (QGYOLJOB) APIs were enhanced to return the size of QTEMP.
read more…SNMPv3 Auditing and Other Enhancements
This article describes the new support to audit SNMPv3 requests. Additional SNMP enhancements exist for the system description, storage pool descriptions, and storage pool block sizes. These enhancements are available via PTFs.
read more…Here’s to the Women in IT!
Last March, I had the amazing opportunity to participate in the “Women in IT” conference that was held in Delavan, WI. This event preceded the Spring Technical Conference for the Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professional Association. I found myself among a large and diverse group of women who were either retired from the IT field, currently working in IT, or just starting out in their careers. The icing on the cake was that we all have a background on IBM i! Also in attendance were college students from Gateway Technical College, and students from local high schools.
read more…February 2017 IBM i Announcements
Once again it is announcement time, with IBM i 7.3 Technology Refresh 2 and IBM i 7.2 Technology Refresh 6 being announced. As is somewhat typical for these Technology Refresh announcements, the content for both releases is quite similar. Steve Will’s blog Announcing IBM i 7.3 TR2 & 7.2 TR6 reviews the announcement overall. I want to focus on a few enhancements that will make an IBM i administrator’s life a little easier.
read more…Application Administration with Access Client Solutions
Access Client Solutions (ACS) has had the ability to restrict the usage of specific functions by modifying the AcsConfig.properties file.
read more…Application Administration with Navigator for i
When using Application Administration to control access to Navigator tasks, you create customizations which restrict some users from seeing certain tasks.
read more…Optical Containers
A common problem many IBM i users have is getting the cumulative group PTF media to their machine in a usable form when using a USB thumb drive. Many users would first carefully format that USB drive on IBM i, move it to an office PC, then copy the cumulative group from IBM distribution onto the thumb drive. When the thumb drive was put back into IBM i, the PTFs could not be loaded.
read more…Latest Navigator for i Enhancements
Late in December 2016, IBM released the latest update to the HTTP Server Group PTF. This update includes several enhancements for Navigator for i.
read more…JSON_TABLE Function
There’s a new type of data that can be consumed by using SQL on IBM i… JSON (JavaScript Object Notation).
read more…Automatic Download of Group PTFs with IBM i 7.3
New with the 7.3 release is the ability to automatically download PTF groups to your IBM i partition. The PTFs are downloaded in save files and stored on your system, ready to be installed. This enhancement was requested by requirements received through the COMMON Americas and COMMON Europe Advisory Councils.