TheIBMAS/400

Atechnicalintroduction

byTomVanLooy<tom@ctors.net>
January2009

ThispaperwaswrittenfortheAS/400's20thanniversary,
andwaspresentedatHAR2009.

TomVanLooy

1/14

Index
History..............................................................................................................................................................3
WhatisIBMi?..................................................................................................................................................3
Technologyindependence..........................................................................................................................4
Objectbaseddesign...................................................................................................................................5
Hardwareintegration...................................................................................................................................6
Softwareintegration....................................................................................................................................6
Singlelevelstore.........................................................................................................................................6
Workmanagement...........................................................................................................................................7
Jobs.............................................................................................................................................................7
Pools............................................................................................................................................................7
Programming....................................................................................................................................................8
OPM............................................................................................................................................................8
ILE...............................................................................................................................................................8
Exploringthesystem........................................................................................................................................9
Commandinterface.....................................................................................................................................9
Filesystemstructure..................................................................................................................................10
Users.........................................................................................................................................................10
Startingthesystem....................................................................................................................................11
Otherenvironments........................................................................................................................................12
Unix............................................................................................................................................................12
Hypervisor.................................................................................................................................................13
Windows....................................................................................................................................................13
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................................13
Abouttheauthor.............................................................................................................................................14
Legalnotice....................................................................................................................................................14

TomVanLooy

2/14

History
TheApplicationSystem400wasdevelopedatIBMRochester,Minnesotaasasocalledmidrangesystem.
Thisbasicallymeansthatit'sasmallmainframesystem.Rochesterstartedbuildingbusinesscomputers
withtheSystem/3.
Knowtohavesomekindoffortressmentality,Rochestersystemsdidn'thadlargeinfluencesfromEast
CoastuniversitieslikeMULTICS,Unix,VMS,WindowsNTandIBM'smainframeoperatingsystemshad.
ThisresultedinRochester'ssystemsbeingseparatistanddifferent.TheRochestersystemcodeisnot
sharedwithanyone,noteveninsideIBM.NooneexceptthesystemcodedevelopersinRochestercan
generatesystemcode.
TheSystem/38wasbuiltontheS/3(1969)butbeingverydifferentfromit.DesignedbyDr.FrankSoltis,it
grewfromtheS/3totheS/32(1975)andS/34(1977),andwasfinallyannouncedtothepublicin1978.In
1983theS/36wasreleasedasthelatestvariantoftheS/3.ThisreleasewasdonetosatisfyS/32andS/34
userswhofoundtheS/38tolargeandexpensivefortheirneeds.
ThenIBMstartedanattempttocombineallofit's(incompatible)midrangecomputersintoone.Thiswas
projectFortKnox.FortKnoxwouldreplacetheS/36andS/38,Series/1,RS/6000andabunchofsmallIBM
mainframesystems.Theprojectfaileddisastrous.AtsomepointIBMevendeclaredtheS/38asnon
strategic,anddiscouragedcustomersfrombuyingthesystem.ThismadeitdifficultfortheS/38toremain
competitive,andleftRochesterwithnothing.
Rochester'sbackupplanwasprojectSiverlake.ThisprojecttooksomestufffromS/36,S/38,some
leftoversfromFortKnoxandturnedthisintotheAS/400.InmanywaystheAS/400wasactuallyjustanew
implementationoftheS/38.Itwasannouncedtothepublicin1988.
NotethattheSystem/38wasnotbuiltontheSystem/370.ManypeopledeclaredthisinthepastandIBM
evenfundedprojectstomaketheS/38softwarerunontheS/370.Alltheseprojectshavefailed.Notethat
theS/370wasprecededbytheS/360(1964).Thisrangeofsystemsledtotoday'sSystemz.
Tomakealongstoryshort,inthepasttheAS/400wasrenamedseveraltimes:

AS/400
AS/400e
eServeriSeries
eServeri5
Systemi5
Systemi
POWERsystems

Iprobablyforgetafew,butanyway.Since2008(20yearslater),weknowtheAS/400astheIBMi.Thei
standingforintegrated.Atthetimeofthiswriting,thelatestversionofIBMiis6.1.IBMirunsonPOWER
(PerformanceOptimizedWithEnhancedRISC)hardware.

