The awaited IBM iNext was announced today as IBM i 7.6. Also announced is a new Technology Refresh for IBM i 7.5 TR6.
IBM i 7.6 will only run on IBM Power 10 servers, and, I presume, on the Power 11 too whenever that is announced.
It would appear to be the end of TRs for IBM i 7.4. IBM has said they will provide fixes for 7.4, but nothing new. If you are on 7.4 on a Power 10 my recommendation it is time to start making plans to move up to at least 7.5.
The new release, IBM i 7.6 and the PTFs for IBM i 7.5 TR 6 will be available April 18, 2025.
Every release in recent years has a "theme". The "theme" of this release is security, with many of the new features and functions being to do with keeping your data and server secure.
The most notable enhancement is native Multi Factor Authentication, MFA, running within the IBM i operating system. From what I can glean from the information at hand it would appear that I can configure it on a user profile level.
There are lots of enhancements to Visual Studio Code for i a few I saw are:
- Compile DDS files from a local git repository
- Support for batch debugging
- Ability to quickly format modern (free format) RPGLE
- Peek and definition for fixed and free format RPGLE
- Db2 for IBM I plug-in:
- Integrated SQL syntax checking
- Hover support for quick reference
- Updateable results sets
- Run all
- Source orbit integration
All the documentation will be here.
IMHO it does look more and more that RDi's time has passed, and Code for i is the future.
A few of the highlights for Db2 for i (SQL) are:
- The Update and Delete statements can be used within a Select statement to return information about the rows updated or deleted. I cannot explain exactly what this is in the limited space here. But I will do in future posts.
- Additions to several of the AUDIT_JOURNAL_xx services.
- SQL services to assist with the new security enhancements.
- Within ACS’s Run SQL Script a setting to be able to automatically format numbers. This makes me think there is a new version of ACS being released as the same time.
- Directly view the contents of BLOB columns.
- ACS’s SQL Performance Center will show indexes considered by a statement.
To learn about the PTFs for all of this go here.
There are no changes to the RPG programming language.
Navigator for i has an updated User Interface, and a whole lot of new features.
- The one that caught my eye was the ability to copy user profiles between "nodes" (partitions), and the ability to delete user profiles from more that one "node" at a time.
In 5250 emulation the Group PTF apply date will be added to the "Display PTF Group" command display.
There will be a Redbook for IBM i 7.6, which will be found here, at time of publication this Redbook is not available.
Other interesting IBM links:
- IBM i 7.6
- IBM i 7.5 TR6
Interesting non-IBM links:
- Tech Channel: Announcing IBM i 7.6 and IBM i 7.5 TR6 by Steve Will, IBM i CTO
As I find more, I will update this page.
There has already been a way to create a table from rows deleted, updated, or inserted...perhaps the new way is easier...
ReplyDeleteWe will have to see when the new release is made available on April 18.
DeleteRegarding exposing the data in BLOB's...the existing INTERRUPT command will do that, but maybe there's a new better way...
ReplyDeleteWe will have to wait and see.
DeleteIs there a SQL to find out if my IBM I is POWER10?
ReplyDelete