2018 Fall Conference & Expo

When doing an upgrade to IBM i, there is more work involved in the planning of the upgrade than in the actual upgrade itself. When you have done the planning, the actual upgrade is simple. We will cover planning tips, pre-requisites, and then post installation requirements. Your upgrade isn’t complete until this last step is done. While this presentation will focus on upgrading to 7.3, if you are upgrading to an earlier release (7.2, 7.1), we will also cover those releases.


Learning Objectives:
1) Preparation steps required for OS Upgrade.
2) Compatibility issues between releases.
3) Requirements for upgrading.


This is Session ID:170361

Make modernization a strategy baked into your everyday processes. Learn about the upgrade challenges and costs of IT environments that have stagnated for a number of years. Set your self up for success by planning projects with modernization in mind rather than planning a modernization project.


Learning Objectives:
1. Understand how modernization is a strategy rather than an objective.
2. Navigate the pitfalls and costs of upgrading after years of inattention.
3. Change your company's mindset about updating its infrastructure.


This is Session ID:180274

IBM i has the capability of hosting an IBM i Logical Partition (LPAR) to provide virtual disk storage for other IBM i partition. IBM i has provided „hosted disk” for Windows servers and AIX or Linux partitions for several years, but the ability to host another IBM i LPAR is new. See the step by step process in creating hosted virtual partitions. Learn the requirements, the prerequisites, and all the steps needed to create this once your back in the office. This will be great for creating a virtual partition to test your 7.2 or 7.3 upgradeI


Learning Objectives:
1) Understand the relationship between all the components of a virtual LPAR.
2) How to create virtual storage.
3) How to use this knowledge back at your shop to build your own.


This is Session ID:170524

GUI GUI GUI STICKY GUI it's all we here about these days. The HMC has a GUI the fiber switches have a GUI the network switches have a GUI Storewize has a GUI the firewall has a GUI. They are so nice a purdy and all grpahicalike and such. However in case you've been living under a rock they keep changing. Allow me to imnumerate a few. HMC: No more with the classic now it's the super duper enhanced mega. Plus! And nothing is where it once was. In fact at this point in late 2017 some stuff ain't even there AND you cannot go back!! Fiber switches: Need JAVA. Stupid JAVA. And they download the big blobba java to your desktop through the browser to run it. And you cannot change the font size and you gotta wait for every click. I'm already old!! Oh your browser updated? Yeah sucks to be you, find an old XP machine and try from there, and good luck! Storwize, yeah that one actually ain't all bad! BUT the steps you need to take to create a host and create the LUNS and map the LUNS is not so quick. And then you gotta wait on those LUNS to format too. Icky sticky. And some stuff simply does not exist in the GUI. For example what percentage of your data is on SSD vs Spinny? How about how far behind is remote copy? No idea, I know, not visible! But it doesn't have to be this way! Did you know that you can create a partition on the HMC with ONE command?! Yep, just one. Did you know you can list the WWNs for that partition with one command? Did you know that on the SAN you can create the disk LUNS withOUT having to wait for them to format? How about that SSD vs Spinny? On the command line, presto chango, a little maconess and shazaam there it is! Fiber switch (face palm) There is so little you really need to do in there and it is Sooo logical that the massive 10 ton JAVA GUI is like a 12 lb sledge hammer for a little finish nail! Come, learn, be edjumacated about the way to be efficient and to NOT have to worry if the next browser update will blasticate your ability to manage the foundations of your enterprise!!


Learning Objectives:
1. Learn how simple the requirements are to create a guest partition hosted by IBM i.
2. Learn the options for sharing of disk, tape, and optical
3. Learn how to create a network bridge so allow network access.


This is Session ID:180205

IBM i provides a full suite of tools to manage the performance of your system. The IBM i performance tools are part of the base operating system and are found in Navigator for i; several additional options are enabled when the Performance Tools licensed program product has been installed. This session reviews the performance tools that come with the operating system, covering the basics of these performance tasks and how to effectively use them. This presentation will provide an overview on how to manage your IBM i performance data, use the Performance Data Investigator to graphically view your IBM i performance data, monitor your performance in near-real-time with system monitors, understand your performance trends with graph history, and predict application changes with batch model. Other sessions on the conference agenda will delve deeper into the topics covered in this overview presentation.

This is Session ID:180311

What can you do to stop the rampant growth of data that’s eating up disk space? How do you improve system performance? Come to this session to find out how to make the most out of your existing configuration by leveraging the many optimization and cleanup techniques that are a part of i5/OS, including reorganization of physical files, sharing of access paths, and using the DISKTASK command. Pinpoint how to reduce your disk I/O by reorganizing files and clean up your system using the Retrieve Disk Information (RTVDSKINF) and Retrieve Directory Information (RTVDIRINF) commands. Learn how sharing access paths can reduce disk utilization and memory faulting. Know your options for reorganizing your files while your users continue to access them.


