IBM Support

IBM i 7.5 - TR1 Enhancements

News


Abstract

IBM i 7.5 - TR1 Enhancements

Content

You are in: IBM i Technology Updates > IBM i 7.5 - TR1 Enhancements
IBM i 7.5 -
Enhancements timed with
Technology Refresh 1 (TR1)
         
Let's Create

Note: The announcement materials for IBM i 7.5 TR1 can be found here.
The remainder of this landing page intends to make it easy to see the supporting detail for these enhancements.

 
Db2 for i Enhancements 
Note: The following Db2 for i enhancements are delivered by Db2 for i PTF Group SF99950 Level 3.
image-20220207070838-1
Db2 for i -  Database Engineer enhancements
 

IBM i Services (new)

IBM i Services (enhanced)

Db2 for i - Services (enhanced)

Access Client Solutions - ACS

ACS has been updated to provide significant value for the database engineer as well as the general user that is leveraging SQL for their daily use. 

Schemas

  • Column Level statistics for varying length data types 
    • Schemas Stats Data
    • Schemas VarChar View
    • Schemas Var Char
  • Provide the  *IGNTGTRCV, *IGNINQMSG, *IGNEXITPGM options when deleting journal receivers from ACS Schema
    • Schemas Delete Journal Options
  • Restrict on Drop for database files
    • Schemas Restrict on Drop
  • Rename SQL Partitions
    • Schemas Work with Partition
    • Schemas Rename Partition

Run SQL Scripts

  • Improved search behavior 
  • Result Window only becomes the focus if Run SQL Scripts is the active window 
  • Result Window has a Copy with Column Headings options
    • Copy with Headings 
  • More additions to Insert from Examples
    • ​​​​​​​Insert from examples
  • Crash Recovery Support 
    • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The contents of unsaved editor tabs will be continuously mirrored to temporary files
      In normal processing, these files will be cleaned up when the editor tabs are closed, In the event of a crash, the temporary files will remain
      • Run SQL Scripts Crash Recovery properties
      • ​​​​​​​Run SQL Scripts Crash Recovery
For details on ACS and to obtain the latest version click on the download link from the IBM i Access - Client Solutions support page.

    General Operating System

      Hardware and Virtualization Enhancements
      IBM i 7.5 TR 1 supports new offerings for Power Systems:
      • IBM Power S1022s (9105-22B) adds 2 x 4-core P10 software tier offering
      • Support for VIOS 3.1.4, including VIOS dump improvements
      • IBM i leverages VIOS NPIV multiple queues
      • #EJBD -- Storage Backplane with two NVMe U.2 (15mm) Flash drive bays for Power E1080 servers 
      • #EC75, #EC76 -- PCIe4 2-port 100Gb NIC/RoCE QFSP56 adapter    
      • #EN2W, #EN2X -- PCIe3 4-port 10GbE BaseT RJ45 adapter   
      • #EN1N, #EN1P -- PCIe4 64Gb 2-port Optical Fibre Channel adapter
      • #EN1L, #EN1M -- PCIe4 32Gb 4-port Optical Fibre Channel adapter
      • #ES3H -- Enterprise 800 GB SSD PCIe4 NVMe U.2 module for AIX/Linux
      • Password protection for data on NVMe devices on Power10 processor-based Power servers
      • Manual disable of a disk path
       

      Application Development

      RPG - 5770-WDS

      IBM i 7.5 TR 1 includes several key additions to the RPG ILE Programming language:

      • Convert parameters to strings with OPTIONS(*CONVERT)
      • Concatenation built-in functions %CONCAT and %CONCATARR
      • CHARCOUNT NATURAL mode to handle data correctly that has different-sized characters, such as UTF-8
      Additional Details can be found on at the RPG Cafe. 
      Rest API Engine - Integrated Web Services Server (IWS) 

      The Rest API Engine shipped with the operating system(IWS) has been enhanced to help insure secure interactions:

      • Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) is a W3C specification and mechanism that you can use to request restricted resources from a domain outside the current domain. Details can be found on the CORS IWS Support page.
      • HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) is a web security policy mechanism that helps to protect websites against man-in-the-middle attacks and cookie hijacking by instructing browsers that the server should only be accessible over HTTPS. Details can be found on the HSTS IWS support page.
      The latest updates and enhancements for IWS can be found on at the IWS Technologies Update page.
      Node.js version 18
      The latest release of Node.js that will be on a long-term support (LTS) schedule is available. This release has numerous improvements in performance, security, and diagnostics. For more information on the Node.js release schedule, see https://github.com/nodejs/Release
      You may need to install the IBM i 7.3 repository. For more information, see https://ibmi-oss-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/yum/RELEASE_REPOS.html

      TLS support for TN5250
      The open source ‘tn5250’ emulator is available for PASE now has support for creating connections using TLS encryption. For more information on the tn5250 project, see https://sourceforge.net/projects/tn5250/
      Distribution Enhancement for Linux ODBC driver
      The IBM i Access Client Solutions Linux Application Package, which delivers the IBM i Access ODBC driver, is now more easily installed. IBM has provided public repositories that can be configured for multiple distributions of Linux. For more information, see https://kadler.io/2022/05/20/odbc-repos.html
      Enhancements to Visual Studio Code extensions
      Various enhancements have been made to IBM i extensions for VSCode, both by IBM and the community. Some examples:
      •    Database tooling now includes a new and improved schema browser
      •    SQL results are now only loaded "as needed" for large queries
      •    Major RPGLE linter auto-fix performance improvements
      •    Improved globalization support
      For more information about IBM i extensions, see https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=HalcyonTechLtd.ibm-i-development-pack
      Merlin            Merlin
      The Modernization Engine for Lifecycle Integration product has been enhanced to help IBM i ILE developers with the application modernization journey.  
      Details on Merlin and the latest updates can be found on the brand new step by step documentation page. 
      Db2 Mirror for i Enhancements
      Submitted Job Tracker
      • Track the state of jobs that are submitted to a job queue that is registered to be tracked
      • Replicate the state of a job to the other node.
      • In the event of a failure, resubmit the job on the other node
      IFS Replication Improvements
      • Configure and manage IFS IASP replication using geographic mirroring for two node replication requirements.  
      • PowerHA still required for configurations that use storage hardware replication.
      New adapter support
         

