There's something for everyone in the new release, whether you're a developer or a user who just runs the occasional report.
Last week's announcement of upgrades to i5/OS in V6R1 will have users, developers, and IBM salespeople smiling for months.
The improvements to all aspects of the operating system, which of course includes middleware and database, were extensive. While my MC Press Online colleagues will explain changes in virtualization and development tools in their articles in this and subsequent issues as well as in our other publications, I will focus on an overview of the high availability and database enhancements.
At a glance, these include the following:
- High availability solutions
- Storage
- Security
- DB2 and Web Query
- OmniFind
- System i Access for Windows, Linux, and the Web
- Performance tools
High Availability
Users have a choice of high availability (HA) solutions from IBM under V6R1. If they want a turnkey solution from Big Blue, the company offers two avenues: one that is disk-based and one that is software-based.
With V6R1, High Availability Solutions Manager (HASM) for the System i gives users the first end-to-end native i5/OS high-availability solution on the market. It is optimized for independent auxiliary storage pool (IASP) solutions, so applications and data must be deployed using IASPs.
HASM is a high-availability solution for the System i that enables a complete hardware-based clustering solution for HA and disaster recovery. Similar to the HACMP product for AIX, HASM with cross-site mirroring allows solutions to be deployed using the DS8000 storage server or internal disk. It also offers a choice of three separate monitoring and administration tools that give administrators the ability to configure and manage HA solutions. Two of these tools are GUIs deployed by IBM Systems Director, and one is a command-line interface. One of the GUIs is for small business environments, where the business is using a single IASP, and the other is a task-based Cluster Resource Services GUI for any environment.
The interfaces invoke cross-site mirroring that manage native i5/OS replication, both synchronous (using Metro Mirror) and asynchronous (global mirroring) replication on the DS8000 storage. HASM also provides a means of creating a snapshot of the DS8000 server with FlashCopy. (Note that some of these enhancements won't be available until later this year; the GUI won't ship until June, and global mirroring is planned for September. Both will be delivered by PTF.)
IBM presents the HASM solution as a more robust and flexible one than conventional software implementations and says that it is designed for environments where role-swapping is done on a regular and frequent basis or where someone just wants a simple-to-manage solution. Anyone who has deployed, or is planning to deploy, an IASP-based HA solution is a potential user.
Although IBM is, and always has been, a big proponent of hardware-based solutions, it realizes that software solutions are more appealing to many people, largely because they often are less expensive. Thus, IBM also is offering that approach here for people who want a solution based on journaling.
DataMirror iCluster for the System i presumably is technology that arrived last year with IBM's acquisition of the Canadian firm of the same name, a longtime player in the high-availability and data-replication market. The portfolio consists of a product called iCluster, a logical replication solution based on i5/OS journaling. It is for larger enterprises, whereas iCluster SMB is for smaller organizations with simpler requirements. An optional feature with either is a product called iBalance that performs bi-directional replication and workload balancing. For those companies that are committed to a storage area network (SAN), rather than an IASP, this is the way to go. HASM isn't designed for SANs.
With iCluster, users also get a GUI administrator for configuring the high-availability environment remotely either through a PC or a Web browser. They can even integrate high-availability functions into existing batch routines using the included WebSphere middleware and green-screen menu interface. The nice features about this solution are that it offers high-speed replication capabilities that can scale as well as workload balancing tools to allow splitting users between two systems who are working on one application.
V6R1 also has enhancements to remote journaling to improve notification and reduce the risk of losing journal entries.
Storage
IBM is introducing a new dual-port IOA Fibre Channel adapter (card) on the model i570 running V6R1 that essentially gives the System i access to remote storage at speeds comparable to those achieved with internal storage. The adapters come in PCIe and PCI-X flavors and use a rearchitected System i pathlink to enhance Power6 Fibre Channel I/O subsystem characteristics (the new one is the PCI-X adapter). You can mix tape and disk on the same Fibre Channel adapter, depending on the tape library, but performance could take a hit. IBM will expand the number of compatible tape libraries throughout this year.
The new IOA Fibre Channel adapters not only are faster than the older IOP-based ones but can reduce the number of needed PCI slots. Another benefit of the new adapter is its ability to connect the System i to the DS4700 and DS4800 storage products, accomplished through the V6R1 enhanced Virtual I/O Server (VIOS). These drives are faster than SATA drives and less expensive than enterprise storage options.
Other model firmware enhancements are designed to improve availability by introducing hot failover of service processors and other modifications. The new system also now supports the 282GB 15k rpm SCSI disk. Compare that to your old 7200 rpm SATA disks and see which one wins!
Another system enhancement now available on the i570, but likely to be rolled out elsewhere, is a new intelligent power distribution unit that collects system information and helps data center administrators manage the increasingly expensive and, I'm told, increasingly hard-to-get commodity known as electricity.
Security
Security enhancements include encrypted backups to tape or virtual tape device and encryption of data stored on disk. These new features can help users meet regulatory requirements while helping to protect information. Enhancements to Intrusion Detection Support include a GUI interface to the IDS policy file that works on both V6R1 and V5R4 IDS files, which is a step up from the green-screen editing of IDS required on V5R4. There are a dozen or more enhancements to the IDS function in V6R1. Also upgraded is cryptographic key management that allows a user to manage master keys and keystore files containing user keys through new functions in System i Navigator and Systems Director Navigator. Backup and recovery for master keys is now available through the save system operation.
