Used AS400 IBM Servers | New Power 10 Systems | Managed SIEM Security

The IBM Hardware Management Console (HMC) is a virtual hardware appliance used to manage and monitor IBM i, AIX and Linux server workloads running on Power9, Power8, Power7, Power6 and Power5 Systems. The IBM HMC uses built in terminal emulation software to connect and control Power system resources, services, virtualization features and order Capacity Upgrade on Demand. The IBM HMC can consolidate the monitoring and management of all Power systems in a company’s infrastructure that is supported by the HCM code. Every HCM model supports different Power system models based on the version of HMC code. For instance, the latest HCM...

Managed SIEM SOCaaS SECaaS

Is your SIEM the magic bullet? Many companies are finding their SIEM implementations have provided little return on investment and have not strengthened their security posture to any great degree. Purchasing the best SIEM and endpoint security tools on the market will not magically identify vulnerabilities, make an infrastructure more secure. Every SIEM requires proper implementation and ongoing tuning services to keep up with the constant changing landscape of threats, vulnerabilities and a customer’s own environment. Like any security product, every SIEM requires an experienced technician to configure it correctly, and enough staff must be trained to keep up with the volume...

IBM i Encryption Data Protection

It has only been a year, and the new data protection and privacy regulations have already hit a few companies with multi-million dollar fines. Every company with sensitive data on an IBM i (iSeries AS400) and has data protection and privacy requirements, should have implemented DB2 encryption already. Some of the companies seen in the news recently not only failed to secure personal data properly, could not accurately assess how much data was compromised, had a lax incident response plan and were slow to notify authorities. These factors all led to heavier fines, causing the total financial penalties to exceed 100s...

Why Nutanix HCI is the ideal VM platform for Splunk SIEM

Most SIEM environments rely on a plethora of different servers, storage arrays, hypervisors and network interconnects to support their rapidly growing SOC environments. Likewise, most SIEMs also all have the same issues and concerns about performance, costs and time required to provision and manage storage growth. The primary problem is, the entire infrastructure the SIEM relies on is not integrated or even truly virtualized under a single unified architecture. As a result, administrators are stuck in a never ending battle of upgrading and adding more traditional technology for the same problems, and security analysts are constantly waiting for searches to complete...

Details of each POWER9 and POWER8 hardware enhancement provided by the release of IBM 7.4 (V7R4) are below the initial summary, organized by IBM Power generation and topic. The new IBM POWER9 and POWER8 hardware features provided for OS400 V7R4 are now all available for ordering as of June 21, 2019. Read about IBM i 7.4 (V7R4) announcement details here. IBM V7R4 announcement provides the following I/O enhancements for Power9 scale-out and scale-up system models: 1.6 TB, 3.2 TB, and 6.4 TB PCIe3 Enterprise SSD NVMe adapters for Power9 E980, E950, L922, S922, S914, S924, H922, and H924 servers1.6 TB and...

QRadar Prices for All-in-One SIEM Appliances start at $38,500.00 to $102,000.00. Pricing is calculated based on the volume of events and network flows ingested by the SIEM. QRadar prices for All-in-One appliance includes the following licenses for out of the box deployment: Maximum Events per Second defined by model (expandable increments: 100, 500, 1000, 2500, 20000, 40000, 80000)Maximum Flows per Minute defined by model (expandable increments: 10000, 25000, 50000, 100000, 1200000, 2400000, 3600000)QRadar Security Intelligence Console for SOC including advanced threat protection, predefined dashboards, partner provided and editableIBM Security AI Sense Analytics for assets on premise, mobile, remote sites and cloud servicesAsset...

This QRadar vs Splunk comparison will help anyone planning on switching in 2019 from Splunk to QRadar SIEM. It will also help anyone just curious to s...

IBM Power9 S924 9009-42A Specifications

This specification breakdown of the IBM Power9 9009-42A model S924 will explain the key performance features that sets it apart from its Power8 predecessor.  In comparison to the 8286-42A model S824, the IBM Power9 S924 delivers 40-50% better performance for data intensive database and analytics workloads, with over twice the memory footprint (accelerated by Coherent Accelerator Processor Interface CAPI) running at speeds up to 344 GB/s (172 GB/s per socket), has over 60-70% more CPW for IBM i workloads and 2X the I/O bandwidth (Gen4 PCIe slots). IBM Power9 with CAPI 2.0 increased I/O bandwidth over 4X Power8 ability, clocked at 192...

Nutanix Hardware for HCI Lenovo

A hyper converged infrastructure (HCI) uses software to virtualize all server and storage resources for streamlining, automating and maximizing IT resources and operations for a variety of complex, compute-intensive Databases, VDI, Microsoft, Business Applications, Cloud, Big Data, SIEM, SYSLOG and other x86 environments. HCI virtualization solutions significantly reduce operating and licensing costs, provide predictable performance, provide up to 2.8 times storage gains and enables long-term flexibility and scalability. The HCI software defined infrastructure model addresses almost every IT challenge facing companies today, including:Improving IT staff productivityImproving operational efficiencyReducing capital expensesReducing operating expensesImproving backup/recoveryImproving resource utilizationData center consolidationThe value of hyper converged infrastructure...

