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Zend has made an announcement on their ZendServer forum about the new XMLSERVICE release date and the way forward for existing Easycom i5 toolkit users. Basically they intend to leave the Easycom server untouched in future Zend upgrades, this means the i5_toolkit functions will remain intact but will not be updated or improved in line with the Easycom functions shipped from Aura Equipments. They have also said the current XMLSERVICE which is Beta should be released as Generally Available by the end of the year. One item which caught our eye was the admission that the current version is not as good as it could be.
I read a few blog posts and articles that said “bad things” about this new toolkit. People were saying it is slow, buggy, etc. Is this true?
As with most beta releases of software, there is always room for improvement. Based upon the excellent feedback we receive Zend and IBM continue to make improvements in this software. With the combined efforts of IBM and Zend we expect the GA release of the new toolkit to be solid, reliable and fast.
I do not think we have said anything bad, just that it is not as good as they say it is?
If you are using Easycom based i5 toolkit functions you have a number of choices, stay with the Zend implementation which will continue to work but have no support and not be updated by the Zend update process, migrate all of the existing code you have to use the new toolkit functions or pick up the Easycom Server directly from Aura or one of its partners.
Sticking with the Zend implementation has many problems, firstly because Zend no longer support it you can expect no support from them or Aura Equipments. If Aura Equipments updates the toolkit you will not have any ability to upgrade to the latest level. If the i5 toolkit functions stops working because of changes to the Zend implementation you will not have anyone to turn to for support either.
Migrating all of your existing code to use the new XMLSERVICE may be an option but depending on your code base may be a significant task. Currently the XMLSERVICE does not support all of the functionality the i5 toolkit does so a full migration may not be possible. The XMLSERVICE is only provided by IBM/ZEND it is not maintained or supported by IBM as it is open source and the code is expected to be updated and maintained by the users of the code. I am sure they will offer some support but they will not necessarily provide fixes for problems. The upside is you can take the code and make it your own, the downside to that is you are then responsible to maintain it.
The last option is to move to the Easycom Server fully, this will provide you with proper support, future upgrades to the toolkit functions plus a set of functions that have been running for a number of years in many customers. I am pretty sure Aura Equipments and its partners are going to be better at providing solid support than we have seen from Zend for the i5 toolkit . Maybe we will see additional features which enhance the IBM i web experience even more. The server can be installed and run with no changes to the existing Zend Server set up, it requires no migration activity to carry out.
If you are interested in discussing a move to the fully supported Easycom server please give us a call, we are sure you will be happier with the cost and level of support we offer.
Chris…