• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 23, Number 19

  May 10, 2021 Doug Bidwell

  As The Four Hundred reported last week, there is a major bug in Access Client Solutions 1.1.8.7. We originally said that IBM was pulling it and replacing it soon with ACS 1.1.8.8. We were expecting it last week, but it did not happen. Since this story ran, IBM has said that customers moving to ACS 1.1.8.7 should do so and then call into IBM and get a patch called TESTFIX_1.1.8.7  and apply it. Here is a link to the document that tells you how to do this and here is the link to the patch itself. This is …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 23, Number 15

  April 14, 2021 Doug Bidwell

  It’s Ketchup Day here at the IBM i PTF Guide, now that we are back in the groove and getting them back on the normal Wednesday track.

  There was a little bit going in this week, ahead of the launch of the Technology Refreshes for IBM i 7.3 and IBM i 7.4, which were unveiled this week and which The Four Hundred will be analyzing in detail over the coming weeks. Many parts of the software updates will be available starting April 16, but the Database Group for IBM i 7.3 and IBM i 7.4 and the Db2 Mirror …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 23, Number 14

  April 12, 2021 Doug Bidwell

  Apologies to all in the IBM i community for being late for putting together the IBM i PTF Guide last week. Sometimes real life interferes with business life, as you all know well. So this is a catch up issue of the Guide, with everything back on track with an update to get current coming out in this Wednesday’s issue of The Four Hundred.

  Editor’s Note: It goes without saying that we all owe a big hearty thanks to Doug Bidwell for his tireless efforts over many decades in keeping track of the patches for the firmware, operating …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 23, Number 13

  March 31, 2021 Doug Bidwell

  There is a lot of stuff going on this week. First, there are patches for Db2 Web Query, but only for IBM i 7.3 and IBM i 7.4, and we have to wonder if this will eventually be backported to IBM i 7.2 and maybe even IBM i 7.1 given that release has been given extended extended support and is not available on Power9 in limited form in logical partitions.

  There are also three security issues affecting the IBM i platform, as follows:

  • Security Bulletin: IBM Java SDK and IBM Java Runtime for IBM i is affected by CVE-2020-14803 and

  …

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• Controlling IBM i Access With Exit Points

  March 29, 2021 Bill Hammond

  Today, the job of managing security on IBM i can be complicated, requiring dynamic technologies and processes that can respond quickly to ever-evolving threats and new regulations. Ransomware and other malware can, and has, infected IBM i systems and effective access control is a major weapon in the battle to secure your IBM i. There are many different approaches and technologies you can use to keep your IBM i secure.

  Using the exit points provided by the IBM i operating system can be a powerful tool to monitor and secure four important levels of access within the IBM i:

  • Networks

  …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 23, Number 12

  March 24, 2021 Doug Bidwell

  While WebSphere Application Server V9.0 has been available for IBM i and other operating systems for many years, it is now getting the same treatment by the PTF People at Big Blue and now this latest version is being offered as a big bang upgrade to V9.0 through a PTF mechanism, just like all of the open source tools are. (Don’t get the wrong idea though. IBM has not open sourced WebSphere Application Server.) As you can see below, all four current releases are being offered a PTF update for WAS. IBM i 7.4 has some patches for Db2 for …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 23, Number 11

  March 17, 2021 Doug Bidwell

  Hello everyone out there in the IBM i community. There are two important things you need to know about right off the bat. First, there is updated microcode for machine types 9008-22L, 9009-22A, 9009-41A, 9009-42A, 9223-22H, and 9223-42H. You can read all about it at this link. Second, take a look at Security Bulletin: OpenSSL for IBM i is affected by CVE-2021-23840 and CVE-2021-23841. Read more about that at this link here, and the PTFs for this are:

  • For IBM i 7.1: SI75593
  • For IBM i 7.2, 7.3, and 7.4: SI75594

  Here is the rundown of PTF Groups …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 23, Number 10

  March 10, 2021 Doug Bidwell

  This is one of those weeks with the IBM i PTF Guide where there just is not a lot going on with Big Blue and its midrange operating system and systems software stack. This is a very good thing because some weeks, we could use a little less drama, right?

  Also: Is it just me, or is writing out 2021 just a little weird?

  Here is the rundown of PTF Groups by IBM i release level:

  PTF Groups 7.4:

  • Temporary Storage PTFs

  PTF Groups 7.3:

  • Nadda

  PTF Groups 7.1:

  • Zilch

  PTF Groups 7.1:

  • Nothing

  New (or Updated) Links for this …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 23, Number 9

  March 3, 2021 Doug Bidwell

  Hello, good people of the IBM i Land. As so many newscasters all said across the United States earlier this week, it is hard to believe that it is March already. But it is March indeed, and it has been about a year since the coronavirus went pandemic. We hope you are well, and we hope you stay that way.

  In this week’s edition of the IBM i PTF Guide, you will see that Rational Developer for i now supports an updated Java – to be specific, Java 8 SR 6 FP 15. You can find out more at …

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• IBM i 7.1 Extended Out To 2024 And Up To The IBM Cloud

  March 1, 2021 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  In case you have not figured it out, Big Blue has finally figured out that IBM i 7.1 is a wall that a lot of customers can’t get over. Which is something we have been saying for a long time. And to IBM’s credit, it is doing something about it. A bunch of things, as it turns out, and as part of the February 23 announcements last week, IBM did a few more things that will increase the long-term viability of this release.

  IBM i 7.1 went off regular support back on April 30, 2018, which was almost three years …

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