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We have posted before about the possibility of requesting IBM i objects and data from a HTTP server running on a Linux or Windows server and how well it performed. Well for that test we simply moved the pages to the new Linux based HTTP server and requested the pages through it, we had not turned off all of the HTTP services or the Zend subsystem as we only had the Zend implementation of the EasyCom server.
We had downloaded the installation requirements for the Windows HTTP server and the Linux HTTP server with a plan of using the Zend implementation for the EasyCom server as it was already installed. The instructions for the EasyCom server are not the best so we contacted them for instructions on how to install a separate instance of their server. A new link was provided and we successfully installed the server and started it up. Initial connections to the server failed with TCP/IP errors but after some research and fiddling around we did manage to get the server to respond to requests from the Linux box. Now we had the IBM i responding to the Linux HTTP server using PHP i5_Toolkit functions and it seems to be faster than originally? We have yet to do full testing but the initial results look promising.
This is very early days yet, there is a lot of work to do to get the install and set up cleaned up so that it can be done by system admins without too much hair pulling. The documentation needs a lot of work and the help text needs to be improved. The install process is not complete but it does work to a fashion and a new set of menu’s and panel groups will help significantly with the overall perception of the product.
We really like the fact that it removes the HTTP server from the IBM i, some may think we are selling out our IBM i heritage but to be honest IBM i has never been the best HTTP server and providing a spacer between it and the internet gives an added level of security many will like.
Our next step will be additional stress testing of the processes.
Chris…