Author: Rudi van Helvoirt
-
Passwords – Looking Ahead
Be it auditors, the recent NIS2 Directive , or just common sense, stepping away from IBM i user profiles with never expiring passwords has always been the better choice. Since IBM i has been around for quite some time, a lot of the security options have gotten a bit long in the tooth. For sure,…
-
A Key to Success
With the recent announcement of IBM i regarding the subscription model. There are a lot of questions if you wish to understand the complete impact of moving away from non-expiring licenses. Luckily enough IBM acted on these questions and did create an excellent IBM i Subscription Transformation FAQ document to help you deal with the…
-
Where Are You Listening?
Security is hard to ignore these days and for good reason. So, adding TLS to all IBM i applications is a logical step to take. For sure there are the well know ports, for which it is not hard to guess by which application they are used. Well-know Ports Service Port Function HTTP 80 Web…
-
Why Not Add An Extra Layer of Security?
It’s most likely that you have added an extra lock on your front door, preventing it for being opened from the outside. In most cases we do not think about having this extra lock, it is just there, and we use it. However, at some stage someone came up with this idea and it spread…
-
A screen a story – What is my IP Address, tales of the unexpected?
Recently I ran into a problem on an LPAR where apparently nothing was changed. The problem as always is, how to determine if nothing was changed. After all an IPL of an LPAR is change. Let me tell you what happened. For a customer running an independent Auxiliary Storage Pool (iASP) in a Cluster environment…
-
A screen a story – Raise your delay knowledge level by 0.1?
If the screen show below looks familiar, there are two possible reasons: Either you are using the Scheduled Job (WRKJOBSCDE) command for scheduling jobs on IBM i and are not using the Advanced Job Scheduler. Or you are aware of the fact that the CL command DLYJOB exists and you might have used it yourself.…
-
A screen a story – Did you ever take a console over?
During the COVID-19 pandemic we all learned to work remotely when possible. Setting up a VPN connection is something no longer only performed by IT personals. Losing a VPN connection is also something which many of us have experienced. Working remotely when doing system management tasks out of office hours, is something we all learned…
-
A screen a story – Pre-power down system exit point?
The Exit point functionality available within IBM i, is what I would call a hidden gem. If we just look at the Pre-power down Exit Point my guess is you will agree. In my article of last month the Start-up program was handled. Now it is time to look at the Pre-power down program. The…
-
A screen a story – IBM i Startup Program QSTRUPPGM?
Although it is possible not to use a Start-up program, finding a customer who does not use one, is like finding a needle in a haystack. Please allow me to use another expression which, when finishing reading this article makes sense for you: “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. All of a sudden, after…
-
A screen a story – WRKACTJOB?
One of the commands used by every system administrator is WRKACTJOB. I think it if fair to say that this command is in their top 10 most often used commands. It might for some be the rock solid number one of all time. In order see what is happening on your system the command WRKACTJOB…
-
A screen a story – the system value QSECURITY
You may wonder what the screen below has to do with the system value QSECURITY. A change in this system value was part of the announcement of IBM i 7.5, which had a strong focus on security. Level 20 is no longer supported and a new system is shipped with level 40. Setting your system…
-
A screen a story – Sometimes a question mark is not enough
By now you must be getting used to seeing a new version of IBM i Access Client Solutions (ACS) every time a new Technology Refresh (TR) is released – you are keeping your ptf’s up to date aren’t you?! In the official announcement letter we can read what is new for ACS, but most people…