|
|
| yanqui 2003-05-12, 1:45 pm |
| Okay, to some of you this will sound really basic, to others it will sound really stupid, and to some it will just sound loud and annoying.
I know that the as400 has its own programming language. Does it have a name? Is it something that can be picked up like C# or Java? (or like strep throat or tuberculosis?) We have quite a few programmers here and we still had to bring in a consultant to work on a couple of special projects,which never seem to be in short supply, and yet our IT director didn't recommend programming languages as something he'd consider as essential to his department.
 | |
|
| RPG(Report Program Generator), and I believe version IV is the most current.
If you have some structured programming experience, you can pick it up. | |
| DaPunisher 2003-05-13, 9:45 am |
| We have 14 AS/400s here at work and I still don't have a freakin clue what they do??? I know that they are some kind of mainframe. We have DBA support staff for them and I hear them jibber-jabber about Opalis Robot (I think its a batch scheduler) and are always running into problems. I'm glad i'm into Win2k!  | |
| yanqui 2003-05-13, 9:54 am |
| quote:
Originally posted by DaPunisher
We have 14 AS/400s here at work and I still don't have a freakin clue what they do??? I know that they are some kind of mainframe. We have DBA support staff for them and I hear them jibber-jabber about Opalis Robot (I think its a batch scheduler) and are always running into problems. I'm glad i'm into Win2k!
You have 14 mainframe as400's? or 14 terminals? It is a database operation, usually integrated between all finance operations. We run an as400 plus JD Edwards software for certain portions of our finance ops. We're turning most of our finace ops over to JDE gradually (have to do it gradually due to opposition to change) but the JDE uses the same sort of interface as as400, and has its own report generators, which is part of its appeal--don't need to bring in additional programmers to write reports. But the Accounting package of as400 usually would bring together all the orders, deliveries, collections, bills paid, bank accounts, and all the various accounting accounts for the general ledger. Hewlett Packard's mainframe is HP3000, and it has its own language, but the premise is the same. | |
| DaPunisher 2003-05-13, 12:04 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by yanqui
You have 14 mainframe as400's? or 14 terminals? It is a database operation, usually integrated between all finance operations. We run an as400 plus JD Edwards software for certain portions of our finance ops. We're turning most of our finace ops over to JDE gradually (have to do it gradually due to opposition to change) but the JDE uses the same sort of interface as as400, and has its own report generators, which is part of its appeal--don't need to bring in additional programmers to write reports. But the Accounting package of as400 usually would bring together all the orders, deliveries, collections, bills paid, bank accounts, and all the various accounting accounts for the general ledger. Hewlett Packard's mainframe is HP3000, and it has its own language, but the premise is the same.
Yup. 14 mainframes. Those suckers weigh a ton! I had to move a few of them and that was quite a burden. I help support a very large enterprise network. | |
| ruscorp 2003-05-13, 12:54 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by Spid
RPG(Report Program Generator)
Sure it’s not Rocket Propelled Grenade? | |
| yanqui 2003-05-13, 12:59 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by ruscorp
Sure it’s not Rocket Propelled Grenade?
That's probably closer to a realistic description, but Report Generator sounds much less painful. The results are the same.  | |
| ruscorp 2003-05-13, 1:07 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by yanqui
That's probably closer to a realistic description, but Report Generator sounds much less painful. The results are the same.
It sure does! | |
| Kasor 2003-05-13, 11:23 pm |
| Wait until you find a manul or doucmentation about it.
Fun NEvER stop!! | |
| yanqui 2003-05-14, 9:40 am |
| quote:
Originally posted by Kasor
Wait until you find a manul or doucmentation about it.
