• Critical PHP2Shell Security Vulns Evoke ‘Black October’

  October 26, 2026 Alex Woodie

  AI helped uncover a pair of critical security vulnerabilities in PHP that can be used to execute code, including on IBM i servers, sent administrators around the world scrambling to install patches on a large swath of the Internet’s Web servers before cybercriminals can get to them. The flaws, along with the rapid dissemination of AI-based exploit code, led some organizations to simply unplug their websites, earning the whole episode the name “Black October.”

  On October 21, patches for two critical security vulnerabilities in PHP were released. The two vulns, CVE-2026-109619 and CVE-2026-109618, collectively called PHP2Shell, each garnered a …

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• Why Fortra Partnered with FalconStor to Launch Continuity Care: A Validated Recovery Service for IBM i

  October 26, 2026 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  With over 7,000 Power Systems customers, Fortra is one of the largest software conglomerates serving the IBM i and AIX communities and it is by far the largest supplier of systems software for Power Systems. The company is also a key development partner of Big Blue, having nine years ago taken over enhancements to Rational Developer for i, Backup, Recovery and Media Services (BRMS) on i, and PowerHA SystemMirror for i.

  As such, Fortra is a perfect partner for FalconStor Software as it seeks to expand the use of its Habanero off-site data protection SaaS and its related Cloud Clean …

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• Guru: Analyzing User Session Statistics, Part 2

  October 26, 2026 Mike Larsen

  In part one of this tip, I showed how to determine the number of times a user signed in and signed out of IBM i for a given period. In this tip, I will show how to get the days a user signed in, and how long their session was active.

  I use the same table function, QSYS2.HISTORY_LOG_INFO, as before. The code (Figure 1 below) is similar to the code used in the first part of this series, but there are some differences I will point out.

  Note that I purposely left the user ID out of the result set …

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• Fresche Launches OpsIQ, a Free AI-Based Operation Assistant for IBM i

  October 26, 2026 Alex Woodie

  IBM i developers have embraced AI-based coding tools, such as IBM’s Bob and Anthropic’s Claude Code, but IBM i administrators so far haven’t benefited from the AI productivity boost in the same way. That is starting to change, and one of the first AI-based administrative helpers is a free tool launched recently by Fresche called OpsIQ.

  OpsIQ is an AI assistant designed to help IBM i users get answers to questions about their systems. It is currently a read-only tool for helping users interrogate the system for information about server configurations, the state of jobs, and errors or alerts, which …

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• Fall TRs Expected Next Week At Combined IBM-COMMON Conference

  October 19, 2026 Alex Woodie

  Big Blue delayed its spring Technology Refreshes for IBM i earlier by three months this year so that it could simultaneously announce the new entry level Power server. It seems very unlikely that we’ll see such a delay for the fall TR, however, as IBM gears up for its semi-annual announcement for the still-popular midrange server at next week’s combined IBM-COMMON conference.

  There are several indicators that the fall TR is looming. For starters, IBM essentially said that the fall TR is coming in the description for one of its upcoming IBM i Guided Tours, which have become the …

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• GenAI Brings A New Kind Of Agile Computing That Needs Controls Even More

  October 19, 2026 Michel Mouchon

  As if trying to make use of a whole new computing architecture and coming up with the budget to experiment and roll features into production were not enough, there are a slew of issues when bringing GenAI to the IBM i datacenter.

  There are those who say that people cannot learn from the experience of others. We have never believed that. Which is why we want to share some of the hard-won wisdom we have developed four years after the ChatGPT moment that rocked the world and that is changing many things. But not everything needs to change or will …

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• IBM i, AI, And The Cost Of “We’ve Always Done It That Way”

  October 19, 2026 Peg Tuttle

  I’ve spent more than 30 years in the IBM i community, and I’ve heard one phrase more times than I can count: “We’ve always done it that way.” Sometimes it’s a perfectly reasonable explanation. Other times, I think it might be one of the most dangerous things we can say about a technology environment.

  Think about it. IBM i has been running mission-critical business applications for decades. Manufacturing, distribution, financial services, healthcare, retail. These systems process orders, manage inventory, run financial applications, and support operations that cannot afford to stop.

  And they do it remarkably well.

  That reliability is one …

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• Infor Says IBM i Customers Are Welcome To Use New AI

  October 19, 2026 Alex Woodie

  This month, Infor launched new AI software designed to help its ERP customers automate specific business processes in industry verticals. While the AI capability uses Infor’s cloud environment, customers that run Infor’s IBM i-based ERP software on-prem can also partake of the new capabilities, Infor tells IT Jungle.

  In early October, Infor launched the latest release of its Infor Velocity Suite, which is a collection of AI agents, generative AI capabilities, process mining, and automation built for specific industries. Infor first launched its Velocity Suite in April 2025 to turn customers into “agentic enterprises” where AI agents go beyond …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 28, Number 36

  October 19, 2026 Doug Bidwell

  Just a reminder that with IBM i 7.6 TR2 and IBM i 7.5 TR8, there is a virtual Ethernet connectivity advisory. IBM is currently investigating a reported issue affecting systems running IBM i 7.6 TR2 or IBM i 7.5 TR8. Installing the Technology Refresh (TR) can cause a complete loss of network connectivity on partitions using Virtual Ethernet adapter type 268C. IBM is actively working to identify the root cause and appropriate corrective action.

  Development has identified the root cause of the issue and has released the following HIPER PTFs to address it. You can read more about this issue …

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• Help Us Understand The IBM i Marketplace By Taking The Survey

  October 19, 2026 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  It is October, and that means the annual IBM i Marketplace Survey from Fortra is open, and we are asking you to spend some time and give us all some insight into what is going on inside of your IT organization.

  The annual survey, which is in its 13^th year, opened up on September 15. You can give back to the IBM i community and help nudge IBM and ISVs in directions that are helpful to you by taking the survey, which you can do at this link.

  The results of this survey are an invaluable resource for …

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