QRadar IBM i Offense

Configuring the IBM i to forward security and system event logs to QRadar SIEM can be done a few different ways, but in order to do it correctly; in LEEF format, in real-time, with GID and enriched event log information, you need an IBM i event log forwarding tool designed for the QRadar SIEM. There are IBM i security event log forwarding tools that can be used for QRadar that will send event logs in real-time and in CEF SYSLOG format, and even a couple that support LEEF, but only one includes QRadar QID for mapping, log enrichment and is on...

IBM i Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions have various levels of flexibility for implementation and integration with existing applications and ticketing systems that need to be considered before purchasing. Assessing your IBM i Security requirements for implementation will be key to ensuring the IBM i PAM solution you choose meets your all your use cases, as well as environmental and compliance requirements. First note, Privileged Access Management (PAM) terminology used by most technology sectors and compliance regulations refer to processes more commonly known on the IBM i (iSeries AS400) platform as Profile Swapping and Adopted Authority procedures. Terminology aside, the goal of...

IBM i customers upgrading to a new IBM Power9 scale-out system from an older Power system have three models to compare specifications; the 9009-41A S914, 9009-42A S924 or 9009-22A S922. Before jumping to any conclusions about which Power9 system is right for you, consider the specifications and resources of your current IBM i and performance during peak times. The new Power9 systems are so powerful, many companies are finding they can drop a software tier without any question. Dropping an IBM P-Group in itself is a significant cost savings, and the total cost of ownership price tag adds up after factoring...

Keeping your IBM i optimized for optimal response times requires regular monitoring of system resources and identifying various elements that affect application performance. Poor response times of only two or three seconds delay can quickly get compounded over time when poorly written applications are involved or database maintenance has been neglected. Like most performance degradation issues on the IBM i, response time issues only get worse as the number of transactions multiply. Ignoring system performance issues affects productivity and frustrate customers, which in turn increases costs and affects revenue. Below are some ideas to consider if a major IBM i upgrade...

*Also see QRadar Pricing on all IBM SIEM Security Intelligence Product Prices  (including QRadar Hardware Appliances) QRadar SIEM Free Trial Compared to what you are doing today, QRadar will unify your existing IT infrastructure and security products into a user friendly and intelligent SOC. QRadar provides advanced, automated threat detection above and beyond what you would expect.  But the only way to appreciate the simplicity and robustness of QRadar SIEM platform is to evaluate security solution for yourselves.  QRadar FREE Trials & Demos   2023 QRadar Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price Chart by License*MSRPQRadar SIEM by IBM Security - Event Processor Virtual 1690...

IBM EJ14 PCIe3 12 GB Cache RAID Plus SAS Adapter is the highest performing raid controller (SAS adapter) for IBM Power9 and Power8 systems that will significantly improve raid performance. The IBM EJ14 PCIe3 12 GB Cache RAID PLUS SAS Adapter has four 6 Gb connectors enabling the highest performance HDD or SSD SAS controller capabilities for IBM Power systems using PCIe Gen3 technology and IBM’s latest SAS RAID adapter technology. The EJ14 PCIe3 SAS adapter builds on the success of the EJ0L PCIe3 12 GB Cache RAID SAS Adapters, but delivers up to 100% more write IOPs than the older EJ0L...

IBM i backup performance is affected by many variables, and many data transfer rate bottlenecks can be very easy to resolve. Some simple changes you can try to improve backup performance may only require using the correct media generation for your tape library/drive, minimize resource sharing, shortening the distance between the IBM i PCIe I/O adapter and tape library/drive, using backup optimization settings or restructuring your backup processes. These minor changes are virtually free to try and may have a significant impact on optimizing your IBM i backup transfer rates and without having to spend a lot of time analyzing the...

The IBM z mainframe system remains the workhorse for most of the largest and most successful companies in the world, maintaining both mission critical legacy software applications and new workloads. In the scope of sensitive data and security, the IBM z/OS protects the company’s jewels for good reason, but has a plethora of system and security event log sources that must be monitored and forwarded to a SIEM like IBM QRadar, AlienVault, Exabeam, Managed SIEM or a SYSLOG Server like the Splunk. Since IBM mainframe event logs do not conform to SIEM and SYSLOG industry standards, many IBM z shops are running batch...

IBM mainframe systems are still running the bulk of critical workloads at over 70% of the world’s largest and most successful companies. The first IBM mainframe and 911 Porcshe were both sold in same year, 1964. Most people do not realize how advanced and powerful the IBM z platform is, and always has been. The fact is, virtualization was being developed on the IBM mainframe in the 1960s and added this amazing new technology to the platform in 1972, decades before any other platform. To this day, companies are adding more and more workloads to their IBM z every day, because...

Is it time to upgrade your IBM i Power System? Or do you need to upgrade your IBM i Power System? Most companies upgrade their IBM Power systems on a scheduled interval, but there are instances when response times and throughput bottlenecks cause unacceptable performance levels, and a quick fix is needed. IBM i response times and throughput rely on common system resources and can have a similar effect on performance from an end user experience, but the variables that cause them are very different and are often difficult to figure out.   IBM Power system processors, memory, SSD, disk drives...

Security breaches making headlines are almost always due to inadequate access controls at one or more levels of a company’s infrastructure. Known and unknown vulnerabilities may have assisted in most security breaches that we read about, but most could have been avoided with the proper security access controls implemented, or at least significantly mitigated. The IBM i security framework is not immune to breaches and certainly not the most secure platform in your environment if the necessary access controls have not been implemented. All compliance regulations have general guidelines to implement various forms of access controls, including stricter authentication policies using Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), Profile...