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  • Mono Comes to RPM, Making .NET on IBM i Even Easier

    December 5, 2018 Alex Woodie

    Here’s some good news for IBM i developers who want to develop using Microsoft’s .NET framework and tools: the Mono runtime for IBM i is now available via the RPM and Yum open source delivery method. Delivering Mono this way should make it even easier for IBM i developers to take advantage of the popular .NET tooling and runtime.

    Jesse Gorzinski, IBM‘s business architect of open source technologies, broke the news on Thanksgiving Day. “#IBMi users have something to be thankful for today: .NET in RPM form! Yes, you can ‘yum install’ mono now, from @friedkiwi’s repo!!” Gorzinski wrote on Twitter, where his handle is @IBMJesseG.

    Mono is an open source implementation of Microsoft’s .NET Framework. It includes a C# compiler and the Common Language Runtime (CLR), which allows .NET applications to run on non-Windows operating systems, including Linux, MacOS, BSD, AIX, and even video game consoles like Xbox and PlayStation.

    The Mono Project officially ported Mono to IBM i earlier this year. The port involved getting an AIX version of Mono 5.12.0 running in PASE, the IBM i operating system’s AIX runtime. While the port was feature complete, the work done by the Mono community provided a “solid foundation” to get IBM i devs started and to give them something to build upon.

    Developers have been free to download Mono directly from the Mono Project site for months. However, it’s not exactly clear which download gets them the IBM i functionality (the official download page offers versions for Linux, Windows, Docker, and MacOS; it’s not immediately clear where the AIX and IBM i versions are).

    But that shouldn’t matter now that the Mono for IBM i software is available in the third-party repository section on BitBucket that Gorzinski set up earlier this year. That 3rd_PARTY _REPOS section provides a way for IBM i open source community members to share software via Yum that isn’t owned, managed, or supported by IBM, but which “have been inspected and the software generally seems to be built with IBM-approved conventions for existing well in the IBM-delivered open source ecosystem,” according to the Web page.

    Two repositories have been approved by Gorzinski for inclusion in the 3rd_PARTY_REPOS section, and hence delivery via RPM and Yum. That includes the Mono for IBM i repository shared by @FriedKiwi (a.k.a. Yvan Janssens), and the “lynx-dev” repository, which is a text-only Web browser shared by Jack Woehr, the developer of Ublu.

    IBM i developers can obtain either of the packages through any supported RPM method, including via the Yum GUI that’s now available in Access Client Solutions (ACS).

    Yum and RPM were introduced to the IBM i community by IBM earlier this year with the goal of streamlining how IBM i developers obtain open source software. RPM and Yum are intended to eventually replace 5733-OPS, the licensed program option that IBM introduced in 2015 to distribute open source technology like Python, Git, Node.js, and others. (But, like many things in the IBM i world, 5733-OPS will likely continue breathing for a while before it’s officially killed off.)

    RPM helps would-be open source users by automatically tracking all of the software dependencies required for open source software and making them available in one location. “It just lets you manage the open source packages in a sane manner,” Gorzinski told IT Jungle earlier this year.

    Meanwhile, Yum takes RPM a step further by providing a GUI for RPM, which became available in ACS earlier this year. That Yum GUI in ACS gives IBM i developers a point-and-click experience for selecting and downloading new open source packages. Yum also keeps track what you already have installed. “It makes management of open source on IBM i much simpler,” Gorzinski said.

    RELATED STORY

    Mono Port To IBM i Now Available

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    Tags: Tags: .NET, Access Client Solutions, ACS, CLR, Common Language Runtime, Docker, Git, GUI for RPM, IBM i, Linux, MacOS, Mono, Node.js, PASE, Python, RPM, Windows, Yum

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    Do the Math When Looking at IBM i Hosting for Cost Savings

    COVID-19 has accelerated certain business trends that were already gaining strength prior to the start of the pandemic. E-commerce, telehealth, and video conferencing are some of the most obvious examples. One example that may not be as obvious to the general public but has a profound impact on business is the shift in strategy of IBM i infrastructure from traditional, on-premises environments to some form of remote configuration. These remote configurations and all of their variations are broadly referred to in the community as IBM i hosting.

    “Hosting” in this context can mean different things to different people, and in general, hosting refers to one of two scenarios. In the first scenario, hosting can refer to a client owned machine that is housed in a co-location facility (commonly called a co-lo for short) where the data center provides traditional system administrator services, relieving the client of administrative and operational responsibilities. In the second scenario, hosting can refer to an MSP owned machine in which partition resources are provided to the client in an on-demand capacity. This scenario allows the client to completely outsource all aspects of Power Systems hardware and the IBM i operating system and database.

    The scenario that is best for each business depends on a number of factors and is largely up for debate. In most cases, pursuing hosting purely as a cost saving strategy is a dead end. Furthermore, when you consider all of the costs associated with maintaining and IBM i environment, it is typically not a cost-effective option for the small to midsize market. The most cost-effective approach for these organizations is often a combination of a client owned and maintained system (either on-prem or in a co-lo) with cloud backup and disaster-recovery-as-a-service. Only in some cases of larger enterprise companies can a hosting strategy start to become a potentially cost-effective option.

    However, cost savings is just one part of the story. As IBM i expertise becomes scarce and IT resources run tight, the only option for some firms may be to pursue hosting in some capacity. Whatever the driving force for pursing hosting may be, the key point is that it is not just simply an option for running your workload in a different location. There are many details to consider and it is to the best interest of the client to work with an experienced MSP in weighing the benefits and drawbacks of each option. As COVID-19 rolls on, time will tell if IBM i hosting strategies will follow the other strong business trends of the pandemic.

    When we say do the math in the title above, it literally means that you need to do the math for your particular scenario. It is not about us doing the math for you, making a case for either staying on premises or for moving to the cloud. There is not one answer, but just different levels of cost to be reckoned which yield different answers. Most IBM i shops have fairly static workloads, at least measured against the larger mix of stuff on the public clouds of the world. How do you measure the value of controlling your own IT fate? That will only be fully recognized at the moment when it is sorely missed the most.

    CONTINUE READING ARTICLE

    Please visit ucgtechnologies.com/IBM-POWER9-systems for more information.

    800.211.8798 | info@ucgtechnologies.com

    Article featured in IT Jungle on April 5, 2021

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    IBM Delivers New Goodies with ACS Update Skytap Says It’s Building a ‘True Cloud’ Offering for IBM i

    2 thoughts on “Mono Comes to RPM, Making .NET on IBM i Even Easier”

    • .Net Framework says:
      December 6, 2018 at 1:47 am

      Mono project has helped lot to use .net in easy way. It is great news for all BM developers. I am obliged for it.

      Reply
    • Alex Woodie says:
      January 31, 2019 at 3:38 pm

      Thanks for your feedback. .NET Framework!

      Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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Table of Contents

  • Skytap Says It’s Building a ‘True Cloud’ Offering for IBM i
  • Mono Comes to RPM, Making .NET on IBM i Even Easier
  • IBM Delivers New Goodies with ACS Update
  • Four Hundred Monitor, December 5
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 20, Number 48

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