Activate a PC program from the AS/400

Yes, it is possible. The AS/400 has a command called RUNRMTCMD that allows the AS/400 to send command strings to any host running the rexec daemon. (For example, on Windows NT one may start the incoming command service to receive incoming commands.)

Here is an example:

RUNRMTCMD CMD('c:test.bat') RMTLOCNAME(remotepcname *IP)    RMTUSER('mypcuser') RMTPWD('myuserpwd')

This will run the batch file test.bat on system remotepcname.

Notes:
1. The user and passwords are sometimes case-sensitive. (This is the reason for the quotes).
2. Any feedback from the PC program will be written to an AS/400 spool file.