Talsco Weekly: IBM i Technology Refreshes Make Modernization Easier

Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly

News: TRs and other Updates for the IBM i Platform. IBM i Technology Refreshes Make Modernization Easier.
Learning: Learn Javascript and React Patterns.
Modernization: Modernization is a must if Cloud is part of your strategy.

News

TRs and other Updates for the IBM i Platform If you love to "geek out" on the IBM i platform, a good place to start is the IBM i Platform Support Summary page. It is the starting point for information on IBM i OS levels as it relates to hardware and firmware. As Steve Will writes in this article, there are a number of updates relating to the IBM i this month. Key Updates in this article include:

Power10 - there is a Power10 version of scale-out servers.
Db2 for IBM i and Watson Geospatial Data - offers support that will allow for experimentation on how to leverage AI, structured and unstructured data.
IBM i Db2 Data to and From Clouds - enables modernization of data in new ways.
Db2 Mirror - now "has a way to deal with IFS objects in a mirrored environment, all on its own."
IBM i Merlin - has been kickstarting conversations about application modernization. Github and IBM have some good resources to check out.

Summary: There are a number of useful links as part of Steve's monthly update. I encourage the IBM i community to explore the links that are included. IBM i Technology Refreshes Make Modernization Easier "IBM announced Technology Refreshes for its two most current IBM i operating systems, including 7.5 and 7.4. Security continues to be a big driver of new functionality with 7.5 TR1 and 7.4 TR7. But the fall TRs bring a bevy of enhancements across all areas, including the database, IBM i services, open source, application development, and analytics, among others." With all the updates, IBM is making modernization that much easier on the IBM i platform. Here is a quick overview of what is covered in the article. Security:

New security features for IBM i Navigator.
"Using Web services via IBM i’s Integrated Web Services Server (IWS) is about to get safer, thanks to two new features." Hint - "support for HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) and "support for Cross-Organ Resource Sharing (CORS)".
"Protecting data stored on NVMe devices" offers new support for passwords.
"Common Cryptographic Architecture (CCA) Cryptographic Service Provider (CSP) for IBM i 7.5, 7.4, and 7.3 was updated."

Database:

"The Db2 for i database gets several new functions, including Geospatial Analytics, which includes IBM Watson"
"IBM also rolled out several Db2 for i enhancements specifically for database engineers. Tops on the list is SELF, or SQL Error Logging Facility."

Services:

"There are 15 new IBM i services for both supported releases, 7.5 TR1 and 7.4 TR7"

Application Development

Enhancements have been made to both RDS and RDi for "all supported releases of the OSes."
The new RDi version 9.6.0.12 comes with enhancements in the following areas "currency items; community driven enhancements; and developer productivity enhancements."
"Merlin now includes a debugger, a necessary feature for developers to be productive with the new tool". Not sure what Merlin is, go here for details.

Back-Up, Recovery, HA

"Backup, Recovery, and Media Services for i (BRMS)" has been updated.
"PowerHA SystemMirror for i is also getting new enhancements in both the 7.4 and 7.5 versions."
"Db2 Mirror is also enhanced with the ability to track and replicate jobs in the job queue."

Open Source:

Node.js version 18 is now supported on IBM i.
"TLS support for the open source tn5250 emulator" has also been added.

If any of the above is interests you, dive into the details on ITJungle.

Learning

Learn Javascript and React Patterns With more and more IBM i shops asking for Javascript skills to help build IBM i full stack applications, you'll need this tutorial to introduce you to Javascript and React Patterns. Overview: Design patterns help you improve the code architecture of your web apps. Here is a quick lesson on traditional design patterns with JavaScript, such as the Singleton and Proxy Patterns.

Then, take a dive into React patterns such as Hooks and Higher Order Component patterns.

Finish up learning about Performance Patterns and Rendering Patterns.

Take the tour.

Modernization

Modernization is a must if Cloud is part of your strategy You might be "“all in, right now” or a slower, incremental approach" when it comes to cloud. Regardless, of the path you take:

"Modernization is a must."

Keep in mind for many applications Cloud might not be the best answer, but if Cloud is part of your roadmap, here are five common approaches.

Replatform. "This is a variety of lift-and-shift."
Modernize, then move. "Large organizations that took a “go slow” approach to cloud are learning from the experience of early adopters."
Move, then modernize. "Some organizations have opted to move to the cloud first through re-platforming, then using cloud services to modernize."
Replace with SaaS. "Software as a service has come to dominate entire categories of applications".
Rebuild with a bespoke application. "Sometimes modernization of existing applications just isn’t worth the time and money, but a variety of tools are available to help users capture the business logic of their older apps and rebuild them as containerized apps running in cloud or hybrid environments."

For most organizations a combination of the above is used. Summary: There is no shortage of opinions on how to approach modernization, but by far one of the most critical elements of modernization, is having the right team in place.

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