IBM AS400 - Nalashaa
IBM AS400Front-End Upgrade:Winning the Approval of theModern UserAnjan Barman is a technology enthusiast with primary interests in IBM i/AS400 systems.He explores all aspects of the IBM i ecosystem and focuses on its enhancements forimproved operational efficiency. He writes on effective ways to preserve and expand thevalue of IBM i investments to meet today’s business demands.
ContentsTable of ContentsWhat is AS400 Modernization?1AS400 Modernization Types1Why Modernize AS400 Front-end?1AS400 Front-End Modernization2RPG Open Access3Using APIs6Screen Re-Facing7PASE8A Smart AS400 Modernization Approach9Why Count on Our AS400 Expertise?10
Executive SummaryMost large enterprises often run their mission-critical workloads on IBM iSeries/ AS400. Launched first in theyear 1988 as AS400, the system has stood the test of time and is still going strong as a reliable and versatileenterprise solution. But it’s not without its downsides; the over three-decade-old IBM workhorse todaydemands expensive maintenance, lacks modern aesthetics, and is difficult to operate. As a consequence,some users do consider decommissioning it for a ‘new-age’ application.However, that doesn’t necessarily have to be the only way out. AS400 can be very much aligned withtoday’s dynamics to win user approval. The machine can be recalibrated to offer the same scalability, agility,flexibility, and cost benefits expected from a modern solution. With certain enhancements, the machinecan be made to function and feel like any modern application. Today, the relevance of this concept hasgrown manifold as the IT leadership has decided to stick to its robustness by giving it a makeover. Thiswhitepaper delineates some of the most effective front-end modernization techniques of AS400 alongwith their scope and advantages.
What is AS400 Modernization?They say change is the only constant, and this is true for software solutions too. The last two decades havewitnessed so many promising ideas fade with time because of their rigid functionality and architecturethat resisted enhancements (in every sense). While AS400 has always been close to being the utopiansystem for tackling high-voltage operational challenges, enterprises are worried about the efforts andresources it takes for keeping the machine current. The need is to modernize the system in every sense –functionality, aesthetics, flexibility, user experience, costs, and ease of maintenance. If the AS400 systemhas to stay capable of hosting heavyweight operations, it has to be kept evolving. This is what AS400modernization largely means.AS400 Modernization TypesGoing by the definition of modernization, the subject is difficult to interpret. But the bottom line is that itshould take on the age-old challenges of the system and transform them into conveniences for the user.To simplify things, we split AS400 modernization into two categories:Front-End ModernizationCloud Migration*A separate whitepaper on AS400 Cloud Migration is available for download on our website.Why Modernize AS400 Front-end?Misalignment with today’s expectationsAS400 was launched in the 1980s. Over the last 30 years, the world has witnessed unprecedentedadvancements in the UI/UX technology space that the green screens cannot come close to. That’s becausethe latter run on a 5250 emulator of the 1970s. Today, graphical user interfaces are desired by enterprises,and they are the standard.For AS400, its user interface is nowhere near what the modern user gets with a contemporary applicationsuch as Expedia, Airbnb, and the like. Additionally, mobile access and cloud backup are also not nativefeatures of AS400. Thus, the learning curve for the users is steep and time-consuming. The need tomodernize AS400 green screens can be summarised in the following points.All rights reserved 20201
Extend the value of the system to the modern workforce.Enable end users to be more productive with an AS400 system that’s easy to learn and use.Shed the image of being an ‘outdated’ machine.Increase AS400 adoption and cut down on training time and costs.AS400 Front-End ModernizationFrom a business perspective, green screens are botha productivity and a technology problem. Thesescreens are new to the modern user, and hence,users need adequate training before they startworking on the screens. This is a big productivityconcern. Even from a technical standpoint, thescreens are no longer the de facto standard for userinterfaces.Consider this example: For a customer servicerepresentative who is on a call trying to identify thecause and the best possible resolution to the caller’sproblem, navigating through several green-screensystems simultaneously for what is a one-click jobwith other applications is a nightmare. They cannotaccess the required information directly from asingle screen and has to search through multiplescreens/systems for every service request.Different Approaches to Front-endModernization:Among the several ways to modernize the frontend of AS400 systems, below is a compilation of themost popular ones.Screen Re-FacingOne of the oldest ways to modernize UIs anddeploy web applications, Screen re-facing involvesreading and writing data to 5250 data streams andhosting HTML/CSS webpages on the AS400 systemserver. Using suitable toolkits for the re-facing,green screens can be redeveloped and visuallyattractive