TomVanLooy

3/14

WhatisIBMi?
Inthelate1960's,tosettlesomelawsuits,IBMagreedtonotbundlesoftwarewithit'scomputersanymore.
Bundlingwasapracticethatrequirecustomerstobuythehardwaretogetthesystemsoftware.Thiswas
donetoavoidthatothercompaniesclonedthesystem'shardwareandsolditatlowerprices.
WiththeS/38theywantedtomakeasystemwheretheMIwastheonlyexternalinterface.Asaresult,
everypartofthesystemthatwashardwaredependentwaspackagedaspartofthehardware.Because
microcodeinthosedayswasconsideredhardware,theoperatingsystemkerneloftheS/38waspackaged
aspartofthemicrocode.Atthetimeofshipping,thepackaginglawswerechangedagainbuttheS/38kept
thisdesign.
IfyoulooselycomparetheAS/400systemsoftwaretoGNU/Linux,themicrocodewouldbetheLinuxpart
andIBMiwouldbetheGNUpart.DomindthatIBMiismoresophisticatedandextendedthanonly
operatingsystemsoftware.
Versions:
SystemSupportProgram(SSP)System/36
ControlProgramFacility(CPF)System/38
OS/400AS/400
i5/OSiSeries
IBMiPOWER
WiththereleaseofIBMPOWER6systemsin2008,IBMfinallyfinishedthemergeoftheSystemiand
Systemphardware.TodayitispossibletorunIBMi,AIXandLinuxontheIBMPOWERsystemshardware
line.Mainlybecauseoffinishingthismerge,Dr.FrankSoltiswillretirefromIBMattheendofthisyear.
IBMiisdefinedbythefivefundamentalarchitecturalprinciples,whichwillbeexplainedinthefollowing
paragraphs.

Technologyindependence
Unlikeothercomputersystems,theIBMiisnotdefinedbyit'shardware.Programsdon'tspeakdirectlyto
thehardwarebutinsteadspeaktotheTechnologyIndependentMachineInterface(TIMI).TheMIisa
virtualmachineinterfacetothesystem,consistingoftwoparts;computationalandobjectoriented
instructions,andoperandsuponwhichtheseinstructionsact.Objectsaretheonlysupporteddatastructure
attheMIlevel.BetweentheMIandthehardwareisthemicrocodeorSystemLicensedInternalCode
(SLIC).
Theadvantageofthistechnologyindependencewasdemonstratedin1995whentheAS/400movedfrom
the48bitCISC(IMPI)tothe64bitRISC(PowerPC)processorarchitecture.Customerscouldjust
save/restoretheirprogramsonthenewmachine,andtheywouldrunastruly64bitapplications.Without
eventheneedtorecompileanything.IBMcouldjustrewritetheLICcomponentsthatwereawareofthe
changesandthuspreservetheMI'sintegrity.
Comparethistohowwearetodaymovingfrom32bitto64bitonthex86platform.Eventhoughmost32
bitapplicationswillrunon64bithardware,theapplicationswillstillhavetoberewrittentofullyemploythe
64bitdesign.ThesamestoryhappenedwhenIntelmovedfrom16bitto32bit.

TomVanLooy

4/14

Toquoteanotherexampleofthepast.WhenpeoplewouldmigratefromDigital's32bitVAXto64bit
Alpha,Digitalestimatedthat15to20percentofeveryapplicationneededtoberewritten.
WhentheAS/400wasstilla48bitCISCsystem,themicrocodewasimplementedinaverticaland
horizontalversion.TheVLICtranslatedinstructionspassedtotheMI,andhandedthetranslated
instructionstotheHLICthatdealtdirectlywiththehardware.HLICwasthemicrocodedemulatorofthe
InternalMicroprogrammedInterface(IMPI)processorarchitecture.
WhentheAS/400movedto64bitRISC,theLICwasrewritten.BecauseaRISCprocessorhasno
microcodedemulator,thereisnoHLICpart.Theyendeduphavingonlyonelevelofmicrocode,andthey
renamedittoSystemLicensedInternalCode(SLIC).TheoriginalVLICwasprogrammedinPL/MP
(ProgrammingLanguage/MachineProduct).SincePL/MPwasnotusableforOOprogramming,theSLIC
waswritteninC++andPowerPCassembler.TheSLIC,norPPCASareaccessibletotheendusers.
+---+----------------+
|
| applications |
|
+------------+
|
|
OS/400
|
|
+----------------+---+
|
TIMI
|
+--------------------+
| +----------------+ |
| |
VLIC
| |
| +----------------+ |
| |
IMPI
| |
| +----------------+ |
| |
HLIC
| |
| +----------------+ |
| | 48-bit addr
| |
| | CISC interface | |
| |
HW
| |
| +----------------+ |
+--------------------+

+---+----------------+
|
| applications |
|
+------------+
|
|
IBM i
|
|
+----------------+---+
|
TIMI
|
+--------------------+
| +----------------+ |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
SLIC
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| +----------------+ |
| | 64-bit addr
| |
| | RISC interface | |
| |
HW
| |
| +----------------+ |
+--------------------+

SincetheS/38,thesystem'sinstructionsetdefinesallpointersas128bit.Today,128bitprocessorsare
alreadyusedforspecialpurposegamingandgraphicsapplications.Whenatapointinthefuture128bit
generalpurposeprocessorswouldappear,IBMiwillalreadybefully128bitenabled.