Learning Objectives:
1) Understand some easy ways to gain performance with reorganization of physical files.
2) How to find objects on your system that are growing or that you aren't using.
3) Optimization of other objects on your syste,


This is Session ID:170363

You may have heard about the latest news with open source: RPM's! As a system administrator, you may have lots of questions. What does this mean for me? Why the switch? What new skills do I need? How do I sanely manage open source on my system? Come to this session to demystify the bold new world of RPM's.



This is Session ID:180229

POWER9 is here. As many in our community will be looking to upgrade, we want to provide information on what these new servers offer you and your business.

According to IBM, POWER9-based servers are built for data intensive workloads, are enabled for cloud, and offer industry leading performance.

Attend this POWER Panel to learn more.

Got a question to ask during the panel? Submit Now 

This is Session ID:180319

IBM Navigator for i has a rich set of performance tasks that include many traditional i performance management capabilities. It also has the ability to manage your performance data collections. The most exciting feature is the `Investigate Data` task, which provides the ability to graphically view your IBM i performance data through a browser interface; Collection Services, Disk Watcher, Job Watcher, and Performance Explorer data can all be 'investigated'. This session will go through the capabilities of the Performance Data Investigator, including an overview of many exciting enhancements that have been been added in the 7.2 and 7.3 releases. You will learn how to look at your performance data through the Performance Data Investigator, discover various IBM-supplied views of your performance data, and how you can use PDI for performance reporting.


Learning Objectives:
1. Learn what the Performance Data Investigator is and how to access it.
2. Learn about many of the type of graphs you can use to view Collection Services data.
3. Learn how to create performance reports.


This is Session ID:170152

IBM Navigator for i is a powerful new tool to better manage your i environment. Get expert advice for installation and set up to make sure you get this powerful tool up and running at peak efficiency. Step through the functionality of this product and learn how to leverage the Performance Data Investigator to turn the collection services data into graphs you can use to identify performance issues. Learn ways to protect your system from intrusions, as well as close security holes such as FTP. See how this tool can help you select and install Logical files on your system to improve performance. Learn about the enhancements to this valuable tool in the release of version 7.3, while we see how this tool provides tips and techniques for better and more easily managing your IBM i.


Learning Objectives:
1) Learn how to close down various TCP/IP servers like FTP from intruders
2) How to use the Index Advisor to improve performance
3) Identify if someone is trying to access your IBM i with Intrusion Detection
4) Performance Management graphs


This is Session ID:170527

Can the past predict the future? What about the present - right here and now? And if you know the past, and can predict the future, how can you determine the impact to your applications?  Performance management on IBM i has proactive monitoring features and historical data capabilities, as well as application performance modeling. Attend this session to learn how you can use monitoring to identify and resolve potential issues before they become actual problems, learn about historical performance data and how you can use the past trends to plan for the future, and application modeling to understand what hardware changes will mean to your applications.


Learning Objectives:
1. Learn about monitors in Navigator for i to proactively manage your IBM i.
2. Learn how to project future trends from past history.
3. Learn how to model the application impacts from a hardware upgrade.


This is Session ID:170154

Knowing about the tools and techniques for performance management is necessary, but understanding the overall performance management life-cycle and applying best practices to each aspect of performance is essential to maintain a well-performance solution. End-to-end performance management includes work to size and plan for system hardware and software changes, monitoring the ongoing performance of the solution, doing detailed performance analysis when necessary, and trending your performance characteristics over time. This session focuses on this performance management life-cycle and reviews the best practices to keep your hardware and software performing at their very best.



This is Session ID:170155

IBM i and IBM Power Systems combine to deliver a fabulously reliable environment. The operating system has rich work management capability and strong error reporting. Despite that you shouldn't ignore it or you will eventually find yourself dealing with something serious. In this session we'll cover the things you need to watch and understand allowing you to deal with them before they become serious issues.


Learning Objectives:
1) Learn where to look and what to look for to know how your system is running.
2) Learn what to configure for automatic reporting of errors and problem.
3) Learn the points at which you need to begin to apply effort well before issues occur.
4) Be able to tell management: "Yes our IBM i is running well!"


This is Session ID:170290

IBM i Services - certainly you've heard about these SQL interfaces and how they can provide access to useful system information; many of these services are very useful for system administrators. This presentation will review several of these IBM i Services and how you can use them to improve or customize the management of your IBM i partition. Attend this session to add new tools to your management toolbox.



This is Session ID:180198