What's new and changed in DataStage

DataStage updates can include new features and fixes. Releases are listed in reverse chronological order so that the latest release is at the beginning of the topic.

You can see a list of the new features for the platform and all of the services at What's new in IBM Software Hub.

IBM Cloud Pak for Data Version 5.4.0

A new version of DataStage Enterprise Plus was released in June 2026.

This release includes the following changes:

New features
This release of DataStage includes the following features:
Connect to AlloyDB for PostgreSQL databases

You can now use the AlloyDB for PostgreSQL connector in your DataStage flows to read and write data from AlloyDB for PostgreSQL databases.

Access data in AWS Databricks

You can now use the AWS Databricks connector in your DataStage flows to access and process data in Databricks workspaces.

Access files in Microsoft SharePoint

You can now use the Microsoft SharePoint Files on Canvas connector in your DataStage flows to read and write files stored in SharePoint document libraries.

Access data in Microsoft Dynamics 365

You can now use the Microsoft Dynamics 365 connector in your DataStage flows to read and write business data from Dynamics 365 applications.

Export and import compiled pipeline binaries

You can now export and import compiled Python binaries with optimized runner pipelines, which means that you can move pipelines together with their compiled assets. You control this behavior by using the include-python-binaries and include-common-binaries options in cpdctl.

Data encryption for Teradata connections

You can now enable full session data encryption for Teradata optimized flows by using the new Data Encryption option. This option uses either TDGSS or TLS/SSL to encrypt network traffic, SQL statements, data requests, and responses for the entire session.

Create parameter sets from connection properties

You can now create parameter sets directly from connection properties for supported connectors. Select one or more connection types and add their properties as parameters so that you can easily reuse and manage configuration values across pipelines.

Run remote engines on s390x remote engines

You can now run remote engines on s390x (IBM Z and LinuxONE) systems, deployed as Docker containers or in Kubernetes clusters. This allows you to submit jobs from x86_64 environments and execute them on s390x hardware. This capability enables workload distribution across heterogeneous architectures.

Updates
The following updates were introduced in this release:
Canvas updates

  • Data Preview in the DataStage Canvas in now disabled when Data Intelligence is provisioned and you do not have the Preview Data permission.

  • You can now enable or disable the flight service connector library, which is a feature in Beta, directly in ETL compile options.

PX engine and PX runtime updates

  • DataService jobs now properly update the status when running during pod restarts, preventing jobs from remaining stuck in "Running" or "Starting" states.

  • Environment variables with boolean values set to False are now properly retained instead of being dropped, ensuring correct behavior for volume connector configuration parameters.

  • Dynamic configuration file generation is now enabled when the APT_CONFIG_FILE environment variable is empty.

  • Data browse API now reads and writes time and timestamp data types with picosecond precision.

  • You can now run SAP RFC Server connections without thread termination, as errors no longer cause the RFC server threads to stop.

ds-runtime updates

  • You can now run DataStage workloads in multi‑tenant environments.

  • You can now use beta Flight support in the DataStage runtime.

  • You can now run nested loop jobs with improved caching behavior.

API updates

  • You can now use the SAP BW Load Pack in DataStage.

  • You can now update job details such as schedules and retention policies by setting the update_job_details flag to true.

  • To protect your work during backups, DataStage now prevents creating or updating flows while a project backup is in progress.

  • You can now force replacement of parameter sets, even when parameter types differ, by using replace_mode: force.

  • You can now use key pair authentication with ELT Pushdown.

  • You can now see advanced search results updated through batch indexing instead of real‑time ingestion, reducing delays when changes are reflected.

Connector updates

  • You can now configure PostgreSQL connections with alternative servers.

  • You can now enable SSL host validation for DB2 connections.

  • You can now configure the query_data_size connection property for DB2 connector.

  • You can now authenticate to Databricks by using Entra ID with client ID, client secret, and tenant ID.

  • You can now disable prepared statements for Presto connections.

  • You can now disable chunked encoding in WXD targets for FIPS environments by using the disable_chunked_encoding property.

  • You can now choose whether queries use column names or column labels when reading data from Generic JDBC sources. Use this option to control how data is retrieved, especially for sources such as SAS where column labels are defined in table metadata.

Customer-reported issues fixed in this release
For a list of customer-reported issues that were fixed in this release, see the Fix List for IBM Cloud Pak for Data on the IBM Support website.