Resources

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With Public Cloud OS Instances Growing, Security Challenges Grow, Too

“Some cloud vendors tout that systems deployed within their framework require little or no administration: You create an image with the software and applications that you want it to provide services for, spin it up in a management console, and Voila! you have an entirely new system online; with minimal cost, no hassle, little work. However, even...
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Perspectives on the Changing Linux Ecosystem

Media Text In the early 1990s the Open Software Foundation formed a committee to select and standardize a new Management Platform Toolset for and from the UNIX ecosystem. After much...
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The Many Ways Robot Supports SNMP

Many devices send status updates using SNMP or simple network management protocol. Make sure you’re getting the message. Read on to see how Robot supports SNMP.
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Sudo or SuDon't: Manage Your Privileged Command Execution and Sudo Policies

System admins need root level authority at all times, system operations staff needs periodic database and application account authority, and security admins needing to protect the environment are some of the few of the challenges of managing privilege in the enterprise server infrastructure. Read this article to learn more about Sudo alternatives.
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Managing IT Access Privileges

THE UNSOLVED PROBLEM Secure, private, effective use of computers by a company (including hosted, cloud and other services as well as the company’s own systems) relies on managing access privileges. The problem isn’t unique to computers. Office buildings, hotels, apartments and college dorms, for example, typically have “master keys” (or smart ID...
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Solving Healthcare Security Concerns

According to a recent KPMG report, four-fifths of executives at healthcare providers and payers say their information technology has been compromised by cyberattacks. That same report presents how the increased risk to healthcare organizations relates to the richness and uniqueness of the information that health plans, doctors and hospitals handle. Apart from typical financial fraud, there is also...
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New Approaches to the SWIFT and PCI-DSS Framework

THE WORLD OF COMPLIANCE At the official start of summertime 2016 in Britain we are starting to consume the labour of last autumn, five gallons of alcoholic homemade cider (yum!) made from eight apple varieties grown in mine and my neighbors’ gardens. I’m very VERY careful sterilizing glassware, containers, and buckets: there was this unfortunate...
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Pros and Cons for Puppet's Configuration Management & Security

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY I was at the Red Hat Summit in Boston at the end of June. We had a lot of activity at our exhibitor stand, and a lot of discussions being passed on to me by our sales team I continued to have the same conversation again and again over the three days. This seems to be the year people have finished bedding down Puppet...
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The Commercial Power of SQL-Based Monitoring

The SQL-based monitoring feature in Robot Monitor means organizations can now apply the valuable insights, analysis, and real-time notifications that they use for system information to information from broader business applications.
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Astronauts Rely on Checklists (and So Should You)

What do astronauts and IBM i admins have in common? Checklists! These seemingly simple yet effective devices serve as our external memories and deliver process consistency, but they’re not without limitations.
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Disks Busy vs. ASP Busy in Robot Monitor

Did you know that the Disks Busy monitor reports the average percentage across all your ASPs, not just System ASP? You could be teetering near an I/O overload and not know it! If you have multiple ASPs, use the ASP Busy monitor instead. Here’s why.
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High Availability Fail Tales (and How to Avoid Them)

Chasing a high availability state is a common goal for IBM i administrators and one that can be thwarted by a single issue left unattended. By sharing some of the most frequent tales of what went wrong from real-world environments, you’ll be able to avoid these same scenarios.
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A Modern Approach to Performance Management

Using modern performance monitoring tools, you can build a successful strategy for performance management and quickly add value in your organization.
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Monitoring the Demands of Fast Disk

The IT industry is decisively moving away from traditional hard disk drives (“platters”) in favor of Flash-based solid-state drives (SSDs). It’s a welcome change; it makes much more sense to circulate only electrons instead of disks of metal with electrons on them.
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Small but MIGHTY: Controlling the *CLS Object Type

While the instinct for administrators and IT managers is to always hunt down a culprit – a rogue job, an inactive journal receiver, or something else – sometimes the very building blocks of a common process, or rather the specifics that define processes, can be where the trouble at hand resides.