Category: Technical Articles
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A Netserver SMB Alternative?
Has your organisation been hit with the file sharing SMBv1 being disabled? Can you no longer share files on our servers IFS, as Microsoft is now blocking this protocol? Server Message Block (SMB) is the method used on the IBM i to share files and printers and commonly known on the IBM i as NetServer.…
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Don’t have a Meltdown over Spectre
You would have to be living under a rock not to have heard about the latest class of security vulnerabilities that have been found. These are known by the catchy names of Meltdown and Spectre. Now those of you who know me (and my love of patching servers) will be forgiven if you think this…
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RDi 9.6 – Push to Client Feature
To continue with my current stream of Rational Developer for i articles, in this issue, I will show how to use a feature that makes administration easier, I’m all for that! How many times over the years have we opened a PMR with IBM on RDi, or all the numerous names their development tool has…
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RDi 9.6 – Worth a Look?
Firstly, thank-you to all that attended my RDi session at the last UK iUG meeting. I hope you enjoyed it. At that presentation, I notified all that IBM were due to release Version 9.6 of RDi on the 16/11/2017, which replaces RDi version 9.5.1.2 It will require a new install and also there are new…
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Time to say bye bye to 7.1
“Alas, poor 7.1! I knew him, Horatio: an O/S of infinite Roch-est, of most excellent Resili-ancy: he hath borne me on his back-up a thousand times”. OK so I confess that is quite possibly the most painful Shakespeare kludge I have ever read too. If you can do better, please feel free to share with…
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DB2 Field Procedures – Testing
In my last article, I wrote how we can encrypt sensitive data in our DB2 database. To recap; IBM has given us the ability to take a field, or column, and let us apply security, or encryption, to that field/column. It is up to your FieldProc program to perform the measures you have taken to…
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Wanna Use SMB v2
If you need NetServer you need the last from IBM i. Netserver (the IBM i Service that allows you to map a network drive) and QNTC (the ability to read and write to a Windows Share directly from your IBM i) have been around so long now it’s hard to imagine life without them. Many…
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Legacy Application Mobility, is the Answer Surprisingly Simple?
The significant benefits of mobility were highlighted in a recent Microsoft paper. The paper went further than most, stating some quantifiable bottom line benefits for mobile application access; claiming that mobility “leads to 30% improvement in processes and 23% more productivity – and 100% more satisfied employees”. This enthusiasm and willingness to drive value for the…
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How LinkedIn helped me bypass the gatekeepers
Every couple of days, I’ll get a question like: “What’s the trick to getting noticed on LinkedIn?” Or else: “You seem to have cracked the code. What’s the hack?” Or this (my favourite): “Anthony, you’re everywhere!” No, I’m not everywhere, and there is no hack, really. In fact, building a network of lead generation on…
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DB2 Field Procedures
A few years ago, DB2 for i introduced a new feature that can be used to apply security/encryption to our columns within our database. This enhancement is called Field Procedures, or FieldProcs throughout this article. DB2 FieldProcs have been around since 7.1 of IBM i in April 2010. Before FieldProcs, it was common to see…
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Aggregated Ethernet – Faster & More Resilient Networking
Have any of you ever lost connectivity to your server because someone accidentally disconnected the wrong cable? It is so annoying as in many cases even if the cable was plugged back in you still had to answer a message on QSYSOPR to tell your system that it’s OK to start using the network connection…
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WRKJOBSCDE – Working with Job Scheduled Entries
OK, OK, OK, I know this command has been around since the beginning of time but there are a couple of things I find that most people I work with do not realise about this command that can be really useful. So, just bear with me here and check that you know this before you…