Robot/CONSOLE 5.0 now shipping

Brings automated System i message and resource management to the desktop

Help/Systems, the world’s leader in System i software solutions, announces the release of Robot/CONSOLE 5.0, the newest version of its automated System i (iSeries, AS/400) message, resource, and log management software. Robot/CONSOLE version 5 makes message and resource management even easier with its completely new graphical interface—the Robot/CONSOLE Explorer.

The Robot/CONSOLE Explorer point-and-click interface lets users set up their Robot/CONSOLE message management environment; create message centers, groups, sets, and notification lists; automate message management; respond to messages quickly; and create reports. The Message Set Creation Wizard walks users through the process of setting up message sets, while Robot/CONSOLE’s graphical automatic message notification process helps users track and respond to critical messages directly from their desktop.

Using the Robot/CONSOLE Explorer, users can monitor and manage resources, such as lines, controllers, subsystems, queues, and devices, as well as the system logs for system history, security audit, and FTP requests. The new Robot/CONSOLE Resource Monitor display allows users to see at a glance whether monitored resources are in their expected status, and to stop or start the monitoring of resources. Monitoring system logs is equally easy with Robot/CONSOLE, which creates a complete audit trail for monitored logs that is especially useful for SOX audits, maintaining Service Level Agreements, and general system management.

The Robot/CONSOLE Explorer also provides powerful message data manipulation capabilities. Data filters allow users to display exactly the information they need. Users can use the filters shipped with Robot/CONSOLE, or create their own specialized filters. Using XML files, users can export and import Robot/CONSOLE objects (such as message sets, message centers, message queue monitors, message tables OPAL tables, and notifications lists) to another system or partition to reproduce their message monitoring environment. Robot/CONSOLE also allows users to copy message and monitoring data, such as message history or message details, to a PC file or an Excel spreadsheet, for analysis or distribution.

Robot/CONSOLE 5 provides two new reports to simplify the process of automating message management. Users can run the Message Tables Report to see the range and usefulness of any message tables or OPAL tables currently defined in Robot/CONSOLE. The Query Message File report helps users identify messages that are candidates for message tables by listing all of the messages in a message file that contain a specific character string.

Additional Resources
To learn more about this new release, you may be interested in downloading the following Help/FACTS:

Robot/CONSOLE 5.0 Enhancements

Installing Robot/CONSOLE 5.0 (new install)

Instructions for converting Robot/CONSOLE Version 4 to Version 5 from the Web

There is also a FREE 2-hour class: Robot/CONSOLE 5 Conversion and New Features