        IBM Navigator for i

        The IBM Navigator interface continues a rapid enhancements delivery path. The following updates have been delivered as part of this latest HTTP PTF Group levels for all support operating system levels. 
        The following enhancements to Navigator are included:
        • Home page updates
          • Display selected IASPs
          • Properties to allow IASPs to be selected
        • File System - IFS tree table support
        • Bookmarks - Hostname support has been added to bookmarks
        • Performance Data Investigator updates
          • All license checks have been removed.  There is no longer a requirement to have 5770-PT1 options installed to see all perspective packages (including Job Watcher, Disk Watcher, Database, and PEX).
          • Perspective updates:
            • Perspectives with > 10,000 result rows will be lazy-loaded.  This will be more efficient.  The user can select the results in the context panel
            • Top Contributors can now be modified for perspectives with a limited result set.  Users can modify the number of result rows returned, or request "All".  For large systems with many jobs, threads, or tasks, selecting "All" might extend the time to display results significantly.
            • Two perspectives - Job Stats by Job and Job Statistics by Generic Job, will now allow filter when drilled-down to.  This result set size is minimized by narrowing the time-scope of the query:
              • From CPU Utilization and Waits- drill down to Job Statistics by Job
              • From Job Statistics by Job- drill down to Job Statistics by Generic Job
          • Disk Watcher - function and definition handling is added
          • Job Watcher - definition handling is added
        • Monitors
          • System Monitor Visualization panel has been recreated in IBM Navigator.  This allows viewing of all the metrics monitored by one monitor on a single panel.
          • Authority management panel added.  From Message or System Monitors, go to Actions > Monitor Permissions
            • In order to let *USER profiles to view monitors and event logs, administrators (with *ALLOBJ authority) need to grant access to each user.
              • For Message Monitors:
                • View monitors and event logs
                • Change monitors
              • For System Monitors:
                • View monitors and event logs
                • Change monitors
                • View monitor charts
              • Monitor GUI supports the authority management, administrators can grant or remove read access for specific *USER profiles.
        • System - System Operator Messages:
          • Only unanswered Inquiry messages will be displayed with the selection of "Inquiry Messages" radio button
        • Security - Intrusion Detection is now available
        • Security - Audit Journal updates
          • The weekly and detail view now can now be opened in a new tab
          • New Audit Configuration screen:
            • Displays the auditing action, the associated audit entry types, and whether the action is enabled or disabled
            • Detects if auditing is turned off, and will assist you in turning it on when an action is enabled
          • The graphs and detail view can be filtered by user profile in the view configuration dialog
          • The new chart properties dialog allows you to configure chart color, auto-refresh interval, and sort
          • Lazy load has been implemented for the detail view to solve out of memory errors.  More changes to this are coming soon.
            • For time intervals that will return more than 500,000 rows of data, the server will time out, and the GUI will show the spinning "loading" icon indefinitely.  This can be resolved by clicking "actions", then "View Configuration", and selecting a shorter time interval.
        • Network - IP Policies > Packet rules list and actions are added
        • Network - TCP/IP Servers > Directory Server (LDAP) - Manage Instances, the LDAP instances list and actions are added
        • Network - TCP/IP Configuration > Lines - minor updates to strings used
        • Active Jobs updates
          • Basic, Work, and All selections for varying level of results.  This allows a large system with large number of jobs to use "Basic" and see better performance.
          • SQL Details panel is now available for one selected job. 
        Details on these new enhancements as well as details on the PTFs can be found as part of the IBM Navigator support page. 

        IBM PowerHA® SystemMirror® for i (5770-HAS)

        IBM PowerHA SystemMirror for i 7.5 delivers several enhancements to the PowerHA portfolio, including:

        • A new, modern web-based interface for monitoring PowerHA environments
        • Enhanced administrative domain integration with support for synchronizing user auditing (CHGUSRAUD) and maximum sign-on attempts (MAXSIGN) profile attributes for user profiles across the environment
        • IBM FlashSystem® and Spectrum Virtualize FlashCopy® enhancements, including additional automation and simplification of IASP-based FlashCopy.
        Look here for more detail.

        IBM Backup and Recovery Media Services for i (BRMS) (5770-BR1)

        IBM BRMS provides new updates each quarter. Highlights of the September updates include the addition of SQL Services to provide improved performance and ease-of-use improvements.

        Look here for more detail.

        [{"Type":"MASTER","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB68","label":"Power HW"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU070","label":"IBM Infrastructure"},"Product":{"code":"SWG60","label":"IBM i"},"ARM Category":[{"code":"a8m0z0000000C4BAAU","label":"IBM i"}],"ARM Case Number":"","Platform":[{"code":"PF012","label":"IBM i"}],"Version":"7.5.0"}]

        Document Information

        Modified date:
        28 April 2024

        UID

        ibm16607567

        Page Feedback