Hot News

Fast Track Your Commands with a Subshell

Anthony English — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:21:00 GMT

One way of leveraging the shell is to run a subshell. That's simply getting a parent process to kick off a child process, wait for the result and do something with it. This tip gives you three examples which I've found handy on the command line. You can probably think of many others.

AIX Product Manager Reveals Method Behind AIX Technology Levels and Service Packs Madness

Chris Maxcer — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:39:00 GMT

For a peek inside IBM’s thinking around how the company rolls out AIX fixes like Technology Levels and Service Packs, Jay Kruemcke, AIX product manager at IBM for Power Systems, posted an explanation on his The secret product manager blog site.

Kruemcke says he’s been getting a few questions about the fix and update process, such as, “Why does a new Service Pack come out at the same time as a new Technology Level?”

How to Understand Big Data in a Flash

Anthony English — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:01:00 GMT

If you're wondering what all the “Big Data” buzz is all about, you have to read IBM’s Big Data FlashBook. It's a great explanation about cost-effective solutions to the three Vs that are the characteristics of big data: volume, variety, and velocity.

Rough Guide to Built-in AIX Performance Monitoring Tools

Mel Beckman — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:18:00 GMT

AIX has more than the usual suite of performance monitoring tools. You'll find common Unix tools, such as fuser, ps, sar, tcpdump, and the like, as well as many AIX-unique utilities. Here is a rough guide to the tools you should keep near to hand when trouble requires shooting.

Power Systems Continue to 10-count HP and Oracle, Plus IBM Beats Street in 4Q11

Chris Maxcer — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:06:00 GMT

IBM released its 4Q11 financial report last week, and while the company beat Wall Street’s expectations, its Systems & Technology segment offered up mixed results: Power Systems are still throwing devastating upper cuts to HP and Oracle/Sun while the mainframe business took a nap.

Size Up Your Disks in AIX

Anthony English — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:11:00 GMT

If your AIX environment has disks of different sizes it can be difficult to keep track of just how big each one is. Of course, you can use the lspv command, but only for the Physical Volumes (disks) that are members of active Volume Groups (VGs). If you want to check the size of a disk even if it's not in a VG, use the getconf command.

IBM Posts Wicked Cool Power Systems Videos

Chris Maxcer — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 01:33:00 GMT

IBM has posted a pair of excellent new Power Systems-focused videos. One is about Watson tech for use in other industries than game shows, and the other is about Ersi migrating to IBM Power Systems for PowerVM for SAP applications. Both are worth the few minutes it takes to watch them. Get the sandwich ready and hit "Play."

IBM Promotes Power Systems Special Offers

Chris Maxcer — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:51:00 GMT

IBM has created an area of its site where it does a friendly job of highlighting its special offers and promotions, and this is the key: friendly. IBM’s announcement letters and Business Partner communications were all accurate and specific, but you really had to pay attention to figure out what was available and the basics for how it all worked.

How to Assign More Disk to rootvg in AIX

Anthony English — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:53:00 GMT

This tip shows you how to grow the existing disk in rootvg without any outage on the AIX logical partition. It's important to have enough spare disk in rootvg -- the AIX OS volume group -- as it contains critical file systems such as /, /usr, /var and /tmp. rootvg can also be used for paging space and system dump devices, as well as user file systems, so it's helpful to give it some head room. You may just need the extra disk space one day.

New Report Pits DB2 9.7 Against Oracle Database 11g for SAP Enterprise Migration

Chris Maxcer — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:29:00 GMT

I just saw a new management brief report available from IBM, “Value Proposition for IBM DB2 9.7: Cost/Benefit Case for SAP Enterprise Migrations,” and wow, it paints a pretty picture in favor of IBM and DB2 over the competition, specifically Oracle Database 11g.

Power Systems Part of IBM Deals with Five Banks in Kenya

Mark Donahue — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:39:00 GMT

IBM has announced details of five strategic agreements in the Kenyan financial services sector, with Power Systems among the technology being used to support growth, increase profitability, and launch new services such as mobile and internet banking.

Czech Republic's Largest Insurance Company Finds Efficiency on Power

Mark Donahue — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:06:00 GMT

IBM has announced that the largest insurance company in the Czech Republic, Česká pojišťovna a.s, is now relying on IBM software running on Power Systems to help prevent IT issues before they occur and to support its core business functions, such as claims processing and customer management.

Workload Simulation Tool Pits POWER Against Commodity Server Architectures

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 03:48:00 GMT

IBM has created a new tool to help reshape the perception of smarter computing, and it uses IBM Power Systems. The online, web-based tool is called the IBM Smarter Computing Workload Simulator, and it shows IT and business leaders how an architecture based on IBM Power Systems can be massively more cost-effective than one that uses commodity servers in a scale-out nightmare architecture strategy.

Turkish Conglomerate Taps Power Systems for IT Infrastructure

Mark Donahue — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 01:28:00 GMT

Zorlu Group, a leading Turkish conglomerate that produces everything from yarn to LCD televisions, is turning to IBM to manage its increasingly complex and expanding IT infrastructure. A new multi-million dollar, seven-year agreement, which was signed in March, 2011, calls for IBM to manage Zorlu's server infrastructure, networks, and manufacturing software using Power Systems, among other technology. This new agreement follows a five-year services contract between the two companies.

Slovak Academy of Science Selects Power Systems for Supercomputing Project

Mark Donahue — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:58:00 GMT

IBM has announced that the Slovak Academy of Science has chosen Power Systems technology to launch a high-performance computing project in Slovakia. Working with local business partner DATALAN, IBM will provide a 96 teraflop supercomputer based on IBM’s Power 775 and 755 systems and DS5300 storage.

Tuning for 10G

Mel Beckman — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:16:00 GMT

When exploiting the massive consolidation resources of IBM's newest Power 6 & 7 systems, the most common resource to run out of first is network capacity. Unlike CPU and memory capacity, which can scale by a factor of 100 or more, network capacity can only increase by a factor of 10, from 1G to 10G Ethernet. Given this upper boundary on a single Ethernet channel, it's critical that you tune your system—and your network—to make efficient use of this resource.

Server Shipments, Revenue, and POWER All Rise Modestly in Third Quarter

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:58:00 GMT

Worldwide server revenue increased around 5 percent in the third quarter of 2011, according to similar reports from Gartner and IDC. According to Gartner, revenue came in at 5.2 percent while IDC reported 4.2 percent. For shipments, Gartner sees a 7 percent increase while IDC noted a unit shipment increase of 4 percent.

Bundle a Directory Structure into an ISO Image

Anthony English — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:36:00 GMT

One of the best keep secrets about PowerVM is the ability to create a directory structure in ISO format and share it around using the VIOS Virtual Media Repository. The mkdvd and mkcd commands are better known for creating mksysbs, but you can really use them for any directory structure -- here's how to do it.

Managing Data Centers Much More Than Managing Operating Systems

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:20:00 GMT

We’re in for a treat come Thursday when Greg Hintermeister, who happens to be an IBM Master Inventor (coolest title ever), shows us how to manage our Power/AIX environments with IBM Systems Director at our Power IT Pro virtual event.

In the description of his session, he mentions that managing a data center is a lot harder than managing just operating systems -- successful administrators have to manage server hardware, how it's virtualized, how network and storage are integrated, plus the operating systems running the workloads. But Hintermeister will show you how to manage all of these layers by focusing on just five key areas. And what are those areas? I reached out to Hintermeister to find out.

IT Professionals Believe Watson Technology will Transform Multiple Industries

Mark Donahue — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 01:46:00 GMT

Developers around the world believe IBM Watson’s sophisticated analytics capabilities will transform industries that are managing massive amounts of data, according to the 2011 IBM Tech Trends Report released today. Survey respondents selected education and health care as the areas that could benefit the most, with financial services, life sciences, and government also ranking near the top.