webpages can be created by overridingthe existing screens.All rights reserved 2020PASEPase for i offers an integrated runtime environmentwhich allows users to run selected applicationsfree from the complexities of managing operatingsystems, such as Linux or AIX. Applications that runon IBM i via PASE include Zend Server, PHP, andMySQL/MariaDBRPG Open AccessMost resources and devices are not directlysupported by AS400. Programmers can useRPG Open Access to configure RPG I/O modelsfor connecting such devices and resources.Programmers need an additional I/O handlerto communicate with the RPG display programusing a handler procedure called by Open Access.Vendors such as Profound UI, LANSA, ASNA, RocketSoftware, and others support RPG Open AccessHandlers.Modernization using APIsIt’s a widespread practice to create REST APIs topull information from AS400 to modern UI screens.Organizations can use web frameworks such asAngular, React, Vue, and others to modernize theirAS400 interface and exchange information usingREST APIs.2
RPG Open AccessRPG Open Access facilitates the integration of Rich User Interface technology such as Profound UI or Lansato deliver native GUI on AS400. Using this, the RPG’s input and output operations can communicate withbrowsers, mobile devices, and other technologies using specialized handlers. RPG Open Access Handlersare tightly integrated with the RPG language. Coders usually use different handlers for different purposes- web services, accessing remote data, graphical UI, and others. This transforms the green-screen-confinedoperations to rich user interfaces.All rights reserved 20203
RPG Open Access is supported by multiple vendors, but Profound UI is perhaps the most widely usedamong them. Profound UI is a high-performance and stable user interface platform that enables AS400users to create connected applications to deliver rich user experiences. The tool leverages IBM i’s objectbased architecture and allows developers to create native IBM i objects, known as Rich Display Files thatsupport robust browser interfaces.END USERIBM HandlerVirtualTerminalAPIsRPG,COBOL,CLRichWebGUIGo from this.All rights reserved 2020.to out of the boxProgramMenus,SystemScreens.to enhanced with the visual editor(Nalashaa’s Expertise).and Mobile(Nalashaa’s Expertise)4
Depending on the organization’s businessdynamics, Profound UI can be used for RPG OpenAccess in the following ways.Building New InterfacesComplete replacement of the existing AS400 greenscreen display files with new rich display files.RPG programs are compiled over the new displayobjects, which have complete versatility in regardsto the presentation layer of the organization’sapplications.Modernizing 5250 OutputIn case the source code of the application isn’tavailable or there are development resourceconstraints, this option comes in handy. A low effortoption, it allows modernization of output from thegreen-screens on-the-fly, without interfering withthe AS400 source code.BenefitsReduced Training Costs and TimePerformanceFor displays with similar functionality, RPG OpenAccess using Profound UI helps create applicationsthat usually offer performance speeds comparableto that of text-based green-screen interfaces. Withvirtual rendering techniques, only visible portionsof the data on a page is sent to the browser, insteadof rendering everything at once.Change Management ConsiderationsProfound UI offers a native approach that makesit possible to preserve the current changemanagement practices. Developers can save thesource in standard RPGLE, DDS, and CL sourcemembers, and compile user interface objects andprograms using standard IBM i commands, such asCRTDSPF and CRTBNDRPG.Development Tool ChoicesFor RPG code editing, Profound UI facilitatesdevelopment with multiple programmingenvironments.For the RPG programmer planning to adopt OpenAccess using Profound UI, the learning curve isshort. With Profound UI, RPG developers can writecodes in the familiar top-down approach. The toolUI provides a native RPG Open Access Handlerto support all RPG screen-related operations onsystems running 6.1 or higher. For older versions(V5R3 and V5R4), Profound UI’s RPG PreprocessorModule provides the support. Ease of UseLicensing and i/OS Version SupportThe visual design tool of Profound UI allows usersto create engaging browser interfaces using a dragand drop feature. This makes it exceedingly easy toadd design components to the interface, size them,edit the content, and modify the properties visually. All rights reserved 2020 Rational Developer for i (RDi). IBM’s eclipsebased integrated development environment.PDM and SEU. IBM i’s legacy programming tools.RPGsp. Rapid RPG-CGI Web Application and theAJAX Development Tool.RPG-Alive GUI. Free RPG editor for all ProfoundUI licensed users.Operation systems: V5R3 and above, licensed inseparate modulesAdditional requirements: IBM’s RPG OpenAccess product licenseFor operating system releases lacking RPGOpen Access - Profound UI’s RPG PreprocessorModule5
