Editor’s Note: This is the first in an ongoing series that will give you real-world examples the different ways in which you can utilize the AS/400.
You may or may not be making much use of the AS/400 Integrated File System (AS/400 IFS). If you’re not, you should be. It provides you with a set of valuable tools for managing data on your AS/400. As the AS/400’s role as a network server expands, it’s important to make the most of the data-serving tools the AS/400 provides. The infrastructure, commands, APIs, and other functions that make up the AS/400 IFS give you the means to create solutions to meet your business needs. In this article series, I will examine problems and show you how the AS/400 IFS can be used to solve them.
In this first article, I will show how the AS/400 IFS can be used to deliver resources across a network. Specifically, this example will show you how to distribute an application on a CD-ROM from the AS/400 to PC clients using the AS/400 IFS. It is not necessary to understand all the technical details of how the AS/400 IFS works to implement this system. Although the situation I’ll describe is hypothetical, the problem of resource sharing is a real one that can be solved with the AS/400 IFS.
At the hypothetical Ace Tools, employees use a parts-tracking application that they access from PCs located throughout the warehouse and factory to track the location and availability of parts. Because the PCs are located in spots that are not as clean as an office and the PCs are subjected to a lot of wear and tear, the MIS director at Ace Tools has chosen not to add high-end features such as
CD-ROMs in these locations. After all, these PCs are used mostly as terminals, and the AS/400, tucked safely in a clean, air-conditioned office, does much of the work. Each PC runs Client Access/400 to allow the tracking application access to the master parts database stored on the AS/400. (See Figure 1.)
The MIS team is often called upon to upgrade software on the PCs. More and more often, new software arrives on a CD-ROM. The majority of the PCs don’t have CD-ROM drives at all, and the few that do are widely dispersed. It would be very time-consuming to walk around the warehouse with one CD and install it on each computer. Ace Tools needs a better solution.
Luckily, Ace Tools just sent someone to an AS/400 training conference, where she learned about the AS/400 IFS. This hypothetical AS/400 professional is pretty sure she can use the Optical File System to distribute the software to all of the PCs connected to the AS/400. (She’s right.) This part of the AS/400 IFS includes any direct-attached optical libraries and the CD-ROM on the AS/400. The directory called /QOPT contains the Optical File System. To install the new software application, the system administrator places the CD-ROM into the AS/400 CD-ROM drive. A subdirectory within the /QOPT directory will appear, bearing the volume name of the CD. In example, I’ll call it NEATAPP, which is accessible in the directory /QOPT/NEATPP.
By default, this directory is created with the authorization list QOPTSEC, which allows PUBLIC *CHANGE authority. This authority allows any client with a sign-on to the AS/400 to access this optical volume. If the administrator has changed the QOPTSEC authorization list or changed the authority to the volume to some other authorization list, the authorization list that secures the volume may need some changes before the software can be installed from the PC client.
Next, the user on the PC client uses the Map Network Drive feature to provide the PC with a view of the AS/400 name space. The user can map to any part or all of the AS/400 name space. Generally, it is best to only allow the PC client to see the minimum amount needed, in order to keep the name space secure. In this example, mapping to /QOPT or even to /QOPT/NEATAPP is appropriate.
Once the network drive is mapped, the user at the PC client can view the files in the NEATAPP folder. Now, from each PC client, the software can be installed by double- clicking on an executable install file. (See Figure 2.)
Note that if the name of the volume on the AS/400 is longer than eight characters plus a period (.) extension of three characters, Windows 95, Windows 3.x, and Windows NT clients will have problems with the directory name. There are two possible solutions. The first is to create a symbolic link (*SYMLNK) that points to the optical volume directory but has a shorter name. The QOPT file system cannot contain symbolic links, so another file system, such as the root () file system, will have to contain the link, using a CL command such as the following:
ADDLNK OBJ(‘/QOPT/LONGAPPNAME.MORENAME’) NEWLNK(‘/SHORT.NAM’)
The second solution is to map the network drive directly to the volume level so that the PC client never has to work with the long volume name. (If you’re running V4R2, the PC will connect using AS/400 Support for Windows Network Neighborhood without using Client Access/400.)
This solution is one way the “infrastructure” of the file system helps you create data sharing solutions. Do you have a problem similar to that of Ace Tools? If you have a need to move, manipulate, or share data, then you can benefit from understanding how the tools of the AS/400 IFS can help you build a solution.
References
AS/400 Client Access Host Servers (SC41-5740) Getting Your AS/400 Working for You (V4R2 only) (SC41-5161) http://service2.boulder.ibm.com/as400/
iceng/infocent.htm OS/400 Integrated File System Introduction V4R2 (SC41-5711) OS/400 Optical Support V4R1(SC41-5310)
Figure 1: At Ace Tools, there’s a problem distributing CD-based applications to PCs.
Figure 2: The AS/400 IFS gives Ace Tools a method to distribute software.
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