COMMON POWERUp 2023

IBM i Access Client Solutions is a platform independent client that is supported running on multiple Operating Systems like Macintosh, Linux, and Windows. Familiarity with IBM i Access Client Solutions is very important as this is the future of the IBM i Access Family software on workstation operating systems. This future is already here as IBM i ACS is the only client supported on Windows 10 and later OS, and IBM i Access for Windows is being withdrawn from support on April 30, 2109. Though, this future is very bright as IBM i Access Client Solutions provides ease of deployment, and operational improvements in nearly every function the client provides. During this session we will make a survey of the IBM i Access Client Solutions functions and features that allow us to accomplish the tasks and processes we use IBM i Access for. Become familiar with IBM i Access Client Solutions!

Learning Objectives:

Whether you're new to the IBM i or already advancing your career on this incredibly stable platform, join me in reviewing the many features of ACS. I have seen many great colleagues in my company who said, "ACS? Oh yeah, that's the emulator, right?" Yes, ACS is an emulator. But saying ACS is an emulator is like saying the swiss army knife is just a knife. No matter your job description, ACS has many tools that can help you work smarter.

Learning Objectives:
Learn some timesaving tools available with ACS.
Discover how to work smarter with ACS whether your a user, administrator or a fellow code monkey like me.
Learn how ACS can not only improve how you work, but improve how you collaborate with your coworkers.

With the latest releases and technology refreshes the SQL data definition language (DDL) for creating and maintaining database objects was enormously enhanced. DDS on the other hand is stabilized. But still a lot of applications even those with a modern graphical interface and where the latest goodies of the programming language are used in the source code are based on DDS described files. The excuse DDL enhancements cannot be used, because of the DDS description and the native I/O access of these files, does not count any more. With Reverse Engineering, the SQL code for DDS described objects can be retrieved. CREATE OR REPLACE statements allow DDS described files to be converted into SQL defined database objects, while the programs that use these files can stay untouched. With the CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE statement, files with fields based on field reference tables can be managed.

Learning Objectives:
In this session you will learn to convert DDS described files into SQL tables and SQL indexes without touching any program code. It will also be demonstrated how reference files can be used in composition with SQL tables and how (future) enhancements, for example adding columns on a specific position or changing data types and lengths can be managed.

Are you intimidated by spreadsheets? Do you use Excel for the basics, but know you could be so much more productive with it if only you knew how? Do you cringe when other business people within your company ask for data in spreadsheet form? Excel is a wonderful tool, especially when paired with the IBM i! It's incredibly powerful, and can save you lots of time.

This session will begin with the basics and then progress through more advanced Excel topics such as functions, pivot tables, and array formulas. Using real life examples, you'll see how these new skills will help you in your career. Finally, we'll review powerful methods of pulling data from your IBM i directly into Excel spreadsheets! You'll even leave with sample code you can leverage within Excel to give you one click access to run an SQL statement from your desktop and have the results returned in a spreadsheet.

Learning Objectives:
Learning Objectives: After participating in this session, attendees should have the skills and techniques to:
- Understand the benefits of using Excel
- Use spreadsheets to improve your own productivity as well as that of your company
- Pull data from your IBM i directly into a spreadsheet in a variety of ways

Learn about what the HTTP server is and how it can work for you. Get to know the fantastic features of the latest IBM HTTP Server for i (powered by Apache) version 2.4. Quickly and easily get your HTTP server up and running using the IBM Web Administration for i GUI interface. This session will introduce the HTTP Server on i, some of the key differences on i, some of the areas that are tightly integrated into the IBM i operating system. We will also take a look at the key important topic of security and how to configure the HTTP server securely and the different options available. In addition, the very latest new features will be covered, as there are many new additions in the latest Apache 2.4 version.

The user will have a basic understanding of the IBM HTTP Server. They will be equipped to deploy a Web site in a secure manner. By the end of this session, attendees will understand:

• Key design points and basic configuration that every Web server requires
• How to get your web site up and running using the graphical integration wizards provided by IBM Web Administration for i
• New features for IBM HTTP Server for i (powered by Apache ) version 2.4, such as SNI, OCSP, ECDSA cipher, TLS1.2, new authentication mechanism, remote IP, HTTP server subsystem definition, etc.
o The basics of web security and securing the HTTP server

The High Availability and Disaster Recovery landscape is continually evolving with new technologies both on-premis and in the cloud dedicated to ensuring your business stays running. Navigating through these technologies requires and understanding of business needs, and outage protection goals.

Throughout this session we will discuss the types of outages, and the technologies available to protect against those types of outages in order to help you make decisions to map out your HA and DR journey. This session will give a brief overview of a number of technologies including: Db2 Mirror, Live Partition Mobility, Logical/Software based Replication, Full System Replication, and PowerHA technologies.

Learning Objectives:
1. Learn the importance of considering your recovery point objective and recovery time objective for different types of outages
2. Learn how different technologies can help achieve various RPO and RTO targets.
3. Learn how the technologies can be combined to form solutions with several examples of common solutions

Inspired by longtime presenters at the Summit, this discussion looks at the most popular tweaks, hacks and just plain good practices the for IBM i PHP community to enjoy. Sometimes you just need a shopping list of things to watch out for and many of the tips that are scattered throughout these presentations are consolidated in a single place. Performance, security and best practices and more will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:
Common tips useful to all PHP shops
Common mistakes to overcome with PHP in most shops

Today data get more and more exchanged between multiple platforms and interfaces, in JSON or XML or other text formats. SQL includes methods for consuming XML and JSON. But quite often the data is not in the format, so we can consume it directly. For example, the first and last name is returned as a single value separated with a comma and must be split.  On the other hand, data must sometimes be prepared in a specific way, for example a numeric value must be right adjusted padded with asterics and edited with group and decimal separators. And finally, it is necessary to check the passed data or to search character data if they match a specific format or include a specific sequence. For example, to find all column values that consist not only of digits. Did you know, you can do this directly with SQL? SQL includes a lot of scalar functions for string manipulation including regular expressions for scanning, preparing and converting

Learning Objectives:
Learn what scalar functions for string manipulation are available and how they can be used for concatenating, converting, splitting strings.
For more complex searches learn which regular expression functions are available and how they can be used.