Objectbaseddesign
IBMihasafullyobjectbasedsystemdesign.Everythingwithinthesystemisstoredasanobject,
consistingoutoftwoinseparableparts.Adescriptivepart,whichdefinesvalidwaysofusingtheobject;and
adatapart,whichcoversthefunctionalaspectoftheobject.
Anobjectbaseddesignhassecurityimplications.Ifanobjectentersthesystemasdata,itmustremain
dataforever.Entity'sareencapsulated.Thedescriptivepartoftheobjectwillnotletyou,forexample,treat
theobjectasanexecutable.Objectsareatomicandcan'tbemanipulatedexceptasanentireobject.
Objectscommunicatewitheachotherbytheprocessofmessagepassing.EveryaddressableobjectinIBM
ihasauniquemessagequeueattached.

TomVanLooy

5/14

IBMidoesn'thaveafullyobjectorienteddesign,becauseitlackssomeofthebasiccharacteristicsofaOO
model.Forexample,itdoesn'tsupportsubclasscreationorinheritanceandpolymorphismisminimally
defined.

Hardwareintegration
Becauseofit'sbusinesscomputingnature,theAS/400wasoptimizedforinformationintensive
environmentsinsteadofcomputeintensiveenvironments.Meaningthatuserswoulddosimpleoperations
onalargeamountofdata,ratherthanperformcomplexoperationsonarelativelysmallamountofdata.
WiththearrivalofJavabasedbusinessintelligenceandebusinessapplications,thegeneralbusiness
environmentbecameincreasinglycomputeintensive.ThemovetoPowerPCprocessorswasintendedto
enhancethecomputeintensiveprocessingcapabilitiesofthesystem.Withthisintegrationtheytriedto
createabalanceddesignbetweenfastprocessing,highbandwidthmemoryandhighperformanceI/Ofor
allbusinessapplications.
AnIBMPOWERprocessor'scapacityisexpressedinaCommercialProcessingWorkload(CPW)value.
TheCPWdisregardstheCPUpercentage.InsteaditisbasedontheTPCC(TransactionProcessing
PerformanceCouncil)benchmarkandsimulatesthedatabaseserverofanonlinetransactionprocessing
(OLTP)environment.Itcountsthenumberoftransactionsasystemcancompletewhiledelivering90%of
thosetransactionatlessthanfivesecondsresponsetime.
ThePOWERprocessorsactuallysupportfivearchitectures:64bitAmazon,64bitPowerPC,32bit
PowerPC,64bitPOWERand32bitPOWER.

Softwareintegration
Insteadofhavingtogetadditionalfundamentalsoftwarecomponentsfromothervendors,softwarefor
security,communications,backup/recoveryandthedatabase(DB2/400)arefullyintegratedintothe
standardoperatingsystem.
Thesecomponentsareseparatelyinstalledaslicensedprogram's.IBMcreatesupdatesandpatchesfor
thesystemcalledProgramTemporaryFixes(PTF).Thesecanbeinstalledtemporaryorpermanent.You
havetheabilitytostartthesystemwithorwithoutloadingthetemporaryappliedfixes.And,youcanmake
thetemporaryfixespermanentwhenyoutestedthemandknowtheysolvedyourproblemanddon'tcause
newones.
Whenyouaddstoragedevicestothemachine,thesystemwilljustrecognizeanduseit.Thesystemalso
doesstufflikeautomaticallyextendingfilesthatarefulletc.DB2/400isamoderndatabaseandsupports
journaling,commitmentcontrol,triggers,referentialintegrity,storedprocedures,italsohasapredictive
querygovernor,anEXPLAINcommandtoanalyzeSQLstatements,supportfordistributeddatabases,
replication,etc.Becausetechnicaldatabaseadministrationtasksaresubsumedintooverallsystem
managementtasks,mostIBMiinstallationsdon'tneedatraditionaldatabaseadministrator.

Singlelevelstore
VirtualmemoryisorganizedbytheSLICasasinglelevelstore.IBMihasa64bitaddressspacewhich
canaddress18quintillionbytesofdata.Allprogramsanddataresideinthismassivespaceandare
addressablefromasinglepermanentaddress,whichisneverreused.Usersjusthavetoreference
programsbynameorbypointer,anddon'tneedtoworrywhereitresidesonthesystem.

