System iNetwork

May 2008

May 27, 2008 4:20 PM

Orphans: They Aren't Just for Victorian Novels Anymore

I've been with this company for almost 14 years now, and I've seen many people come and go. I've also seen many people's online administrative access to web-based tools stay, becoming what are known as "orphan IT accounts." At one point in our company's pre-merger-and-acquisition history (i.e., when we were smaller), we had an exit procedure in place for when an employee left the company, and that process included removing all web-based admin access for that person. We've diversified and grown, had a lot of staff turnover, and outsourced and in-sourced various aspects of our infrastructure -- so I don't think we have a formal exit procedure anymore. It's up to the individual departments to try to remember to remove access or send a request to the appropriate department to request that access be disabled for a particular person.

Web-based administration tools are a way of life for many of us these days. Here at Penton, we use web-based tools to post blog entries; add, edit, and manage content on our website; send out e-mail newsletters; access our company e-mail in a browser; and more. We even use it to manage our benefits and other related items. I'm sure we aren't unique in the way we use web-based admin tools. And I'm not even going to mention other, more central types of access, such as LANs and file servers, e-mail accounts (especially web-based access), databases, and VPN.

What got me thinking about all this was a recent post on Computerworld's website, "IT leaves ex-workers' accounts open." A lot of companies are leaving a lot of accounts open!

So, what's your company's procedure or policy? Are there products out there that can help manage accounts? Maybe something that notifies when an account hasn't been used for a certain period of time, so that the system administrator can check whether it's an ex-employee's account? Are there different products for handling web-based tools versus more central-type access, such as for LANs, or the System i? If you're a vendor, here's your chance to post a comment here in our blog and tell us about your System i-focused solution . . . or another solution relevant to our industry. If you're a user (like me) or a systems administrator or someone else in the trenches, give us your perspective and tell us what you do or what you wish you could do to minimize, prevent, or eliminate orphaned accounts.

--Linda Harty, security & networking/connectivity editor

Posted by lharty on May 27, 2008 at 4:20 PM | Comments (0)

May 20, 2008 1:53 PM

Tech Support Reviews Few and Far Between

I was talking with a tech support guy at a major ISV (okay, it was Marcel Sarrasin over at BCD), and he offers me a tidbit:

"Excellent tech support is extremely important to our customers -- and even more so with our web development products -- since more than 75 percent of our clients using those products have no prior web experience. The majority of our support calls are in the ‘how to’ category rather than reporting bugs or problems with the actual software. Great support increases our clients’ overall satisfaction with our products, and they really appreciate having a real person answering their call. Tech support in the IT industry gets a very bad wrap. A lot of it is justified, but I think in the System i marketplace the quality of support is much higher than most of the IT industry."

So I wonder: How much of a company's success is due to the products and how much is really good customer service and tech support, therefore resulting in a ton of repeat customers who give free publicity through word of mouth, too. Truth be told, almost without fail, every time I interview someone for a case study article, customer service and support are always in the top three considerations for choosing a software provider (the other consideration is always cost). According to a CIO Insight column I read last week, 28 percent of companies polled expect to increase their hiring of tech support and help-desk positions this year, which I hope means that everyone is stepping up the support game.

But I wonder, how does an average, small-business manager find companies with a history of reliable customer service -- through awards, polling, or whatever? Here's what I came up with: pretty much bupkis.

There's a Tech Target blog that is mostly opinions but has some reviews, too. According to the web page, it's "The latest iSeries opinions on systems management, programming, web development, recovery, security, and more." Check it out here.

That's pretty much all I could find. I know, it's pathetic. I did discover a lot of useful blogs such as this one: http://wdsc.wordpress.com/, which occasionally mentions products. The general consensus from my research, though, seems to be that if you are interested in a new product, try to find the message board on the vendor's web page and see how fast and how well the company answers customer questions. Also, ask for customer referrals before you buy a product. Talking to another customer is a sure way to avoid the bogus salesman speak.

Posted by ebradford on May 20, 2008 at 1:53 PM | Comments (0)

May 13, 2008 4:08 PM

CNX Takes RPG to the Web with Valence

At RPG World in Las Vegas, CNX hung out a shingle to tout its Valence Web Application Framework for the System i product. Valence is a development environment that lets RPG programmers and developers create Web 2.0 browser interfaces with RPG. The product controls System i library lists and security for all programs and lets users access options via a navigation tree. Richard Milone, managing partner of CNX, revealed that the RPGers he spoke to were excited about adding to their RPG skills – they wanted to learn about JavaScript, ext JS, and JSON (JavaScript Object Notation).

