iSeries Development, what are my options?

[thegman999]

Hello all,
I'd like to develop some software for IBM i, I've done so before, but right now, I lack an iSeries and compilers.

iDevCloud seemed perfect, and I'm OK with $100 a month. However, my ideas are commercial, and against the rules for that service. They offer a commercial service too, but it's too rich for my blood.

Basically, I need PHP/web and the C compiler, that's about it.

I'd gladly buy my own iSeries (I used to have a 9401/150), I can live with the hardware cost, but the cost to get it up and running with OS/400 and compilers is going to get too expensive. I could stretch to maybe $1500 or something, but I can barely get hardware for that, let alone licenses.

I barely need an CPW, if it can run Apache/PHP, it's good enough for me.

I'm happy to use a hosting service, but it needs to permit commercial development. I don't mind sharing a machine (i.e. not my own partition), but that seems unlikely if I'm putting PHP scripts into Apache.

Basically, what are my options?

Cheers!

Garry

[kitvb1]

Re: iSeries Development, what are my options?

Look at the advert at the top of the page

http://www.rzkh.de/cgi-bin/db2www/content.dtw/dsp?dom=RZKH.DE&lang=ENG&page=10&spage=0&debug=0

[danlong005]

Re: iSeries Development, what are my options?

Right now about the only option that I have found is to rent a partition. There is a security issue with shared developer accounts and PHP so most places that you can get an account with other Devs don't offer it. Check with RZKH out of Germany they offed up a fair price to rent a dedicated partion.

http://www.rzkh.de/cgi-bin/db2www/content.dtw/dsp?dom=RZKH.DE&page=0&spage=0&lang=ENG&debug=0

[Rocky]

Re: iSeries Development, what are my options?

If you could find somebody that uses iASP they could give you your own iASP without having to create a separate LPAR - if I were to make a system available I'd do that as it's less expensive. But if you're doing Apache/PHP you can do that with a PC running Linux or even your PC running winblows.

[thegman999]

Re: iSeries Development, what are my options?

Thanks for the info, I've contacted rzkh.de, not heard back yet.

I do run PHP on Windows too, but I really want to try working with the PHP on OS/400, for stuff like DB2, and other nice things specific to IBM i.

I may also get in touch with PartnerWorld, see what they can offer me as an ISV.

[Scott Klement]

Re: iSeries Development, what are my options?

I definitely wouldn't buy a model 150. This is an extremely old piece of equipment -- and the newest version of the OS that it'll run is like 10 years out of date.

[thegman999]

Re: iSeries Development, what are my options?

Hi Scott,
I'm not considering buying a 150 (although kind of wish I hadn't sold the one I had). For me, a little 270 with V5R4 I think would be fine, I don't need the latest and greatest, as much as I'd like one. I'd even consider leasing one through IBM, I've heard ISVs can get a 1% per month lease, which on a $10k development machine with all the compilers thrown in sounds like a pretty good deal.

Cheers

Garry

[holgerscherer]

Re: iSeries Development, what are my options?

Hey,
seems we did not receive your request - please contact me directly at hs@rzkh.de

about the PHP issue - we had long talks with the Zend people here in germany: the security architecture is not planned for multi-developer-purposes on a single LPAR; so administrators must do some struggle about security settings and apache config. Might be worth a test so we will find a solution for shared environments.
Zend does not offer the iSeries community edition any longer - so they ask for $$ in any case.

If you're not into performance: actually we are trying to get some appropriate hardware where we can create very small LPARs for a reasonable amount of money - a lot of requests are there for small developer partitions. But it is not that easy when you consider hardware, licenses, power and all the other neat stuff, so it is hardly to be realized below 150USD a month...

best regards
Holger

[holgerscherer]

Re: iSeries Development, what are my options?

try to find your local IBM BP which an help in getting the ISV deal. You must be registered at IBM then you should be able to receive the demo conditions (1-1.5% monthly lease for HW, SW almost nothing).
-h

[thegman999]

Re: iSeries Development, what are my options?

Hi Holger,
Thanks for the info, I've contacted PartnerWorld, and I'll see what I can do about getting a machine. If it does not work out, I'd be happy to use RZKH.

Cheers

Garry

[chris_hird]

Re: iSeries Development, what are my options?

Holger/Gary

I use iAMP for my Apache installs so have no Zend running at all. I use VirtualNameHosts for client segregation and security settings which is used across the world on Apache Servers so it is fairly safe when configured correctly (Too may will skirt the rules to make it easy) Security should not be an issue if it is approached correctly and planned with care. Apache is open source so while there is the option of using iAMP for us you could also compile your own version if needed using the source available. I also use Easycom for PHP heavily so I often run Apache on a separate server (Linux?) with Easycom being used to serve the IBMi content and objects. The XMLSERVICE toolkit can also be used for some remote connectivity I believe but never tried it.

PHP and IBMi can be a collaborative affair with the PHP/Web services running remotely thereby providing a level of separation between the internet and your IBMi (still needs to be rock solid at the entry point though). I have a number of old systems we have sitting idle here (520,515,8203) but we do not provide access due to the limited upload capacity on our connections. Maybe one day when we have better services we can change that? I belong to the Partnerworld program and have used the discount offering more than the lease because the lease is based on the list price not the discounted price, this coupled with the fact that IBM will only consider the deal if the list price of everything you purchase is over $50k means the monthly fee was not worth it because the system was far bigger than I needed and the discount price while not cheap offered a better deal for us.

Good luck and I hope you find the access you need.

Chris...

[thegman999]

Re: iSeries Development, what are my options?

Hi Chris,
I will check out iAMP and see if it suits me. A 520 with compilers is probably more than enough for the likes of me, but I'm sure PartnerWorld will want to supply something far in excess of that. I'm pretty sure that they've set the minimum spend at $10,000 for the lease deal, unless I misunderstood the working in the 'Hardware Mall'.

In terms of buying vs. leasing, I believe that's 50% off, which on a bottom end machine, say $6000, would make quite a difference for me, and I'd have to at least entertain that, but then there is still the cost of OS and compilers.

Cheers

Garry

[chris_hird]

Re: iSeries Development, what are my options?

Gary,

Good luck in your endeavors, If I had more bandwidth available I would definitely try to help out with access to one of the other systems I have here.

This is straight from the lease requirements page "Minimum transaction size is the greater of a $50,000 list hardware price or $25,000 net hardware price." Also the lease is determined by the list price not the net price! So that is what we get charged in Canada. I do know that IBM has different charges across different locations so you may get a much better deal than that? We always get stuffed in Canada even our HW prices are double what they are in the US. Just a pet peeve of mine with IBM.

Chris..

[chris_hird]

Re: iSeries Development, what are my options?

Gary

I just noticed iAMP is no longer available for download. If you get to the stage of needing to trial it let me know. I sent a private message to Holger about the same thing.

Chris...

[holgerscherer]

Re: iSeries Development, what are my options?

maybe we should setup a little session for this. Bandwidth is not our problem, as well has hardware. But time to setup and test PHP environment on i including the neat little things on http server setup and security is an issue at the moment
-h