How much do you know about AS/400?

AS/400 is a medium-sized commercial computer system owned by IBM. As a typical integrated commercial computer, AS/400 integrates various functions commonly used in computer systems, such as network communication functions, database management functions, and security management functions, into its operating system to maximize compatibility between these functions.

In addition, its operating system is OS/400, which also includes a powerful database management system - DB2/400. This is a full-featured open relational database system and a member of the IBM DB2 family, but its underlying technology is completely different from DB2.

The data we usually refer to as AS/400 data refers to the data integrated in the DB2/400 database on the AS/400.

In the past, comprehensive computer system construction usually required different manufacturers and channels to be built, which, in an underdeveloped IT industry, led to subsequent work and services becoming more complex and tedious. In contrast to other computer systems, all components of the AS/400 come from its original manufacturer, creating an integrated system that provides a simple advantage for future post-maintenance. It is mainly used in high-end industries such as banking, insurance, tobacco, and multinational enterprises.

Today, the trend of data-driven enterprise development is becoming increasingly apparent, coupled with the promotion of indigenous innovation strategies, the market is presenting a flourishing situation. The massive and complex flow of data, constantly evolving and diverse business requirements, and comprehensive multi-dimensional digital construction solutions... heterogeneous data sources have become a more suitable choice for the digitalization process of enterprises.

In the current digital environment, the unique architecture of AS/400 has created a challenge for many clients in transferring data between AS/400 and other databases.

DSG has been committed to providing data replication, migration, backup, disaster recovery, exchange, and sharing services for large organizations such as enterprises and governments. In order to meet the data management needs on AS/400 for clients, DSG has developed a high-performance, large-scale database replication platform tool called DSG SuperSync For AS/400 with independent intellectual property rights, which has been applied in practice to multiple large enterprise projects.

DSG SuperSync For AS/400 can achieve real-time data replication and synchronization for customers without interrupting business operations; by deploying an intermediate server architecture, it reduces the utilization of CPU, memory, and I/O resources on the source end. It provides replication, migration, and disaster recovery capabilities between homogeneous and heterogeneous databases; with features such as easy installation and deployment, high concurrency for large data volumes, and bidirectional data flow.

DSG SuperSync For AS/400 supports data replication and migration from AS/400 to various mainstream databases such as Oracle, MySQL, DB2, and PostgreSQL, as well as domestic databases such as DaMeng, KingBase, PingCap TiDB, Ant Financial OceanBase, Huawei GaussDB, and mainstream big data components including HDFS, Hbase, Hive, Kafka, and ES.

Currently, there are several practical case studies available for reference for heterogeneous projects with AS/400 as the source end at DSG. At the same time, starting from the underlying core technology stack, AS/400 as a data source component has been expanded to our DataXone data replication management platform, realizing visual interface management, a variety of rich heterogeneous sources, enhancing product usability and recognition, and continuously contributing to the data circulation system.

                                                                                                                                                                          Interface map of the DataXone platform

DSG provides heterogeneous database data flow assurance services for a large international catering company's financial reporting system.

The company operates thousands of well-known chain restaurants worldwide. In 2022, it was listed on the Fortune 500 list and was selected as one of the Time 100 most influential companies in 2021. Additionally, it has been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for two consecutive years.

The company's original financial reporting system architecture involved reading and writing data on a single AS/400 server. As the business data continued to grow, the inflexible data architecture led to declining performance in exporting reports, resulting in significant time consumption. To improve report export efficiency and reduce database read/write pressure, reforming the architecture became a pressing need.

The new architecture requires real-time and accurate synchronization of business data from the original core AS400/DB2 to a Linux/TiDB database, allowing for data reading and report exporting from TiDB to achieve read/write separation.

Comparison chart of Old Architecture vs New Architecture

The core focus of this project is how to synchronize data in real time from the existing AS/400 to the TiDB database. Therefore, DSG SuperSync For AS/400, a high-performance data replication and synchronization software, played an important role in the architectural reform of this project.

Through the installation of the DSG SuperSync For AS/400 synchronization program on a third-party Linux intermediate machine, the architectural reform involved the real-time and efficient synchronization of both full and incremental data from the JDE system core on the AS/400 to the TiDB database. Additionally, the data entering the downstream TiDB was subjected to simple transformation processing based on actual usage requirements, meeting the needs for business data read and write separation. This significant approach resolved the complex issue of lengthy business report export times and ensured that business personnel could accurately and easily read and export data from TiDB, thus relieving pressure on the AS/400 end and laying a solid foundation for the sustainable development of the customer's future.

● Key Technical Highlights of the Plan：

Facing the domestic market, rare cases of AS/400 data export synchronization are encountered. DSG bravely explores and overcomes various unknown problems and challenges, such as high research and development difficulty, numerous issues, and little industry experience. In the future, focusing on complex multi-source heterogeneous environments, DSG will continue to leverage its strengths, expand into more new industries, empower digital transformation through technology, and continue to escort high-quality development for businesses!

Extension Based on AS/400: About Mainframes

Mainframes are an organic whole of hardware and dedicated software, using specialized processor instruction sets, operating systems, and application software, with high reliability and security. Data shows that the availability of mainframes can reach 99.999%, and they are widely used in finance, securities, healthcare, transportation, and other industries, and are recognized by many industry-leading enterprises. Mainframes help enterprises quickly realize digital transformation, continuously improve service levels, fully demonstrate their advantages in the increasingly fierce market competition, and play an extremely important role.

S/390

The S/390 is IBM's famous mainframe, with a robust computing architecture, advanced performance, and high reliability, with availability as high as 99.999%. It is highly favored by large enterprises with high computing demands. Many core applications in sectors such as banking, insurance, and finance, which are crucial to the national economy and people's livelihood, run on the S/390 mainframe.

OS/390

OS/390 is an operating system developed by IBM, commonly used in the S/390 large mainframe series. OS/390 is an integrated enterprise server operating system that integrates open communication servers, distributed data and file services, parallel composite system support, object-oriented program design, DCE, and open application programming interfaces into a single product. As it is developed based on the MVS operating system, it retains the exceptional performance of MVS, such as high reliability, continuous availability, and security, providing users with a scalable system. The previous MVS operating system on IBM mainframes was closed, but OS/390 has transitioned to an open system, including many integrated server software functions. Since OS/390 also maintains UNIX user and program interfaces, it can be used simultaneously in MVS and UNIX systems.

Z16

The Z16 is IBM's latest mainframe released in 2022. This system integrates AI accelerators on the chip to provide latency-optimized inference, making it the industry's first quantum-safe system. The IBM z16 integrates the IBM Telum processor, which can be integrated into hybrid cloud environments with industry-leading security, data privacy, and latency. It supports critical business operations and protects highly sensitive data, enabling real-time detection of fraudulent activities during transactions and helping to protect data and systems from current and future security threats, suitable for any company handling large volumes of critical business transactions.

Based on our technical experience and project delivery in the field of medium and large-scale AS/400 systems, we are eager to enter the mainframe market and ready to make our mark!