RE: Linux and V5R2 -- MIDRANGE-L

Let's see:

          Applications
          ------------
             OS/400
          ------------
              TIMI
          ------------
              SLIC
          ------------
            Hardware

What makes an AS/400 an AS/400(or an iSeries)?  I would argue that it's
actually the layers underneath the O/S that give the AS/400 its character.
I was at the Briefing Center in Roch. last week and they specifically said
that the direction is to be able to run Linux or AIX partitions on the
iSeries using a "hypervisor" without requiring OS/400 to be loaded at all.
I don't think this means that the AS/400 is going away, it's just changing a
little more.  These systems won't be replacing current applications, they'll
be new business for customers who don't have an AS/400 programming staff.

Today's OS/400 certainly isn't the OS/400 of 1988 or a warmed over version
of 1978's CPF.  Linux is very stable, but is only in the early stages of
multiprocessor support.  And both are character based, what's the point?

My friends at the support center say that the rumor there is that the AS/400
is "going away."  Al Barsa says that he expects to be working with OS/400
until he retires.  Who do you believe?  How many customers out there are
still on V4R5?  V3R2?  Older even?  The biggest problem that I see is new
applications being promoted on "Hot" new hardware (like Linux in a z/VM
partion) while old, reliable "AS/400" applications have to keep chugging
along on 6-10 year old hardware.  

>IBM has pushed it(OS/400) after(as far?) as it can go.

The new Enterprise edition models include WebSphere, Sametime, Quickplace,
DB2, BRMS and Tivoli at "no additional charge."  How many of your companies
pay thousands of dollars to run applications with similar functions on other
(less reliable)hardware and software?  In our current business environment I
think it's the perfect time to push development of new applications on
hardware we already own, but is past due for an upgrade.  Why (pay $$ to)
run WebSphere on a new server without an administrator or a D/R plan when
you can run it on a system that's already got these in place?  We have an
new application running on a Windows server that needed to write data to our
AS/400 and Netserver proved to perform poorly for this one.  I suggested
using NFS(which worked,) but we had to BUY an NFS client license for the
Windows server.

I know that we're all fans here, but we've got to promote the iSeries to our
management and end users also.  Otherwise they forget what we can do with
our "Magic Box".  In my company it has been assumed for years that the
AS/400 would eventually go away (after Content Manager was migrated to the
S/390.)  Just yesterday I was told that the AS/400 workload would be growing
and not going away anytime soon.

My rant for the day....

Scott Ingvaldson
AS/400 System Administrator
GuideOne Insurance Group 

QOTD: "Windows: n. 32-bit extensions and a graphical shell for a 16-bit
patch to a 8 bit operating system coded for a 4-bit microprocessor, from a
2-bit company that can't stand 1 bit of competition."


-----Original Message-----
Date: Tue, 06 May 2003 22:29:22 -0400
From: qsrvbas@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Tom Liotta)
Subject: RE: Linux and V5R2

midrange-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

>   6. Re: Linux and V5R2 (Pradip Shah)
>
>OS/400 is about 20+ years old.
>It is a character based OS.
>IBM has pushed it after as it can go.

I am by no means a Unix guy, but... Isn't Unix both character-based AND a
number of years older than OS/400? As for Linux, is it now _not_
character-based?

Tom Liotta