Database or Bust!

A couple of years ago I was quoted as saying “Let’s have a going away party for DDS…”

That article caused a lot of commotion in the community. I like that. Stirring things up. That is part of what I do. I’m not nearly as provocative as some of the other players in the space, but I do my best to get my licks in. Chris Maxcer did a great job of capturing some of the passion and emotion of members of the community but enough is enough. SQL is here to stay and if you don’t believe me just look around.

I was speaking at the RPG & DB2 Summit conference last month and I happened upon a breakfast table where Skip Marchesani was chatting with a few folks. I had gotten to know Jon, Susan and Paul a bit over the years. But for some reason Skip and I never really crossed paths. Not sure why, though I am sure I attended a few of his sessions on database. Regardless, this was a great opportunity to see Skip in action so I politely asked if I could sit down and was graciously accepted to the circle.

Skip was embroiled in the age old discussion of “should I throw away my DDS and move to SQL?” Truly a religious war if I ever heard one. My initial reaction was “Hell Yeah!” but I wanted to hear more. Having been cornered in a religious war or two has made me a little more reserved in the timing of my responses. In this case I watched the master at work. Skip acknowledged each of the attendee’s concerns. Performance, scalability, RPG/SQL performance vs. record level access. I was happy to say that a lot of my own impressions were in line with what Skip was saying. Woohoo!

When the conversation died down I jumped in with a few comments of my own that Skip probably would have offered but timing may have given me an advantage. Things like cross platform ubiquity and the fact that school kids KNOW SQL and not record level access. Solutions like MySQL and Miscrosoft Access do a great job of weaning people onto SQL. Languages like Java, PHP and others use SQL as a primary data access mechanism and thus the programmers KNOW SQL.

It was a healthy discussion that ended somewhat awkwardly as some do. The attendee was the sole supporter of his software. He had no intention of rewriting the application any time soon. He had no need for a DDS to SQL migration. From that Skip and I were hard pressed to encourage him to move everything. “By golly” we said “leave it alone!”

But, from the perspective of keeping the skills up and learning something new the attendee did surprise us by saying he would take a piece of his application and give it a try. He would explore the opportunities of SQL vs. DDS and report back his experience. At that point I felt that we had achieved the goal.

One of the things I harp on in my sessions and I would bet Skip would agree, is that you should use the right hammer on the right nail. Frequently folks try to bait me into a religious war on Java vs. PHP. I’m sorry, that dog just doesn’t hunt. We could be here for days talking about the advantages of one over the other and it would only become a religious discussion. If you like Java and have a lot of Java and want to explore PHP? That’s OK. If you decide to stick with your Java, that’s OK too! Make an informed decision and move confidently in the direction you like. Same goes for this guy and DDS. If he were looking to turn his application into the next generation of the software and add in new features, etc. Skip and I would have beat him mercilessly about the head and shoulders with SQL. But it was clear he was leveraging the investment. That’s OK too. As long as you are willing to absorb the risks and the rewards, have at it!

So, in a nutshell, “DDS is dead!...Long live DDS!”

Interview with the ElePHPant

Many of you may have seen or heard of the PHP elePHPant. He has been making the rounds to different events around North America and is looking forward to another exciting year of visiting different parts of the country and the world to meet & greet the PHP faithful wherever they are playing.

This entry is a very special edition where we get an exclusive interview with “the” PHP elePHPant! Many of your questions about this mysterious creature can be answered here finally and for the first time. We are very lucky to have bumped into the elePHPant at an event in Texas. Here is his story.



Mike: You have been reclusive and it seems that last year you came out of hiding to meet folks around the world who are doing PHP. What is your background and where do you hail from?
ElePHPant: It is really very boring story, but if you insist, I was born in Kenya. Although there are many who wish to dispute that. After growing up with a couple of my siblings I got the itch to move beyond the limitations of the African continent and started traveling the world.

Mike: So great to hear about where you came from, where do you call home today?
ElePHPant: Today I live in suburban Chicago. It is a great town for pachyderms and other wild life because there is very little that impresses the typical Chicagoan. Looking forward to the new mayor as some say he used to work for an ex-Kenyan.