Using APIsThis method enables AS400 organizations to expose the features of their system as APIs to facilitateinformation exchange with internal and external systems. Users can use internal AS400 mechanisms suchas remote procedural calls, store procedural calls, data/message queues, and web services to exchangedata with core programs or databases. The list of popular tools for this method includes OpenLegacy,Mulesoft Anypoint, and IBM Integrated Web Services, among others.Modernizing AS400 screens with APIsThe first step is to choose the right applications for the transformation. For those wondering how to goabout the process, here’s a handy tip – set application portability and business value as the metrics. Whilethe business value assesses the operational significance of the application, application portability is theassessment of its technical composition.Application PortabilitySize & type of inventoryTechnical complexityExisting UI FunctionalitySize & type of databaseBusiness rule densityInter-coupling levelLevel of maintenanceAll rights reserved 2020Business ValueBusiness value of key proccess inapplicationsImpact of end user experienceFrequency of businessenhancementsImpact of changes on businessprocessGenerate new revenue streamsfrom existing legacy applications6
Screen Re-FacingScreen re-facing is a proven technology for modernizing UIs and deploying web applications. The toolsdesigned for executing screen re-facing facilitate the reading and writing of information to 5250 datastreams. Today, most screen re-facing tools provide drag and drop support to the developer to save on thetime and effort. The main objective of the re-facing approach is to enhance the usability and flexibility ofAS400 systems from the user point of view without restructuring the underlying code. Using a re-facingtechnology, RPG developers can move their 5250 green screens to a web or mobile platform in a shortperiod. One of the advantages of adopting this approach is the quick project turnaround time.Types of Screen Re-FacingThere are several ways to reface an AS400 system; while a few don’t require even the slightest change inthe source code, others involve minimal changes to the UI code but don’t interfere with the business logicor database access. Choosing the right type depends strictly on the degree of changes aimed.Screen ScrapingHere the 5250 terminal-based applications are converted into Windows, web, or mobile-based interfaces.It works on the principle of emulating a user on the terminal. While connected, it emulates keystrokes andprocesses the display output, followed by the extraction of the data and generation of a new window.While users see the new UI, the screen scraping handles the intermediation. It facilitates reading 5250 datastreams and modifying what is visible to the user based on some merged content which can control orchange color, layout, and more.All rights reserved 20207
Open Access Re-facingHere, the 5250 data stream is bypassed by assigning the I/O buffer of the RPG program to the OA handler.The I/O buffer is processed by field names or by using a data structure for each format, enabling moreflexibility and possibilities in the re-facing approach. The OA solution enables users to control the UI in amore direct manner from their existing RPG code.BenefitsFaster turnaroundThis is one of the fastest methods of modernizing AS400 green screens. There is no involvement of the corecode or business logic, making it easy for the developers involved in the process to modernize the greenscreens.Focus on the UIWithout the underlying code of the AS400 system anywhere in the scene, developers can focus solelyon the new interface features, cutting down on the need for segregating the application into what theyunderstand and what they don’t.Things to bear in mindSince the AS400 system was not originally designed to support changes in the AS400 interface, the UImodernization effort must be coupled with optimization of the underlying RPG code by redesigning it.Re-facing does not take into account the UI design of the AS400 system. The flow and user interaction ona mobile or web interface might be different from that on the green screen flow. For example, on a greenscreen, the user might have to select a menu to access more data, but on the web UI, a drop-down menudoes the job.PASE (Portable Application Solutions Environment)PASE for i is an integrated runtime environment designed for AIX applications running on the IBM ioperating system. It supports the application binary interface of AIX and supports a wide subset of thefeatures provided by AIX shared libraries, shells, and utilities. It facilitates the direct processing of IBMPowerPC machine instructions, so it’s free from the drawbacks of environments that emulate just machineinstructions. PASE for i applications use IBM i system functions, including file systems, security, and sockets.Zend Server, PHP, and MySQL have been running on IBM i via PASE for years.An application platform for PHP, Zend runs natively on IBM Power Systems servers. It’s preloaded withan IBM i toolkit for easy deployment of modern web and mobile applications. AS400 developers get aflexible programming environment along with access to a huge user community, toolkit, and extensionsfor support while modernizing the AS400 screens.All rights reserved 20208