TomVanLooy

6/14

Thesinglelevelstoreisaboutsharing.Thereisnoneedtocreateaseparateaddressspacewhen
executinganewtask.Program'sdon'tcopyobjectsintoauser'saddressspace.Also,taskswitchingisvery
fastbecauseit'ssimpleassavingtheprocessor'sregistersandperformingabranchinstructiontothe
locationwherethetaskresides.Thevirtualaddressingmechanismisresponsibleformovingtheobjectinto
realmemory.
Programmersorsystemadministratorsdon'thavetheabilitytoaccessrealmemory.Thesekindof
functionsaremanagedbytheSLIC,invisibletotheMIortoIBMi.
Each8bytesofmemoryinIBMihasaspecificbitreferredtoasatagbit.Ifthetagbitisset,thememory
locationistreatedasaMIaddresspointer,usedtoaccessdataandMIobjects.Ifauserprogrammodifies
anydataintheMIaddresspointer,thetagbitisturnedoffbyhardware,disablingitsfurtheruseasan
objectpointer.

Workmanagement
Jobs
Therearefourmajortypesofjobsinsideasystem:

Interactive
Batch
Communication
System

Jobsonthesystemareidentifiedbyacombinationofjobnumber/username/jobname.Thejobnumbers
arenotreused.
Asubsystemhasworkstationentry's,theseentry'sdescribeoneormoreworkstationsthatarecontrolled
bythesubsystem.Interactivejobswilluseaterminalsession.Theyrunintheforegroundandtieupa
workstationscreenuntiltheyfinish.Interactiveprogramsarecalled.Whenauserissingedon,thatuseris
runninganinteractivejob,whentheusercallsaprogramorissuesacommandfromthecommandline,the
resultingprogramrunsinteractively.
Batchjobsruninthebackgroundanddon'ttieupaworkstationscreen.Batchjobsaresubmitted.Beforea
batchjobbecomesactiveitmustpassthroughajobqueue.Asubsystemcanbefedbyseveraljobqueues,
butajobqueuecanonlybelongtoonesubsystem.Jobshaveapriorityonthejobq,jobswithequalpriority
areprocessedinFIFOorder.
Communicationjobsaresimilartobatchjobs,onlytheyarestartedbyaremoteIBMisystem.
Systemjobsarenotcriticaltomasterbecauseyoucandonothingwiththemforperformance.Buttheydo
takeresources.So,it'shandyifyouknowwhichjobsaresystembackupjobs,etc.

Pools
TheIBMi'smemoryisdividedintostoragepools.Bydefault,thesystemisdividedinapoolforsystem
tasks(*MACHINE)andapoolwhereeverythingelseruns(*BASE).Mostpeoplewillcreateadditionalpools
forspecifictypesofjobs.Forexample,apoolcanbeconfiguredtodynamicallyadjustthepagingoptionsof
thememoryinsidethepooltoincreasesystemperformance.Thepoolsizesandjobactivitylevelofshared
poolscanbeautomaticallyadjustedbythesystem(QPFRADJsystemvalue).Youcanalsomakesurethat
TomVanLooy

7/14

somejobswillnotuseupallmemorybyplacingtheminafixedsizeprivatepool.
Jobsdon'trundirectlyinastoragepool,theyruninsidesubsystemsinstead.Ajobhasajobdescription,
thisobjectcontainstheattributesthejobwillhave.Theseattributesmakesurethejobcanberecognized
bytheIBMiandaredifferentfromthejob'sruntimeattributes.Thejobdescriptioncontainsstufflikethe
outputqueueandthejob'sinitiallibrarylist.Thejobdescriptionalsocontainsroutingdata,thisdata
containsinformationthat'slaterusedbythejobclass.Ajobclassisanobjectthatprovidesruntime
attributeslikeruntimepriorityandCPUtimeslice.

Programming
OPM
ThetraditionallanguageslikeRPGandCOBOLusedtowriteAS/400applicationsarefirsttranslatedinto
MIprogramsandthenmorphedintoPowerPCprogramsbytheinternaloptimizingcompiler,beforethe
programisexecuted.
IntheearlydaysoftheAS/400,theprogrammodelwascalledtheOriginalProgramModel(OPM).MI
instructionsweregeneratedinafairlydirectmanner.TheOPMsourcewasgeneratedintoanIntermediate
RepresentationofaProgram(IRP).Next,theIRPhadtobeconvertedintoMIinstructions.Thiswasdone
bytheProgramResolutionMonitor(PRM)andresultedinanOPMprogramtemplate.
AsnewlanguageslikeC/400,Pascal,etc.wereimplementedontheAS/400,someextensionshadtobe
addedtotheOPM.ThisresultedinanExtendedProgramModel(EPM).Thecompilersforthesenew
languageswereimplementedwithseparatefrontandbackends.Thenewcompilerbackendwascalled
CommonUseBackEnd(CUBE1).Theonlytypeofcallinstructionwascallexternal.Thisisatypeoflate
binding.Allreferencesareresolvedatruntime,whichcomeswithaperformancecost.