Mike: You mentioned that you have siblings. Have we seen any of them?
ElePHPant: My brother is mascot for Republican party and since I live in Chicago he doesn’t come by to visit very much. Nice guy but ironically he can be a bit of an ass! Some years ago my sister got hooked up with some bad folks back in the old country and ended up doing taxi work in India, got a small family, etc.

Mike: I hear you’ve been sighted all over the states: Orlando, San Antonio, San Jose and Chicago.
ElePHPhant: Yeah it’s been great. Although I fly SW and they get a little cranky when I take up two seats. I am an elephant for heaven sake. What are they thinking? With a little luck I will get to Minneapolis, St Petersburg and possibly Europe. But those long flights in coach can really be a challenge.
Mike: Why do you fly SW, someone with your notoriety should be able to get 1st class on a major carrier.
ElePHPant: Two words: Free Peanuts!

Mike: I guess that makes sense…How did you ever get connected with PHP?
ElePHPant: Well, to make a long story short, I just couldn’t get my trunk around Java. I bumped into a couple penguins while vacationing in Madagascar. They were talking about how their guy Rico was able to throw up a web site with no cash and serve up some content for their “clients.” I chatted them up and they were happy to share a little, but they were rather cagey about the specifics of their content. Then I turned around and they were gone. They struck me as really nice fellas, but a bit paranoid. Later, this guy in France saw me on IRC and asked me if I’d mind posing. Then this hits the street and the rest they say is history!

Mike: So I have seen you at a couple of shows, most notable the IBM conference called COMMON and the PHP tek conference in Chicago. While you are obviously a huge fan of PHP I see you have a Zend cape. Does that get you into trouble with the PHP community who may not look favorably on a commercial endorsement?
ElePHPant: Look, I’m not looking to piss off anyone but I got my own family to feed. Work has been tough lately and as you can guess, my grocery bill isn’t exactly small. I used to compile my own binaries and stack. It was pretty cool to optimize everything EXACTLY as I liked it. But, after a while, the maintenance got a little old. I was more interested in the development of apps and the constant changes to PHP for security and other reasons was a real hassle. Then a guy turned me on the Zend Server CE and I became a fan. It has just about everything I want and now a local shlub at the customer site can maintain the server and I can focus on developing apps. That’s just how I roll these days and would not deny anyone the opportunity to experience building the stack from scratch. But I’ve ben there and done that so it’s time for me to move on.

Mike: So do you use Zend Server CE exclusively or are you using some of the supported features of the full Zend Server product?
ElePHPant: It really depends on the client. Sure there are a lot of cheap companies out there and they know I’ll work for peanuts. But then they find out just how many peanuts I need and they change their tune pretty quick! I show them the advanced features and set up a demo with Ed or Mike at Zend. They really do all the heavy lifting as far as showing the solution. But the real benefit is the ROI. Having access to Code Tracing means I can get home at night and tuck in the little ones rather than calling on my cell phone, yet again, to wish them goodnight! Keeps the Mrs. Happy, too. Have you ever seen an overworked female elephant with an attitude? It’s not pretty. You know the old saying, if big momma isn’t happy, ain’t NOBODY happy! Zend Server helps me code in PHP all day, get home at night, and I can still play on other side jobs with the same distribution whether it is full Zend Server or CE! Consistency is key!

Mike: But what’s with the cape? I mean, did Zend pay for you to have a little space on your…ahem…back for advertising?
ElePHPant: Listen, that cape is symbolic as it really implies that I can fly. And, with the bytecode, data and page caching features of Zend Server my sites fly. There is no formal agreement with Zend but when I’m in the Zend office they have these really cool macadamia’s they fly in from Honolulu and I’ll do just about anything for those! I’m such a tramp!

Mike: Well I want to thank you for the time you spent with us today. If you had one thing you would like to share with the masses about PHP, what would that be?
ElePHPant: Just do it! PHP is pretty hot right now. Sure there are plenty of Java bigots out there who feel the need to slam PHP, but at the end of the day you just need to play and then decide for yourself. One third of the internet running on PHP and 1.7% of the Internet sites worldwide running Drupal is kind of hard to sneeze at. Although, when I sneeze, folks do take notice…

Confessions of a PHP advocate: Hey Java, I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings…

This article looks at what several members of the PHP community are up to, and more...

