Overview:
In today’s rapidly evolving computing environment, IBM i still continues to be a strategic asset for enterprises and one of the most secure server platforms ever seen. Dating back to 1988, AS/400, or its modern version, i Series, has followed a secure data-centric open-source model, catering to newer workloads like social and mobile applications, big data and analytics. IBM i 7.4 was announced in 2019 and the modernization continues with IBM i 7.5 being announced on May 3, 2022. This blog overviews the latest features and enhancements incorporated in IBM i 7.5
Hardware Requirements:
IBM i 7.5 is supported on select POWER9 and POWER10 servers. Customers using previous POWER platforms need to upgrade to Power9 or Power10 to leverage the advantages of IBM i 7.5. Power and IBM i model to OS-level mapping can be found here.
Technical Enhancements:
Businesses today are undergoing significant transformations. The good news is that IBM has always given a ray of hope to overcome these challenges with continuous innovation and augmentations. Below are the highlights of technical enhancements in the latest version of IBM i 7.5.
Security
Security has always been a built-in feature of IBM i from its very inception. With the below enhancements in 7.5, security has been further secured in IBM i.
- The “Password expiration interval” attribute was added to the Create Service Tools User ID (CRTSSTUSR), Change Service Tools User ID (CHGSSTUSR), and Display Service Tools User ID (DSPSSTUSR).
- New API, Check Password Meets Password Rules (QSYCHKPR), users or password management tools can predetermine if a value would meet the configured password rules set by the company.
- Digital Certificate Manager (DCM) has multiple enhancements to improve the user experience and provide additional functions to the base security components.
Save and Restore
RSTUSRPRF USRPRF(*ALL) no longer requires a dedicated system. Specifying *ALL for the User profile (USRPRF) parameter on the Restore User Profiles (RSUSRPRF) command no longer requires that all other subsystems on the system be ended.
The new default value for the ASYNCBRING parameter on the Save Object (SAV) command and the QsrSave API provides better performance for saving IFS data. Objects are brought into memory asynchronously during IFS save processing, improving the performance of the save operation. The GO SAVE menu options automatically inherit this new default.
The progress message displayed during an IFS restore now includes the size of objects that have completed.
Db2 for i
- Db2 for i provides additional functions for HTTP requests to publish or consume web services.
- Db2 for i is providing more advanced, easy-to-use tooling for the database engineer (DBE).
- IBM i Services, the strategic method for gaining access to IBM i objects, system information, and much more is expanding to provide useful SQL-based alternatives to IBM i commands and APIs.
- Db2 for i increases the number of working examples and tools in the SYSTOOLS schema.
Open source for IBM i
IBM i continues to enable several open-source Java application servers on IBM i. Some examples include WildFly, Eclipse Jetty, and Apache Tomcat.
Support is offered as part of IBM’s open-source support offering.
Learn more about how IBM i 7.5 paves the way for innovation by reading this great article by Alex Woodie over at IT Jungle: https://www.itjungle.com/2022/05/11/ibm-delivers-more-out-of-the-box-security-with-ibm-i-7-5