Hands-On with AIX 7 on Tap for Thursday

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 01:01:00 GMT

With Thursday sprinting toward us, I reached out to Rob McNelly, an expert with IBM’s AIX 7, among lots more -- he is an IBM Certified Advanced Technical Expert (CATE), after all. And what’s so important about Thursday?

Thursday is the day we broadcast our Power IT Pro virtual conference (it’s free, btw). Among 8 Power-packed sessions and a virtual exhibit hall, McNelly is delivering, “Hands-On with AIX 7.”

Beckman on Linux on Power at Virtual Event Next Week

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 01:02:00 GMT

Mel Beckman, our senior technical director for Power IT Pro, will be delivering just one of many free sessions on Power System tips and technology next week during our Power IT Pro Virtual Conference. We’re pretty excited about the event, mostly because we know it’s jam-packed with excellence. (And you can’t beat the price!) Of course, topics: IBM Senior Engineer Jim Mitchell will outline IBM’s Power Systems strategy and directions in the keynote, followed by a hands-on with AIX 7 session by Rob McNelly.

Blocking SSH for individual users

Mel Beckman — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 23:57:00 GMT

The SSH service gives users command-line access to your system, and thus is one that should be closely guarded. Even if users have limited authority, some known exploits can take advantage of even a non-privileged account to escalate privileges to root level.

Logicalis Earns Two IBM Cloud Specialty Designations

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:31:00 GMT

Logicalis, an international provider of integrated information and communications technology (ICT) solutions and services has reported that it has earned two Cloud Specialty designations from IBM. IBM’s Cloud Specialty designations provide a way to identify and honor those solution providers that have proven their competency with IBM solutions in cloud environments.

Lead411 Ranks Connectria Hosting Among Top 200 Fastest Growing Tech Companies

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:22:00 GMT

Lead411 has ranked Connectria Hosting, a global managed hosting company, as one of the top 200 fastest growing, U.S. based, and privately held technology companies.

Seton Healthcare Chooses New Power Systems-based IBM Analytics Solution

Mark Donahue — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:31:00 GMT

IBM has introduced new software for the health care industry to help health care providers improve patient care and potentially reduce costs. The new software offering uses content analytics optimized to run on Power Systems. Seton Healthcare Family is the first client to adopt and use the technology, called IBM Content and Predictive Analytics for Healthcare. Seton intends to focus the new content and predictive analytics solution on the root causes of hospital readmissions and ways it can decrease preventable multiple hospital visits.

Shell Scripting for the HMC

Anthony English — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 22:56:00 GMT

If you manage a few IBM Power Systems via a Hardware Management Console (HMC), you're probably very familiar with the user-friendly HMC browser. But if you want to run a command for several Power Systems, navigating through the browser menu for each one can be a little cumbersome. For some tasks you may prefer to use the HMC command line interface (CLI). You can connect to the CLI using Secure Shell (SSH) and what's even better is that you can then write a shell script to call HMC commands. That shell script could be written on AIX using the shell of your choosing. This can simplify your job when you want to run tasks on several Power Systems or schedule a task on the HMC instead of running it interactively.

Power Systems Lead IBM Hardware Profit in 3Q 2011

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:01:00 GMT

IBM reported another stellar quarter for its Power Systems line: In the third quarter of 2011, Power Systems accounted for 15 percent revenue growth over the same quarter last year, plus continued to hound HP and Oracle/Sun with 250 new competitive takeouts.

IBM Makes Big Power Announcements: Hardware, Software, Cloud

Mark Donahue — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:46:00 GMT

IBM made a slew of announcements last week for Power Systems during its Power Tech University conference, which saw everything from Power box upgrades to a Starter Kit for Cloud on Power to a new version of Rational Developer for Power Systems Software, among others. Read on to get the full details.

Top 10 AIX Commands

Mel Beckman — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:15:00 GMT

Whether you're a newly minted AIX administrator or a gray-bearded RS/6000 guru, you likely know that AIX isn't your granddad's Unix. Although standard Unix shell commands, such as ls and grep, work fine under AIX, IBM developers often took the road less traveled when developing commands for administering hardware or low-level OS functions. Thus AIX includes hundreds of commands that perform functions unique to the AIX Power platform—commands you won't find in other Unix systems, such as Linux or BSD.

IBM Wants to Change Shopping, Power Systems Provide Foundation

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 22:57:00 GMT

As builds out its Smarter Commerce initiative, the company is using a mix of new software and hardware solutions to turn its vision into reality for the company’s clients. At the heart of some of these efforts are POWER7-based Power Systems, like the ones used by Staples. IBM has also unveiled new cloud and on-premise offerings -- here are the basics. . . .

Solid-State Storage Tech in High Demand, IBM Survey Says

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 22:24:00 GMT

IBM today released the findings of a customer survey that demonstrates pent-up demand for solid-state disk technology as a successor to flash and hard-disk drives. IBM reports that customers are embracing high-performance solid-state disks to support growing data storage demands driven by cloud computing and analytics technologies.

India’s Escorts Group Chooses POWER Over Oracle’s Exadata and HP Itanium

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 22:08:00 GMT

Escorts Group, one of India’s leading engineering conglomerates, is adopting a workload-optimized solution based on IBM’s Power 750 Express and Power 740 Express to replace the company’s existing ERP system infrastructure. IBM reports that the advanced systems will provide enhanced performance and compliment the company’s business growth goals of lowering overall IT operating costs.

SMIT Keyboard Shortcuts

Anthony English — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:07:00 GMT

One of the most popular features of AIX is the Systems Management Interface Tool, better known as SMIT. SMIT is an interactive menu-based system which can be used for almost all systems management tasks. That makes SMIT an indispensable tool for AIX sys admins. Although many people use SMIT every day, they're not always aware of the keyboard shortcuts which can really save keystrokes and time. Here are a few of the most helpful ones. . . .

SkyView Partners Releases AIX Version of Policy Monitoring Solution

Linda Harty — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 23:32:00 GMT

SkyView Partners, a long-time security vendor in the IBM i space, is branching into the AIX world. Skyview President Carol Woodbury explained the details in a press release: "AIX is a new platform for SkyView and we are excited to show the AIX community a new way of addressing security compliance and administration."

WellPoint, IBM Announce Agreement to Put Watson to Work in Health Care

Mark Donahue — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:22:00 GMT

WellPoint, Inc., and IBM have agreed to create the first commercial applications of the IBM Watson technology. WellPoint will develop and launch Watson-based solutions to help improve patient care through the delivery of up-to-date, evidence-based health care for millions of Americans. IBM will develop the base Watson healthcare technology on which WellPoint's solution will run.

IBM Rolls Out Smarter Commerce on Power Systems Solution, Boosts Performance of Staples Website

Mark Donahue — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 20:36:00 GMT

As part of this week's IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit, IBM has introduced a hardware and software solution designed to help retailers quickly turn customer insight into action and potentially increase sales revenues. The Smarter Commerce on Power Systems solution focuses on tightly integrating systems based on IBM POWER7 processor technology and WebSphere Commerce software to provide high-volume retailers with the ability to personalize their customers’ online shopping experiences, handle online sales surges during peak shopping seasons without loss of performance, and integrate customer buying information across all sales channels.

How Big Is that File?

Anthony English — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 21:50:00 GMT

There are a few ways of checking the size of a file. Knowing them can be especially helpful if you’re planning to move files to a new file system or are working out how much disk space you need for a copy or a backup.

Linoma Software Adds Forward Proxy Support to Network Security Solution

Linda Harty — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 02:40:00 GMT

Linoma Softwareannounces the release of GoAnywhere Gateway version 1.1, a bidirectional proxy solution that safeguards customer networks when exchanging data with external systems. GoAnywhere Gateway is a software-only solution typically installed in a customer's demilitarized zone (DMZ) or public-facing network.

