Tag Archive for: IBMi

Alan Seiden

What IBM i Users Should Check when Learning of an Open Source Security Vulnerability

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API & web security on IBM iA client asked about a vulnerability found in libwebp, which is used by PHP’s image-handling gd extension.

My first step was to find a reputable source for details. According to this trusted article about the vulnerability, the issue affected only libwebp versions 1.3.1 and earlier. I checked our own system and found we had a patched version from IBM, so we were safe. The client was, too.

Here is the procedure you can use for checking the version of this or any other open source package on IBM i. Read more →

Alan Seiden

Our Favorite ibm_db2 Settings for PHP

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PHP on IBM iWhen supporting our Seiden CP+ PHP, we found that documentation for the “classic” ibm_db2 extension for IBM i wasn’t easy to find.

To help ourselves as well as others, we updated the PHP.net manual to describe each ibm_db2.i5_* setting. This blog post links to that manual page and highlights a few of our favorite ibm_db2 settings.

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Alan Seiden

Read-only Mode in VS Code for IBM i

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Code for IBM iIf you are using the Code for i extension and would like to “browse” or view certain source members without the risk of modifying them, use the “Read only” or “Protected” capability.

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Alan Seiden

PHP 8.3: How the Community Helps PHP Evolve

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The inclusion in PHP 8.3 of two enhancements by Seiden Group’s own Calvin Buckley* inspired me to write this post.

PHP is moved forward by its community. Each year there is a new major release with enhancements, each month a maintenance release. PHP 8.3 is another achievement in the steady cycle of improvements.

Here are some key resources for understanding how the PHP language is built and enhanced.

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Alan Seiden

Older 32-Bit PHP & PASE Apps Can Break in IBM i 7.5

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This alert was originally published in Seiden Group’s July 2023 Support Bulletin.
Upgrade to Seiden PHP+ Server for full support of IBM i 7.5 and 7.6.

IBM i 7.5 includes OpenSSL 1.1.1, an upgrade that can disable older PASE applications that were tied to 1.0.2 or earlier.

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Alan Seiden

IBM i Apache Security Setting: RequestReadTimeout

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Apache HTTP Server ProjectA client asked for help addressing a Denial of Service (DoS) vulnerability that their security company discovered. The company found it could slow down the Apache web server by sending it incorrect headers. By sending an artificially high “Content-Length” header, they caused the web server to wait for data that would never come.

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Alan Seiden

Measure Performance Using IBM i Apache Directives

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UPDATED August 21, 2025

Apache HTTP Server ProjectSpeed is critical when serving APIs and web pages. The IBM HTTP Server (powered by Apache) for i can log the speed of each request.

Here’s how to ensure that the web server will track HTTP request speed at the desired level of precision.

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Alan Seiden

PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS Solves Job Cleanup Issues

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One of PHP’s strengths is that each PHP job or process cleans itself up after every request. This makes PHP very reliable and stable.

On occasion, though, an extension may have a bug that leaks memory or causes other problems over time. If that happens, PHP’s FastCGI settings provide a solution.

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Alan Seiden

How to Resolve Yum Command FTP Errors on IBM i

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While installing packages from IBM’s original open source repository, ibm, users may encounter errors, including:

  • [​Errno 12] Timeout on: ftp://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/ibmi/products/pase/rpms/repo/repodata/repomd.xml: (28, ‘Connection time-out’) Trying other mirror. Error: Cannot retrieve repository metadata (repomd.xml) for repository: ibm. Please verify its path and try again.
  • [​Errno 14] FTP Error 451 – server did not report OK, got 451 Trying other mirror
  • [Errno 14] FTP Error 550 – Access denied: 550 Trying other mirror

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Alan Seiden

How to Update the Code for i Extension

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Code for IBM i has been moving quickly. As the popularity of this Visual Studio Code extension has grown, updates and enhancements have arrived regularly.

If you encounter a bug or issue, installing the latest update may resolve it. Updating Code for i requires only a restart of VS Code. Here are some details to clarify how to restart as well as how to roll back the update, if desired.

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