With this text search server, you can locate documents that contain specific search strings in Excel, Word, PDF, PowerPoint, etc.

By Gene Cobb

V6R1 of the IBM i operating system introduced many exciting new features, including numerous DB2 for i enhancements. One such enhancement that has flown somewhat under the radar is the IBM OmniFind Text Search Server for DB2 for i. This new product gives you the power to perform both basic and sophisticated text searching against data that is stored in your DB2 for i database tables. This article introduces this new technology and shows you how to set it up and use it in your environment.

HiT Software's snappy Ritmo/i middleware makes accessing the IBM i a pleasure, say loyal customers.

By Chris Smith

If you're a .NET programmer developing applications that need to access data in DB2 for i, you might be concerned that the middleware you're using to reach that data will slow things up so much that performance will suffer.

Several products out there work faster than ODBC or JDBC in accessing DB2 data from .NET applications, and this writer has featured them in the past.

Initial installation of the low-cost BI solution based on DB2 Web Query running on IBM i is ready for user-acceptance testing.

By Chris Smith

The first installation of Smart i, a new and bold business intelligence utilization of a Power System server running IBM i, has just been completed in Los Angeles and is now undergoing final user-acceptance testing. The degree to which these early adopters feel comfortable working with the DB2 Web Query-based solution could affect sales of IBM i Power Systems servers for years to come.

Do you need a DBA for DB2 for i? Maybe more than you realize.

By Mike Cain

As I travel around the world engaging clients, one question that I am always asked is "Do we need a DBA"? Sometimes, the question takes the form of apparent confusion, such as, "We have an SQL Server DBA. We have an Oracle DBA. Why don't we have a DB2 for i DBA"? In other situations, I hear clients, business partners, and IBMers proudly state, "You don't need a DBA"!

With this article, I hope to illuminate the many facets of the DBA question and, more importantly, make the case for why you should seriously consider adding or retaining someone who focuses on DB2 for i.

LANSA's Open for .NET solution is designed to help make integrating Microsoft applications and IBM data a trouble-free experience.

By Chris Smith

Ever roll into work and think you're actually in Gabon on the set of Survivor? Everyone has his little tribe, and no one thinks anyone else is contributing enough to justify their existence?

Think of the IBM i tribe as the red tribe, Fang. Think of the Microsoft .NET tribe as the yellow tribe, Kota. They wrestle, they compete, they try to survive on limited resources. If this describes your world, you may long for the good old days when there was but one tribe, the AS/400 tribe. Those days are over, however, so you might as well accept that there are now two tribes in Gabon. Do you want to compete, or do you want to get along?

Search the library list when accessing and querying a referenced database object such as a physical file or SQL view.

By Gene Cobb

In a previous article titled "Maximize SQL Query Engine (SQE) Usage of Your DB2 Web Query Reports," I explained how you could utilize various techniques available on the System i to influence database optimization behavior for DB2 Web Query requests. That article relied upon the use of the QIBM_QSQ_CLI_CONNECT exit program to take a specific (program-defined) action. In this article, I'll show you another way to take advantage of this exit point when using DB2 Web Query.

Learn how to exploit enhanced BLOB/CLOB support, SQL XML data type, and better connection management.

By Jarek Miszczyk

If you were, like me, watching closely the evolution of the JDBC specification, you probably noticed how it morphed from a rudimentary data access object model to a mature, function-rich programming interface. Typically, the Rochester development lab does a pretty good job in providing robust, JDBC-compliant drivers that you can use to access DB2 for i from Java applications. This tradition is continued with the latest version of DB2 for i drivers, which implement a host of JDBC 4.0 enhancements.

Now it's much easier to understand QSQSRVR usage and isolate QSQSRVR-related problem domains and origins.

By Scott Forstie

IBM DB2 for i customers are accustomed to seeing SQL server mode job activity, otherwise known as QSQSRVR prestart jobs, in the QSYSWRK subsystem. Over time, customer applications, third-party software, and IBM middleware have increased the use of SQL server mode. A consequence of this broad use is that it has become increasingly difficult to start with a specific QSQSRVR job and find its application owner.

This article describes some recent improvements to V5R4M0 and V6R1M0 that make it downright simple to pinpoint the application job that holds the connection to the QSQSRVR as well as the thread identifier within the application job that was the last user of the SQL server mode connection for the specific QSQSRVR job.