The first step in tightening up your security policies on any computer system, including the AS/400, iSeries and IBM i, are enforcing security on user logins and profiles This is especially true for systems that can be connected to from the Internet either directly or even indirectly via a secured tunnel such as a VPN

The messaging system on the AS/400, iSeries and IBM i is an important system administration area that you need to understand Messages are more or less simple ways that jobs can communicate status and errors, administrators can send important messages to signed on users and a way that the operating system communicates critical and important information like a hardware failure

When it comes to maintaining user level security on your AS/400, iSeries and IBM i power system, there are a bunch of overlooked system values that help to define and configure almost every aspect from the initial startup sequence and resources and yes even enforcement of passwords And when it comes to managing your users for the maximum level of security there are a few system values that you should be aware of

One of the really nice features of the operating system built into the AS/400, iSeries and IBM i power system platform are the backup and recovery tools that are built right in If you are used to using the backup programs on a Windows type platform and find that it stinks for recovery purposes, using the backup tools on the IBM will be a very welcomed relief because they work flawlessly

I know that sometimes it can be a little confusing to understand how the operating system handles jobs on the AS/400, iSeries or IBM i system is setup to function But really it is actually straight forward once you realize that there are two types of jobs that can run

After ten years I find that, other than dealing with job contention and working batch jobs through clogged subsystems, printing tends to be an issue that prompts a user to call for help And of course sometimes the job system and printing go hand in hand, it all depends on the job though

One of the most basic areas any good AS/400, iSeries or IBM i administrator needs to be familiar with are the system values These values define various ways in which your system functions and can greatly have an impact of ease of administration and performance

When it comes to reporting tools for the AS/400, iSeries and IBM i platform there are many products to pick from In fact a whole cottage industry has sprang up over the years with a myriad of different data tools for reviewing and extracting data from the OS/400 integrated DB2 database

One of the more commonly asked questions I see in forums and by end users is how do you get your data from the AS400 down to the PC in a text file format or as an Excel based spreadsheet And fortunately with modern tools and software this is a very simple problem to solve

Whenever I start working on an AS/400, iSeries or Power System box at a new company there are a few key areas I like to be sure of These areas include ensuring basic system level security, job configuration and process management