Milone, an RPGer himself, said his team tried other options (e.g., WebSphere, Java, etc.) to webify its green-screen apps, but none of the available tools really fit the bill. "We wanted to use RPG as the core language, we wanted to provide the best browser, and we didn't want to use a middleman, so we created Valence," says Milone.

CNX provides four main components to the Valence Framework: ext JS, Valence RPG toolkit, charting capability, and the Valence viewpoint portal. The CNX team built the toolkit and portal from scratch, but the company pays the licenses for the ext JS and charting components. According to Milone, the Valence RPG toolkit is the only one that provides a JSON front end.

The product is aimed mainly at organizations with a well-established RPG base that want to take/develop RPG apps to the web. Although the folks at CNX embrace RPG, they do provide training on new skills to help you move your green screens to a sharp-looking, interactive browser interface.

Posted by cbushong on May 13, 2008 at 4:08 PM | Comments (0)

May 12, 2008 11:18 AM

PostgreSQL: The Next Open-Source Friendly Giant?

MySQL is the most popular open-source database for PHP and other web applications. PostgreSQL is favored second but still lags behind MySQL in number of installations. However, many applications can use either database, and PostgreSQL's reputation for feature abundance, standards compliance, and bullet-proof dependability makes it a good choice for mission-critical development.

Last year IBM teamed with MySQL AB to support the open-source MySQL on i5/OS -- good news for System i developers who want to port PHP and other open-source applications. Sun's acquisition of MySQL AB early this year, however, complicates IBM's MySQL support because Sun competes directly with IBM for e-commerce and other server business.

IBM added pepper to the pot in late March by investing in EnterpriseDB, a PostgreSQL vendor (but not the owner of PostgreSQL development). The EnterpriseDB's Postgres Plus product line is a value-added package that combines the free PostgreSQL database with proprietary management tools and an interface to Oracle. If supported by IBM for its AIX and System i users, it could be an alternative to MySQL.

Although open-source fans are undoubtedly glad to see serious financial support for projects such as MySQL, it probably makes them nervous when a big player such as Sun steps in as owner of it all. With its popular Open Office project, its recent move to make Unix variant Solaris open, and its opening of source code for many Java components, Sun shines in open-source territory.

It can't hurt, though, to have another friendly giant with a free database on the landscape. IBM and PostgreSQL make a good combination and will keep Sun on its toes. If IBM fully integrates PostgreSQL with the native System i database engine, PostgreSQL will emerge as a robust, fully supported hardware package perfect for acute enterprise applications. System i will win by becoming a broader, more bewitching development platform leveraging its most important asset -- the firmware-integrated DB2 database.

Posted by vhamende on May 12, 2008 at 11:18 AM | Comments (3)

May 5, 2008 1:28 PM

CYBRA Goes Viral

Another company in our industry has gone mainstream by launching its new viral advertising videos on YouTube. Last week, CYBRA unleashed a new marketing campaign for its barcode and RFID software, MarkMagic, on the web. The company posted all seven chronicles of “The 2,000 Year Old Programmer” (a.k.a. “2K”) and his cool and hip counterpart, “Auto-ID,” on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/cybratv), its own website (http://www.cybra.com), and a new mini-site highlighting MarkMagic (http://www.markmagic.com/MarkMagic_single.html).

The videos showcase 2K’s conversion from the difficult and ridiculous ways of creating barcodes and forms to the use of MarkMagic at the advice of Auto-ID. Auto-ID even introduces 2K to the wonders of RFID and how one can quickly and easily create the tags with MarkMagic. The videos are extremely entertaining. An 80-year-old retired school principal plays “The 2,000 Year Old Programmer,” who even dances at the end of one of the videos after exclaiming, “MarkMagic rocks!” Pretty silly stuff! My favorite moment in the videos is when 2K holds up a live mouse and asks, "How do you click a mouse?"

If you like seeing System i and System i applications rising in popular culture, check out the videos and support CYBRA for their efforts.

Posted by cdeemer on May 5, 2008 at 1:28 PM | Comments (0)