Re: DRDA Connection Support (was news400 goes negative on IBM?)

[Steve Richter <stephenrichter@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 5/22/05, Vernon Hamberg <vhamberg@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Comments inline
> 
> At 08:14 PM 5/22/2005, you wrote:
> 
> >On 5/22/05, Jon Paris <Jon.Paris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > >  >> Or should I install DB/2 for xxx (where xxx is the other platform) to
> > > get one (tiny) function operational?
> > >
> > > Carel,
> > >
> > > I guess my problem is that I think the issue here is _who_ should be
> > > supplying the driver/connection/name_of_your_choosing ?
> > >
> > > ODBC and JDBC are standards which most everyone supports.
> > >
> > > DRDA is a database connection standard that IBM and a number of other
> > > vendors support.  Your iSeries can connect to any DRDA compliant DB.
> > >
> > > Shouldn't we be getting on MS' case for not supporting DRDA?  Just why
> > is it
> > > the iSeries' fault if MS don't supply a DRDA driver, or if Oracle (who do
> > > support DRDA) choose to charge for it?  That makes no sense to me.
> >
> >Is DRDA and open spec in terms of what it takes to connect the as400
> >to another database?  For example, can MySQL be run in the PASE or a
> >Linux partition of the as400, then code written to route SQL commands
> >from an RPG program running on the iSeries to the MySQL database on
> >that same iSeries?
> 
> The developer of the RDBMS - not IBM - is the one who should provide the
> ARD (application request driver - the DRDA analog to an ODBC driver) that
> lets the iSeries send SQL statements to that RDBMS. The developers of MySQL
> have not done this. It does not matter where it is installed - there is
> nothing in the middle to handle things. And hardly any other database
> vendors have created one of these things. Oracle has but charges an arm and
> a leg plus you're first and second born to get it.

Vernon,

A lot of good info here.  What I dont understand is where are and who
owns the specs for the ARD?  After all, a relational database could be
nothing more than a program which responds correctly to the SQL
requests sent by the iSeries thru the DRDA pipe.

> 
> >Using the same method, that is if all the necessary aspects of the IBM
> >DRDA spec are open and documented, can Windows code be written that
> >would implement a jury-rigged type interface between the SQL Server
> >database and a DRDA connection to the iSeries DB2 database?   I assume
> >that at some level of DRDA an SQL stmt string comes thru that contains
> >the "select * from table" sql command issued by an RPG program.  A 3rd
> >party DRDA interface, running on the Windows PC, would process that
> >SQL "select * from table" stmt by opening a connection to the SQL
> >Server database, running the sql command, capturing the resulting data
> >set, then sending that resulting dataset back to the iSeries thru the
> >DRDA connection, in the open spec and fully documented form expected
> >by DRDA.
> 
> IBM already has this DRDA interface for Windows - it is called Information
> Integrator and costs a LOT of money - I had posted the prices in an earlier
> post to this list, a couple days ago.

I am curious to know why no one has written a low cost DRDA interface
for Windows. If the reason is because IBM will not release the spec
unless you pay a lot of money and royalties, then we are back to the
assertion that the iSeries is effectively a closed system.

-Steve