Category Archives: IT Management

The Cardinal Rule of IT Management: One Deployment at a Time

project management life cycle

After managing IBM i systems, data centers, networks, telephone systems, deployments, etc. for 25+ years, I’ve developed one cardinal rule for major rollouts for SMB staffs.

Don’t perform more than one major project on the same day
Continue reading

Posted in IT Management | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Hertvik Business Services Now Offers Consulting on Power Systems (IBMi, aka AS/400) Purchasing

Zemanta Related Posts ThumbnailIf you’re buying a new IBM Power systems box IBM i processing (aka AS/400), Hertvik Business Services offers consulting on buying and leasing Power hardware Continue reading

Posted in IT Management, Power hardware | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Hertvik Business Services Now Offers Consulting on Power Systems (IBMi, aka AS/400) Purchasing

Another Thing You Can’t Ship to a Data Center Any More…Compressed Air

For Data Center managers, the latest entry in the items that can go boom when shipped is..compressed air cans. Continue reading

Posted in IT Management, storage | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Another Thing You Can’t Ship to a Data Center Any More…Compressed Air

IT Management and the Hertvik Paradox: Invisibility is Your Friend

Here’s the formula for success in IT infrastructure:

Success=Invisibility

The more people actually see you doing your job, the less successful you are.
Continue reading

Posted in IT Management, Misc, opinion | Tagged , , | Comments Off on IT Management and the Hertvik Paradox: Invisibility is Your Friend

IT Jungle: Four Ways to Move an IBM i Partition, Part 1

IT Jungle just posted my latest article on the four different ways to move an IBM i partition from one machine to another. The four ways are: Restore in place or to a new location with same system name Restore … Continue reading

Posted in IBM i Tech Info, iseries move, IT Management | Comments Off on IT Jungle: Four Ways to Move an IBM i Partition, Part 1

Running an IBM i HA Switch Exercise This Weekend

This weekend, my shop is running an IBM I high availability switchover exercise. We’re switching processing to go live on our backup box for four hours on Sunday morning, and bringing in 25 users to certify that the Capacity BackUp … Continue reading

Posted in IT Management, Misc | Comments Off on Running an IBM i HA Switch Exercise This Weekend

IT Jungle: Budgeting for Your Next Power Systems Upgrade

IT Jungle just posted my latest article on what to budget for when you’re upgrading to a Power systems machine. I go over the operating system expenses and leasing cost you may incur and need to budget for as you … Continue reading

Posted in IBM i acquisition, IT Management | Comments Off on IT Jungle: Budgeting for Your Next Power Systems Upgrade

IT Jungle: Automatically Answering Unable to Allocate Record Messages

IT Jungle just published my latest tip on automatically answering record lock messages. Here’s the question I answered in this tip: We have a persistent problem with application jobs waiting on record locks with an RNQ1218 (unable to allocate a … Continue reading

Posted in IBM i Tech Info, IT Management | Comments Off on IT Jungle: Automatically Answering Unable to Allocate Record Messages

Interesting InfoTech Article: Is IBM i a Dying Platform or Going Strong?

Correction: When I originally posted this piece, I didn’t realize I was talking about an article from 2011. I realized that mistake later. But what strikes me most about this analysis is that the original article could have been written … Continue reading

Posted in IBM i Tech Info, IT Management | Comments Off on Interesting InfoTech Article: Is IBM i a Dying Platform or Going Strong?

Using Windows 7 Switch Users Feature to Share Computers

Running a Help Desk, every once in a while I’ll get a request to create a generic user so several people can use the same computer. The problem is that auditors frown on generic users as it removes accountability and … Continue reading

Posted in IT Management | Comments Off on Using Windows 7 Switch Users Feature to Share Computers

It’s Offical: IBM i Does Not Support sFlow

For a project I’m working on, we’re trying to determine how much network traffic travels to a particular IBM i partition and what IP addresses the traffic is coming from. The purpose is to model the traffic before we move … Continue reading

Posted in IBM i Tech Info, IT Management | Comments Off on It’s Offical: IBM i Does Not Support sFlow

IT Jungle: Six Things to Do Before Switching Production Processing to Your CBU

IT Jungle just posted my latest tip on preparing to switch production processing to your IBM i CBU machine. There’s a lot of good tips in there including: Getting temporary keys for products that aren’t licensed to your CBU Quieting … Continue reading

Posted in IBM i Tech Info, IT Management | Comments Off on IT Jungle: Six Things to Do Before Switching Production Processing to Your CBU

IT Jungle: How Do I Load This Digital Certificate on to My IBM i Box?

IT Jungle just posted my latest tip on how to load a digital certificate into an IBM i certificate store when your Digital Certificate Manager gives you this dreaded error message. “An error occurred during certificate validation. The issuer of … Continue reading

Posted in IBM i Tech Info, IT Management | Comments Off on IT Jungle: How Do I Load This Digital Certificate on to My IBM i Box?

IT Jungle: A Checklist for Moving Power i Partitions to a New Location

IT Jungle just published my latest article on moving Power i partitions to a new location. This information comes in handy when: Your company is sold or spun-off and your machine is moving to another location Your parent company is … Continue reading

Posted in IBM i Tech Info, iseries move, IT Management | Comments Off on IT Jungle: A Checklist for Moving Power i Partitions to a New Location

IT Jungle: Getting Short-Term Maintenance for Your Power i Machine

IT Jungle posted my recent article on how to get short-term maintenance (less than one year) for a Power i machine that will soon be taken out of service and returned to a leasing company. Here’s the situation I answer … Continue reading

Posted in IBM i hardware maintenance, IT Management, Software Maintenance | Comments Off on IT Jungle: Getting Short-Term Maintenance for Your Power i Machine