ILE
Toimprovetheperformanceofmodularprogramming,anewprogrammingmodelwasintroduced.The
IntegratedLanguageEnvironment(ILE)introducednewlanguagecompilers,anewoptimizingtranslator
andabinderfacility.TheoutputofanILEtranslatorisnotaprogramobjectlikewithOPM,butinsteadisa
module.TheILEbinderpackagesthesemodulesintoprogramsandintroducedtheabilitytodoearly
binding.ILEusesthe3thgenerationofcompilerbackendtechnology(CUBE3).
Amodulecontainsprocedureswhichcanbecalledatanentrypoint,withoptionalparameters.Amoduleis
notexecutable,insteadmodulesarecontainedinprograms.Aprogramhasasingleentrypointandis
dynamicallycalled.Programscancontainmultiplemoduleswhichcanbegeneratedbydifferentlanguage
compilers.
Serviceprogramsarealsoexecutableunits.Theyhavemultipleentrypoints,oneforeachprocedure.Each
procedurecanbestaticallycalled.Thepurposeofserviceprogramsistosupportmultipletypesofstatic
calls.Programsusebindbycopy(CALLPGM),whereproceduresareresolvedatcompiletime.Multiple
copiesofthesamemodulemayexistinmemoryifthemoduleisboundintomultipleprograms.Service
programsusebindbyreference(CALLB).Symboliclinkstomodulesinsidetheserviceprogramsarestored
intotheprograms.Whenaprogramisactivated,thoselinkareresolvedinsidetheserviceprogramand
replacedbythecallstotheaddressoftheprocedures.

TomVanLooy

8/14

ThisisallsimilartohowLinuxandWindowswork.Belowisanoverview:
+----------+---------+-------------+
|
ILE
| Windows | Linux (ELF) |
+-------------------+----------+---------+-------------+
| After compilation | *.MODULE | *.obj
| *.o
|
+-------------------+----------+---------+-------------+
| Bind by copy
| *.PGM
| *.exe
| *
|
+-------------------+----------+---------+-------------+
| Bind by reference | *.SRVPGM | *.dll
| *.so
|
+-------------------+----------+---------+-------------+
JavaprogramsarealsofirstcompiledintobytecodesthatarepartoftheMI.Thesebytecodesarethen
usedbytheJavaVirtualMachine(JVM),whichisimplementedinSLIC.
TheIBMiusesathreelevelhierarchytomanagetheflowofworkthroughasystem.AjobontheIBMiisa
unitofworkrepresentedasanobjectthatcontains,amongotherthings,aprocessstructurethat'susedto
managethesystemresourcesrequiredtocompletetheunitofwork.Thethirdlevelintheflowofworkare
kernelthreads.Threadsareaportionoftheprocessandarescheduledforexecutionbytheprocess
managementcomponentofSLIC.TheIBMialsosupportstwouserthreadmanagementinterfaces,namely
pthreads(POSIX)andtheJavathreadclass.
AprocessisasystemobjectattheMI,calledaprocesscontrolspace(PCS).Thereisnoequivalent
OS/400object.Aprocessobject'sresponsibilityistotietogethertheresourcesneededtoexecutea
program.Aprocessobjectcontainsanactivationgroup.WhenaprogramiscalledtheCALLPGMactivates
theprogram.Itcompletestheinterprogrambindingandimplicitlycreatesanactivationgroup.Activation
groupsarealwaysnamed,ifnotexplicitlythenimplicitly.Anactivationgroupistheworkingstorage
allocatedtorunoneormoreprograms.Eachactivationgroupcontainsa:

programstaticstoragearea(PSSA):sectionusedforglobalstaticdata
programautomaticstoragearea(PASA):thecall/returnstack,usedtoallocatelocalvariables
heapstoragearea:dynamicdatathatdoesnotadheretoastackstructure,variablelengthdataetc.