Is PHP ready for enterprise? I say yes but why not let the community answer and vote with their feet! People have been using PHP as a programming language for several years to manage content and now mission critical data entry applications. People in various technology religions tend to focus on a single point in an effort to attack a technology. That’s OK as people with a limited perspective should be allowed to focus. The point of this blog article is to broaden the perspective of all developers and essentially say, use what you feel is the correct technology that applies to your application. If PHP is a strong candidate then great! If Java makes more sense for you because of your current shop skill sets then have at it. Ultimately, it is nice to know we have choices.

I won’t engage directly into the religious wars of Java and PHP but I am guilty of playfully poking at other technologies. I have been accused of disparaging Java in a few forums. Obviously these folks don’t know me very well because I disparage all languages simply because each language has its own strengths and weaknesses. In my presentations I am certainly guilty of having fun at the expense of Java, RPG, and COBOL. I have even taken a shot at Paschal, FORTAN and PL1. I kind of liken my playfulness with programming technologies as Mel Brooks tends to poke at nationalities. I have a healthy respect for Java and please keep in mind that our workbench Zend Studio is Java based (Eclipse is a Java project) If I offend anyone that is not my intention and I apologize. But my method of communication is doubtful to change any time soon.

With regard to some recent forum posts about dynamic vs. static typing, please use your own judgment. If you were not aware of a “pro-PHP” perspective on the topic, please check out this posting from a prominent member of the PHP community and very good friend Kevin Schroeder. Kevin's blog article explores what he views are the myths and misconceptions many folks have when comparing strongly typed languages vs. dynamically typed languaes. i encourage folks to review it before taking an extreme perspective, one way or the other. After all, 1/3rd of the internet would not be running on PHP if it sucked and would roughly 7 of the top 10 internet sites by WWW traffic be running PHP?

What I will comment on is the diversity in the community as PHP continues to grow its following. If you happen to check out some of our recently released Case Studies then you can see that some folks are taking more than a passing interest in PHP. Corvette America and Value Drug Mart widens the perspective of some long time PHP advocates for IBM i like Allied Beverages and Aarowcast.

And furthermore, there are these crazy guys at iDevCloud! I have known Jim Oberholtzer and Larry Bolhuis for some time and their latest escapade has really struck a note. iDevCloud is all about making IBM i affordable to those who need a place to develop or learn but can’t afford their own box. Jim and Larry are world renowned for cleverly assembling IBM i hardware and software to suit their needs and sharing those precious resources with folks looking to learn more about IBM i. Zend has partnered with iDevCloud to provide the full version of Zend Server for each of their environments so that folks looking to learn PHP on IBM i not only have the environment, but also the best tools for developing PHP applications. Jim has reported that the overwhelming majority of the customers using iDevCloud have purchased a contract so that they could learn PHP! This is huge!

Furthermore, Jim has written the management of the iDevCloud site in a PHP framework known as Zend Framework (ZF) and it is running 100% on IBM i. If anyone tells you that something cannot run on IBM i, please send them my way. I tend to believe that anything is possible, although something just may not be practical like running a VB application on IBM i. But I digress. Jim is in the process of developing content for a series of presentations where he will be talking more about the MVC architecture of ZF and PHP for IBM i developers. This is a good thing as many IBM i shops want to use ZF but struggle on basic concepts and where to get started. Zend offers training, of course, but assumes you have a solid foundation in Object Oriented principles. This creates a bit of a gap as most RPG and COBOL developers have a procedural background and have avoided OO for years. Jim along with several other folks in the community are looking to close that gap and enable RPG and COBOL programmers with the tools and concepts to adopt all kinds of PHP concepts.

Yes, having a choice is a nice thing!

Patches? We don need no Stinkin' Patches!

Well, if you are familiar with that famous scene from the “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” you probably have an idea where I am going…

I am having a little fun here with my reference to this classic film and the recent PHP hotfix that was developed to address a processor exploit. The truth is that all systems need patches sooner or later. Some operating systems need them more than others and release them on a weekly basis. Others batch them up and say come and get them when you are ready. But as we know, on the IBM i things are a little bit different.