Linoma Software Updates Secure File Server Application

Linda Harty — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 02:35:00 GMT

Linoma Software announces the 2.5 release of GoAnywhere Services, a secure file server application that lets trading partners connect and exchange data using standard and secure protocols.

AIX for Mission Critical Computing, Linux for Everything Else?

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 01:45:00 GMT

“A lot of companies that were typically Unix shops were trying to do their IT work and they had no budget because times were really tough,” Gillen explains. “Linux emerged as a solution and was pretty widely used by a lot of Unix shops, and customers got experience with it. And over the last decade, Linux has matured significantly. If you want to put one big generic label on what happened to the average Unix shop is that over time, they are becoming Linux shops.”

Banks in Growth Markets Turn to IBM Power Systems

Mark Donahue — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 23:30:00 GMT

IBM has announced details of several major deals in the financial services industry as part of a move by banks to improve operational efficiency and benefit from recent advances in mobile and Internet technologies by leveraging Power Systems technology.

Catch an Encore Presentation of Watson on Jeopardy!

Mark Donahue — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 23:16:00 GMT

This month, "Jeopardy!" will broadcast an encore presentation of the first-ever man vs. machine "Jeopardy!" competition between IBM’s “Watson” computing system and the show’s two greatest contestants, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.

Clone VIO Server Disk Using alt_root_vg

Anthony English — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 22:44:00 GMT

If you're planning to install fixes or filesets on your Virtual I/O (VIO) server, you can create a backup copy of the root volume group first using the VIO server command alt_root_vg. If your update of the VIO server fails for some reason, having the rootvg on an alternate disk provides a quick backout plan. If you need to, you can change the bootlist to use the backup disk and then reboot.

Power in Your Pocket: IBM Serves Up Mobile Apps for Power Systems

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 23:15:00 GMT

IBM has released a trio of mobile apps designed to help you find Power Systems details while out and about. The free Quick Reference for IBM Power Systems mobile app is now available for Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone, and in addition to server highlights, descriptions, and specifications, it provides mobile-friendly access to success stories, IBM’s social networks, and Power experts.

Skybot Software Releases Live Demo of Enterprise Job Scheduler for AIX Servers

Mark Donahue — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 23:02:00 GMT

Skybot Software has announced the release of a free live demo for Skybot Scheduler, its Web-based enterprise job scheduling and workload automation solution for Windows, UNIX (Solaris, AIX, HP-UX), and Linux servers.

How to List File Systems by Volume Group

Anthony English — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 23:00:00 GMT

Sometimes it's useful to be able to run a command just for the file systems in one volume group. You might want to do a file system backup or maybe check disk space for some file systems using df or du. Perhaps you'd like to search just for files that are in a data volume group, and you want to skip the OS file systems in rootvg. So, how do you go about getting the list of file systems you want?

Logicalis Expands Enterprise Cloud in Western U.S. with POWER7 Support

Mark Donahue — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 19:50:00 GMT

Logicalis has expanded its cloud footprint across the Western U.S., creating an extension of Logicalis’ current cloud data center infrastructure that includes support for POWER7 solutions. Logicalis has invested heavily into its cloud offerings over the past year, including more than $3 million into the development of the company’s westward expansion of its public cloud capabilities, as well as its continued focus on both private cloud design and hybrid cloud solutions.

BlueCross Completes Enterprise-wide Data Encryption with AIX in the Mix

Mark Donahue — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:47:00 GMT

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee has completed a $6 million effort to encrypt all at-rest data throughout its enterprise to increase the security around its members' personal information. The effort includes servers running AIX.

How to Mount a Subdirectory Using Name File Systems

Anthony English — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 02:16:00 GMT

If you need to present a directory as if it was a separate file system, you can use an AIX Name File System (NameFS). A NameFS is a pseudo-file system that lets you access a directory through two different path names. It also allows you to tweak the mount attributes of the NameFS mount.

Power Systems Take Out 250 Competitors, Up 12 Percent as IBM Beats Street in 2Q

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 02:17:00 GMT

IBM surprised Wall Street analysts with its strong across-the-board financial report for the second quarter of 2011, including a 12 percent gain for Power Systems. As Mark Loughridge, senior vice president and CFO of IBM finance and enterprise transformation, noted in his report to investors yesterday, IBM's overall 12 percent revenue growth was driven by IBM's transactional businesses in hardware and software. Plus, software growth was driven by key branded middleware, which was up 21 percent, and systems revenue was up 20 percent, with "strong performance in System z, Power, and System x servers."

IBM Power Systems Running Linux Outperform Competition on Benchmarks

Mark Donahue — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:50:00 GMT

IBM has announced benchmark results for Linux running on the IBM Power 730 Express, which bested comparable hardware platforms running Linux or Windows.

Speed File System Writes with JFS2 No Logging

Anthony English — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 01:51:00 GMT

If you have a large number of files to write to a file system, you can cut down the time it takes by turning off file system logging. This no logging feature was introduced in AIX 6.1 for Enhanced Journaled File Systems (JFS2). It can give you a much-needed performance boost and can come in handy when you want to copy or restore thousands of files into a file system. You could use this, for example, when you are migrating data to new storage.

POWER Takes University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to the Cloud

Mark Donahue — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:05:00 GMT

IBM today announced that the Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee selected IBM software and hardware, including POWER-based servers, to automate and consolidate its data center operations to enable a cloud-based service for delivering SAP-based courses to students.

Commercial Bank of Ethiopia Chooses Power Systems to Modernize, Support Launch of New Branches

Mark Donahue — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 21:53:00 GMT

IBM today announced details of a $3 million deal with the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) to support the bank in a major program of modernization and business expansion using Power Systems and other IBM hardware and software.

Gas Company Migrates SAP Apps Off Oracle and Onto DB2 on Power

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 21:35:00 GMT

Upper Silesian Gas Company, part of the Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) group, has migrated key SAP applications from Oracle database to a workload optimized system running IBM DB2 software on Power systems, IBM reports. As a result, the company has lowered its licensing and maintenance costs by double-digits and has slashed the amount of time it takes to back up critical business data by 50 percent.

How to Configure iSCSI on AIX Using the iSCSI Software Initiator

Chris Gibson — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 22:47:00 GMT

In this tip I’ll share one method of configuring iSCSI on AIX. We will use the AIX iSCSI software initiator, a virtual Ethernet adapter, a Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) and a NetApp storage device.

PowerVM vs VMware, Plus a Dose of Automation to Handle the Virtualization Tide

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 23:11:00 GMT

One of the cool things we get to do here at Power IT Pro is to extend our content -- it's not just articles -- out to everyone around the world. We do webcasts and events, and where they really shine is getting experts to condense the good stuff down into PowerPoint slides and then talk about it using natural language. Articles are great, don't get me wrong, but sometimes a more off-the-cuff explanation through the spoken word can help make something confusing surprisingly clear.

Configuring Tape Devices on AIX with NPIV and VIOS

Chris Gibson — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 23:07:00 GMT

This quick tip provides some insight into what to expect when configuring tape drives on AIX with Virtual Fibre Channel adapters, the Virtual I/O Server (VIOS), and NPIV.

Skybot Scheduler Adds Ability to Run Microsoft SQL Server Jobs and Remotely Launch Windows Applications

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 01:33:00 GMT

Skybot Software, a Help/Systems, LLC company, has released Skybot Scheduler 2.0 its Web-based enterprise scheduler and workload automation solution for AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, Windows, and Linux servers. Skybot Scheduler 2.0 now lets users integrate Microsoft SQL Server jobs into their enterprise schedule, as well as schedule and manage SQL Server jobs.