Asystemmayusethesestorageareastouseacombinationofregisters,memoryanddiskstorage.That's
whytheseareasarereferredtoasstorageareasandnotmemoryareas.Thestaticandheapstorageare
accessiblebyanythreadwithaprogramorprocedurerunningintheactivationgroup.Theautomatic
storageisassociatedwiththethread.Activationgroupscanbesharedamongmultiplethreads,anda
threadmayhavecodeactivelyrunninginmultipleactivationgroups.

Exploringthesystem
Commandinterface
AnimmediatelynoticeabledistinctivefeatureoftheIBMiisitscommandsyntaxandmenubased
commandinterface.
Eachcommandconsistsofaconcatenationofsimpleabbreviations.Forexample,thecommandworkwith
objectisWRKOBJ,whilethecommandworkwithoutputqueuewouldbeWRKOUTQ.Everycommand
canbepromptedwithF4,andeverycommand'sparameterscanbepromptedaswell.Everycommand/
parameterhasahelp,youcanjustputyourcursoratitandpressF1.

TomVanLooy

9/14

Thecommandentrypromptisalwaysavailable,butthesystemalsoprovidesaseriesoftopicoriented
menustofacilitatecommanduse.Forexample,theMAINmenulookslikethis:
Select one of the following:
1. User tasks
2. Office tasks
3. General system tasks
4. Files, libraries, and folders
5. Programming
6. Communications
7. Define or change the system
8. Problem handling
9. Display a menu
10. Information Assistant options
11. iSeries Access tasks
90. Sign off
WhenyoucalltheMAJORmenuwithGOMAJOR,yougetthefollowing:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

Select Command by Name

Verb Commands
Subject Commands
Object Management Commands
File Commands
Save and Restore Commands
Work Management Commands
Data Management Commands
Security Commands
Print Commands
Spooling Commands
System Control Commands
Program Commands

SLTCMD
VERB
SUBJECT
CMDOBJMGT
CMDFILE
CMDSAVRST
CMDWRKMGT
CMDDTAMGT
CMDSEC
CMDPRT
CMDSPL
CMDSYSCTL
CMDPGM

Filesystemstructure
Anobjectnameismaximum10characterslongandiscontainedinalibrary(*LIBobject).Alibraryis
similartoadirectoryonUnix.TherootoftheIBMifilesystemisthespeciallibraryQSYS.Thisistheonly
*LIBobjectthatcancontainother*LIBobjects.AllIBMsuppliedsystemlibrarynamesbeginwiththeletter
Qor#,it'sconsideredgoodpracticetoneverletyourownlibrarynamesstartwithoneofthesetwoletters.
Theobjectnameconsistsofthegivennameconcatenatedwiththeobjecttype.Itisperfectlypossibleto
havetwoobjectsnamedOBJ1,onebeingafile(*FILE)andonebeingaprogram(*PGM).Relatedobjects
aregroupedintolibraries(objecttype*LIB).Everyobjectisimplicitlyrelatedtoalibrary,andalways
explicitlyaccessiblelike<library>/<object>.ObjectsarestoredinEBCDICformat,sowhentransferring
datatothePC,translationtoASCIIisneeded.
Ajobonthesystemusesalibrarylist,comparableto$PATHonUnix.Alibrarylistiscomposedofasystem
anduserpart.LibraryQSYSwillbeinthesystempartofthelibrarylist.And,forexample,alibraryTVLwill
beintheuserpartofthelibrarylist.
TheIBMihasanIntegratedFilesystem(IFS).Intheearlyyears,OS/400onlyhadtheQSYSsinglelevelfile
systemhierarchy.Overtime,additionalfilesystemsweresupportedbyaddingaVirtualFileSystem(VFS)
architecture.TheVFSprovidesacommoninterfacetoallfilesystemsintheIFS.Oneremarkablefile
systemistheQOpenSysfilesystem.ThisfilesystemcontainsUnixbasedfilesanddirectories,andisfully
TomVanLooy

10/14

compatiblewiththePortableOperatingSystemInterfaceforUnix(POSIX)andtheX/OpenPortability
Guide(XPG).TheIFSalsosupportsthingslikeopticalfilesystemsandserverslikeNFSandSMB.

Users
Usersareassignedauserclassthatholdssomespecialauthoritylevels.TheIBMisuperuseriscalled
QSECOFR(securityofficer).
Authoritylevels:
allobject(*ALLOBJ)
auditing(*AUDIT)
I/Osystemconfiguration(*IOSYSCFG)
jobcontrol(*JOBCTL)
savesystem(*SAVSYS)
securityadministration(*SECADM)
servicefunctions(*SERVICE)
spoolcontrol(*SPLCTL)
Originally,userswoulduseanIBM5250terminaldevicetoconnecttothesystem.Few5250terminalsstill
exist,theterm5250nowreferstothecontentofthedatastreamitself.IBMprovidesIBMiuserswitha
5250emulatorinstead.
Whenyouconnecttothesystemyougetasingonscreen,whichisconfigurablebutbydefault,looks
somethinglikethis:
Sign On

User . . . . . .
Password . . . .
Program/procedure
Menu . . . . . .
Current library .

