CDP provides the easiest and most effective protection against the loss of critical business data.

By Chris Thomas

Editor's Note: This article is an excerpt from the white paper "Benefits of CDP Technology in i5/OS and AIX Environments," which you can download free from the MC White Paper Center.

Downtime and data loss pose intolerable risks to every business. From IT departments to the boardroom, managers understand that business uptime and data protection relate directly to productivity and profitability. This article explains effective strategies and technologies to protect data and to provide fast recovery should data be lost or corrupted due to accident or malicious action.

In this 2009 update of one of MC Press Online's most popular ever articles, learn how you too can have amazing superpowers.

By Greg Hintermeister

When I was young, I used to fantasize about having superpowers. Even after I had learned the laws of physics, I still yearned for the abilities to fly, to become invisible, and to travel through time. After becoming a systems management professional, I had to accept reality and put away my dreams of wielding superpowers.

PTF processing has gotten more complex, but the tools have gotten better as well.

By Joe Pluta

Unless you're running one of the old beige boxes in a closet somewhere (and don't kid yourself, some of those still exist), then PTFs are the lifeblood of your system. PTFs for the i are a bit different than for most of the rest of the world; they're not the necessary evil of the Windows world, where you need to constantly apply fixes just to keep your machine from dying a horrible death and taking your business with it. Instead, they're usually more of a force for good, providing additional features and better performance, especially for the more advanced capabilities such as Web applications and relational database access.

When investigating clustering technology, embrace the Vision.

By Thomas M. Stockwell

Last month, Vision Solutions announced the integration of its Vision Cluster1 solution with IBM's Systems Director Navigator.

Cluster1 is Vision Solutions' unique cluster management solution for System i, but many customers are still a bit confused about the differences between the use of clusters on the System i and the traditional use of clusters in the UNIX or Linux environment. 

Thomas M. Stockwell, on behalf of MC Press Online, conducted an interview with Craig Johnson, Vice President for Research and Development at Vision Solutions, investigating how the Vision Cluster1 solution addresses these concerns.

Tune SQL performance using the System i Navigator's GUI.

By Jarek Miszczyk

The graphical interface used to manage all aspects of System i operations has recently quite dramatically evolved. In addition to the traditional Windows client, you now have the ability to perform most of the tasks through a Web browser. Although System i Access for Web has quite impressive functionality, certain areas are still best served by the "traditional" Windows-based client. As of V6R1, professionals who are charged with DB2 administration will probably continue to rely on the rich functionality provided by the System i Navigator for Windows when it comes to DB2 management and performance tuning.

Data volumes grow constantly, even when business is slow. Keeping storage and processing optimized today can save your skin when business booms.

By Chris Thomas

Editor's note: This article provides a summary insight into the 12-page, 5000-word whitepaper System i Optimization Best Practices. The full white paper can be accessed for free by clicking here.

One of the most frustrating aspects of managing systems is the natural yet unfair lack of connection between business volumes and your workload. When economies drag and sales sag, businesses universally look for places to clip budgets.