PHP update and directions

Hello,

I met some guys from Zend technologies and asked them about iSeries and PHP.

As I promised, here is a summary of the topics that were discussed.


Why port php to the iSeries?
----------------------------
Because IBM has asked them to and provided the necessary incentives.
The PHP learning curve is not as steep as the Java learning curve,
and rpg programmers will find it much easier to adopt.
On the one hand, IBM was disappointed with the weak penetration of Java
to the iSeries world. On the other hand, IBM was looking for a replacement
for Net.Data. On the gripping hand, PHP has proven to be a very successful
environment for web applications development.

porting PHP as a native Apache module instead of running it as a CGI engine
in PASE.
------------------------------------------
I did not receive a clear answer, I hope to get one soon.

Will there be a conversion program to port Net.Data to PHP?
-----------------------------------------
Zend are planning to write a tool to help with this conversion,
but they are not sure if it will be released to the public
or used only internally in their professional services group.

Can patches/updates to php be distributed as standard PFTs?
-----------------------------------------
While the php installation is distributed as a licensed program,
the patches are not distributed as PTFs. Patch packages and hotfixes
are downloaded from the Zend support site, either through the php
console or manually. The patches are applied by running a proprietary
patch installation program and not by APYPTF.

Porting open-source applications.
---------------------------------
Zend professional services provide consulting to port open source
application
to the iseries platform, and work with ISVs that do the actual work.
They have some documentation of "best practices" and guidelines
that are specific to the iSeries platform. They haven't decided yet if they
will release this documentation to the public or use it internally in their
professional services group.

Accessing databases.
--------------------
PHP relies on the operating system to provide database connectivity.
PHP can access DB2/400 in a native mode. It can access other databases via
ODBC
by utilizing DRDA (wrkrdbdire).
Planned product enhancements
----------------------------------------------
V5R3 support planned in Q1 2007.
Database connection pooling .

Scope of PHP adaptation to the iSeries
---------------------------------------
PHP core - free to use.
PHP extensions - included in core.
Native DB2/400 access - included in core.
Bridge for calling native programs (RPG, COBOL, CL) - included in core.
PHP studio - free for iSeries users.
Zend Platform - central management of multiple php nodes.

PHP logging
-------------
There is no integration with iSeries logging facilities.
Logs are written to text files - just like Apache logs.




Shalom Carmel
-----------------------
www.hackingiseries.com