.
.
.
.
.

.
.
.
.
.

.
.
.
.
.

.
.
.
.
.

System . . . . . :
Subsystem . . . . :
Display . . . . . :
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .

SOMESYS
QINTER
QPADEV0001

Atsignon,theuser'sinitiallibrarylistgetssetandit'sdefaultmenuisshown.Becauseauser,like
everythingelseonthesystem,isanobject,amessagequeueisalsoattached.Alltheseparametersare
configurableintheuserprofile.Whensignedon,IBMisupportsgroupjobsonyourterminal.Thiscanbe
comparedtotheGNUscreenutilityonUnix,withoutthedetachfunctionality.

Startingthesystem
TheIBMiismanagedfromaconsole.Therearetwotypesofconsoles.Theobsoletetwinaxconsole,and
theHardwareManagementConsole(HMC).ThesecondbeingrequiredsincePOWER6.TheHMCis
basicallyanIBMSystemxrunningLinuxwithsomebaseutility's,XwithFluxboxtoprovidegraphical
login's,andaJavabasedapplicationforsystemadministration.
TheHMCconnectstotheIBMi'sFlexibleServiceProcessor(FSP)overanetworkinterface.TheFSPisa
firmwarethatprovidesaccesstotheIBMi'sSystemServiceTools(SST)andDedicatedServiceTools
(DST)fordiagnostics,initialization,configuration,runtimeerrordetectionandcorrection.SSTcanalsobe
accessedfroma5250connection,DSTisonlyalternativelyaccessiblefromthesystemcontrolpanel(CP).

TomVanLooy

11/14

+-------+\
|
||
+-------+\
| IBM i ||
|
||
|
||
+----+ +----+ +----+
| HMC ||------------[FSP] ||
| WS | | WS | | WS |
|
||----+ +---|
||
+----+ +----+ +----+
+-------+/
| |
|
|| /____/| /____/| /____/|
/_______/
| |
| [CP ] ||
|
|
|
| |
+-------+/
|
|
|
~~~~~~~
|
|
|
(
)-----------------+
|
|
(
LAN
)------------------------+
|
(
)---------------------------------+
~~~~~~~
TheHMCcanbeusedtoinitiatethesystem'sInitialProgramLoad(IPL).Or,simplystated,bootthe
system.TheFSPsendstheIPLvaluestotheHMC.Forexample,codeC6004056meansthatJournal
recoveryisrunning.YoucanlookuptheIPLvaluesofthelastbootbyusingthecommandCALL
QWCCRTEC.ThisgeneratesaQPSRVDMPspoolfile.
IPLattributescanbeconfiguredwiththeCHGIPLAcommand,forexampleyoucanspecifytonotclearthe
system'soutputqueue'setc.TherearealsosomesystemvaluesimportanttoIPL.Forexample,system
valueQCTLSBSDholdsthenameofthecontrollingsubsystem.BydefaultIBMshipstwosubsystems:
QBASEandQCTL.Thesesubsystemshaveautostartjobstostartafewrequiredsubsystems.TheQCTL
controllingsubsystemwillstartthefollowingsubsystems(QBASEstartsjustasubsetofthose):

QINTER(interactivejobs)
QBATCH(batchjobs)
QCMN(communicationjobs)
QUSRWRK(userwork)
QSERVER(serverjobs)
QSPL(spooling)

Peoplecanbringthesysteminarestrictedstatebystoppingallsubsystemsexceptthecontrolling
subsystem(ENDSBSSBS(*ALL)).Forexample,thiswillmakesurethatobjectlocksareremovedsothey
don'tgetintheway.Thingsliketheconsoledisplayandbackupjobswilltypicallyruninthecontrolling
subsystem.
TheQSTRUPPGMsystemvalueholdsthenameofthefirstprogramthatisstartedwhentheIPLis
complete.Typicallythisprogramwillstartalladditionalsubsystems.
Afewotherinterestingsystemvaluesare:

QDATETIME,keepsthecurrentdateandtime
QMODEL,thesystemmodelnumber
QSRLNBR,thesystemserialnumber
QSYSLIBL,thesystempartofthelibrarylist
QSECURITY,thesecuritylevel

