New Redbook IBM i 7.2 Technical Overview with Technology Refresh Updates

The october brings a new redbook "IBM i 7.2 Technical Overview with Technology Refresh Updates" to the IBM redbook site. This new redbook is the ultimate source to find out what new great goodies IBM i 7.2 brings to your mighty POWER System. And best of all this redbook has a fresh new design which is in my opinion a big step forward. Thank you very much IBM for this great ressources and i really hope that we will see more of this amazing redbooks in the future.

Chapter 1. Introduction to IBM i 7.2
Chapter 2. Systems management
Chapter 3. Cloud and virtualization
Chapter 4. Security
Chapter 5. Networking
Chapter 6. High availability
Chapter 7. Backup and recovery
Chapter 8. IBM DB2 for i
Chapter 9. Application development
Chapter 10. IBM i server functions

Redbook: Modernizing IBM i applications from the Database up to the User Interface and Everything in Between updated

Last year IBM released a great Redbook with an overview how to modernize your IBM i applications In July a refreshed version of this Redbook was published on the Redbooks page. This book is the bible for every IBM i developer who wants to improve his development skills. It shows all options to modernize classic RPG programs. Shows the modern development tools for the classic IBM programming languages and shows all the new language options like Java, EGL, PHP or Java script which were added to the platform in the last years. In my opinion a must read for every IBM i developer.

RedPaper Tools and Solution for Modernizing your IBM i Applications updated

Last year IBM released a great Redpaper with an overview which tools and solutions for modernizing your IBM i Applications are available. In July a refreshed version of this Redpaper was published on the Redbooks page. If you are a RPG or Cobol IBM i developer you really should have a look at this paper to learn what tools are already available to make your users happy with web, client or mobile solutions.

IBM has announced IBM i 7.1 TR10 and 7.2 TR2 today.

Today IBM has announced the newest update for IBM i V7R1 and V7R2. This updates add many new features to IBM i and the DB/2 database. You can find details about the update in the announcement letter or in the IBM Technology Update Wiki:

IBM i 7.1 Technology Refresh 10

IBM i 7.2 Technology Refresh 2

I really recommend to install this updates when it will be available on 29. May 2015

Software problem data for QTETHRD has been logged during debug session in RDI

A RPG developer in our company had problems to debug an interactive RPG program. He wants to hold the program with the hold button while the program is waiting on user input, but it does not work and after some time the debugger in RDI (Rational Developer for IBM i) stops and the program on the IBM i runs without stopping at breakpoints.

The QSYSOPR message queue shows an error message CPI93B9 "Software problem data for QTETHRD has been logged. Refer to help text for additional information." at the same time the debugger in RDI crashes. In the corresponding problem entry there is a Symptom string "5770 SP/QTETHRD MOD/QteRetriev MSGMCH1004RC117" logged. We could not find any helpful information in the joblogs or in the QHST log.

After some investigation we found out, that the root cause of this problem is that the developer had not the special authority "*JOBCTL" After adding this special authority to the userprofile with "CHGUSRPRF USRPRF(USERNAME) SPCAUT(*JOBCTL)" our RPG developer is a happy camper again.

Download customized IBM i CUM and Group PTFs without Java applet trouble.

Everybody who knows me, is aware that i am a big Java fan, but there is one thing in Java which does not work, Java applets. So it will be no surprise that i really hate the whole process to download Cumulative or group PTF's with fix central. The whole process depends on a java applet, which fails most of the time for security reasons.

In older releases the use of the green screen "SNDPTFORD" command was not a workaround because it was limited to download only small PTF's and not big PTF groups. But recently i noticed that this command was enhanced so that it is able to download PTF's to optical images. I will show you how easy this is and i am pretty sure that you will never ever use Fix Central again.

Fastest way to upload iso images to your IBM i

When you plan an upgrade for your IBM i, you need to upload the iso images of the new release  you have downloaded from IBM to your IBM i. The easiest way is to use a network share with Netserver, but the upload of 30 GB over a file share can be very slow. It is much faster to upload the images with FTP. In this tutorial i will show you how this works without the use of additional software:

First steps with the new Node.js support on the IBM i

Development of server apps with java script is very popular in our days. Since Technology Refresh 9 on V7R1 and TR1 on V7R2 Node.js is now available on my preferred server platform IBM i.  So do not miss the tutorial to create a "Hello World" web server on the IBM Systems Magazine "Node.js the first kiss".

Fill an IBM i image catalog with images with one API call

Image catalogs make the installation of new operating system releases or PTF's very easy. You do not need to change many CD's and if you want to install the update remote, image catalogs are the only possible solution. But in V7R1 there is no command to add a whole directory filled with images to an image catalog. You have to add every image with "ADDIMGCLGE"  which can be a very boring task, if you have many images to add.

