Understanding the Product Name

Typical of IBM branding, their naming makes no sense and everyone still uses AS/400 to refer to IBM i.

So here's is what I have been able to discern,

Operating System

IBM i refers to the operating system formally called,

1. OS/400 (original name)
2. i5/OS (introduced in 1999 with LPARS)

The most versions of IBM i released,

• 5.4
• 6.1
• 7.1

Hardware

In their marketing wisdom, IBM decided to name the hardware platform IBM System i formally called,

1. AS/400 (originally name introduced in 1988)
2. eServer iSeries (in 2000)
3. System i (in 2006)
4. IBM Power Systems (2008)*

* In 2008, the platform was merged with the System p platform (which ran AIX and Linux) into IBM Power Systems.

Confused yet? Even IBM is by their website. Today, many people still refer to the hardware and software as AS/400 or iSeries.

Nutshell

So in a nutshell, the OS is IBM i and the Hardware Platform is IBM Power Systems which can uses virtualization technology called IBM PowerVM to run LPARs,

• IBM i (various versions 6.1 and 7.1)
• Linux (Redhat, Ubuntu and others)
• AIX

So Which Operating System is the Host?

I still don't know which OS is the host OS yet.

Acquiring Hardware

As of 2013 I am encountering the OS IBM i 6.1 and IBM i 7.1 in major Financial Institutions. Because the OS will not run in modern (2013) VMs like VMWare or Parralells I need to get a hold of hardware. So where do we even begin?

Requirements,

• Run at least 2 LPARs one for 6.1 and 7.1 at the same time.
• Nice to have, be able to run 3 LPARs with Linux as the third one.
• Run modern WebSphere ND.
• Be as low price as possible (these servers even refurbished are in the thousands)

Client Software

To properly work and connect to IBM i, we need appropriate client software.

The mainstay in the past has been, IBM i Access for Windows. Recently, IBM i Access Client Solutions a Java client (hence platform independent) no install.

You may want to read the not so clear IBM comparison of the two products.

So I went to the IBM Passport Advantage site and the only thing matching was called IBM Host Access Client Package iSeries of which I can not find an IBM website about so far and which I downloaded.

Then I noticed there are essentially two packages,

• Rational Personal Communications (PCOMM) - I think we need this one based on the description.
• Rational Host On-Demand (HOD) - Based on description, web based solution. Use your browser to access HOD which then provide a client to connect to the IBM i OS.

So from this I am guessing, that IBM i Access for Windows became PCOMM?