TomVanLooy

12/14

Otherenvironments
Unix
InadditiontotheQOpenSysUnixbasedfilesystem,theIBMialsoincorporatesanentire64bitAIXruntime
environment.TheproblemwiththisenvironmentwasthatUnixonlysupportsprocesslocalstorage.Unix
doesn'thavetheconceptofalargesharedstoragespacelikeintheIBMi.
Processlocalstoragewasimplementedbyprovidingteraspaces.Thesetemporarystoragearea'sprovide
privatestorageforaprocess.TheAIXruntimewasinitiallycalledPrivateAddressSpaceEnvironment
(PASE),butlaterthisacronymwasrenamedtoPortableApplicationSolutionEnvironment.
PASEgivesyouaUnixshellandabunchoftools.It'sevenpossibletorunanApachewebserver,X,...You
cancallaPASEshellscriptfromIBMiwith:QSHCMD('ls/home/tvl').It'salsopossibletocallaIBMi
commandfromthePASEshellwith:systemWRKOBJLCKOBJ(MYFILE)OBJTYPE(*FILE).Youcaneven
runDB2query'sfromPASEandpipetheoutputtosomeotherscript.
Inmyopinion,thePASEenvironmentmakesIBMimoreflexible,especiallywhenyouwanttogetasmall
jobdone.Forexample,somecommand'sdon'thavetheoptiontooutputtoafile.IBMdoesprovideAPI's
soyoucanimplementthisfunctionalityyourself.ButinPASEyoucanjustcallthecommandandredirectto
afile.
AdisadvantageofPASEisthatit'snottechnologyindependent.InsteadoftalkingtotheTIMI,ithasa
syscallinterfacetotheSLIC.YouwillneedtorecompileyourPASEprogramswhenyoumovetoanother
hardwarearchitecture.

Hypervisor
TheIBMicandoLogicalPartitioning(LPAR).Thismeansyoucanrunmultipleinstancesandevendifferent
versionofIBMionthesamehardware.Ahypervisorprovidestheisolationbetweenuserandsystemstate
programs.ThehypervisorontheIBMihashardwaresupportinthePowerPCprocessor.LPAR'sarealso
createdandmanagedfromtheHMC,itispossibletoallocateresourcestoapartitionatruntime,ina
dynamicway.
IBMportedtheLinuxkerneltotheIBMiplatform,soLinuxcanruninsideanLPAR.BothRedhatandNovell
provideaLinuxdistributionforthePOWERplatform.
Also,AIXcanruninanLPAR.ThiswasalsopossibleontheSystemi.But,backtheni5/OSdidn'trunon
AIX'sSystemphardware.TodaySystemiandSystemparemergedintothePOWERplatform,makingthe
hardwareidentical.

Windows
WindowsdoesnotrunonthePOWERplatform.BecauseWindowsisn'topensourcesoftware,it'snotso
easytoportthekerneltoanotherplatform.ButIBMdidputsomeeffortinmakingitpossibletoconsolidate
WindowsserversontotheIBMi.TheycreatedanIntegratedxSeriesServer(IXS).TheIXSisphysically
packagedonacardwithanIntelprocessorandPCmemorythatfitsinsidetheIBMi.Linuxcanalsorunon
anIXS.

TomVanLooy

13/14

Bibliography

FortressRochester,theinsidestoryoftheIBMiSeries;ISBN1583040838
InsidetheAS/400;ISBN1882419138
Goodbye,AS/400,OldFriend;http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfh040708story05.html
WhatisaniSeries;http://systeminetwork.com/article/whatiseries
UnderstandingAS/400systemoperations;ISBN1583470158
ArchitectureoftheIBMAS/400;VincentLeVeque,JamesMadisonUniversity,CS511
Wikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia;http://en.wikipedia.org/(S/3,S/32,S/34,S/36,S/38,AS/400)
i5/OSinformationcenter,http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/iseries/v5r4/index.jsp
WhenisPowerPCnotPowerPC,http://systeminetwork.com/article/whenpowerpcnotpowerpc

Abouttheauthor
TomVanLooystartedouthisITcareerasasoftwaredeveloperin2005andmovedovertothepositionof
network/systemengineerin2007.Sincehechangedjobsin2009,Tomdoesn'tusetheAS/400in
productionanymore.Buttherespecttothisremarkablesystemhasremained.Tomcanbereachedby
emailattom@ctors.net.
ThispaperwaswrittenfortheAS/400's20thanniversary,andwaspresentedatHAR2009.

Legalnotice
ThispaperislicensedundertheCreativeCommons
AttributionNoncommercialNoDerivativeWorks2.0Belgiumlicense.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/byncnd/2.0/be/deed.en

TomVanLooy

14/14