5

My client needs one clarification before assigning a job.

Is it possible to run Wordpress on AS/400?

chicks
  • 3,639
  • 10
  • 26
  • 36
user37143
  • 171
  • 4
  • 14
  • 1
    I believe it is possible. See my comment below. – Mike Wills May 10 '10 at 17:01
  • 3
    @Mike, joking aside, while it may be possible to run all kinds of virtualization configurations on an AS/400, please bear in mind that the op is considering mixing high-availability back-end database systems with a front-end web server running a third-party blog product. While hacks may work, it does a long-term disservice to both the client and the professional IT industry to put together configurations like this. – Brandon May 10 '10 at 17:16

9 Answers9

10

Anything is possible, but WordPress on AS/400 is probably close to attempting to fly a 747 underwater.

Brandon
  • 2,807
  • 1
  • 22
  • 28
8

Are you sure this isn't a mind game? Maybe they want to see if either you are willing to try with out being a 'that ain't go to work' person, or maybe they want to see if you are willing to stand up for something you think is nuts. Or, maybe they are just nuts. Either way....

Kyle Brandt
  • 82,107
  • 71
  • 302
  • 444
7

You can install MySQL and PHP on an AS/400, if you're a masochist. It's unsupported and likely to be horrific to work with. A $20/month Linux VPS would be a far, far better option.

ceejayoz
  • 32,469
  • 7
  • 81
  • 105
5

I am not sure at all about running it under OS/400 (or i5/OS) directly, but the larger versions allow to run secondary hardware partitions with other operating systems (Linux and AIX). In this environment, it should be possible.

And I don't think it would be so unreasonable if you replace another server machine with a virtual one on the AS/400 or iSeries hardware. It's not at all different then doing this with VMWare or Xen, only that they can do this for 20 years now or longer and are designed from the ground up to do this.

Sven
  • 97,248
  • 13
  • 177
  • 225
4

Despite what others are saying, I believe you can now run WordPress on the IBM i (depending on the OS level you have). Starting at V5R4 and above, you can install the ZEND PHP Server for "no additional cost" and is supported (if you are willing to pay). I thought there was some sort of support for mySQL as well. I can't recall the specifics that though. The best place to start researching this is at Zend's site.

There are others that have done this on the WEB400 mailing list at midrange.com as well.

Notes from a person recently trying to do this.

Mike Wills
  • 834
  • 6
  • 19
3

Can you meet these requirements under the OS running on said AS/400?

TCampbell
  • 2,014
  • 14
  • 14
  • Hi, Thank you all for your answers. So I'm gonna answer them it can be done with some hard work ;). I asked them for more details. – user37143 May 12 '10 at 10:56
2

I don't think that's possible. Even if it was possible in some questionable configuration, I would not recommend it.

splattne
  • 28,348
  • 19
  • 97
  • 147
2

MySQL is probably the hardest part. I guess you could get it running in PASE, though.

That is, assuming you don’t have to do lots of EBCDIC-Unicode conversions. Have you run PHP stuff on an AS/400 before? I wouldn’t want to attempt it if I hadn’t.

Mo.
  • 2,166
  • 16
  • 9
2

This is an old question - but just to clarify for anyone who stumbles upon this as I did.

MySQL install is on IBM i easy - Zend include the correct distribution with the install package. If you want case-insensitive table names you need to change the default location for the database but that's about it.

As to EBCDIC code conversions it is not an issue. PHP itself runs in PASE on IBM i which is effectively a Unix environment. When retrieving data from DB2 tables the conversion is automatic. When accessing MySQL it doesn't come into the picture at all.

Data can be shared between DB2 and MySQL applications by selecting the DB2 for IBM i storage engine for the MySQL tables. This is shipped with the MySQL install and works pretty well. Again translation from/to EBCDIC is a non-event and takes place automagically.

user9517
  • 114,104
  • 20
  • 206
  • 289
JonP
  • 21
  • 1