IBM POWER Microprocessors to Drive the New Nintendo Wii U System

Mark Donahue — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:58:00 GMT

IBM today announced that it will provide the microprocessors that will serve as the heart of the new Wii U system from Nintendo. The all-new, POWER-based microprocessor will pack some of IBM's most advanced technology into an energy-saving silicon package that will drive Nintendo's brand-new entertainment experience for consumers worldwide.

Storix DR Solution for Power Now Supports Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

Mark Donahue — Wed, 25 May 2011 01:03:00 GMT

Storix, a provider of a UNIX-based system recovery solution for AIX, Solaris and Linux systems, today announced the availability of System Backup Administrator 7.2 (SBAdmin), now with support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 came with many new feature enhancements and additions optimizing the capabilities of customer hardware. Now, with SBAdmin, customers can perform system recovery to the same or different hardware or to and from virtual systems. SBAdmin works on all supported Red Hat platforms, including Intel 32-bit, 64-bit or IBM Power.

How to Allow Shared Processor Pool Performance Data Collection with lparstat

Chris Gibson — Wed, 25 May 2011 00:42:00 GMT

When using multiple LPARs on a single Power System, it can be important to understand the overall utilization of processing capability, across all LPARs in the shared processor pool. Utilization data can be viewed from the LPARs using the lparstat command. However, for this to work, the LPAR properties must be configured appropriately.

InMage Enhances Enterprise Features in New Release of AIX-supported Backup and Recovery Software

Mark Donahue — Tue, 17 May 2011 23:28:00 GMT

InMage, a disk-based, business application recovery solutions vendor for both physical and virtualized environments, today announced version 6.0 of its InMage Scout backup and disaster recovery software, which supports AIX. Based on continuous data protection (CDP) technology, InMage Scout targets local backup and replication of physical and virtual environments. With this latest release, InMage Scout features best-in-class, CDP-based backup and remote disaster recovery support for most major enterprise platforms, including Windows, AIX, Linux, VMware, Solaris, XenServer and Hyper-V. It also features both asynchronous IP and synchronous FC-based data protection, with no software-based storage virtualization necessary for customers.

Halcyon Releases Enterprise Console 8.7 with iPhone App for IBM i, AIX, and Windows

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 17 May 2011 23:18:00 GMT

Halcyon Software has released Enterprise Console 8.7, a solutions that centralizes management for all systems alerts from IBM i, AIX, Windows, and Linux. IT managers and network administrators can manage servers across different sites or countries from a single location -- from a single PC screen, they can view and manage alerts generated from servers, applications, and SNMP devices, including hubs, routers, and switches.

Gulf Oil Fuels Business Growth With POWER7 and BladeCenter

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 17 May 2011 23:13:00 GMT

Gulf Oil Corporation Ltd. has selected IBM servers and storage technology to allow their Lubricants division to manage, track, and leverage information and processes more effectively. IBM says that Gulf Oil Corporation Ltd. selected the new IBM POWER7 and System x servers and System Storage products over other solutions because of the IBM platform's ease of management, cost-effectiveness, and price-performance ratio.

PCI DSS Priorities for AIX

Steve Martinson — Wed, 11 May 2011 01:51:00 GMT

Regardless of what you know or “think” you know about the PCI DSS, always remember this: The purpose of complying with the requirements outlined in the DSS is to ensure that, should a breach of credit card data occur, your organization can accurately recreate the sequence of events and chain of custody associated with that breach of cardholder data.

Audi Selects IBM to Migrate SAP Infrastructure on POWER7 to Cloud

Mark Donahue — Tue, 03 May 2011 19:27:00 GMT

Audi recently selected IBM to build a cloud environment for Audi's SAP infrastructure to deliver provisioning of SAP applications and capacities, potentially lower infrastructure costs, and deliver energy efficiency with the opportunity to enlarge future SAP applications. Audi was facing challenges to scale its IT systems by the increased use of business-critical applications in areas such as production and logistics, supplier relationship management, and human resources, which challenged their IT infrastructure's reliability and flexibility.

AIX OS Revenue Grows at 9.2 Percent in 2010

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 03 May 2011 19:22:00 GMT

According to a recent operating system report by Gartner, IBM's AIX operating system revenue grew 9.2 percent in 2010. IBM rarely reports OS-specific revenue gains, so this is interesting -- though certainly not unexpected -- news.

Crossroads Systems Expands SPHiNX Support for AIX, IBM i, and Red Hat Linux

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 03 May 2011 19:18:00 GMT

Crossroads Systems has announced new operating system support for SPHiNX, virtual tape appliance that serves as a disaster recovery solution for mid-range servers.

An Intro to Rational Developer for Power Systems on AIX

Mike Fulton — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 05:35:00 GMT

If you develop or port AIX applications, then you need to read this article. IBM has created a development environment, called IBM Rational Developer for Power Systems, that makes your day-to-day application development faster, better, and more fun.

IBM to Deliver New Optimized POWER7 Products Inspired by Watson

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 03:00:00 GMT

IBM has announced new workload-optimized POWER7 systems, including a performance boost to the Power 750 -- the same server used in Watson, the Jeopardy! winner -- that provides even faster processing capability than each machine used in the computer genius.

IBM Teams with Sybase Harness POWER7 for New mCommerce Appliance

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 02:22:00 GMT

IBM and Sybase, Inc., an SAP Company, have introduced a new workload-optimized server appliance based on Power Systems: The IBM mCommerce Appliance Solution. It is aimed at financial institutions, mobile operators, and enterprises for deploying mobile commerce capabilities -- including mBanking, mPayments and mRemmitance -- in both developed and emerging markets.

Tip: Rebooting with LVM Mirroring and Two VIO Servers

Chris Gibson — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:43:00 GMT

If you are planning on configuring your LPARs with dual virtual I/O servers connected to SCSI storage using LVM mirroring, then you may find this tip interesting.

ATS Group Announces New Galileo PE Module for Performance Analysis of IBM SVC and Storwize V7000

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 23:14:00 GMT

A cloud-based infrastructure charting tool has been expanded to enable IT and business users with real-time visibility into storage systems for storage management.

IBM Launches POWER Development Lab in Taiwan

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 22:42:00 GMT

IBM has opened up a new Power Systems Development Laboratory in Taipei City, Taiwan. The lab will focus on designing new energy efficient technologies for the platform.

New Power Systems Cloud Offering from Logicalis Lights the Sky

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 02:19:00 GMT

While we haven't extensively covered cloud computing yet at Power IT Pro, there are a handful of well-respected players offering AIX-focused professionals the ability to serve up Power Systems-based servers from the so-called clouds. Connectria is one, and I know the company serves up a variety of AIX-focused configurations for several dozen customers, large and small. The latest company to invest in IBM Power Systems cloud offerings is Logicalis, which is offering its new Enterprise Power Cloud service -- based on IBM Power 770-class systems capable of supporting multi-tenancy running AIX and i5/OS virtual servers.

IBM AIX Users to Gain Better Availability from New Granular Configuration Automation Solution by Evolven

Mark Donahue — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 23:19:00 GMT

Evolven Software, Inc. today announced their support for IBM AIX. Evolven will enable customers to achieve greater visibility into the granular configuration information of IBM AIX’s application infrastructure which can affect the availability and performance of IT environments where IBM AIX is running.

Oracle and IBM Offer New Lightning Fast JD Edwards Installation Tool

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 23:34:00 GMT

Oracle and IBM have jointly developed a new express installation tool for IBM i to complement the POWER7-based IBM i Solution Editions program at IBM. This is particularly interesting in several ways. First, the IBM Solution Editions are specially priced POWER7-based hardware, usually 720s, that bundle core application suites from more than 100 independent software vendors worldwide. While each package can be customized, by acquiring a Solution Edition, customers can save 30-35 percent off the cost of the IBM Power Systems hardware -- which doesn't include the benefits of service vouchers or additional incentives offered by the application ISVs.

