Category: Technical Articles
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RDi & IFS Local Source – Worth a Look?
Introduction. As I’m sure you know, Rational Developer for IBM i was enhanced to Version 9.5.1 recently. This update gave us the ability to store our source members, RPG, CL etc. on the IFS and to have the ability to store a local copy on our PCs. This is not to be confused with the…
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What is eating my IFS?
The most common question I get about disk usage is about the IFS, specifically “what is using all the disk space allocated to it?” Most recently I was asked this question during a PTF install by the good people of RPL in Telford. So, thanks to them for putting food on my table and I…
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Running an Old AIX Version?
At an IBM event recently, the presenter asked for a show of hands of companies that are still running AIX 6.1. Quite a few, even though the last service pack for AIX 6.1 is scheduled for April 2017 … not too far off. Then the presenter asked about AIX 5.3. It was a shock to…
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Detecting Damaged Objects
With IBM i being as robust as it is, for most of us damaged objects are a rare thing but the problem is that they tend to turn up at the most inopportune moments. So, in this article I wanted to share a little known tool called areVerify that IBM created to detect damaged objects…
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Git – A Free SCM?
In my previous article I gave you an insight into the new open source editor Orion on the IBM i. If you haven’t yet read my Orion PowerWire article, it can be found here. As promised in that article I said I would now move on to Git, which is closely integrated with Orion, and…
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Orion – An RDi Alternative?
Introduction – Are you not yet using RDi for your RPG development, but are fed up with SEU lagging behind in releases and complaining of syntax errors when using the latest programming features? Then maybe Orion is for you. In this article, I would like to run you through a new addition to IBMs open…
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Reclaim DB Cross-Reference (RCLDBXREF)
As we all know, DB2 for i is pretty darn tough and is rather good at both healing and optimising itself but every now and again you need to give it a little helping hand. One example of this is the need to run a repair command to fix one or more of the Database…
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Time Travelling with DB2 for i – The Follow Up
Introduction In my last article, on Temporal Tables for DB2 for i, which can be found here, I gave a quick insight on how easy it was to create and report on time travelling queries. Since this time, I gave the first workshop on Temporal Tables at the highly successful International i Power 2016 conference…
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VIOS SSP creation using the HMC Enhanced+ GUI
Every now and then you see something which takes you completely by surprise. This is even better when it’s something new to Power systems and makes life a whole lot easier. The HMC Enhanced+ GUI is getting a lot of stick, mostly from people who are used to the classic GUI and don’t want to…
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IBM i 7.3, little things mean a lot
Much has been spoken about the key new features in IBM i 7.3 that it’s really easy to overlook some of the smaller new features, some of which can be really useful. To quote Edith Lindeman, these “little things mean a lot!” So in this article we explore a few of the smaller features that…
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The Business Impact of Losing Your Critical System
The more critical a project is to a business, the greater attention it deserves. Which is why it puzzles me that many companies have little or no appetite for discussing the most important IT project of them all: disaster recovery. DR is the set of policies and procedures that will allow vital technology and infrastructure…
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It’s about time! – Time Travelling with DB2 for i
Introduction – In this article, I want to run though a great new feature of DB2 that was released as part of the Version 7.3 announcements last month. As the title of this article states ‘It’s about time’! IBM introduced a new feature within the database called temporal support. So, what is temporal support? Temporal…