First, let’s explore what happened. On the Zend website you can read an article that describes the issue. Essentially there was a flaw in the floating point conversion of the Zend Engine that when running on some processors that could cause a site to seize up. As an organization, Zend R&D and several other groups within the company jumped in and deployed the patch in a mere 24 hours from the point of diagnosis. Not bad if you are looking for enterprise support for PHP, I’d say. Here is the important thing, who was exposed? This article goes on to talk about the architectures that were not impacted. Those include Intel 64-bit Linux, MAC OSX and IBM i. So why was IBM i safe? Simply put, Power PC!

People who get embroiled in the religious wars over platforms tend to lose sight of the significant value proposition that we enjoy simply because we run on another processor. Does that mean the PowerPC is without flaws? Hardly. But it does mean that we enjoy a little security through obscurity. Hackers and exploiters are simply not attacking PowerPC. Why? Well probably for the same reason you don’t see too much in the trade press about it. Power PC is powering the Power systems at IBM and some game station like Wii, Xbox, PS3/PS4, etc. so the folks who have a Power System are using it for business, and the gamers are hacking their boxes to load Linux on a 64-bit architecture. Woohoo! We’re safe on this one!

But, enjoying the wonderful safety of IBM i does not mean we should sit back and expect that “Murphy” will never come knocking. The reality is that the IBM i has one of the best “patching” processes in the industry and the fact that most IBM i developers have no clue about it lends itself to significant credibility as most of you simply do not HAVE to know about it. So after talking to so many of you I figured I summarize some of the recent discussion point about PTF’s and Zend as a bit of a refresher. For an in depth discussion on PTF strategy, I would highly recommend Larry “Dr. Franken” Bolhuis' presentation “Managing IBM i PTF’s” at COMMON or a local user group near you! Here are two slides he donated to this blog for your consideration!






First, a refresher on how and where Zend Server runs on IBM i. There are two major worlds that comprise the IBM i Zend Server universe. The first is the IBM HTTP Server Powered by Apache and the second is PASE (Portable Application Solution Environment). Ideally your system manager should have a strategy in place for keeping current with Cumulative and Group PTF’s. If that is the case then you should be good to go. If not, get some religion NOW and some help if you need it. Either way, please read on!

Starting with the Apache server I would direct your attention to the group PTF for HTTP for your respective OS version. It is easy to determine where you are on this food chain as IBM has created a one stop shop to see your current status. Simply run the WRKPTFGRP command from the green screen and press F11 to see the descriptions for the group PTF’s that are currently installed. If, per chance, you run the command and see nothing, there is a very good possibility that you have no group or cumulative PTF’s installed or applied. Need I say more to you about that? I think not. If you have groups installed you should be able to navigate around the screen to see the current level. Find that current level and then head to the IBM website for Fix Central. This page contains a VERY valuable link for current group PTF levels. Compare your level to the IBM level to get a “feel” for how far off you are.

I am pleased that most of my customers tell me they are either current or only a level or two behind. Every once in a while, though, I get someone who cannot install Zend Server and when I ask about their PTF levels they will respond “What’s a PTF?” I walk them through the steps identified above and we discover a lot!

So why do I need PTF’s to implement Zend Server on IBM i? Well, the word “need” is a relative term. When Zend revised the stack from Zend Core to Zend Server on IBM i, several changes were implemented to address a number of customer requirements. Most notable was the dual Apache configuration of Zend Core. To achieve a better performance model and reduce the Apache servers to a manageable ONE, IBM and Zend collaborated on delivering Fast CGI as a method for deploying PHP on IBM i. FastCGI is an open source approach to work with Apache servers and since IBM essentially OWNS the Apache server on IBM i, they have graciously built and provided the FastCGI infrastructure with significant contributions from Zend. IBM implemented these changes as part of the base for i7.1 and via PTF’s for V5R4 and i6.1 as well as the interim releases.

Any company that implements new technology is going to have an aggressive update process. IBM is no stranger to this phenomenon so in order to ensure that you have the latest and greatest fixes and features for FastCGI you should keep current with the group for HTTP as well as your Cumulative PTF package and PASE.

