• What Happened to My QFileSvr.400 Connection?

  April 11, 2012 Hey, Joe

  I set up a QFileSvr.400 connection for accessing AS/400 Integrated File Systems (AS/400 IFS) objects on another IBM i machine. I use it several times a month to transfer files. All of a sudden, the connection stopped working and I have no clue why. Do you have any idea what could happened and how I can fix it? –Bob As I’ve written before, I love using QFileSvr.400 for accessing, modifying, and copying or moving files between two IBM i systems (Power i, System i, and iSeries). A QFileSvr.400 link is incredibly easy to set up. All you have to do

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• Interpreted CL Members, Take 2

  April 11, 2012 Ted Holt

  Once again, the alert and astute readers of this august publication have proven true the old adage that multiple methods exist for removing the outer covering of a feline animal. Several of you wrote in response to my article, Interpreted CL Members, to share other methods of running CL commands in interpreted mode. Here are some of the comments I received. I use REXX to handle scripting for CL commands. While I’m not an expert, I’ve found it useful for tasks that you do at a command line to set up something, do over and over, and forget the

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• Index Advisor, Part 2

  April 11, 2012 Paul Tuohy

  In part 1 of this series, I introduced you to the basic functionality of Index Advisor. In this article, we will take a look at more of the options and functionality available with Index Advisor for Systems Director Navigator for i. More Options Apart from the obvious information (table and schema names), the Index Advisor window also gives us some pertinent information, such as: The advised key The first and last time the index was advised The number of times the index was advised The longest and average execution times for the queries that generated the index advise The

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• Cut the Gordian Knot

  April 4, 2012 Hey, Ted

  I just love those BIFs that IBM added to RPG. I can’t understand why anybody would use old RPG op codes instead of the BIFs. But I’ve run into a brick wall with %SUBST. Help! –Vince Allow me to explain Vince’s situation. He was assigned to revise a program someone else had written. The program reads a list of the file names in a certain directory on their network, and has to do other processing depending on file name extension (the part of the name following the last period). Here’s a program similar to the one that Vince had to

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• Index Advisor, Part 1

  April 4, 2012 Paul Tuohy

  The use of SQL within our applications is on the increase. After a shaky start in the early days of the AS/400, SQL has gone from strength to strength with every release of the operating system. The use of embedded SQL (in RPG) stabilized with V5R1 and really came into its own when free-form SQL was introduced in V5R4 and PTFed back to V5R3. But with SQL, and embedded SQL especially, there is always that lingering doubt about SQL performance when accessing data. We have all heard horror stories about the lights in the building dimming when a certain program

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• Admin Alert: Readers Check in on Four Simple Rules for PTFs

  April 4, 2012 Joe Hertvik

  After posting my March 21st article on Four Simple Rules for PTF Management, I received so much good information from our readers on PTFs that I decided to pass it along in this follow-up column. Here’s some additional tips and techniques on PTF management that might make it easier to apply PTF fixes on your IBM i machines. Q: When does IBM refresh a Cume PTF package? A: Never Reader Richard Shearwood wrote in with this piece of information about whether IBM corrects cumulative PTF packages containing bad PTFs after the package is released. IBM never refreshed a cume

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• Just When Do IBM i PTFs Get Applied, Anyway?

  March 28, 2012 Hey, Joe

  Our management has our operators apply cumulative PTFs (CUME) with no regard to when the system will be IPLed. They load the CUME, and the system may not be IPLed until a few weeks later. The managers believe that no PTFs are applied until after the IPL. I think that some PTFs are applied immediately, while others wait for the IPL. What’s the real story on how PTFs are applied? –Dave This is an interesting question. For most shops, PTFs aren’t usually applied until you IPL the system. But in some situations, eligible CUME PTFs can be applied immediately, depending

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• Down with Dependence!

  March 28, 2012 Ted Holt

  ACME Software has just released version 1.0 of the DWIM (Do What I Mean) utility. Placing the DWIM command in your CL programs (or calling the program counterpart from programs written in other languages) will solve all your problems, because the computer will stop doing what you tell it to do and do what you intended for it to do instead. Before you start adding calls to DWIM to your programs, you might want to ponder a few questions. What if ACME Software goes out of business and stops supporting DWIM? What if a competitor comes out with something even

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• A Couple of RSE Quickies

  March 28, 2012 Paul Tuohy

  Believe it or not, there are a few features of RSE that I do not use on a daily basis. When working on my own system, my own projects, and my own development environment, I know where everything is and how to navigate it. But (and I know you are going to find this hard to believe) there are some people who do not share my views on such things as where sources should be kept and, even more shockingly, I have to adapt to their standards when I am working on their systems. Is there no justice? Here are

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• Four Simple Rules For IBM i PTF Management

  March 21, 2012 Joe Hertvik

  Talking with an IBM Business Partner this week, the conversation turned to PTF management and the best ways for managing cumulative PTFs. Inspired by this talk, I came up with these four simple rules for a good PTF management strategy. Rule 1: Don’t Let Your PTFs Age A lot of shops only apply PTFs when they upgrade their hardware, but many (or most) shops are also frequently upgrading their application software. Frequent application changes can create new processing situations that test the limits of a partition’s Licensed Internal Code (LIC) and operating system fixes. In a rapidly changing applications environment,

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