They make those?  | |
|
| I have worked on the AS/400 or if you want to be politically correct-the iSeries for 14 years or since its inception. It is the most stable platform on the planet. Most programs have traditionally been programmed in RPG but you can also have programs in a variety of other languages such as C++, Java just to name a few. It will run Linux, it will run NT and just about anything a person could want to do. It has a 64 bit RISC processor and can have 24 processors (maybe more by now). It had the first copper chip. It makes a dandy webserver-it uses apache for its webserver. It uses DB2-400 for its database and it is not a mainframe. People like to call it that and I am clueless why. It is a server just like any other server only you rarely have to reboot-lol. | |
| yanqui 2003-05-15, 9:26 am |
| quote:
Originally posted by sdesb
I have worked on the AS/400 or if you want to be politically correct-the iSeries for 14 years or since its inception. It is the most stable platform on the planet. Most programs have traditionally been programmed in RPG but you can also have programs in a variety of other languages such as C++, Java just to name a few. It will run Linux, it will run NT and just about anything a person could want to do. It has a 64 bit RISC processor and can have 24 processors (maybe more by now). It had the first copper chip. It makes a dandy webserver-it uses apache for its webserver. It uses DB2-400 for its database and it is not a mainframe. People like to call it that and I am clueless why. It is a server just like any other server only you rarely have to reboot-lol.
Thank you--that's a great explanation. We call it a mainframe because we don't know any better--or at least we didn't until now. To those of us whose only interface with it is a terminal, or a screen on a PC, the AS 400 is like those big room-sized computers of the 70's we heard about. If it's powerful enough to do all that for the whole company, it must be a mainframe. That's the mindset, and according to what we've been told about what a mainframe is, it seems to fit the description. Until today. Thanks again. | |
|
| Yah, everyone always calls it that! I am used to it and get a little defensive. It is really a machine worth knowing though. We only have one but we use it for email, we have apache configured to server our Intranet web pages and we run our core software on it that runs our business and the list just goes on and on. It also has unique file systems for many types of OS's, such as NT, 2000, Unix. I really think when it was first conceived they referred to it as a "mini-computer" (even though it was huge back then) but they way it stands now its just another server plain and simple. | |
|
| I thought AS/400's are classified as a mid-range system. | |
| sdesb 2003-05-15, 10:43 am |
| yes they are-actually derived from the Sys36 which was before the coined the term midrange I believe. Mini came from my old Sys36 days. | |
| Pentrix2 2003-05-15, 4:42 pm |
| An AS/400 is a midrange. And the language it uses is RPG and CL. Your company doesn't need 14 mainframe boxes because data are very small and doesnt' require a lot of memory. The only reason why your company would require 14 mainframe would be if they leased them to other companies.
Why I say this is because I work on the AS/400 and support it myself. You can store billions of programs in there and store so much data but you won't even use half of the hard drive in that box.
And if you say you support it then you shouldn't be asking what language the AS/400 is using. RPG, CL is basically Cobol. | |
| yanqui 2003-05-15, 4:57 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by Pentrix2
And if you say you support it then you shouldn't be asking what language the AS/400 is using. RPG, CL is basically Cobol.
Actually, the person that said they support it wasn't the one that asked what language it uses. The questioner was me, and the only way I could say I support it is if I physically pick it up and carry it around. | |
|
| quote:
Originally posted by Pentrix2
You can store billions of programs in there and store so much data but you won't even use half of the hard drive in that box.
AS/400s are great boxes. One of the most stable platforms you'll ever run across. What more could you want of a box than to just run and run and run. AS/400 "hard drives" are usaully referred to as DASD drives. | |
| Pentrix2 2003-05-15, 7:32 pm |
| Very true, I agree with you on the points you pointed out. | |
| MistyRing 2003-05-16, 7:20 am |
| Y'know, I've been working with MS OS's for years and I didn't know you could run them on AS/400's. You do learn a thing or two here on EN. | |
|
| There are a couple of different ways to do it and there is an additional card that is installed but the beauty is, you use AS/400 DASD for storage and your backups happen along with your highspeed tape drives that are on the 400. Of course your base operating system is always going to be OS/400. To know this system is to love it but for some reason most people are a little intimidated by it or something. | |
| yanqui 2003-05-16, 9:22 am |
| quote:
Originally posted by sdesb
To know this system is to love it but for some reason most people are a little intimidated by it or something.