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!

Usually, I try to write about education in September. I missed that point so now it’s time to make up some ground and look back at 2010 and forward to 2011…

The title of this piece is probably one of my favorite bumper stickers. I have a soft spot for people learning a new technology. I for one know it is not easy as I had to battle my own complacency and really dig in to Linux based solutions this year. I still have a way to go but gaining ground! As a young veteran in the IT industry I found it hard to prioritize and focus. there is no forgiveness in the number of distractions we must contend with today. I have the unbelievable privilege of working with some of the smartest people on the planet and their patience has been a blessing. But this experience makes me realize every day the value proposition of PHP in the IBM i space and would not trade this job for the world!

2010 was a wonderful year. I have been VERY privileged and honored to present several PHP sessions at user groups across the country and even in Europe! But I also had the chance to present a bunch of sessions at both COMMON events, too. I’m going to take a brief look at where we all went in 2010 and try to prognosticate on where 2011 is headed.

The year started off well with the beta announcement of Zend Server for IBM i followed by the GA release in April and a West coast tour of user groups including PMSA, Cascade and Power SURG. Spring gave way to the annual COMMON Meeting and Expo in Orlando, a WAM East Coast tour (after a snow delay) and the traditional trek to the WMCPA conference. With the summer trip to MITEC and Irvine for the OCEAN conference under my belt I got caught up on LPAR’s and updates as I prepared for the fall events in San Antonio for COMMON, Omni and a trip to Ireland & England. I made some wonderful new friends at the Manchester event for Penton and at IBM’s South Bank in London. The highlight of the trip, however, was meeting the UK arm of the Zend Sales team who work in an office space leased inside the Guinness Brewery. What a hoot! Last week I saw the fine folks in St. Louis and talked PHP all day with hardly anyone running out of the room!

In my spare time I have tried to keep up with my family and the most aggressive schedule imaginable. My wife is the most awesome quarterback keeping us all moving the ball forward and I would be lost without her! But also I managed to teach a couple of classes in PHP at Moraine Valley Community College and for SystemiNetwork. Two things I plan to carry forward in 2011.
But then there is 2011.

What could be in the plans for Zend? Well, we have not completely baked it yet but there are some AWESOME product announcements coming. Kent Mitchell out Director of product Management gave a preview of Zend Server 6 at ZendCon with features like application activation that turns your PHP cluster into an iTunes like environment. But clusters are not available for IBM i, you say? Well how about an alternate PHP toolkit that gives full access to the OS with 100% Open Source code? In the words of the immortal Mark Shearer, Watch this space!

Events for 2011 you can certainly bank on are COMMON in Minneapolis in the Spring and St. Petersburg in the fall. I have just been accepted for a full day pre-conference workshop on PHP for the Spring COMMON and look forward to about 5-6 sessions too. I am cutting back on sessions as we are seeing real traction from community members like Alan Seiden, Brian May and Jeff Olen. These guys are not only PHP literate; they are in the trenches doing PHP every day! I challenge everyone to get out to some event or do some offline training or even consider presenting a session at your local user group. Pick something interesting, something fun. Challenge yourself. I don’t think you will be disappointed! Watch out for other in the community to offer ways to learn PHP on IBM i. The folks at iDevCloud are on the job and rocking out some really great opportunities.

2010 saw the birth and rebirth of iManifest. Jen Halverson has done an AWESOME job of helping “herd the cats” and her passion is immeasurable. I am glad she decided to join our team and offer HUGE assistance to a very necessary agenda.

We will continue to see product announcements and fixes and updates and more. PHP is not going away and neither am I! But some of my roles in the community will change as I need to focus on other things. More on that later.

I want to offer a hearty “thank you” to all of the folks who have welcomed me to their user groups. The IBM i community is a VERY special crowd and many of you have made me feel very much at home whether I travel near or far. It truly is a privilege meeting and speaking to the folks who love the IBM i as much as I do. And I look forward to meeting even more new friends in 2011.

In the spirit of the Holiday’s, I offer you all one wish:

Peace.

ZendCon 2010 - What a time!

