Q&A: IBM i ODBC Driver
I recently caught up with Seiden Group CTO Stephanie Rabbani about the ODBC driver that’s quickly becoming standard for open source and web connections on Db2 for i.
PHP dynamic programming language
How to Access the PHP Toolkit for IBM i
Considering a move to RPM-based Community PHP? You’ll need the free, open source PHP Toolkit to connect your PHP applications to resources on your IBM i.
Co-developed by Alan Seiden and maintained by the IBM i community, the toolkit is also known as the XML Toolkit. That’s because the PHP front end and the XMLSERVICE RPG back end communicate via XML.
RPM Package Signing
In our current work with RPMs, we’re adding digital signatures to our PHP packages to enhance their security.
Package Signing ensures the integrity of a package at rest by detecting and deterring tampering. A package is signed with a private key, which is then validated by the public key provided by the package builder and installed by the user. This technique complements TLS encryption, which guards against tampering and snooping in transport.
How-To Video: The Zen of Using PHP without Zend Server
Just one year away from end-of-life for no-charge Zend Server “Basic”—and six months after the release of license-free Community PHP—many IBM i shops face an important decision:
“Do we upgrade to a paid Zend Server license,
or do we migrate to RPM-based PHP?”
At a recent MAGiC User Group webinar, Alan Seiden and Richard Schoen teamed up to present a tutorial and demo on how to get started with Community “RPM” PHP, sharing several tips picked up during client migrations.
Free PHP on IBM i: from Basic edition to RPMs
Last week, Perforce announced plans to withdraw Zend Server for IBM i “Basic” by June 2021. Filling the gap is license-free “community” PHP for IBM i, installable in RPM format.
Seiden Group has been assisting IBM i clients to adopt Community PHP since its introduction last year. We’ve helped with both first-time PHP installations and migrations from Basic.
Update on Free, Open PHP for IBM i
Since last month’s post about free and open PHP on IBM i, we have been helping companies to get started with it.
We’ve seen excellent results with the open PHP package, known as an RPM. Starting with the PHP repository provided by IBM and Zend (Perforce) as a base, we are able to optimize PHP for the needs of each IBM i shop.
Especially appealing to us and our clients: this PHP is 64-bit and leans toward open standards, including ODBC. In exchange for a bit of setup time, you’ll have a system that’s lightweight, flexible, and license-free.
Free and Open PHP on IBM i
Editor’s Note: The information in this article is useful for historical context but is now out of date. We currently recommend CommunityPlus+ PHP as the most complete license-free PHP distribution for IBM i.
A new flavor of PHP has arrived in IBM i-land. Some call it “free.” Some call it “community.” As described in a recent IT Jungle article, PHP is now available on IBM i as a lean RPM download that does not require Zend Server.
Our friends at IBM and Zend (now Perforce) have packaged a bare-bones PHP edition for customers who want PHP but don’t feel they need to purchase the extra tools of Zend Server.
I’ll share what our open source experts at Seiden Group have learned as we’ve installed and optimized both traditional Zend Server and “open” PHP for our customers.
PHP Debugging on the IBM i from A to Z (Apache to Zend)
Session Handout
500 internal server error? Wait, now it’s a 404 error. I think it’s actually a syntax error. And now my program call isn’t returning anything. My page doesn’t look right, and my Javascript is not working.
RPG APIs: A Modernization Treasure
When modernizing applications, we help organizations select a software architecture that’s flexible, yet can last many years.
A recent article about our client K3S got our attention. Author Alex Woodie wrote that the inventory forecasting software vendor had updated their package with an attractive web-based interface using PHP, while adapting their existing RPG code into APIs written in RPG.
But I knew there was more to this story. So I asked King Harrison IV—K3S’s executive vice president, friend, and founding member of Club Seiden— to elaborate on their choice of RPG APIs.
Integrating Salesforce with IBM i Applications
We recently built APIs to enable real-time data updates between Salesforce and custom applications running on IBM i and a Linux-based system for a large financial services company.
As various departments entered customers, leads, and orders into these systems, the salespeople needed to access that information from within Salesforce, no matter where the data originated from.