ISeries Security and Performance Essentials
Whenever I start working on an AS/400, iSeries or Power System box at a new company there are a few key areas I like to be sure of. These areas include ensuring basic system level security, job configuration and process management. Let's take a fast look at how you can improve system performance and mitigate any potential security concerns quickly by using the capabilities already built in.
The first thing you should be auditing is your users user class level. This is especially true with any programmers on staff. With proper configurations there are very few reasons a user or programmer should be elevated beyond regular user authority and validate group authorities as well. Plain old users, even super users should never have QSYSOPR user class authority levels. Get out there and start scaling back those authorities and eliminating special privileges and then configuring the system to better accommodate the prior need to have elevated privileges.
Since I already touched on it take the time to properly configure the job and subsystem environments. You may be ham strung by your off the shelf software's limitations in this arena but if at all possible take advantage of the iSeries built in ability to change and finely tune how jobs are processed on the system. You can modify job descriptions, user profiles, outqs, subsystem descriptions and more to process jobs in a method best suited for your systems workload.
Now if you have users that are allowed to create and submit lengthy queries or reports then you should modify there job descriptions to submit to special jobqs and subsystems that have low processor priorities. You do not want these types of jobs to take precedence over other jobs, backing up the job queues and hogging all the resources. There are also some additional global query parameters you can configure to control query definitions.
If you have the resources and budget take a look into LPARs. If you have a newer iSeries, i5 or Power System i box you should think about creating a seperate logical partition or even setting up another system as a sandbox slash development environment. Keeping programming development and production physically separated can prevent all kinds of major issues from occurring.
Even if you don't have any developers on staff but do any kind of program customization from time to time, or even creating simply CL utility programs having a source control/change management process in place is critically important. Unfortunately PDM just doesn't cut the mustard when handling change management and there are very sophisticated and expensive packages out there to do the job. One package that is free however is called ChangefIT produced by ecofIT.
Finally you should consider turning on and making full use of the the built in auditing capabilities and using the QAUDJRN journal. Depending on what industry your company is on or other requirements like Sarbanes Oxley you may have to do this step. But if you are not already familiar with it QAUDJRN works hand in hand with the QAUDLVL system value to log and audit varying levels of activity on your system.
Be forwarned that the security audit journal can be rather cumbersome to wade through if auditing levels are turned up full bore. This is where third party tools that catalogue and classify journal entires can come in very handy.
Questions and Answers
Is there still a place for the IBM AS400 in the modern IT landscape? How can this ageing system fit in with a business's complex variety of platforms and technologies?
There are several and well known benefits of modernizing iSeries applications. This article provides an overview of some of the benefits and discusses some of the drivers behind iSeries modernization.
The AS/400 development and testing services are the by products of IBM power systems. These applications are mostly targeted at increasing the efficiency of distributed application development teams. This application features a flexible installation process designed to provide developers with only the functions they need.
AS 400 development and programming have contributes towards a major share of offshore AS 400 software development work to this software industry.
Looking for high quality servers that are easy on the budget? Imagine owning IBM iSeries servers that can help you with all your computing and storage needs.
An in depth look at the new MMORPG from Blizzard Entertainment known as Diablo III, a long awaited release for Diablo fans.
Most small businesses take advantage of computer technology, and it certainly can make things a lot easier for everyone within the business when you do so properly. Unfortunately, there are also a number of different problems that can occur as a result of the technology that you are using.
The remote desktop software is quite an amazing type of software with plenty of features that can come in handy at work or even at home. The feature lets you obtain remote access to an assortment of other computers, directly from the computer that you are using at the moment. This software is often used by people who work in an office or business setting.
Remote desktop software is a type of software that allows users to get access to a remote computer. Basically, if you have this software, you will have the ability to view the remote computer and also control it with the mouse you are using. A number of these software programs will also enable you to send documents to and from one computer to another.
The second selection of pc ink cartridges is the compatible low-priced cartridges.
When it comes to reporting tools for the AS/400, iSeries and IBM i platform there are many products to pick from. In fact a whole cottage industry has sprang up over the years with a myriad of different data tools for reviewing and extracting data from the OS/400 integrated DB2...
One of the more commonly asked questions I see in forums and by end users is how do you get your data from the AS400 down to the PC in a text file format or as an Excel based spreadsheet. And fortunately with modern tools and software this is a...
One of the nice features of the AS/400 and iSeries platform is it's reliability and administrative requirements. But even in light of this as a system administrator you should also be looking and monitoring key data elements to create a baseline of performance metrics. This data can then be used...
Having worked on and administered IBMs midrange AS/400, iSeries and System i platforms for the better part of ten years I have found that you can boil down the essential administrative functions to a few select commands available from one primary command. Let me explain. One of the major functions of...
Discuss this Article
