Maxed Out
Because the System i can run at redline speed all day long . . .
November 29, 2007
V6R1 Program Conversions Much Simpler Than CISC-to-RISC
In order to move to V6R1 of i5/OS in 2008 and use existing applications, customers will need to run a required program conversion process that appears to be fairly straightforward. Many applications, for example, will automatically convert in less than a second. With V6R1, IBM hasn't even announced a shipping date other than early 2008, so what gives with all this advance notice? How hard is this program conversion process going to be, anyway? I turned to IBM's Paul Godtland, who has spearheaded much of the program conversion work at IBM, and Ian Jarman, who is the System i product manager.
Why?
"The main point of the program conversion in V6R1 is to allow us to upgrade software," Godtland said. "We have a unique ability with the machine interface architecture to be able to replace the implementations of programs and yet have them behave the same way because they are still running the same MI operations. So we reached a point where several key aspects of the system could be improved from integrity to performance and also offer new functions."
What To Do
"The biggest thing to do in preparation is that we have PTFs that provide a tool called Analyze Object Conversion, and we'd really like customers to run that ahead of time. It'll turn out, by far, that most programs can be converted without issue, but some older programs from which creation data has been removed won't be able to convert," Godtland explained.
The main point behind the Analyze Object Conversion tool is to give customers time to prepare by identifying any applications that don't have creation data -- a.k.a. "observability" -- and, of course, the time to get it.
"If they have the source, they'll just have to recompile, and if they don't have the source for a program without creation data, they'll need to contact the vendor to get a more recent version," Godtland said.
"Any programs that were created targeting V5R1 or later have sufficient creation data for conversion. So we're talking about programs older than that or any program where the creation data was explicitly removed," he added.
Without Creation Data, You Can't Convert
Most applications will have creation data. "There are programs that were originally compiled on System 38 that will convert for V6R1 just fine," Godtland said. "Someone has to explicitly remove creation data."
If customers moved to V3R6, they had to have had program creation data. "So really, what we're asking is, 'Did someone get the program creation data [back then] and then at some time in the future remove it,'" Jarman said.
Pesky Solution Providers
"Certainly a software provider could have created a new version and then chosen to remove creation data before they shipped it," Godtland said. "But it's less likely that will be [the case] with more recent applications."
Either way, preparation is the key. By using the Analyze Object Conversion tool, customers will know exactly which applications they'll need to have creation data for or which applications they might need to replace. To help with the process, IBM has a Redpaper Draft titled "i5/OS Program Conversion: Getting ready for i5/OS V6R1." Plus, IBM has a dedicated tab to program conversion on its i5/OS V6R1 Preview page.
"By acting now, by downloading the redbook, by understanding the output of the tool, customers can be very confident of their plans moving to V6R1, whenever that may be," Jarman said.
Is It Really That Hard?
"In the past, when we introduced a new operating system, often it was at the same time we introduced a new hardware system that required the new operating system. In this case, that's not the case. The last time we did something like this was in the mid-90s, and people described that process as CISC-to-RISC. At that time, you were doing a hardware upgrade at the same time. So it's very different indeed. Today, as we're introducing POWER6, you don't need to change the operating system -- you can still run V5R4 -- so the hardware is independent of the conversion," Jarman said.
"We're giving all this information well in advance, and because there's no critical date, because it's not tied to hardware, there's no forced march to move to the new release, so people are in a great position to get the facts, understand the issue, and have the time to do the planning that they need," he added.
Even though IBM is offering lots of advance warning and preparation materials, it doesn't mean that program conversion is necessarily going to be particularly difficult for most customers. IBM's just doing a good job of communicating. Of course, for some customers with older applications that are still in use and don't have creation data, the conversion could get immensely more difficult if the solution provider no longer exists or a new version is expensive.
Still Better Than Alternatives
"If people think, 'Why do we have to do this on the System i and i5/OS?', it's worth considering the alternative on other platforms -- because on other platforms, binary compatibility is unusual. If you look over the long term, people have been forced to compile, rewrite, and re-optimize applications for themselves, so we're delivering on one of the key long-term benefits of the System i in the first place," Jarman noted. "If this weren't on the System i, we'd be having a discussion of doing the next round of recompilations -- and that's what we've avoided over the years by having this technology independence on the System i."
Posted by cmaxcer at November 29, 2007 9:18 AM
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