IBM i 7.3 extension only

What it brought

• Db2 for i: system-period temporal tables, which answer questions about the history of data with no application changes
• Generated columns for row auditing, new OLAP specifications, ATTACH and DETACH PARTITION
• Authority Collection: shows which authorities a user actually needs to run an application
• RPG: fully free-form source with **FREE, without the column 8-80 limit
• Binder source for service programs can live in the IFS (CRTSRVPGM, UPDSRVPGM, RTVBNDSRC)
• Open source in the 5733-OPS product: Node.js 4, Python 2.7, Git, Eclipse Orion
• PowerHA: IASP HyperSwap cluster; Live Partition Mobility with active tapes

Which machines it runs on

• Power8, Power7+ and Power7 servers
• Does not run on Power6, nor on Power7 blades and Power7 and Power7+ Flex nodes

What is gone

Products and functions that IBM lists as not supported on this release, on its upgrade planning page.

• Lotus Domino 8.5 for i: the move is to Domino 9.0.1
• Java 6 (options 11 and 12)
• Advanced Function Printing Utilities, Infoprint Designer and DB2 DataPropagator V8.1
• IOP switching (switched disk) in PowerHA

Technology Refreshes

A Technology Refresh adds function without changing the release number, through PTF groups. The date is when IBM made it available.

1. TR13 2 December 2022 SF99727 level 13

   • Hardware and virtualization only: VIOS 3.1.4 and new adapters

   IBM page →

2. TR12 24 May 2022 SF99727 level 12

   • Hardware only: the Power10 S1014, S1022, S1022s, S1024, L1022, L1024

   IBM page →

3. TR11 10 September 2021 SF99727 level 11 Db2 SF99703 level 26

   • The HTTP functions in QSYS2 and BASE64_ENCODE
   • The new IBM Navigator for i, rewritten as a web interface
   • Support for the Power E1080
   • Node.js 16 and Python 3.9

   IBM page →

4. TR10 16 April 2021 SF99727 level 10 Db2 SF99703 level 24

   • Query Supervisor, QSYS2.SYSCOLUMNS2 and QSYS2.SYSPACKAGESTAT
   • The first audit journal functions (SYSTOOLS.AUDIT_JOURNAL_AF, _CA, _OW, _PW) and QSYS2.SECURITY_INFO

   IBM page →

5. TR9 13 November 2020 SF99727 level 9 Db2 SF99703 level 22

   • QSYS2.IFS_READ, QSYS2.IFS_WRITE, QSYS2.EXIT_POINT_INFO, QSYS2.SERVER_SHARE_INFO
   • SQL: DROP ... IF EXISTS
   • tmux, GnuPG and Node.js 14

   IBM page →

6. TR8 17 July 2020 SF99727 level 8 Db2 SF99703 level 19

   • QSYS2.SUBSYSTEM_INFO, QSYS2.OBJECT_PRIVILEGES as a function, QSYS2.CERTIFICATE_INFO
   • QSYS2.ANALYZE_CATALOG and SYSTOOLS.VALIDATE_DATA
   • Support for more Power9 models (the G versions of S914, S922, S924)
   • The new Digital Certificate Manager interface; Navigator with TLS 1.3

   IBM page →

7. TR7 15 November 2019 SF99727 level 7

   • Data queues from SQL: QSYS2.DATA_QUEUE_INFO, QSYS2.SEND_DATA_QUEUE, QSYS2.RECEIVE_DATA_QUEUE
   • QSYS2.IFS_OBJECT_STATISTICS and QSYS2.OBJECT_OWNERSHIP
   • RPG: DATA-GEN, OVERLOAD and OPTIONS(*EXACT)

   IBM page →

8. TR6 10 May 2019 SF99727 level 6

   • QSYS2.MESSAGE_FILE_DATA, QSYS2.DATA_AREA_INFO, SYSTOOLS.SPOOLED_FILE_DATA, SYSTOOLS.FIRMWARE_CURRENCY
   • System limits by table size, with the SQL7062 warning to QSYSOPR
   • SQL: INSERT with DEFAULT VALUES

   IBM page →

9. TR5 14 September 2018 SF99727 level 5

   • Support for the Power E980
   • QSYS2.ACTIVE_JOB_INFO, QSYS2.NETSTAT_INFO, QSYS2.JOB_DESCRIPTION_INFO
   • QSYS2.GENERATE_SQL_OBJECTS and the DECFLOAT_FORMAT function
   • Open source arrives as RPMs: OpenSSL 1.1.1 with TLS 1.3, GCC 6.3.0, Node.js 8, Python 3.6, nano

   IBM page →

10. TR4 16 March 2018 SF99727 level 4

    • Support for the Power9 S914, S922, S924, H922, H924
    • RPG: DATA-INTO, to import a document into a data structure
    • CL compilable from IFS source (CRTCLMOD and CRTBNDCL with SRCSTMF)

    IBM page →

11. TR3 27 October 2017 SF99727 level 3

    • SQL: JSON publishing functions, full LIMIT and OFFSET
    • GRANT and REVOKE on a whole schema
    • RPG: nested data structures in free form, %MAX, %MIN and %PROC

    IBM page →

12. TR2 17 March 2017 SF99727 level 2

    • SQL: JSON predicates and LISTAGG
    • QSYS2.LICENSE_INFO, QSYS2.AUTHORIZATION_LIST_INFO, QSYS2.MESSAGE_QUEUE_INFO
    • The SQL RPG precompiler generates free-form code
    • ACS 1.1.7.0; Git 2.10.2 in 5733-OPS

    IBM page →

13. TR1 11 November 2016 SF99727 level 1

    • SQL: JSON_TABLE and PERCENT_RANK; the debugger steps through SQL procedures, functions and triggers
    • SYSTOOLS.GROUP_PTF_CURRENCY and SYSTOOLS.GROUP_PTF_DETAILS
    • QSYS2.PARSE_STATEMENT and QSYS2.HISTORY_LOG_INFO
    • RPG: compiling from Unicode source with the TGTCCSID parameter
    • PowerHA with HyperSwap on SVC and Storwize; USB and RDX media seen as a stack of DVDs

    IBM page →

Individual PTFs are not listed: there are thousands per release and nearly all of them fix a defect. New function comes with releases and with the Technology Refresh PTF groups, which are here.