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Home > Archive > General Discussion > January 2001 > OT: AS/400 skills
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| EDavidson 2001-01-23, 2:00 pm |
| Hello!
My boss is having me take an AS/400 administration class *- gasp -*!
I already have a strong background in a NT Server 4.0 network, and I understand UNIX from the college that I am attending. Would these backgrounds help me any in understanding an AS/400? Or would I just be starting from scratch (i.e., I never knew just how different a UNIX environment is from an NT environment)! In addition, I'm not sure if this is going to be a full time job for me in the future. If it is, should I bail out? How much are AS/400 skills in demand? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
-Edmund | |
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| Mainframes are a different ballgame, I am afraid. No, it wouldn't help you much. Even UN*X seems child's play compared to MVS. Example: To run a program in UN*X, you type
programname
at a command prompt. To do the same using MVS, you type the following:
//RDMSA20L JOB (SIS,001),RANDY,
// MSGCLASS=9,CLASS=A,REGION=2048
K,
// NOTIFY=RDMSA20
//SIS00144 EXEC DB2TEST
//DB2.SYSTSIN DD *
DSN SYSTEM (DSN)
RUN PROG (PROGNAME) -
PLAN (PROGNAME) -
LIB ('TEST.BATCH.LOAD')
END
//PARMFILE DD DSN=RDMSA.TEST0021.SIS00143.SISP0101,DISP=OLD
//SIS300EX DD // DSN=RDMSA.TEST0021.SIS00144.SIS30001,
// DISP=(NEW,CATLG,DELETE),
// UNIT=SYSDA, SPACE=(CYL,(50,10),RLSE),
// DCB=(RECFM=FB,LRECL=300,BLKSIZ
E=27900)
//*
//ABENDAID DD SYSOUT=*
//CEEDUMP DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSOUT DD SYSOUT=*
//*
Putting a space in the wrong place could cause an abend. The shell language (JCL) was developed in the 1960's and is as ugly and hard to use as is possible. Am not sure that these skills are needed as much as they once were outside of data wherehouses. I would go for something more promising unless it really interests you.
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| Hi Edavidson,
I work on an AS/400 daily in addition to our mixed NT / Novell environment.
I'm one of the security officers for the AS/400 system and mostly handle user account administration as well as report generation and batch processing.
The AS/400 is a totally different animal than what you've had experience with. It's a midrange system (similar to a mainframe setup) and you'd be basically starting from scratch. An AS/400 system is a rock solid platform, but demand for it seems to be declining. It's just another platform with it's own terminology to become familiar with.
I think getting some AS/400 experience would be a good thing, but only you can determine if it would help you in your current situation or your future career goals. 
Hope this Helps!!
Spid
Net+, MCSE
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