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You and i - 7.3 TR3 & 7.2 TR7 Announcement - repost

By Steve Will posted Mon March 29, 2021 11:52 AM

  

IBM i 7.3 TR3 & IBM i 7.2 TR7 Announced

 

Today IBM is announcing the latest Technology Refreshes (TRs) for our two most current releases: IBM i 7.3 TR3 and IBM i 7.2 TR7.[1]  As long-time readers will know, the IBM i strategy includes twice a year deliveries of new function, allowing many parts of the IBM i operating system and its related products to fulfill customer requirements between major releases.

And really, that’s the theme of this pair of TRs – delivering on customer requirements.

The IBM i team has a long history of listening to its client base, and including solutions to client business problems in the technology we deliver.  Ever since the creation of the TR architecture, and the underlying strategy of making TRs our primary delivery vehicle whenever possible, most of our development teams are alert to new requests from our customers, whether through the various advisory councils we have, or through Requests For Enhancements (RFEs).  So, as usual, these two TRs have new functions from a wide array of IBM i components. 

I’ll give you a very high level view of them, and then you can go to the IBM i support pages for more details.  Perhaps the best way is to go to the  TR overview home pages, and follow the links down to specific areas of interest.

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/1164682

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ibm-i-72-tr7-enhancements

Db2 for i enhancements

As usual, Db2 has many new enhancements, which focus on new and advanced SQL capabilities and

the ability to use SQL to access IBM i operating system details. Db2 for i also delivers new features for the creation of data-centric JSON solutions, and new function allows IBM i history logs and security audit details to be consumable by a security information and event management (SIEM) solution.

Some highlights:

  • JSON publishing functions can be used by the database application developer to build JSON

objects from Db2 for i relational data. This standards-based technology allows a database

application developer to leverage the query engine to efficiently construct JSON.

  • JSON scalar functions allow the SQL programmer to efficiently process JSON objects. These

functions join the existing JSON_TABLE function as techniques to programmatically shred

JSON.

  • The HISTORY_LOG_INFO table function is extended to include the option of returning IBM i

history log details in Syslog format.

  • The DISPLAY_JOURNAL table function is extended to include the option of returning a

subset of IBM i audit journal entry types in Syslog format. 

 

These and other enhancements are delivered via Db2 PTF Group SF99703,

 

New USB installation process

IBM i is introducing a new way to perform software installations using virtual media that has been

copied to a Removable Mass Storage media (for example, USB flash drive) that is attached to an

available USB 3.0 adapter. The ESS website will offer an LIC media image specially formatted

for use with USB flash drives. Note that this is in addition to, not in place of, the DVD media

image currently available. IBM i is providing a program that is capable of copying this LIC media

image to a USB flash drive in a way that allows for a D-mode IPL on managed systems.

See the General Operating System Technology Updates wiki for more details.

 

IBM i support of the 4767 Cryptographic Co-processor

IBM i is announcing support for the 4767 Cryptographic Co-processor. The 4767, announced

earlier this year, is the follow-on adapter to the 4765 Cryptographic Co-processor and includes

considerable performance improvements over the predecessor 4765, while maintaining the

level of security to which our customers are accustomed. The 4767 adapter provides access to

updated Common Cryptographic Architecture (CCA) APIs, automatic CPU off-loading of SSL/

TLS handshakes, as well as the most secure physical adapter available for secure cryptographic

master key storage.

The CCA libraries have been updated to CCA 5.3 and have added API enhancements, which

are also available for use with the previous 4765 adapter. Highlights of these changes for the

4767adapter include new PIN processing APIs, financial services support for DK and Visa Data

Secure Platform with point-to-point encryption, improved security, access, and logon control,

among other features.

Open source on IBM i

The IBM i Open Source team has been delivering new function even more rapidly than once per TR, but this TR announcement allows us to highlight those new capabilities.

Nginx

Nginx, a popular open source web server, is being delivered as Option 11 of the IBM i open

source solutions product. For more general information, see Jesse Gorzinski’s blog entitled “A Tale of Two Web Servers.”  And of course, there are the public wikis from the developerWorks community.

Eclipse Orion

Eclipse Orion is a cloud-based IDE with rich integration with git and IBM Bluemix. It is shipped in

option 8 of 5733-OPS and with this Technology Refresh, is updated to version 13, which brings

interface and stability improvements. It also supports more languages, including: Node.js, Python, HTML, CSS, Bash, CoffeeScript, JSON, Less, Properties, SQL.

 

 

Even More!

That’s just a few of the more notable areas in the announcement, but depending on your situation, the highlight might not be one of those, but rather in the following list of other IBM i 7.3 TR3 features:

  • The IBM i Save System (SAVSYS) operation now includes the LAN console configuration

data, eliminating a couple of complex steps that were previously needed to re-install an IBM i

partition from a backup onto a new load source.

  • IBM i supports an increase in the size of an external storage disk.
  • IBM i can support up to 127 devices on both virtual and physical Fibre Channel ports.
  • IBM i Integrated Web Services adds advanced features to help administrators and

programmers leverage APIs in a safe, secure manner.

  • IBM continues to expand the suite of functions available in the open source licensed program

offering with benefits for many application scenarios. This includes new integration with the

operating system, familiar IBM i Access tools, and IBM Bluemix.

  • Access Client Solutions continues to be enhanced to meet the needs of the IBM i user

community.

  • The RPG ILE Compiler in Rational Development Studio has been updated with new

modernization capabilities.

  • Rational Developer for i, V9.6 delivers an updated version of the Eclipse workbench, in

addition to features designed to enhance programmer productivity.

  • IBM Cloud Storage Solutions for i, V1.2 includes new encryption techniques, adding to the

security of data movement.

  • Db2 Web Query for i has a new release, Version 2.2.1, with many new advanced

visualization, usability, and security features.

  • Db2 Web Query DataMigrator now includes simplified functions, regular expression support,

and improved scheduling

 

Most of the functions announced today will be generally available on October 27, 2017, with the Db2 Web Query

......

[1] Originally published 3 October 2017

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