IBM i ApplicationsPASE Applications2007 2006IBM i Operating System(above TIMI)2014 PASE SharedLibraries2015 syscallTechnology Independent Machine InterfaceSLIC ( IBM i Below TIMI )Benefits of AS400 Front-end ModernizationWhen carried out by a competent team, AS400 front-end modernization is an effective way to breathe newlife into the world-class application server. For enterprises, successful modernization of the application candeliver a rapid return on investment (ROI) and several long-term benefits. Today, modernization servicesinclude meticulous documentation of processes to help the in-house team with training and systemmaintenance activities. Armed with thorough system documentation, the internal team of the client canhandle service requests efficiently. Also, whenever the client considers migration to a new environment,this would help them replicate the processes and functionalities. By modernizing, users enable newservices and processes in their system. Modernization transforms the system’s front-end user interfaces,creates new features, automates existing manual processes, and launches new service offerings, ensuringbetter user experience and hence, higher productivity.A Smart AS400 Modernization ApproachOnce the user recognizes the value of modernizing their AS400 system, a streamlined process for executingthe modernization is the next logical step. Adopting an efficient strategy comprising well-defined stagesand tasks is a great beginning to a successful modernization journey.All rights reserved 20209
System AssessmentSupportThe first step is to understand the current statusof the system and where the user wants to get itto. There is substantial research on the functionaland non-functional requirements of the task, anda roadmap is formulated accordingly. The businessvalue of the system is assessed to determineits functionality, supported business processes,performance, quality of services, dependability, andsystem outputs. Also, the modernization approach,the vital goals, and cost and time estimates aredetermined.The modernization team’s involvement doesn’tend with the delivery of a modernized front-end.Its post-release responsibilities revolve around usertraining and an ongoing support system to addressuser queries promptly. Besides the regular bugfixes, it’s important to keep the features currentand relevant. A reliable support mechanism iscritical to keep pace with the future functional,development, and enhancement requirements.Adding automation to the mix helps in the efficienthandling of all modernization-related issues.PlanningA detailed project plan comprising time-boundgoals is created and the tools for the project arefinalized. The modernization partner assists theclient in determining the project KPIs and successmetrics. Accurate resource allocation is done asper the objective, availability of resources, andtheir dependencies. Automated system testingframeworks that comprise tools and processesworking in sync, and integrated functions likelibraries and test data, are leveraged for qualityanalysis. UX documentation is executed as per therole and needs of the end user and is followed byscreen design and sign off.ImplementationThis is where the modernization team actuallydoes the real work to produce the deliverables byworking on UX development, performance testing,complete testing, and UAT. Modern methodologies,such as Agile, help split the project into small andmanageable units, enabling the team to ensurequality and quicker turnarounds. Agile also helpsin prioritizing the modernization features, iterationplanning, and review sessions, thus expediting thego-live phase. End-to-end documentation of thedeveloped feature set helps the in-house team inits understanding and maintenance of the system.All rights reserved 2020Why Count on OurAS400 Expertise?At Nalashaa, we possess the right mix ofresources to help AS400 users with end-to-endsystem migration, modernization, and support.We specialize in consulting enterprises usingIBM i to enable them to enhance their businessoperations and plan their strategic technologyroadmap better. Our clientele comprisesglobal corporations across industries that havebenefitted significantly from our innovativeAS400 solutions. We offer flexible plans to helpyou with viable IBM i solutions and make theengagement a desirable experience for you.10
AS400 Modernization Types Going by the definition of modernization, the subject is difficult to interpret. But the bottom line is that it should take on the age-old challenges of the system and transform them into conveniences for the user. To simplify things, we split AS400 modernization into two categories: Front-End Modernization Cloud Migration
Re-hosting with the help of AS400 emulators such as 'Infinite i' helps enterprises realize cloud benefits. This does not require any change in the existing interfaces or functionalities. AS400 emulators are a suite of services that help in the migration of programs onto the cloud, including migration at multiple levels and also Db2 migration.
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Jan 27, 2006 · Subtask: AS400 alternate storage Administrator works with MIS, and Clerk to identify alternative storage of AS400 system Admin 03 May 2021 Subtask: AS400 access or alternate backup Administrator works with contracted vendor and MIS to implement a cloud/VEEAMS back
the AS400 to authenticate to the MFP for printing but will delete unauthenticated print jobs from all Windows users. After setting up an account for the AS400 to use to authenticate to the MFP, an experienced AS400 administrator must modify a Work Station Customizing Object (WSCST) to
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