Recommendations on 550 to 520 communications

[Dave Murvin <davem@xxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

I have been asked to do some preliminary research on the best methods 
to communicate between two iSeries machines.  The situation is as follows:

The 550 is a large zero interactive machine running Lawson M3 ERP 
software (was Intentia) written in Java with Websphere running in a 
separate partition.  The other machine is a 520 Express green screen 
machine running EDI and the Varsity Shipping package (RPGLE), it will 
also be used for development.   The EDI package will be communicating 
both ways to the ERP package through possibly a Lawson interface of 
some sort (we don't know the details yet) or just mapping to some 
specific file layouts on the 550.  The Varsity shipping package will 
be doing all the shipping calculations for customer orders, but will 
also need to work both ways with the ERP package.  Both machines are 
in the same equipment rack.

What do you recommend for communications and why?

DDM files over IP?
Java calling RPGLE programs?  How would we do this between machines?
RPGLE calling Java programs?  Again, how would we do this between machines?
How do the systems know about each other?
Is there some magic red book or other manual that would be helpful?
What works and what doesn't?

We also plan to talk to the Lawson people, but would like some 
independent ideas too.

Thanks for your suggestions.


Dave Murvin
DRM Enterprises, Inc.