Introduction

Overview

The eServer i5 is the latest incarnation of IBM's remarkable iSeries server. In 2000, the iSeries replaced its predecessor, the Application System/400 (AS/400). The AS/400 was announced in the late ′80s as IBM's newest member of the "classical" line of midrange computers. This line started with the System/3, a computer that, except for the model 15D, supported only batch processing in the form of punched cards. Later, IBM introduced first the System/32 and then, in 1978, the System/34. The System/34 was IBM's first popular, multiuser midrange computer to offer interactive processing using display stations. Shortly thereafter, IBM announced the System/38.

The S/38 was the AS/400's predecessor. You could even say that the AS/400 got most of its architecture and operating system from the S/38. The AS/400 architecture lacked the simplicity of the S/34 (or the S/36, which replaced the S/34 a few years later). Indeed, the AS/400 architecture was complex and the operating system (named OS/400) was therefore complicated. The i5 runs i5/OS that may appear to be the same as OS/400 on the surface, but under the covers, it provides support for unmatched virtualization and partitioning. Based on Power5 64 bit processor technology, the i5 provides unparalleled performance and stability.

The "i" in i5 stands for integration. The keystone of the i5 architecture is its integration with the DB2/UDB database, security, middleware and more. This integration combined with incredible support for portioning and virtualization allows i5 customers to enjoy an amazingly low total cost of ownership.

To the uninitiated, all the features and capabilities of the i5 server can be downright intimidating. The purpose of this book is to present the basics to the beginner, yet cover as much territory as possible. This book does not attempt to cover any topic in a thorough, exhaustive manner. The purpose of this book is to introduce the i5 in a light manner.

This book need not be read in a single sitting from cover to cover or even sequentially; you can reference the chapters that interest you most, skip some, and jump back and forth. The book is divided into seven parts—Installation, Operations, Administration, System Architecture, Programming, the Internet, and Troubleshooting