DB2 and Web Query
DB2 for i5/OS in V6R1 has improved overall performance across the various client interfaces. The SQL Query Engine now supports user-defined table functions and national language sort sequence, and you can create indexes with derived values with SQL. New SQL support includes new tools for applications that require data summarization, such as data warehousing.
There is also a new numerical data type called decimal float with attributes of both decimal and floating point that IBM says improves performance and is intended to enhance accuracy. (See the IEEE specification 754R for more on this.) There are a number of new database functions that have been added to DB2 that are too numerous to detail here. However, we will point out that limits are increased by longer cursor and statement names and the number of columns that can be used in a GROUP BY. Additions to the On-Demand Performance Center and Health Center include a view of database-specific application limits as well as how close a given application is to reaching them. There are also several enhancements to CL with a half-dozen new commands that can make life easier for a database administrator.
Other MC Press Online authors will cover the changes affecting application development, but suffice it to say that ILE precompilers now enable source code to be in a stream file, giving developers more flexibility in how source code is organized and stored. With the support of variable scoping in the ILE RPG precompiler, RPG applications can more easily integrate SQL with current native database access. The ILE COBOL precompiler adds support for the NATIONAL type variable for easier handling of variables and Unicode data.
With regard to DB2 Web Query, there are more changes in licensing than there are in functionality as the program is brand new. Companies can optimize the cost of user licenses by having fewer report authors than run-time users. It's also possible to create specific groups of users, say by company department, and reduce licensing costs that way. The feature is called Run Time User Enablement, and opting for it can save money over having just the base product, in which every user is individually named. It's suitable for companies that have a higher percentage of users who just need to run reports rather than create them.
Enhancements to the older Query for i5/OS include the ability to extract files used in a query definition and display or print the results using the Display Program References (DSPPGMREF) command. There is also back-end query support for decimal float data type, but with a limited number of functions. Users can no longer order the application by itself for either V5R4 or V6R1, but it is shipped with DB2 Web Query for System i when that's ordered for either version.
OmniFind
IBM has a number of versions of its enterprise search tool called OmniFind, and with V6R1 it introduces OmniFind Text Search Server for DB2 for i5/OS. The tool delivers full-text document searching in DB2. It allows the user to select a DB2 record based on the text of one or more documents stored in the record itself. Documents stored in DB2 are indexed with a search server, which is in turn stored in the file system. When you do a search for a stored document, the index is used to find the document, saving time and resources. The tool returns any records that match the search expression.
The tool is considered "entry level" because of how easy it is to use. The point is to expand what is stored in the database beyond IT out to knowledge workers who can use the information to perform their jobs better. The application delivers improved semantic search and offers a framework for social search.
Document types that are supported include XML, HTML, RTF, JustSystems Ichitaro, Lotus 123, Freelance, WordPro, Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and PDF. A text index can be created over any character or binary data column.
Text search support offers a set of stored procedures and two built-in functions, CONTAINS and SCORES, that can be used to search documents stored in DB2 tables. Administrative procedures enable and disable text searching and create, update, and drop text indexes.
System i Access for Windows, Linux, and the Web
V6R1 provides a string of enhancements for users who want to access data on the System i from elsewhere, including Windows or Linux machines or even from home through a Web browser.
System i Access for Windows now offers .NET Data Provider support for ADO .NET 2.0, support for Microsoft Installer Package technology, PC5250 V5.9, IPv6 support for communications functions, and improvements to ODBC, OLE DB, and data transfer.
System i Access for Web under V6R1 includes charting of SQL results into scalable vector graphics (SVG) format; enhanced access to printer output; support for sorting column data in ascending, descending, and unsorted order; Authentication of System i Access for Web tasks; automation and scheduling of some System i Access for Web tasks; and a WebSphere Portal application that implements the Java Specification Request (JSR) for more than 150 portlets.
The System i Access for Linux implementation under V6R1 provides support for the remote command Unicode API, IPv6 support for ODBC, remote command, and other utilities, as well as enhancements to ODBC.
Backup and recovery functions in V6R1 under Backup Recovery and Media Services (BRMS) for i5/OS have been enhanced with more than 20 new features, including the ability to view and print backup statistics in a report, encrypt saved data to both removable and archive media, save specific objects generically across many libraries, save private authorities at an object level, override control group policies. It also provides support for the FlashCopy environment and support for missing object control groups and multiple job save-while-active functions. There are a number of recovery and media services enhancements as well. As mentioned, new storage space snapshots can improve system availability by backing up virtual i5/OS, AIX, Linux, and Windows environments while active.
Network enhancements to BRMS include the ability to choose the network communications method, support for IPv6 TCP/IP interfaces, and multiple TCP/IP interfaces, including virtual and physical interfaces. A number of functions were added to or changed in the BRMS GUI.
Performance Tools
V6R1 includes enhancements to performance data collection provided by the operating system and enhancements for visualizing performance data. In the new Systems Director Navigator, users can collect Job Watcher and Disk Watcher performance data as part of the operating system. Some of the tools are included in the base operating system, and others are optional features.
More to Come
The features that we have outlined here just scratch the surface of the enhancements and improvements in V6R1, and over the next few weeks and months MC Press Online will continue to bring you articles that go into even greater detail on each of these general areas.
More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.
TRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now! Request Now.
Forms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.
Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:
Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.
IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn:
LATEST COMMENTS
MC Press Online