From: Aaron Bartell
IBM i's very nature and foundation it was built to be
a multi-job/multi-user/multi-DB/multi-etc machine.
Speaking of multi-job architecture, I noticed yesterday that a client was
running about 6,500 active jobs on their 4-core IBM i server including multiple
instances of Apache; an Admin instance, a Zend instance, a Web Query Instance,
one for serving RPG CGI, and another for who knows what. The log for the RPG
CGI instance indicated an average of 6 CGI requests per second average over a
period of 10 hours. That's not counting requests for static content. Thousands
of 5250 sessions. Thousands of other types of workloads. I contrast that with
my 2-core Windows laptop that according to Task Manager is running just 6
applications, 24 processes, and 75 services.
The appeal of running something like Wordpress under IBM i would be that you
don't have to manage a 2nd physical server. If you bought an IBM i server in
the last 4 years, you probably have capacity to spare, without adding a Windows
server. Web technologies offer a future for IBM i. I question whether the
platform would survive if it were relegated to just 5250 and DB workloads.
One appeal of running native Web workloads under IBM i is the unmatched
integration with legacy systems and data. In the last decade we witnessed a lot
of new workloads deployed under Windows and Linux for applications like approval
& routing, document management, business intelligence, dashboards,
reporting, and so forth. During the coming decade I envision those types of
workloads embedded right into mainline systems. For example, we provide a
screen for schools to maintain student records. Once a student record is
selected, a link offers a view of student's entire school transcript in HTML
format. Another link to transform it to XML so it can be forwarded to a Web
service that makes it available to Colleges anywhere, and another link to
generate a condensed PDF. In the past, user's may have relied on an external
server and an external interface to generate those types of documents, but in
the future that function will be embedded into mainline systems.
-Nathan
midrange.com
