Re: AS400 web server

For a different perspective,

If you want to spend less time putzing around to integrate several products
from several vendors, perhaps you should take a look at the possibilities
of a Lotus Domino server for your Internet/Intranet/Extranet web server
either running on an IPCS today or natively on a V4R2 version of OS/400 in
the future.  It may give you the opportunity to reduce the propeller-head
requirements and focus more on the business aspects of communicating and
collaborating with knowledge workers within your own, your partners',
customers', and prospects' organizations.

I agree that the pieces and parts approach works, but I wonder if the time
and expense required to learn all the new development tools and techniques
is really the best answer for IS departments supporting organizations whose
mission is to be profitable selling products or services outside the niche
of web development deliverables.

Just some food for thought - good luck as you "work the web", *bg

PS:  I am an independent, AS400-centric consultant who does not sell Domino
(or any other) product ... over the years, I have participated in several
local and remote client/server-type projects using a variety of tools and
techniques to leverage the mission-critical data on the AS/400 to the
outside world ... much of my work over the past 18 months or so has been
focused on the integration of the AS/400 with Lotus Notes/Domino because my
experiences have led me to the point where I trust the synergy between
those two best-of-breed products to deliver valuable business solutions
more so than I do those from other vendors ... this is not a sales pitch,
just my enthusiastic personality - the future's so bright, we gotta wear
shades!

At 10:26 AM 10/17/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Thomas Q. McCollem wrote:
>> 
>> Hi All,
>> I am interested in using my AS400 as a web server.  Could someone point me
>> in the right direction?
>
>there are several good books from Midrange Computing and Duke Press
>(news400)
>on the subject.  Check out both of thier websites as well, and the
>magazines themselves.  It's not hard at all to configure the box, the
>tough part is getting an internet service provider.
>
>> Do I need V4R1?
>
>no.  I/Net has a product - webserver/400 that allows you to serve the
>web on any v3r1 and up machine.  IBM's version started at v3r2/7, I
>think, but isn't  , IMO, as robust as the I/Net product.  
>
>> Is CA required?
>
>no, I believe you can key your html and serve them to the web out of
>source files using SEU, but I would recommend getting a decent web page
>design tool - they are cheap, and can be found all over the web.
>
>I'm pretty sure you will need some sort of router (netsoft, ca, etc) to
>allow you to access the IFS file system on the as/400.  This is where
>you have to save your graphics, etc.
>
>> Are there tools used for web page development?
>
>plenty.  names like Hot Dog, Hot Metal, Netscape Gold, MS front page,
>etc.  Most of them have demo/shareware versions downloadable from the
>web, and most  of them create decent pages, but most good web designers
>only use them to get a page started, then go into the html source
>themselves to tweek it.
>
>If your web site is going to be dynamic (has forms for inputing data,
>changes based on user input and/or host data) rather than static (just
>your basic page, with graphics and links to other pages), the learning
>curve is going to be much sharper.
>
>In this case, you will need to learn about cgi-bin programming, or use
>products such as IBM's Net.Data and/or Net.Commerce.  You can find more
>about these products from IBMs website.  Net.data uses a scripting/macro
>language that allows you to access as/400 data, format it and display it
>on the web.  Net.Commerce is more of a complete web site developement
>tool that incorporates net.data.
>
>> As you can tell I am new to the Web,  so any information you can give me
>> will be greatly appreciated.
>
>The worse part is getting an ISP.  figure out what kind of band width
>you'll need to the web (based on how much traffic you expect) and shop
>around to your local and national providers to get the best rates, and
>check references for how their customer service is.  talk to someone
>who's been thru it.  
>
>As for your site developement if you pretty much know what you want it
>to look like there are plenty of college kids out there who know html
>and will work for around 10 bucks an hour to create your site.  
>
>There are plenty of companies (mine included) who can take any and/or
>all of this stuff off of your hands and within a couple months can get
>you serving up a well designed, professional looking, functional and
>feature rich internet/intranet web site at a reasonable cost.  Once
>again, shop around. (or just let us do it and we'll bill you :)
>
>If you have any specific questions, I'd be glad to help.
>
>Hope this helps,
>
>rick
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>
>

bill gravelle, comsign ltd
303.679.1973
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