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Taking information out of an IBM AS/400

T

Trylks

New Member
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Feb 21, 2010
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3
Hello everybody,

I've to make a favor to a friend and I have no clue of where to start, I found this nice forum, so I hope at least you will be able to tell me where to continue.

My friend has an AS/400, he is using it just to use a management program that has been there for quite a long time. He is afraid the computer may break and the only backups he can do of the information stored inside are in tapes that only that computer can read (at least in the current situation). I've been told that it may be possible to take the information stored in this computer using a program from IBM, that would allow a regular computer to act as a terminal for the AS/400 connected with an Ethernet cable. There are two terminals connected this way at the moment.

The optimal solution would probably be to copy the DB and the code of the management program to a PC, decompile the code and recompile it for a PC with windows, linux or macos, any of them would be good.

Please feel free to ask any additional details you may be interested into, all help is welcome, just pointing me to where the relevant information is would be really useful.

Thank you very much.
 
Hi,
Why don't you start by telling us what program it is, and (if known) what database it uses?
 
There is only one database for the AS/400, and it is built into the operating system.

This person probably isn't going to check back here - it's a stale thread by now. But if they do, I'd urge them to find an IBM business partner who knows the AS/400 well.
 
I'm checking back here ;) I would like to solve this problem and some help could be extremely useful.

I'm accepting that the optimal solution may be unachievable, though, probably there should be some changes in the source code so decompiling-recompiling is not enough. Since it is written in cobol and it is a small custom made program I'll probably just write it again in a modern language, that should take little time.

I still need a way to get the database out of the system. I hope it is as easy as 5 commands or so. My wildest dreams at this moment are:
> log in
> export database file
> ftp connect pc
> put file
> log out

Thank you very much.
 
Not sure about getting the database out of the system, bus as i remember, a long time ago i remember seeing a compiler for cobol for the pc....If i get a spare moment , i'll look it up, i might have a copy somewhere..
 
Whilst looking for information on another project, i remembered that, depending on the as/400 model, you can get linux installed as a guest O/S. However, thats only for a select few models of the as/400. That would probabily be the easiest solution. Useing the linux guest install, you could probabily setup an ftp server on a pc, send the database over, and back up the PC. It also has the added advantage of leaving the as/400 in place, doing what its been doing for years...

http://www.slack390.org/


Slackware is a decent distro. Also, from that link is a link to an mailing list that might help you out a bit more as to finding out if your model can run it.

However, since you mentioned tape, i'm guessing its probabily too old to run it. Your options at that point are either to have a company that does media conversion read the backups you have on tape and give you the database stored within. That's the expensive, but safest option.

The next option after that is to attempt todo the conversion yourself. If i remember right, IBM used a format called EBDDIC (as opposed of ASCII) on their tapes. I believe tar, the linux utility, can understand it, but you'll have to check. There are a few commercial programs out there that will talk to one of those tape drives, i believe. Again, if i have my information right, most of the tape drives that connect to the AS/400 use SASI (A forunner to SCSI) There exist a few old controllerboards for SASI. Getting another tape drive and buying the software will be the biggest expensewith that option. I wouldn't suggest trying the tape drive attached to the as/400. If i understand right, powering off and on one of those is a hugely complex process, totally unlike powering up a pc.

If you ARE lucky enough to have the as/400 that the s/390 project supports, you might just want to see if you can get it in exchange for the time you put into it. I was looking into aqquireing one myself about 4 years ago. Its a tremendous learing oppurtunity....Not to mention geek bragging rights :p

Please post as to how you made out!
 
An AS/400 (now known as System i, or something like that) is not a "390" (which is now known as System z, or something like that).

If this person is serious about getting their data, they will find a professional who knows the AS/400. I know a few, but you are not going to like the hourly rates ...
 
I don't know if it's feasible in this case, but one way of extracting data that's worked for me on a number of occasions is to list the files to a printer or terminal and capture that listing through a 'wiretap' or converter if necessary. In fact I have an application still in service where the capturing computer sends keystrokes to the database computer to call up an account, print the screen (out and back to the capturing system via a dummy printer port), skip to the next account and repeat etc.; in the old days the return line was indeed literally spliced into the cable going to a serial LA-100 printer.
 
There are several differnt quick and easy ways to capture data from this system. AS/400
1.) Lap Link III - A program made in the 80's to take any information from one computer to the next useing just a serial cable and port. (found on Ebay)
2.) Syquest SparQ - a removable hard drive that would work on the AS/400. Its not so easy to find now but I have one
3.) Tape Drive - if your allready running one then you can use it to backup anything on the system. There alot of old internal tape drives still around on Ebay. temporarly add
one to another system. Hopefully its a common drive.
 
Havoc said:
There are several differnt quick and easy ways to capture data from this system. AS/400
1.) Lap Link III - A program made in the 80's to take any information from one computer to the next useing just a serial cable and port. (found on Ebay)
2.) Syquest SparQ - a removable hard drive that would work on the AS/400. Its not so easy to find now but I have one
3.) Tape Drive - if your allready running one then you can use it to backup anything on the system. There alot of old internal tape drives still around on Ebay. temporarly add
one to another system. Hopefully its a common drive.
Click to expand...

You may want to reconsider that opinion after you read about the AS/400. It's not a PC, it's not x86 and not even remotely compatible with an x86 PC.
 
But you can certainly export the database to DB2 format and have it on DB2 on Windows.
I'm sure you can download exported database using FTP.
I dunno how to to export a database though.
Try these folks:
http://www.rzkh.de/

Make sure to hit the English flag as everything is in German by default.
They have forums and you can even get a free account on an as/400.
The main guy there is "Holger Scherer" <hs@rzkh.de> maybe you can email him.
 
tenox said:
But you can certainly export the database to DB2 format and have it on DB2 on Windows.
I'm sure you can download exported database using FTP.
I dunno how to to export a database though.
<snip>
Click to expand...
LOL!
Yeah, it's those little details... ;-)
 
I worked with AS/400s for close to 11 years, as an operating system developer and a consultant. Trust me, this is not the place to get advice on how to move data off of it.

There is an active UseNet group that will be far more helpful: comp.sys.ibm.as400.misc. Well, maybe - those are die-hard AS/400 fans and the idea of moving data off of the machine will shock them. ;-0

In short, you can probably use SQL and some code to dump the tables in a flat file format that can be moved from the box. But depending on the data and the original application there are a lot of gotchas, which is why a professional with knowledge of the machine should be assisting.
 
You have a valid point, but I have worked on the AS400 in the past, the methods above will work to remove bulk data. By no means does this mean the data removed can be used or read on PC platforms. it trully is based on what type of data is removed.
 
Thank you all for your help, it's really appreciated. I have been rather busy lately and I could not invest any time on this, but I will do it in the future and I'll let you know the result and the way to get to it, if the resurrection of this thread (very old by then) is not a problem for you.

I'll continue searching in the IBM site (where I found some interesting links that I keep unread in my bookmarks) and the UseNet group.

Thank you again, and sorry for the distant in time posts.
 
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