This section lists the Java related configurations, that you need to consider in order to be able to run InterFormNG2 on the IBM i platform.
•Java version 8 must be installed. InterFormNG2 is a Java based application that has been tested and verified to run on the 64bit version of JAVA 1.8.
•It is highly recommended (and sometimes even necessary) to upgrade Java 8 to the latest update. This is covered here.
•You should ensure, that InterFormNG2 is setup to run on 64 bit Java 8 (and especially not on an older version or a 32 bit version). You can configure InterFormNG2 to run a specific Java version by setting the path in the data area, IFORMNG2/JAVA_HOME. This tells InterFormNG2 to use the 64 bit Java 8 from the normal directory:
CHGDTAARA DTAARA(IFORMNG2/JAVA_HOME *ALL) VALUE('/QOpenSys/QIBM/ProdData/JavaVM/jdk80/64bit')
(If an incompatible Java version is used, then all jobs of the IFORMNG2 subsystem may not start).
•In case of a problem concerning the InterFormNG2 service job, then it can be helpful to end the IFORMNG2 subsystem and manually start up InterFormNG2 in QShell with the commands found in the configuration file, service-as400.sh. This file is found in the IFS inside: /iformng2/InterFormNG-shell/Core.
•You should also consider/verify if your IBM i is running any other JAVA based applications. If already running JAVA on the IBM i, make sure that the installation(s) are made without system wide changes to the general JVM environment.
•In cases when running on an IBM i with a "Modified" JAVA version, it can result in problems when you try to start InterFormNG2. Based on experience it is not always neither simple nor fast to help identify/locate, whatever that has been modified. Examples of things that makes a JAVA installation "Modified" are listed below:
•Any change in system wide properties, that are related to Java. Example: ADDENVVAR ENVVAR('xxxx') LEVEL(*SYS).
•Any use of custom made JAVA System.properties files.
•Any addition/changes/removal of files in folder(and subfolders) to QOpenSys\QIBM\*
Examples: Changes to the file "java.security" -- Addition/Removal of JAR-files or other files.
•If a problem can be traced back to the existence of such a modification - A fee to find and correct the change may be charged.
•The Java settings of InterFormNG2 are set via option 92. Change NG2 installation on the IFORMNG2/IFORMNG2 menu.
•Some IBM i machines are too slow to properly run InterFormNG2. If you are in doubt, if your machine is fast enough, then you should run the speed test before proceeding. Remember, that you could consider to run InterFormNG2 on a Windows server and process files and spooled files from the IBM i on this machine instead as covered here.
