Bringing Redis to IBM i with redis400

If you’re running IBM i, you know it’s a powerhouse for business workloads. But what if you could turbocharge it with Redis, the in-memory data store built for speed? That’s what redis400 does—my custom integration that brings Redis to IBM i, tailored for flexibility and power.

What’s redis400? It’s a set of ILE C functions—think REDIS_INCR, REDIS_SET, REDIS_GET, REDIS_DEL, and REDIS_EXPIRE—each compiled into its own module. You can link them individually with any ILE language (RPG, COBOL, you name it) or bundle them into a service program (redisile.srvpgm) callable via SQL. This means incrementing counters, managing key-value pairs, or setting expiration times right from your existing code—cache API responses, run job queues, or track live data, all with Redis’s zip.

I built redis400 around socket programming, handling EBCDIC-to-ASCII conversions to keep it IBM i-native while talking to Redis over TCP/IP. It’s automation-ready—imagine a CL job setting session data or an RPG app pulling cached reports without database hits. As I prep er400.io for a 2025 launch, this project highlights my knack for system-level solutions.

Better yet, redis400 is open. Grab it at https://github.com/krakadin/redis400—fork it, link it your way, or pitch in. Got IBM i integration ideas? Hit me up via GitHub. Let’s make systems talk smarter, together.

No Comments Open Source, Redis, SQL

Create a Self-Signed Certificate with OpenSSL on IBM i

How to Install an SSL Certificate on IBM i

Installing SSL certificates on IBM i can be done effectively using OpenSSL. In this guide, we will walk through generating a private key, creating a certificate signing request (CSR), generating a self-signed certificate, and converting it to PKCS12 format if needed.

Prerequisites:

  • OpenSSL installed on your IBM i system.
  • Access to QP2TERM (PASE for i).

Step 1: Access IBM i PASE (QP2TERM)

To begin, you need to access the QP2TERM terminal, which allows you to execute OpenSSL commands on IBM i. Use the following command to launch the terminal:

 

CALL QP2TERM

Step 2: Generate a Private Key and CSR (Certificate Signing Request)

To create a new private key and a CSR, you can use either of the following approaches:

Option 1: Generating a Key and Self-Signed Certificate in One Step

Use this OpenSSL command to generate a private key and a self-signed certificate in one step:

openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout key.pem -x509 -days 365 -out certificate.pem

Option 2: Separate Key and CSR Generation

Alternatively, you can generate the private key and CSR in separate steps:

  • Generate a private key (password protected):
openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key 1024
  • Generate a CSR:
openssl req -new -key server.key -out server.csr

Optional: Remove the password from the private key:

  • Make a backup of the original private key:
cp server.key server.key.org
  • Remove the password:
openssl rsa -in server.key.org -out server.key

Step 3: Generate a Self-Signed Certificate

Once the private key and CSR are generated, use them to create a self-signed SSL certificate:

openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in server.csr -signkey server.key -out server.crt

Step 4: Convert to PKCS12 Format (Optional)

If needed, you can convert the generated certificate and key into a PKCS12 format (.pfx):

openssl pkcs12 -export -out exported.pfx -inkey server.key -in server.crt

Step 5: Use the SSL Certificate on IBM i

After generating the certificate, import it into your IBM i server’s digital certificate manager (DCM) or use it in your web server or other applications.

Reference

For additional details, visit IBM’s support page on creating self-signed certificates using OpenSSL.

No Comments IBM i, Open Source, SSL

Importing/Indexing Database (MySQL or SQL Server) in Solr Using Data Import Handler

Importing/Indexing Database (MySQL or SQL Server) in Solr Using Data Import Handler

Step 1: Install Solr

Download and install Solr from Solr Website. Access Solr admin via http://localhost:8983/solr/.

Step 2: Set Up Connectors

  • MySQL: Download JDBC driver and place mysql-connector-java-*.jar in contrib/dataimporthandler/lib.
  • SQL Server: Download Microsoft JDBC driver and copy sqljdbc4.jar to the same directory.