Fortunately there is a system API which allows you to add all images at once. Folow this easy steps to create your image catalog with this API:

Create a REST Webservice in RPG IV

REST Webservices are the de-facto standard for integration on the web, but as a RPG programmer you were not part of the game till IBM has released IBM i 7.2 TR1 and IBM i 7.1 TR9. With this releases IBM has added functionality to enable your RPG Serviceprogramms to act as a REST service. The support for REST Webservices is relative similar to that what we had for SOAP Webservices before. IBM has posted a three part tutorial (part1, part2, part three is missing in the moment) on their developerworks site which gives you a quick start with this new opportunity.

P.S. share it if you like it

IBM Navigator for i does no longer work with Firefox 31 and above.

From time to time i need the IBM Navigator for i to configure some things on my system which are not possible in greens screen or the Windows based Navigator. Today i have noticed that the Navigator is no longer working with Google Chrome and Firefox 31 and above. The reason is, that Navigator for i still uses SSLv3 and the browsers are no longer accepting such sessions wich are vulnerable by POODLE attacks. Update: I have opened a PMR with IBM and IBM told me, that this have to be a configuration problem on our IBM i. The IBM i box of support engineer works with Firefox 35. They are investigating now what's the root cause for the problem on our IBM i.

As a temporary workaround you can change the "security.tls.version.min" value in about:config to "0" to enable SSv3 in your browser.

Enter "about:config" in your address bar.
Confirm that you will be carefully with your changes.
Enter "security.tls.version.min" in the search bar of about:config
double click the value and change it from 1 to zero.

After you have finished your work with Navigator for I you should restore the original value of 1 in "security.tls.version.min"

Update:  IBM has solved the problem on our machine. The replaced some config files of the server in the IFS with working ones. If you have the same problem call IBM support and refer to PMR 22691,060,618

How to show the Firmwareversion of your Power machine on IBM i

Every Power System has a built in Firmware which controls the Hardware and the service processor. It is very important that your server has the correct Firmware version which supports your IBM i OS Version. So from time to time you should check if your Firmware version is still up to date. In earlier releases you have to go to the System Service Tools and run a LIC macro, but since V6R1 there is a new command "DSPFMWSTS" which shows you the currently installed firmware on your permanent and temporary boot side and what firmware is currently active.

IBM i 7.2 Technical Overview with TR1

The long awaited draft of the redbook "IBM i 7.2 Technical Overview with TR1" has been posted to the IBM redbook site.  So if you plan to upgrade to the latest and greatest release of "IBM i" read this fantastic redbook.

Virtual Control Panel in IBM i Access Client solutions

Jesse Gorzinski from IBM has posted a nice article  on developerworks about the many advantages the Virtual Control Panel in IBM i Access Client solutions have over the old on fro IBM i Access for Windows. If you have not already you should really make the switch to the future of IBM i client connection.

Everything you always wanted to know about PTF handling on IBM i but were afraid to ask

In the moment i prepare the image catalogs for PTF installation on our IBM i. When i have searched for some info's on PTF's i have found a really great presentation about PTF Management on the IBM i. So if you want to know how PTF's on the IBM i work and what to do to keep your system running, i really recommend "Managing your IBM i PTF's" from Larry Bolhuis.

Row and Column Access Control support in DB2 for IBM i

One of the biggest new features in IBM i 7.2 is Row and Column Access Control support in Db2 for IBM i. This feature allows you to control the access to specific rows and columns on user or group level. This is especially important when your users can access your database files with ODBC, JDBC, or File transfer, because with this methods the can bypass security features built into your application To get a smart start on the new possibilities this feature provides watch Mike Cain on youtube and read the new redpaper on redbooks.

Improve the Performance of the ASF Tomcat Server on the IBM i

There is a new article on developerworks which contains a bunch of tips how to improve the performance and security of the ASF Tomcat server on the IBM i.

Performance and security are two important key points when running Tomcat on IBM i. This article introduces how to improve Tomcat’s performance and security by tuning IBM i, Java virtual machine (JVM), Tomcat, HTTP Server for i and specific applications. more...

IBM i Disk Performance

One of the most important components of a server is the Disk subsystem. If you need information's how to optimize or analyze the IO performance of your Power System with IBM i, i recommend to watch the presentation "IBM i Disk Performance" from Satid Singkorapoom.

Abstract: This presentation provides technical performance information on Power Systems' internal disk HW subsystem when managed by IBM i and OS/400. You can learn about how IBM i manages disk allocation for data and memory faulting and what IBM i tools are available for use to monitor important IBM i disk performance parameters to identify if performance issue is impending or not and how to handle the issue. Various good performance guidelines are also provided to help you effectively handle this matter.

AFP Workbench Viewer fails with "The program can't start because icuuc44.dll ismissing"

After installing 7.1 service pack SI50567 the AFP Workbenchviewer which is used in the System i Navigator to view spool files fails on startup with the error "The program can't start because icuuc44.dll ismissing"

The new Powersystems explained to CIO's

There are many very technical presentations and informations about the new fantastic power systems with power 8. But if you need to present this brand new technology to the management of your company then i will recommend this video which explains the advantages of the power platform in an eassy to understand way.