Wayne Bowers came to speak at NHMUG on Wednesday December 14th!

 

Wayne Bowers

Living Without Client Access - Part 1

IBM i Access Client Solutions is the newest member of the IBM i Access Product Family, and it 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 looks very bright and IBM i Access Client Solutions provides ease of deployment, and operational improvements in nearly every function the client provides.

Many of us though have a very high level of comfort with the IBM i Access for Windows or Client Access software that we have used for over well over 15 years, and the thought of discontinuing the use of that and moving to a new software package may be accompanied with some anxiety.

During this session we will be comparing and contrasting IBM i Access Client Solutions to IBM i Access for Windows. There are definite differences between how these products do some things and this session will offer Tips and Techniques on accomplishing the tasks and processes that we use IBM i Access for focusing on those differences.

We will cover items including, but not limited to, an overview of the main IBM i Access Client Solutions functions, System i Navigator vs. IBM Navigator for i, Data Transfer spreadsheet integration, Remote Commands, and managing configurations.

Become familiar and more comfortable with the differences between IBM i Access Client Solutions and IBM i Access for Windows.

Handouts:
LivingNoCA_NHUMG.pdf
(covers both parts 1 and 2)

Living Without Client Access - Part 2

We will continue from where we left off, and this session will specifically focus on moving a PC that has IBM i Access for Windows installed to using IBM i Access Client Solutions. We will be looking at the recommended best practices for deploying IBM i Access Client Solutions and migrating your IBM i Access for Windows investment to this environment.

Manage and Access your IBM i OS on the Go - IBM i Mobile Access

Managing your IBM i systems as well as providing user access from any mobile device (cell phones and tablets) is becoming more and more of a requirement for many businesses. In response to this, IBM i Mobile Access Solution was born. This solution has been available since May 20, 2015. During this session we will present an overview of the solution, covering things like System Management, the 5250 interface, running SQL Queries, interacting with Printed Output, including a live demo. We will finish up with discussing the robust tools built into the solution that allows administrators to control what users can do based on their IBM i OS Group or User Profile.

Handouts:
MobileAccess.pdf

Beyond SSL - IBM i OS Transport Security

Communications security is a necessity for nearly everyone in at least some scope, and SSL is a common, well known term in this environment. This session will go beyond SSL, to the broader level conversation of Transport Security, of which SSL is becoming an outdated technology, replaced by TLS. IBM i OS r7.1 and r7.2 now supports the current TLS 1.2 protocol, and some new cipher specifications. We will look at some protocol details, including sniffer traces showing different connection handshakes, and include the newer TLS 1.2 support in an overall conversation of managing the application communication Transport Security environment on your IBM i OS.

Handouts:
BeyondSSL.pdf

Biography

Wayne Bowers has been with IBM since 1997, where he works with the IBM i Global Support Center in Rochester MN. He is an Advisory Software Engineer specializing in the support of the IBM i Access (aka Client Access) products, Integrated Blade server solutions, and the TCP Telnet communications server. Wayne has been developing and delivering presentations on IBM i Access products since 1999, and at external conferences like COMMON and IBM Edge since 2009 where he is an award winning speaker.