IBM Sets Single-Server Middleware Record

Mark Donahue — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 23:07:00 GMT

IBM today announced record-breaking benchmark results for WebSphere middleware on a single server representing the highest performance in the information technology (IT) industry. IBM set new records for speed of operation in Java-based software on a Power 780 server and on Power 730 Express as validated by the independent SPEC, a non-profit corporation formed to establish, maintain and endorse a standardized set of relevant benchmarks.

IBM Details AIX Support Lifecycle and Fix Support Best Practices

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 04:23:00 GMT

IBM has released a new .pdf detailing service and support best practices for AIX, as well as updated its AIX support lifecycle information page. The latter provides a handy table of AIX Technology Level (TL) fix support release dates and end of availability. Basically, IBM is now offering three years of new fix support for each TL, and to ease the burden on administrators, IBM will only have one TL update per year for each version of AIX -- but service packs for TLs will still be released several times each year.

IBM Releases PowerHA SystemMirror 7.1 for AIX Redbook

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 04:19:00 GMT

One of IBM's most enviable tech resources has to be its industry-leading Redbook publication series. The latest addition to the massive library is IBM PowerHA SystemMirror 7.1 for AIX. Better yet, IBM offers Redbooks up as free .pdfs, though you can order some of them in hard-copy format.

Server Market Rockets up 16 Percent, UNIX Action Mixed

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:48:00 GMT

Gartner and IDC's latest fourth quarter server sales reports paint an interesting picture: While overall server sales are up sharply, our UNIX and midrange servers have been treading water with little growth. Still, according to the research firms, IBM managed make impressive UNIX market share gains over HP and Oracle/Sun.

Centrify Security and Compliance Suite 2011 Features AIX 7.1 Support and More

Mark Donahue — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 23:59:00 GMT

Centrify Corporation today announced Centrify Suite 2011, the latest release of its flagship security and compliance solution. Centrify Suite 2011 features enhanced platform support for IBM AIX 7.1, as well as support for storing and managing more AIX extended attributes. The suite boasts enhanced administration and privilege management capabilities, expanded coverage for additional platforms, and application single sign-on capabilities allowing enterprises finer grain control and auditing over an expanded set of data center systems and enterprise applications.

Vision Solutions Announces Double-Take or AIX Software Updates

Mark Donahue — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 23:40:00 GMT

Vision Solutions, Inc., a provider of information availability software and services with over 25,000 customers running Windows, Linux, IBM Power Systems and Cloud Computing environments, today launched Double-Take Availability and Double-Take RecoverNow for AIX version 3.6. The enhancements reflect the AIX product line and rebrands with the Double-Take name.

Watson's POWER7 Brains Make Strong Showing on Jeopardy!

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 01:56:00 GMT

As I was watching Watson kick butt and take names in Jeopardy! last night, I found myself rooting for the humans--this, despite my affinity for IBM Power Systems. As Watson took on past Jeopardy! super-duper-smart champs Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, he seemed unbeatable, quicker on the button with an ability to pronounce difficult words, too. And no wonder, though, over seven years in the making, IBM invested in a big team of pros to build Watson, and some of those pros shared how Watson "thinks."

Guangdong Rural Credit Cooperatives Banks on Power Systems for Business Growth

Mark Donahue — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:26:00 GMT

Guangdong Rural Credit Cooperatives, the largest rural credit bank in China, has selected IBM Power Systems technology to build an enterprise-wide banking system to support its long-term business strategies and growth.

As part of the project, IBM has relocated the bank's key business and core banking systems onto a hardware platform that consists of IBM Power 595, Power 570, Power Blade Server and DS8300 storage platform. IBM Power Blade, with its unified management capability, allowed the bank quickly to deploy data consolidation in its provincial center as well as other operations.

IPv4 Addresses Finally Gone -- Now What?

Mel Beckman — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 03:34:00 GMT

You might have noticed a disturbance in the Force on February 3, 2011. On that auspicious date, the Internet officially ran out of IPv4 addresses. What does that mean for you? Before I answer that, let’s recap the story so far: A long time ago (1981) in a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency far, far away, the Internet as we know it was invented. The several inventors decided to give their nascent network four billion unique addresses, which seemed reasonable at the time, given the Earth’s population had barely reached this number itself. Then, last Wednesday, we ran out.

Power of AIX Webcast Series Packed with POWER

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 01:24:00 GMT

IBM is sponsoring another great Power of AIX Webcast series this winter, packed with all-new AIX and POWER-focused solutions you can put to work right away. Topics include the Cloud on AIX, reducing complexity with AIX Systems Management, and PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX, which will feature Barry Cohen, CTO of Edison Group, who will focus on key characteristics of a cross platform solution verses the PowerHA SystemMirror solution for AIX environments.

Watson Puts on Game Face for Feb 14 Showdown

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 01:22:00 GMT

After a trial run beat down, the IBM POWER7-based "Watson" Jeopardy!-playing computer system will play Jeopardy! against mega-champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in a two-match contest to be aired over three consecutive nights beginning on February 14, 2011.

2011 IBM Power Systems Technical Symposium to Meet

Mark Donahue — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 01:06:00 GMT

The 2011 IBM Power Systems Technical Symposium will meet April 27 – 29 in Orlando, Florida. It's a shorter version of the IBM Power Systems Technical University offered in October and will focus on training related to the recent POWER announcements and the potential effect on data centers.

IBM Power System Sales on the Rise

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 01:00:00 GMT

IBM's 4Q financial report last week brought some interesting revelations -- not the least of which was a 70 percent leap in mainframe sales -- but when it comes to Power Systems, the most important news is that Power Systems hardware sales grew two percent. More importantly, IBM somehow managed to sell out of 520, 720, 740 Entry Systems in the fourth quarter.

IBM Shatters U.S. Patent Record with 5,896 Patents in 2010

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 04:55:00 GMT

IBM's inventors received a record 5,896 U.S. patents in 2010, marking the 18th consecutive year it has topped the list of the world’s most inventive companies. IBM became the first company to be granted as many as 5,000 U.S. patents in a single year. It took IBM's inventors more than 50 years to receive their first 5,000 patents after the company was established in 1911.

POWER7, AIX Provides Foundation for Innovative Data Sharing Healthcare Solution

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 04:52:00 GMT

Lots of IBM customers are deploying on AIX 7.1 and POWER7-based systems, but ferreting them out is harder than ever. What's going on here? IBM is marketing big hairy solutions to big complex problems, and those solutions usually need a suite of IBM software, hardware, and sometimes services to get done. AIX and Power Systems are often part of the the foundation, it seems, in IBM's new world vision, but IBM's outward marketing tends to focus on the whole house. The step back photo snapshot. Still, Power System pros know what's doing the heavy lifting.

Power-based Watson on Jeopardy!

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 04:51:00 GMT

IBM and the reverse-question quiz show Jeopardy! have cooked up an interesting new face-off: An IBM computing system named “Watson” will compete on Jeopardy! against the show’s two most successful and celebrated contestants -- Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Best yet, the multi-server Watson was built using IBM Power Systems.

Sirius Acquires MSI, Turns into a Billion Dollar IT Services Company

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 04:35:00 GMT

Sirius Computer Solutions, Inc. has acquired MSI Systems Integrators. This is an interesting buy to the Power Systems-focused community because both organizations are large, well-respected value-added resellers, a.k.a. systems integration firms, a.k.a. IT services firms. When it comes to new technology and solving problems for customers, both of these players have their hand in a lot of IT action in the United States.

Power Systems Continue to Get the Nod in Russia

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 00:41:00 GMT

IBM continues to do well in Russia with Power Systems. The company has announced that two leading banks, Rosbank and Alfa-Bank, have selected IBM POWER7 Systems to manage millions of data-intensive transactions and analyze that data in real time, helping to improve customer service while reducing data center costs.

