TUG Buzz! for Tuesday March 19th, 2024

IN THIS ISSUE:

March MoM - Speaker: Barbara Morris :: RPG
TUG Board - Election Results
Press Release - Shield Advanced Solutions
Future MoM Calendar - Upcoming Events

⌚ March MoM is tomorrow!

Wednesday, March 20th, 2024

Join us for this in-person meeting at the Monte Carlo Inn & Suites (Downtown Markham) 7255 Warden Ave., Markham ON L3R 1B4

...with live-streaming on Zoom!

* Note: An MP4 recording of this meeting will be available to download for TUG members in good standing, by email request to admin@tug.ca.

SPEAKER:

photo: Barbara Morris bmorris@ca.ibm.com

Barbara Morris
Lead developer for the RPG compilers
IBM Toronto Lab

Barbara has been working on the RPG compilers since she started at IBM in 1989, after receiving a Computing Science degree from the University of Alberta.

The first enhancement she developed was the ENDIF and ENDDO opcodes for RPG/400 in V2R1. One of her most recent enhancements was the CHARCOUNT NATURAL support for working with Unicode data. A few of the other notable enhancements that she developed for RPG include subprocedures, qualified data structures, and fully-free-form RPG.

ABSTRACTS:

Session 1 TOPIC: **"RPG and Unicode"**

• General concepts about Unicode and about character-sets in general
• Some RPG-specific topics working with Unicode data

Session 2 TOPIC:
**"What's new for RPG in 7.4 and 7.5"**

• Discussion of the new features added to RPG in the past 2+ years

ALL PATRONS AND STAFF ARE ENCOURAGED TO BE FULLY VACCINATED TO ATTEND THE MoM IN-PERSON.

AGENDA TIMELINE for March 20th MoM

ADMISSION: Free for TUG members (Non-members $60)

• 4:30 PM In-person Check-in

• 5:00 PM Session 1 - RPG and Unicode

• 6:00 PM Intermission (dinner)

CHICKEN SUPREME BUFFET

• 7:00 PM Session 2 -
What's new for RPG in 7.4 and 7.5

NOTE: Once your registration is confirmed, you will receive an email with the meeting link, meeting ID, and password.

TUG Board Election 2024

The following incumbent Directors were elected by acclamation for another 3-year term:
• Glenn Gundermann
• Jay Burford

The following nominee (also elected by acclamation) is returning to the TUG Board for a new 3-year term:
• Kumar Rajendra

* In the future, if you are interested in serving as a Director on the TUG Board, simply send an email to admin@tug.ca.

TUG
Sponsors

PLATINUM LEVEL

GOLD LEVEL

Press Release AAG/NG4i V2.1

Issued: Immediate release
Toronto, Ontario

Online Link to Press Release - www.shieldadvanced.com/Blog/press-release-aag-ng4i-v2-r1/

Shield Advanced Solutions Ltd. is excited to announce Version 2 Release 1 of their AAG/NG4i solution.
AAG/NG4i – Nagios Monitoring for IBM i, was initially announced in May 2023.

New Features include:
• HMC monitoring
• New check commands
• Automated configuration
• Secure connectivity
• Email & Pushover Alerts
• PTF Management
• Additional language support
• Seamless integration with new Nagios XI wizards

The number of checks AAG provides has been increased from 70 to around 180 providing users more granular monitoring capabilities. The Power HMC was added as a target with the latest release. Improved Nagios XI wizards offer a seamless integration with existing Nagios XI infrastructure monitors and remove the complexity when configuring new systems. An open source Nagios stack complete with management scripts and interfaces that are popular with the smaller IBM i customer and run on a RPi or Linux VM can be provided at the latest release.

AAG/NG4i by provides commands and menu options to check for the latest PTF Groups and Security Bulletins and download the required fixes directly to an image catalog. This is a significant benefit removing hours of effort to identify, download and install the required PTFs. The checks provided with AAG/NG4i ensure you do not miss an important fix which could expose your IBM i to bad actor.

Version 2 release 1 adds support for additional language installs which allows the product to be installed on IBM i systems that do not have the 2924 language feature installed. AAG/NG4i will continue to grow and provide more new features as we find customers that need them, AAG/NG4i is the premier solution on the market today for IBM i and Power HMC monitoring.

Says Chris Hird, Director of Shield Advanced Solutions Ltd, “We are constantly seeking to improve both the performance and the ease-of-use, new check commands that are application specific are already being looked at plus ways of providing new insights into the IBM i environment using the data collected by NG4i will evolve as we move forward. If you have not seen our products and would like to have a demo, let us know using the links provided on the website. We think you will be amazed at just how easy it is to implement and set-up AAG/NG4i or any one of our other products.”

Shield Advanced Solutions Ltd., established in 1997, provides availability and monitoring solutions for IBM i (and its predecessors AS/400 iSeries, i5 and Systemi). Shield is known for their top-quality service support, and less complex enterprise-level solutions at SMB prices. https://www.shieldadvanced.com/AAG.php

System requirements
• OS: IBM i 7.1 or later
• Nagios Server (Linux based)

-30-

Technical Contact: chrish@shieldadvanced.com
Press Contact: alison@shieldadvanced.com

Future TUG MoM Calendar:

DATE / VENUE	TIME / TOPICS	SPEAKERS / SPONSOR
Wednesday MAR 20 Live in Markham	5:00 PM (EST) - Session 1: Topic: RPG and Unicode (live with streaming on Zoom) 6:00 PM (EST) - Intermission (dinner) 7:00 PM (EST) - Session 2: Topic: What's New for RPG in 7.4 and 7.5 (live with streaming on Zoom)	Barbara Morris (IBM)
Wednesday APR 17 (Zoom)	12:00 PM (EST) Noon Zoom MoM Topic: Modernizing the Way you Manage IBM i Security	Carol Woodbury (DXR Security) Hosted by R2i
Wednesday MAY 22 Live in Mississauga	5:00 PM (EST) - Session 1: Topic: TBA (live with streaming on Zoom) 6:00 PM (EST) - Intermission (dinner) 7:00 PM (EST) - Session 2: Topic: TBA (live with streaming on Zoom)	Steve Pitcher (Service Express)
Wednesday JUN 19 (Zoom)	12:00 PM (EST) Noon Zoom MoM Topic: TBA	Alan Seiden (Seiden Group)
Wednesday JUL 24 (Zoom)	12:00 PM (EST) Noon Zoom MoM Topic: TBA	TBA
Wednesday AUG 21 (Zoom)	12:00 PM (EST) Noon Zoom MoM Topic: TBA	TBA
Wednesday SEP 25 Live in Markham	5:00 PM (EST) - Session 1: Topic: TBA (live with streaming on Zoom) 6:00 PM (EST) - Intermission (dinner) 7:00 PM (EST) - Session 2: Topic: TBA (live with streaming on Zoom)	TBA
Wednesday OCT 23 (Zoom)	12:00 PM (EST) Noon Zoom MoM Topic: TBA	TBA
Wednesday NOV 20 Live in Mississauga	5:00 PM (EST) - Session 1: Topic: DB2 Analytics - Part 1 (live with streaming on Zoom) 6:00 PM (EST) - Intermission 7:00 PM (EST) - Session 2: Topic: DB2 Analytics - Part 2 (live with streaming on Zoom)	Sarah Mackenzie (IBM)

The Toronto Users Group for Power Systems (TUG) is a user group/forum for the exchange of ideas, and specializes in providing affordable education relating to the IBM iSeries, AS/400, System i, and Power Systems platforms. TUG is in its 39th year of operation.

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