Manage unattended backups using Robot/SAVE and your AML.

Written by Tom Huntington

The IBM TS3500 can automatically load, unload, and eject tape volumes to provide an automated backup solution for IBM i servers. Yet, how many people can actually run this hardware unattended? Do your operators still start the process manually? Do they have to manually determine how to eject tapes and which tapes are available for daily backups?

Use this open-source tool to view from one screen all the stats about CPU utilization, disk and network I/O, kernel performance, and more!

Written by Max Hetrick

The very handy nmon utility measures live system-performance statistics on Linux, as well as gathers system information and details. The nmon project was originally an internal IBM project for monitoring AIX systems but has since been released under the GPL open-source license. The tool's original project page can be browsed from IBM's Web site. This tip looks at nmon from the Linux angle.

How many different collections do you run?

Written by Tom Huntington

One of my favorite parts of visiting with customers for Help/Systems is asking them what tools they're using and what they would like to have. When I ask people what they use for collecting disk space information, I get several answers.

Trying to find a reliable, centralized tape-management solution?

Written by Tom Huntington

Does your IBM i tape-tracking solution handle your tape-management needs? Are you satisfied with the tape integrity across your partitions? Could your operators write over volumes that contain active data? Are you happy with the reliability of your solution and its reporting capabilities? Can you provide a single report for your off-site storage vendor, documenting all of the volumes that are arriving to and leaving from the data center during the current business day? Does your solution work with your automated backup solution?

If you use your IBM i as an LDAP server, you'll love this tip that provides a simple command to keep that server synchronized.

Written by Joe Pluta

I love learning new ways to use my i. I've been programming the midrange for over 30 years now, and I'm still learning new capabilities of the platform. For me, the most recent was the capability of the IBM i to act as a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server.

Robot/SCHEDULE makes programmers productive and happy.

Written by Tom Huntington

To automate any platform, you need batch commands and scripts. Every programmer calls programs and passes parameters to them. For most tasks, another task must run first. Data must be pushed or pulled from a different server in the network. Documentation is necessary to determine the impact of changing an application.

ManageEngine offers licensed utilities to assist the IT administrator in network, server, application, and desktop management, but many apps are also free.

Written by Max Hetrick

ManageEngine is a commercial software management provider that offers many tools and utility suites to assist IT administrators in managing networks and software on Windows desktops. ManageEngine is owned by Zoho Corporation, which is commonly known for providing business and productivity applications. Although much of ManageEngine's software is licensed, the company also offers a free downloads section.

How many tasks do you run through Robot/SCHEDULE?

Written by Tom Huntington

How many jobs or tasks do you launch each day through your job scheduler? Have you been able to reduce your run book? Do you work with end users to bring more into your scheduling solution? Do you allow staff members to use the WRKJOBSCDE command? (My suggestion is to lock down or deactivate WRKJOBSCDE; it only causes problems.) Do you need to run tasks on other machines besides IBM i servers?