Step 3: Create New Collection

Create a new collection folder like /solr/myproducts/conf. Copy solrconfig.xml and modify to include:

<lib dir="../../contrib/dataimporthandler/lib" regex=".*\.jar" />
<requestHandler name="/dataimport" class="org.apache.solr.handler.dataimport.DataImportHandler">
    <lst name="defaults">
        <str name="config">data-config.xml</str>
    </lst>
</requestHandler>

Step 4: Create data-config.xml

  • For MySQL:
<dataSource type="JdbcDataSource" driver="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver" url="jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/mydb1" user="root" password=""/>
<entity name="product" query="select id, name from products" deltaImportQuery="..." deltaQuery="...">

For SQL Server:

<dataSource type="JdbcDataSource" driver="com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver" url="jdbc:sqlserver://servername..." user="sa" password="mypass"/>

Step 5: Edit schema.xml

Add field mappings based on your DB structure:

<field name="id" type="string" indexed="true" stored="true" required="true"/>
<field name="name" type="text_general" indexed="true" stored="true"/>

Step 6: Perform Data Import

  • Full import: http://localhost:8983/solr/myproducts/dataimport?command=full-import
  • Delta import: http://localhost:8983/solr/myproducts/dataimport?command=delta-import

References

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NGINX on IBM i

To start default configuration:

===> /QOpenSys/pkgs/bin/nginx -c /QOpenSys/etc/nginx/nginx.conf

To stop:

===> /QOpenSys/pkgs/bin/nginx -c /QOpenSys/etc/nginx/nginx.conf -s stop

To list processes:

===> ps aux | grep nginx

or

===> ps ax | grep nginx
===> ps -f -u ernest

Sample nginx configuration file:

worker_processes  3;

events {
    worker_connections  1024;
}

http {
    include       mime.types;
    default_type  application/octet-stream;

    sendfile        on;

    keepalive_timeout  65;

    server {
        listen       9010;
        server_name  localhost;

        location / { try_files $uri @er; }
		location @er {
		    include fastcgi_params;
		    fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_script_name;
		    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_NAME "";
		    fastcgi_pass unix:/tmp/er9010f-fcgi.sock;
		}

        error_page   500 502 503 504  /50x.html;
        location = /50x.html {
            root   html;
        }
        location ~ /\.ht {
            deny  all;
        }
    }
}

More on ps command: https://www.binarytides.com/linux-ps-command/

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Open Source on IBM i 

===> /QOpenSys/pkgs/bin/yum install <package>

Add yum (and other packages) to your path if want to call it directly

===> PATH=/QOpenSys/pkgs/bin:$PATH
===> export PATH

or if you want to store it permanently in your profile

===> echo 'PATH=/QOpenSys/pkgs/bin:$PATH' >> $HOME/.profile
===> export PATH >> $HOME/.profile

Some useful yum commands

===> yum list available
===> yum list installed
===> yum list all
===> yum search <package>
===> yum remove <package>

Use rpm for more detailed info about packages. Following will show when was each individual package updated.

===> rpm -qa --last
===> rpm -q <package> --last

This command will list all installed files for a package

===> rpm -ql <package>

 

References:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1022619

https://bitbucket.org/ibmi/opensource/src/master/docs/yum/

No Comments IBM i, Open Source, PASE

Install Zend Expressive on IBM i 

$ composer create-project zendframework/zend-expressive-skeleton expressive
$ composer require zendframework/zend-db
$ composer require --dev "zendframework/zend-expressive-tooling:^0.4.1"
$ ./vendor/bin/expressive module:create MyModule
./vendor/bin/expressive middleware:create "MyModule\Action\ListModuleAction"
$ composer require tuupola/cors-middleware
$ composer require zendframework/zend-stratigility

 

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WordPress setup

  1. Setup direct updates omitting FTP
  2. define('FS_METHOD','direct');

    Change owner

  3. chown -Rv apache:apache /var/www/wordpress/
  4. Correct permissions for directories and files
  5. find /var/www/wordpress/ -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
    find /var/www/wordpress/ -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;

    Selinux

  6. chcon -t httpd_sys_rw_content_t /var/www/wordpress/ -R
    setbool -P httpd_can_sendmail=1

     

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