Re: V5R4 & V7R1 running PML/RPG and PHP through Zend

[Vernon Hamberg <vhamberg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Rob

I'll just say welcome! This is a great list to get information. Mike 
Pavlak works for Zend, he's a long-time IBM i guy (IBM i being the 
latest ïnterchangeable"name) and watches these lists.

I've not used PHP except to play at home, I know it is fully supported 
on i, and I even know a company that has gone the full-PHP route except 
for some back-end RPG when needed. Contact me privately off-list and I 
will see if my friend there is able to talk - he's been open to it before.

Cheers
Vern

On 10/1/2015 2:51 PM, Rob wrote:
> This is my first ask in here... be gentle please!
>
> Seasoned linux PHP MySQL 4th Normal Form developer here....  I am 
> taking over the software dev division for a company.
>
> Development happens on a V5R4 AS400 while production is on V7R1. There 
> are 2 V7R1's, one owned by the company that developed the software I 
> am taking over and one owned by my company, which bought the rights to 
> the code.  So once I am divorced from the parent company I will have 
> both Development and Production on same V7R1 box.
>
> I am new to RPG, new to WebSmart PML, AS400, DB2, 5250.  I have been 
> reading many sources covering many ranges of topics related to the all 
> of the technologies.  I saw my first AS400 in the late 80's while I 
> was president of the OS/2 user's group in Dallas.
>
> My first concern is how to best optimize the server for PHP.  All RPG 
> will eventually go away.  The more I learn RPG, the more I know why I 
> am a PHP developer.  So far this project is split 50/50... PHP/RPG. I 
> am not saying RPG is bad, just not anything I care to have a love 
> relationship with at all.
>
> I am a huge fan of the AS400.  I just found a great read, "Using IBM 
> DB2 for i as a Storage Engine of MySQL".  I am hoping for better news 
> then the benchmarks I found here... 
> http://search400.techtarget.com/tip/Database-performance-comparisons-on-IBM-i
>
> My goal is to continue to migrate all WebSmart PML to PHP.
>
> Since starting this position 5 weeks ago, I have learned there are 
> many debates surrounding the AS400.
>
> I want my PHP via MySQLi to run as fast as RPG.  If it even gets 
> close, the performance of the AS400 out shines other platforms.
>
> I was encouraged to see Apache was native and that Zend server was 
> native to the AS400...  so there was no need to run linux...  (Big 
> Linux Fan Here).. everything is "Native".  I wished I knew more about 
> the nuts and bolts of how the AS400 is constructed and operates.  
> There is just so much I have to learn and run with... especially since 
> 3 of the core development staff of 6 have left the building for good.
>
> For those with experience...  what path should I take... is there hope 
> for PHP on iSeries.  Oh yeah...  aren't iSeries and AS400 simply 
> interchangeable?
>
> Thanks,
> Rob
>
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