AIX Security Tips for an IPv6 World

Mel Beckman — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 06:05:00 GMT

IBM's AIX has always enjoyed a reputation for security above the cut of other Unix platforms. For example, the AIX Security Expert (AIXpert) streamlines security implementation, and features such as Role Based Authentication (RBAC), Trusted AIX (multilevel security), and Trusted Execution (code and file signatures) provide built-in security bulwarks that let you seriously lock down any AIX box.

Alas, there is one security milieu that has gotten short shrift by AIX. The Internet's follow-on to IPv4 addressing, the IPv6 protocol, presents major security vulnerabilities to AIX installations (as well as those of other OSes). These vulnerabilities have fallen below the radar of many security managers because they haven't explicitly implemented IPv6 yet. Some may have even explicitly disabled IPv6 on AIX -- following the security dictum of least privilege -- leading to a false sense of safety.

x86 Server Sales Accelerate, UNIX Slow to Turn the Corner

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 02:31:00 GMT

In Gartner and IDC's quarterly server sales reports, x86-based server sales leapt forward for the third quarter, driving overall spend gains in server sales over last year's 3Q. UNIX servers, on the other hand, may still be mired in the economic mud of 2010.

Storix, Inc. Announces Availability of SBAdmin Version 7.2

Mark Donahue — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 01:03:00 GMT

Storix, Inc., provider of Unix-based backup and disaster recovery solutions for AIX, Solaris and Linux systems, today announced general availability of System Backup Administrator (SBAdmin) version 7.2

Tupperware Installs POWER7 in Time for Holiday Rush

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 07:11:00 GMT

In an effort to get ready for the company's hectic holiday sales rush, Tupperware Australia has upgraded to a pair of IBM Power 750 servers, IBM is reporting. The new POWER7-based systems support Tupperware's web ordering system for more than 6,000 of its sales force, as well as its browser-based TupperNet system for 32 Australian and New Zealand distributors. The TupperNet system handles key business applications such as order processing, stock control, accounts, and reporting. Crucially, it will accommodate the company's frenetic peak sales periods leading up to Christmas and Mother's Day, as well as anticipated future business growth, IBM says.

POWER7 Servers Replace HP for Russian Pharmaceutical Company PROTEK

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 07:02:00 GMT

All around the world, IBM is continuing its relentless attack on the competition's UNIX servers: The company reports that Russian pharmaceutical distributor PROTEK has switched to IBM POWER7 systems for its data processing center. The new systems from IBM replace the previous servers from HP, enabling PROTEK to improve the performance of critical business applications while reducing power consumption and increasing return on investment.

IBM Shatters World Record on Two-Tier SAP Sales and Distribution Standard Application Benchmark

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 04:37:00 GMT

IBM today announced that a 256-core Power 795 system with DB2 nearly doubled last month's record to achieve the highest result ever published on the two-tier SAP Sales and Distribution (SD) standard application benchmark with a result of 126,063 SAP SD benchmark users.

IBM Snags Another 286 Migrations to Power Systems from Oracle/Sun and HP

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 04:31:00 GMT

IBM is happily bragging about its latest competitive conquests: In the third quarter, nearly 400 customers moved critical business workloads to IBM servers and storage systems from Oracle/Sun and HP, a record high since the company began tracking migrations more than four years ago.

Raw POWER7 for Performance?

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:58:00 GMT

With our Virtual Conference right around the corner, I touched bases with Ken Milberg, president and managing consultant of PowerTCO, a New York-based IBM Business Partner, for a quick Q&A on performance. Ken is delivering a session at the online event. In addition, he is also a technical editor and writer for IBM Systems Magazine, Power Systems Edition and has written dozens of technical journals for IBM developerWorks, including the book, Driving the Power of AIX, a guide to performance turning on IBM POWER-based servers, published in 2009.

Virtual Conference to Deliver: AIX 7.1, HA Answers, 5.2 WPARS, PowerVM in Action, and Much More

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 22:56:00 GMT

The first ever Power IT Pro Virtual Conference is set to deliver an astounding amount of information in one jam-packed day. With seven sessions designed to get at the heart of the hottest topics in the industry, the crew here at Power IT Pro are looking forward to November 16 when we get to share it all -- free!

Ever wonder how IBM's PowerVM actually stacks up against the likes of VMware vSphere on x86-based servers?

Chris Gibson Q&A: AIX 7.1 'Rocks'

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 01:57:00 GMT

I recently caught up with Chris Gibson, an AIX and PowerVM specialist who makes his home in Australia, for an email Q&A on AIX 7. You might recognize Gibson from his "Chris's AIX Blog" on IBM's developerWorks site, his activity out and about in our Power Systems world, his Twitteringn Twitter (@cgibbo), or even as an author on the AIX 7.1 Differences Guide Redbook, which is currently available as a draft and is due for official release in December.

Bunnings Group to Use Two IBM POWER7-based 780 Servers as Foundation for Expansion

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 01:53:00 GMT

Bunnings, a leading home improvement and outdoor living retailer in Australia and New Zealand, has selected two POWER7-based IBM Power 780 systems, running AIX, to support its plans for rapid business growth across the region.

IBM Bright in Q3, Lackluster Power Systems Gets Silver Lining

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 03:18:00 GMT

Looking past the financial investor speak, how did IBM's hardware business fare overall, and more importantly, how about that 13 percent decline in revenue for Power Systems?

Mark Loughridge, IBM’s Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Finance and Enterprise Transformation executive, reported to Wall Street during a conference call with investors in which he revealed a little Power spin.

CloudBurst to Shine on POWER7 in December

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 03:13:00 GMT

IBM has expanded its CloudBurst family of private cloud appliances to include a new POWER7-based unit, as well as offer the brains of CloudBurst as a software solution capable of installation on a company's currently installed system. IBM's previous CloudBurst solution was x86 for IBM BladeCenter, but this new POWER7 option, IBM CloudBurst v2.1 on Power Systems, is based on IBM Power 750 servers.

The "appliance" can support from 160 up to 2,900 virtual machines and securely keep the data in those applications separate. The operating systems that run on POWER7, of course, are AIX, IBM i, and Linux. Incidentally, IBM estimates that private clouds built on Power systems can be up to 70 percent less expensive than stand alone x86 servers.

Netsmart Technologies and Vision Solutions Announce Data Protection and Disaster Recovery Services Alliance

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 03:08:00 GMT

Netsmart Technologies, Inc., a provider of enterprise-wide software and services for health and human services organizations, and Vision Solutions, Inc., have announced a strategic alliance to provide data protection and disaster recovery software to Netsmart customers.

The initial service offering will make Vision's data protection and recovery software for AIX available to Netsmart's CMHC/MIS software customers using AIX.

Redbook Roundup: Top Ten for AIX, Plus 7.1 Differences

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 08:26:00 GMT

IBM's International Technical Support Organization (ITSO) has been publishing Redbooks for more than 40 years, and by now IBM's Redbook program has got to be a shining light of knowledge transfer. IT pros download more than half-a-million Redbooks each month. To date, IBM has published more than 4,800 Redbooks, and the company is publishing more than one red tech-focused document each day. And these are nothing to sneeze at -- they are in-depth how-to guides.

IBM Breaks Loose Another SAP Benchmark Record

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 08:22:00 GMT

IBM is reporting that its IBM Power 795 has achieved the highest result ever published on the two-tier SAP Sales and Distribution (SD) standard application benchmark -- with a result of 70,032 SAP SD benchmark users. IBM boasts that its 128-core Power 795 handled 79 percent more users than a 256-core Sun SPARC Enterprise M9000 (Oracle's largest system), and 75 percent more users than the 128-core Oracle parallel result published in September running four clustered 32-core Sun Fire X4470 servers with Intel's Xeon X7560 chip.