ZendCon 2010 has come and gone. If you were there you saw some pretty cool things. If you were not there, why?

The IBM i track was well represented by some truly awesome speakers. Alison Butterill, Susan Gantner, Alan Seiden and Sam Pinkhasov all contributed to the usual cadre of PHP community speakers to make the overall experience well rounded and useful!

Each year I look forward to the IBM i evening customer networking event. This year we were able to hold it in one of the rooms at the hotel and this is a perfect opportunity to round up the IBM i customers in a central location where they can do the most important thing they can do at this event: COMMUNICATE. I think they all enjoyed it as we had to kick a few folks out of the room after last call. I think education is important but hearing what other IBM i customers are doing with PHP is of great value to everyone.

How about that ElePHPant!

One of the things I love to do with IBM customers is review any new features they are looking for in the Zend solution suite. This is important because we need to hear what you are up to and what you need to make the solution better for your organization. Just about everyone who has adopted Zend Server for IBM i would extol the virtues of better performance and a single Apache server. That came directly from the community. A highlight of Sam’s session had to do with a new toolkit that is being developed. We don’t have all the details yet, but it looks like it will add functionality and performance improvements over the existing i5 functions. More to come VERY soon!

The IBM i sessions are listed below and the slides should be available on JoinedIn for ZendCon2010 soon. Anyone looking for the handouts from the IBM i sessions, please check this out!
Web Services with PHP, Zend Framework and IBM i by Alan Seiden
PHP and IBM i by Alison Butteril
The MySQL - DB2 for i Connection by Susan Gantner
PHP for Batch Jobs on IBM i by Alan Seiden
What's New in Zend Server for IBM i by Sam Pinkhasov
Expanding IBM i Applications to the IFS Easily with PHP by Mike Pavlak



Start thinking about ZendCon 2011 now. I think you be just jazzed about joining us!

COMMON, LUG and Zend-Oh My!

Last week was a long one but exciting! First, flying out to San Antonio for the first annual COMMON fall conference and expo and then to the LUG in Rochester, MN.

COMMON was a very nice event where many new and veteran speakers joined together to welcome over 250 people to the Crowne Plaza hotel in San Antonio, TX. The facilities, expo and content seemed to fit just right.

The Zend booth saw a lot of traffic from current and future customers. Many people looking for alternatives to the current cadre of productivity tools and web solutions. PHP sessions were well attended, too. COMMON welcomed a new PHP speaker in Alan Seiden to share his perspective and he was well received. I hope to see Alan on stage at the Spring event for a “Best New Speaker” award. I have also heard that Alan had a good time himself! I think we’ll be seeing more of Alan! Looks like Alan made a new friend, too!



The location was a winner as many people found the time to run out to the Alamo and the Riverwalk to see some of the local culture and shopping. I decided to hide in my room and catch up on email but still managed to have a beer with an old friend who was kind enough to pick me up at the airport. (Thanks Paul!) There seemed to be a shortage of Shiner Bock in the bar, but each morning a new case or three was carried in. The hotel staff was great in assisting any last minute request.

Thanks to some fancy footwork by the folks behind the scenes at COMMON (thanks Ian!) I was able to squeeze all of my sessions into the first day and a half so I could join my CEO, Andi Gutmans at the LUG. For those who may not be aware, LUG stands for the Large User Group. This is an independent entity made up of organizations that represent some of IBM i’s largest installations. Usually only IBM speakers are welcome and they can be a very honest bunch. It is very rare that the LUG would welcome a vendor like Zend, let alone a lowly solutions consultant like me. But they must have liked what I had to say because they invited me back a couple of hours later for a demo of an install of Zend Server on IBM i. On top of a couple of great sessions I was asked to attend the LUG HUG which is an evening event where the LUG members get together for pizza and gather around tables like a Birds-of-a-Feather session. Met some more great people and had a great time.

I truly feel blessed to be able to speak to groups like these in my travels. Seeing the IBM i faithful exploring new options on our beloved platform is the best tonic for an aging soul. Working with customers who decide to stay on the platform or consolidate workload back on the platform is huge. But don’t tell my boss how much I like these events, he still thinks its work!