# She keeps telling me she used to be in AS/400, I keep telling her I used to be a paratrooper **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 13, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-keeps-telling-me-she-used-to-be-in-as-400-i-keep-telling-her-i-used-to-be-a-paratrooper/578286 "2011-04-13T21:50:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-keeps-telling-me-she-used-to-be-in-as-400-i-keep-telling-her-i-used-to-be-a-paratrooper/578286/41 "2011-04-18T14:42:21Z")
If I had a rack of servers half as stable as our AS/400 system, the network guys would be out scrounging cans on the side of the road. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-keeps-telling-me-she-used-to-be-in-as-400-i-keep-telling-her-i-used-to-be-a-paratrooper/578286/42 "2011-04-18T21:26:24Z")
> [@Tristan](#): > > If I had a rack of servers half as stable as our AS/400 system, the network guys would be out scrounging cans on the side of the road. > > 🙂 That is so true. Our AS400 just runs, even hardware failures means it just slows down and that has happened twice in my 19 years of working on AS400s. I’m mostly surprised more AS400 questions don’t pop up here. The AS400 threads are rare. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-keeps-telling-me-she-used-to-be-in-as-400-i-keep-telling-her-i-used-to-be-a-paratrooper/578286/43 "2011-04-18T22:15:36Z")
The correct response would be: “I’m Rick James, bitch!!” ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-keeps-telling-me-she-used-to-be-in-as-400-i-keep-telling-her-i-used-to-be-a-paratrooper/578286/44 "2011-04-18T23:44:22Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > The AS400 is still being made but under a new name. I believe the current name is the Series I but iSeries was an intermediate name. They are really powerful, energy efficient work horses that work great. I still program mostly in the Green Screen world of the past but we also do a lot of very sharp and quick web programming. The box will run UNIX or Windows along with the OS400. It is a true 24x7x365 machine and far easier to support then any Unix box I dealt with and of course almost anything is better then MS Server systems. > > There is a huge amount of web based apps though running off the AS400 and probably this is just not realized. Eh, I’ve worked on a crap load of OS’s in my career. Unix and variants (Linux and BSDs), Windows, VOS, Mac OS, and some others I am forgetting. For bullet proof machines the Stratus boxes were the shit. All triple redundant and hot swappable. I didn’t care for VOS all that much but the things never went down. Oddly, every web server I have ever dealt with has either been a Unix box (AOL had tons of the things) or Windows. Never came across a AS/400 web server. My company has a couple AS/400s and we run a Windows web server, the AS/400s are mainly app servers. I still hate the things. It is by far the OS I dislike the most. Archaic commands (wrkcfgsts? Really? I am a command line guy but that is just odd). Nothing is easy. It takes like 15 steps to replace a backup tape which is just silly. \ Slee ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-keeps-telling-me-she-used-to-be-in-as-400-i-keep-telling-her-i-used-to-be-a-paratrooper/578286/45 "2011-04-19T12:53:51Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > I still hate the things. It is by far the OS I dislike the most. Archaic commands (wrkcfgsts? Really? I am a command line guy but that is just odd). Nothing is easy. It takes like 15 steps to replace a backup tape which is just silly. 15 steps? I have a simple two step trick to initialize the new tape and that is all it takes. I’m not sure what your situation is. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-keeps-telling-me-she-used-to-be-in-as-400-i-keep-telling-her-i-used-to-be-a-paratrooper/578286/46 "2011-04-19T13:56:06Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > 15 steps? I have a simple two step trick to initialize the new tape and that is all it takes. I’m not sure what your situation is. Someone either mistrained them long ago, and that has held on, or they havne’t had anyone make them simple and easy to use menu’s that do exactly what they are designed to do. Personally, I find the “almost english” of AS/400 lovely. wrkcfgsts=work with the configuration status (usually a device is added there). wrkprtq= work with a printer queue. cpytopcd= Copy to a PC (opens up a menu wherein you can copy files from an AS/400 machine to a hard drive or a disc. So much better, to me, then the weird conglomeration of Unix commands and others that I have come across. And of course, for example, in the first 3 hours of my shift here I have had to reboot a server, and watched as 3 other servers were brought down and back up. Plus an ongoing discussion on why certain services are an aren’t running on the Cognos Servers… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-keeps-telling-me-she-used-to-be-in-as-400-i-keep-telling-her-i-used-to-be-a-paratrooper/578286.md?page=2)