IBM Puffs Up Cloud Collaboration Services

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 05:30:00 GMT

IBM has introduced an enhanced LotusLive collaboration software suite for cloud-based delivery, giving users one-click access to enterprise-class email, calendaring, instant messaging, Web conferencing, file sharing, and social networking services for $10 per user per month. IBM says the move aims to accelerate the adoption of cloud collaboration services to increase productivity, collaboration, and innovation in today's global enterprises.

Crossroads Announces New SPHiNX Solution for Data Protection from Desktop to Data Center

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 05:25:00 GMT

Crossroads Systems has released a new SPHiNX product suite designed to protect enterprise data from the desktop to the data center. Prior SPHiNX offerings supported AIX, IBM i, and Microsoft. Today's new SPHiNX now serves as a complete, scalable disaster recovery solution for midrange servers, open systems, and desktop host environments, Crossroads says. As a primary repository for data center backups, SPHiNX can be used as secondary tiered storage for replicated data to meet disaster recovery requirements.

Safestone Announces Log Management and Compliance Reporting Tool for AIX

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 05:20:00 GMT

Safestone Technologies has released a new streamlined log management and compliance reporting tool, Compliance Center for AIX. Safestone recently launched a version of the tool for IBM i on IBM Power Systems and says this new offering paves the way for a multi-platform compliance security solution.

Ansell Healthcare Goes to Connectria for Multi-year Hosting Contract

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 05:15:00 GMT

Ansell Healthcare, a provider of surgical, examination, industrial and household gloves, as well as protective clothing and related products, has awarded Connectria Hosting a multi-year Data Center Outsourcing contract to manage Ansell’s information technology infrastructure. Connectria will assume operational support for the information technology functions that support Ansell’s complex environment of mission critical AIX, iSeries, and VMWare technologies.

IBM Offers Sweet Dollar Deals to Entice Oracle-Sun and HP Clients

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 10:42:00 GMT

IBM has announced a big stack of new financing deals and incentives for HP and Oracle-Sun clients in an effort to entice them into switching to AIX on an IBM Power System. The offerings include credit from IBM for used equipment, attractive lease terms, and no payments until 2011 for credit-qualified clients in the U.S. that trade-in select Oracle-Sun and HP systems and migrate to upgradeable systems of IBM's new Power family of workload optimized servers.

Geminare Offers Recovery as a Service to the Enterprise

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 10:39:00 GMT

Geminare Incorporated has announced new enterprise editions of its Recovery as a Service (RaaS) portfolio. With Cloud Recovery 2.0 Enterprise and Cloud Storage Assurance (CSA) 2.0 Enterprise, Geminare's business continuity solution includes automatic file and email archiving, and fast search functions and built-in audit capabilities that Geminare says can be deployed in days instead of months and without capital investment.

AddressDoctor Delivers United States Postal Service Certified Address Validation

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 10:36:00 GMT

AddressDoctor, a provider of international address verification and cleansing solutions, has released its new Software Library version, which is able to validate and correct mailing lists in accordance with the current specifications outlined by the United States Postal Service (USPS). AddressDoctor Software Library is now available on five new Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS) certified platforms, including: AIX, Red Hat, Suse, Solaris, and HP Itanium, in addition to already being available on Microsoft Windows.

POWER7's Oxymoronic Active Memory Expansion Explained

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 01:58:00 GMT

If you tend to run out of memory before you run out of processing power, you might want to take a look at IBM's Active Memory Expansion feature built into POWER7 systems.

When Two 7s Deliver: Better Performance with AIX 7 on POWER7

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 01:39:00 GMT

One of the interesting things about new POWER7 hardware and AIX 7 is the integration between them, which is one of the key selling points: IBM's investment in both hardware and the OS contribute to its impressive performance gains.

In the case of POWER7, customers running AIX 7 will obviously gain the most benefits, but if there's one thing that's true about IBM, the company keeps the door open for lagging customers for a long time, sometimes years. And sometimes customers do lag. . . .

IDC, Gartner Report Server Growth

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:33:00 GMT

IDC and Gartner are reporting similar server shipment and revenue increases for the second quarter of 2010. According to IDC, overall worldwide server shipments are up nearly 24 percent with revenue rising 11 percent. Gartner is reporting slightly higher action: server shipments are up 27 percent with revenue jumping 14 percent.

Power of AIX Webcast Series -- Fall 2010

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:01:00 GMT

Don't miss the Fall 2010 Power of AIX Webcast Series. The series will start with a session on the new IBM AIX 7, then continue with sessions on key solutions for IBM Power Systems clients. And to make it easy, one registration will get you access to all four sessions.

IBM Best Services Provider Through 2020?

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:58:00 GMT

Forrester Research, Inc. has ranked IBM as the top information technology services provider in 2010, noting that the company is projected to maintain the top position through the year 2020.

Migrating ISV Solutions from Sun to Power

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:55:00 GMT

IBM has an interesting web resource set up to guide ISVs who are looking to migrate their Sun-based solutions to run on IBM Power Systems. It's part of IBM's PartnerWorld Business Partner program, of course. The page offers guides for migrating from Solaris on Sun SPARC to AIX, as well as migrating Linux on Sun x86 or SPARC to Linux on POWER.

IBM Systems Director Eases Demands on AIX Administrators

Erwin Earley — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:51:00 GMT

Whether through LPARs or disparate systems, as the proliferation of virtual operating system instances continues to grow within our IT environments, it is becoming more and more imperative that we leverage mechanisms for centralized management. IBM Systems Director is an ideal way to provide centralized management for a wide range of endpoints--including AIX instances. Let's take a closer look at several Systems Director functions that will benefit AIX administrators.

IBM Offers Handy POWER7 Upgrade Program

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 01:21:00 GMT

If you could upgrade your POWER6-based Power Systems to get the new POWER7 processors without blowing out your budget, would you? Interested? IBM Global Financing has some programs in place that can help you upgrade to POWER7 without disruption to your enterprise, and the same time, you might even end up lowering your monthly payments.

IBM Bolsters POWER7 Lineup at Both Ends

Mel Beckman — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:55:00 GMT

Today IBM announced the expected, but welcome, expansion of its new POWER7 lineup with a new record-breaking high-end and four new low-end models, which rounds out POWER7 offerings to fully complement POWER6 users wanting to migrate. "IBM has now rolled out the full POWER7 portfolio," said IBM's Ian Jarmin, manager of Power Systems software, including AIX, IBM i, and Linux. The new models—which include four Express systems aimed at mid-market customers—deliver significantly better performance, with higher energy efficiency, than their POWER6 counterparts. According to IBM, POWER7's new high-end eclipses the speed and green profiles of competing systems from HP and Oracle.

IBM Releases Systems Director Editions for Power Systems V6.2

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 03:40:00 GMT

The main features in the IBM Systems Director Editions are for monitoring and repairing system status, deploying and optimizing workloads, planning and documenting the service infrastructure.

Top 5 Core Performance Tips for AIX Administrators

Kenneth Milberg — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 03:42:00 GMT

As an AIX administrator, I’m often asked what are the most important areas which need to be examined. In my view, performance is at the top of any list. In this article we’ll discuss five tips and areas you should put at the top of your performance list.

IBM Snags Sun Customers, Gains Share, Drops Revenue, Looks to Sunny Future

Chris Maxcer — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:48:00 GMT

When IBM reports its quarterly financial performance to Wall Street, the most interesting Power Systems nuggets don't come from the press releases or official reports, they come from IBM’s Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge in his conference call presentation to investors. In this call, he delivers the highlights and sometimes alludes to new action on the horizon that might affect performance.

AIX 7 Open Beta Offers Early Peek

Chris Maxcer — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 23:02:00 GMT

It's no secret that IBM will officially deliver AIX 7 in the very near future, but for those interested in testing out a beta of IBM's next generation UNIX operating system, the future is now.

