Resources

Article

Optimizing Containers, Kubernetes and OpenShift

The container deployment model offers component autonomy, elasticity, and scalability in a way that no other framework has done before. But to reap the benefits, you need to adopt new ways of managing and optimizing your environments and their underlying resources. Learn how to manage the performance and resource planning of container workloads.
Article

Virtual Tape Considerations for IBM i

This article examines some of the most popular IBM VTL (virtual tap library) solutions for IBM i and other platforms. You'll also learn what to consider to determine if VTL is right for you.
Guide

Robot in Modern IBM i Environments

Robot systems management solutions can improve processes and enhance the return on investment for new technologies running in modern IBM i environments. Find out how.
Guide

How to Do IT Cost Optimization

Our years of experience shows that organizations waste 30% of their hybrid IT spend, on average. This article identifies the five key components of a cost optimization strategy and how to be successful with each of them.
Article

IBM on IASP for PowerHA Implementations

You’ve heard about IASP technology many times over the years, but you’ve been ignoring it, haven’t you? Steve Finnes confirms that it’s past time we “get to know it, understand it, and not be afraid of it.”
Article

FlashCopy: Pros and Cons

IBM System Storage FlashCopy might seem like magic. But do the benefits for IBM i business continuity outweigh the hidden costs? Read on to find out.
Article

Backup Basics: Saving Your Data and Your Job

You need a backup strategy to test your company’s disaster recovery plan and, despite its reputation for reliability, administrators still need to back up their IBM i. A sound backup strategy should also restore individual user objects to account for human error.
Article

Comparing Different Methods for Calculating Health and Risk

How do you calculate IT health and risk ? There are different methods you can use, depending on your needs. The most common methods for determining IT infrastructure health are: Threshold comparison Enhanced threshold comparison Event detection Variation from normal Allocation comparison Queuing theory for health On the other hand, the most common methods for calculating IT infrastructure risk are...
Article

Managing Your IBM i Audit Data

Let’s face it; system administration remains a largely thankless task. From scheduling jobs to balancing workloads to answering messages in QSYSOPR, administrators and operators work diligently behind the scenes to ensure that IBM i servers are available to run mission-critical applications.
Guide

Continuously Optimizing IT in Financial Terms

CHALLENGES : Virtualization and increasingly complex agile computing environments are creating difficulties for IT financial controllers and for IT Financial Management (ITFM). Virtualization breaks the long-standing direct, one-to-one correlation between cost-allocated physical hardware and the IT services it supports. Increasingly dynamic, multi-layered applications have made it more difficult...
Guide

DevOps Development: Keeping the Lights On

Overview : The DevOps methodology embodies two core philosophies: decreasing the lead time of software deployment and the automation of delivery and testing. DevOps emerged as a practical response to the agile development movement, in contrast with traditional, phase-based or “waterfall” development, which is inefficient and labor-intensive. Traditional methods should be phased out, and companies...
Guide

Dashboards Don't Work (Unless You Have a Metrics Management Strategy)

Tech has had a tremendous impact on the way today’s businesses seek continued growth and improvement. No matter what business they are in, executives everywhere are investing in technology that improves their business processes, gets them ahead of the competition and widens their margins. Ultimately, the return on that investment is determined by how well technology supports a business’ ability to...