People are afraid of the unfamiliar. Even a lot of people who call themselves computer savvy can't type a simple DOS command, and a command-driven system can be intimidating because people think they have to learn another language to use DOS. I actually resisted windows for a long time because I liked DOS; now I'm not even sure how much of DOS I could actually make use of.
Since so many companies use AS 400 systems for their operations records, I'd like to know more about it. Any recommendations for research? | |
| DaPunisher 2003-05-16, 10:27 am |
| quote:
Originally posted by yanqui
Since so many companies use AS 400 systems for their operations records, I'd like to know more about it. Any recommendations for research?
Click ME, Baby!
AS/400 information | |
| sdesb 2003-05-16, 10:30 am |
| Actually almost 100% of the as/400 is graphical now. I rarely use the command line. Of course since I know most of the commands because I have used it for so long, I have had to force myself to point and click. Just doesn't seem as efficient to me but hey. | |
| azimuth40 2003-05-16, 1:13 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by Spid
AS/400s are great boxes. One of the most stable platforms you'll ever run across. What more could you want of a box than to just run and run and run. AS/400 "hard drives" are usaully referred to as DASD drives.
All disk drives including the IBM XT and AT disk drive are known as DASD (pronounced DAS-D) to an IBM'r . DASD = Direct Access Storage Device.
A Motherboard is known as a Planar Board and booting or rebooting your system is known as IPL (Initial Program Load) or re-IPL. To a Burroughs/Unisys person that was a Cold Start and a Warm Start | |
| Pentrix2 2003-05-16, 1:24 pm |
| Yupe, pretty much. | |
| sandy7000 2004-09-09, 8:27 pm |
| Hi all,
I'm reviving this topic as I'm taking an AS/400 class. I've been overwhelmed researching a paper I have to write. It's about "how the iSeries is utilized as a (general) server."
Does anyone have any other links that are more basic? I'm not looking for an explanation, just links that I can learn from.
Most I'm finding are very deep. I'm not experienced enough to get anything from it.
I tried dapunisher's link. Part of it: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infoc...c2924/index.htm
Thanks. | |
| sandy7000 2004-09-10, 2:46 pm |
| Nevermind. I did a search in a different direction & was able to start w/ a few articles. Wow, there's a lot out there on this! | |
| WPFossil 2004-09-16, 9:33 am |
| Wow. An AS/400 thread. Here I thought I was the only one left who used one at work.
It's reliable. That's about all I can say for it.
| |
| sandy7000 2004-09-16, 10:51 am |
| From my research, the iSeries seems to be superior for clustering and load balancing because of the SLIC, single level storage, etc., (in my opinion).
Windows tries to be too much to too many people. Closed systems for servers seem to be best rather than trying to stretch to fit an os to the hardware.
However, Microsoft has the most people trained on their software. That's probably the only reason it's most prevelant...not because it's superior to AS/400.
The class is done now. Ask me in a month how much I'll remember about programming AS/400. | |
| prezbedard 2004-09-19, 2:01 am |
| only time I ever touched as400 was through telnet sessions in college for either checking email or programming for a C class I took. | |
| prezbedard 2004-09-19, 2:03 am |
| damn you sandy!!!
I just read that you brought this thing back to life!!!!
j/k!!
Good luck with the class | |
| sandy7000 2004-09-19, 9:44 pm |
| Oh man. Nothing like the 11th hr. to get things done.
I have a take home test due tomorrow. I'm sitting here trying to understand source physical files & what's stored in them. Plus, I lost my temper on Friday. I was so irritable, & it got the best of me. I didn't say anything mean. I was just frustrated because I felt shut out of a project.
However, the person isn't one who forgives either. I feel like a crumb.
Oh well. Back to the books. |
|
|
|