IBM Nabs Three Banks

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 02:48:00 GMT

Three banks in growth markets have turned to IBM Power Systems to run real-time analytics on their rapidly growing market data. Two of the banks -- National TRUST Bank of Russia and PermataBank of Indonesia -- are upgrading their IT infrastructures with new POWER7 servers. The National Microfinance Bank (NMB) of Tanzania has also opted to use Power Systems to support the accelerated expansion of its business, IBM reports.

IBM Offers Complimentary Training Courses

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 02:43:00 GMT

IBM is offering up several free online instructor-led courses this summer as a way to introduce its customers to its latest technologies, as well as show off the company's online learning offerings. Solid plan, really. The classes are four hours long. Here's the AIX-covered classes. . . .

Life Insurance Company Turns to IBM Cloud for Dev Work

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 02:41:00 GMT

Nissay Information Technology and IBM Japan plan to jointly build a cloud-based development and test environment to create mission critical Web systems for Nippon Life Insurance (NISSAY). Based on IBM Power Systems running AIX with operational management software Tivoli Service Automation Manager, the project launched in May, with the test and development environment expected to go live in September. The new development and test environment maximizes the benefits of NISSAY's existing resources, while allowing for flexible allocation of IT resources depending on development workload, IBM reports, noting that an average enterprise devotes up to 50 percent of its entire technology infrastructure to development and test -- but typically up to 90 percent of it remains idle. IBM says that taking advantage of cloud computing within development and testing environments can help reduce IT labor costs by 50 percent, improve quality, and drastically reduce time to market. The new cloud environment will allow NISSAY de ...

AIX 7, ProbeVue, and Server Consolidation On Tap for NY Metro POWER AIX & Linux Users Group Meeting Thursday

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 02:14:00 GMT

The New York Metro POWER AIX & Linux Users Group is gearing up for a must-attend meeting this week: Thursday, June 24, at 590 Madison Avenue, NYC in the IBM Building. The topics are AIX 7, ProbeVue, and server consolidation on Power Systems, with IBM's Jay Kruemcke covering AIX 7.

Russian Retail Group X5 Turns to IBM to Support Regional Business Expansion

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:09:00 GMT

IBM has announced that X5, one of Russia's largest retail groups, has selected IBM to provide the IT infrastructure and services for a new integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that will include IBM Power Systems.

Two-Part Webcast on Network Install Manager

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:01:00 GMT

The AIX Virtual User Group is holding a two-part webcast next week on Network Install Manager: NIM Basics on day one followed by NIM Advanced on day two. Both are presented by IBM's NIM expert Steve Knudson.

Both sessions are 90 minutes.

To sign for the basic NIM webcast, Wednesday, June 23, 10 - 11:30 AM CDT: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/895268137
For the advanced NIM webcast, Thursday, June 24, 10 - 11:30 AM CDT: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/547970728

Ever Wonder If You Made the Wrong UNIX Choice?

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 04:56:00 GMT

Obviously choosing IBM's AIX for UNIX workloads usually takes a lot of people in an organization, plus a bit of bean-counting wheeling and dealing. Still, the big three UNIX server solutions providers -- HP, IBM, and Sun -- have been duking it out for your business for the last decade. Or rather, HP and Sun were fighting while IBM circled the fray looking for an opening -- and IBM found it in 2005 when IBM overtook both HP and Sun in UNIX marketshare due to the strength of POWER5. IBM has been kicking butt and taking names ever since.

PowerVM Slices and Dices, Plus Shreds the Competition

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 19 May 2010 19:49:00 GMT

Word on the street says IBM Power Systems customers are snapping up PowerVM more than ever before (and this includes its predecessor versions that had lousy names). To get a more detailed scoop, Power IT Pro caught up with Ian Robinson, IBM's Power Systems virtualization offering manager for the IBM Systems and Technology Group, for a revealing Q&A.

IBM Opens Manufacturing Facility for Power Systems, System z in Poughkeepsie

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 19 May 2010 19:43:00 GMT

IBM has opened a new $30 million manufacturing facility at its Poughkeepsie site to produce high-end Power Systems servers and the next generation of System z mainframes.

IBM Opens Development Laboratory in the Center of Manchester Lab to Specialize in IBM POWER7 Systems

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 19 May 2010 19:42:00 GMT

IBM has officially opened a new systems software development laboratory in Manchester, England. With a focus on IBM Power Systems, the engineers in the Lab develop optimization, security, and virtualization software to help clients manage emerging workloads designed to reduce data center costs, IBM reports.

Media Company Agora SA Becomes First Polish Business to Buy IBM POWER7

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 19 May 2010 19:40:00 GMT

IBM has announced that Agora SA, one of Poland's largest media companies operating across print, Internet, radio, and outdoor advertising channels, has acquired four of IBM's new POWER7 systems to reduce its data center costs and provide better service to its customers by managing millions of data-intensive transactions across its media channels and analyzing that data in real time.

IBM Shows How 8-Core POWER7 Can Slash DB Licensing and Maintenance Costs More Than 80 Percent

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 05 May 2010 01:46:00 GMT

IBM is busy showing off how its hot new POWER7-based Power Systems not only produce excellent performance -- it's also boasting how a Power 780 can slash database licensing and maintenance costs by using fewer, energy-efficient cores. Using a sliver of its total, 64-core processing power, IBM says its Power 780 system has become the first server to deliver more than 1.2 million transactions-per-minute on only eight cores, according to Transaction Processing Performance Council results on April 9, 2010. With price/performance of less than 70 cents per transaction per minute, IBM says the Power 780's 1.2 million transactions-per-minute sets a new record in performance-per-core -- 4.6 times better than an HP Superdome and 7.5 times better than a Sun SPARC Enterprise T5440 cluster running Oracle RAC. For businesses that run SAP, the Power 780 handled 37,000 users on 64 cores -- 16 percent more users than a 256-core Sun Enterprise M9000 and 130 percent more users than a 64-core Fujits ...

The Untold Numbers Behind Unix Displacements

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 04 May 2010 09:10:00 GMT

IBM is quite proud of its track record with competitive Unix displacements where it steals customers from Oracle/Sun and HP. In the first quarter of 2010, IBM snagged well over 200 customers that moved critical workloads to IBM servers and storage systems. For the year so far, the updated numbers have risen include 117 from Oracle/Sun and 95 from HP.

As it turns out, those numbers represent much bigger ones.

Skagit County Turns to Vision Solutions for Availability

Chris Maxcer — Mon, 03 May 2010 22:35:00 GMT

Vision Solutions has published an interesting case study about Skagit County Government in Mount Vernon, Wash. The county safeguards its public safety systems with Vision Solutions’ EchoStream and EchoCluster high availability and disaster recovery technology. More than 400 users, including all of Skagit County’s law enforcement agencies, its jail, and 911 centers rely on a bullet-proof public safety system. Continuous system and database availability is critical for the county, and downtime is simply not an option during life-or-death circumstances, Vision reports.

IBM Offers POWER6-to-POWER7 Exchange Program

Chris Maxcer — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 01:48:00 GMT

IBM has announced a new exchange program that lets clients upgrade to POWER7 technology immediately, up from existing POWER6-based solutions. IBM's lending and leasing unit, IBM Global Financing, is offering well-qualified clients to move up to POWER7 systems at monthly costs close to, or lower than, what they are paying for a current POWER6 lease.

IBM Offers New OS Environments and Developer Tools

Chris Maxcer — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 00:46:00 GMT

IBM has added a lower-priced version of AIX, new IBM i 7.1, plus updated Rational developer solutions for increased productivity.

IBM Delivers New POWER7 Blades

Chris Maxcer — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 00:02:00 GMT

IBM has unwrapped three new POWER7-based blades, the PS700, PS701, and PS702. With four, eight or 16 cores per blade, the new POWER7 servers represent IBM's most scalable Power blades yet.