Back in October, IBM announced IBM i 7.1 TR9 and 7.2 TR1. Let’s take a closer look at these updates.
Part of the October announcement included enhancements to Navigator, which are now available via PTFs. This should be of particular interest to those of you on IBM i 7.1 because much of the functionality that was added to Navigator in 7.2 is now available with Navigator on 7.1. IBM has a “single-source” model for Navigator – one main code stream for all supported releases. When 7.2 came out, Navigator diverged from the single-source model for a while, with this update most function has been converged back to a single code stream; there are exceptions if there is underlying operating system enablement that is required to support the function.
While the above paragraph was written in 2014, it is true today in 2020; while the releases have changed, support added to Navigator in the most current release generally goes back to 7.3 and possibly 7.2 as well.
Specifically, the following functions are now available on 7.1, some of which I have written about previously:
- Favorites. Save your favorite tasks and find them quickly.
- Search. Search for tasks, command, and now system values; if you know the name of the system value from the command line interface, you can type that name into the search box and Navigator will locate it. This is really nice because it’s not always obvious where IBM has hidden all the system values in the GUI!
- Groups. Create groups of systems.
- PTFs. View and manage PTFs. You can also use your system groups to do a PTF “compare and update”, similar to what you have in Management Central.
- Performance Data Investigator – Search. A powerful search facility in PDI makes it easier to find the performance metrics you may be looking for.
On both 7.1 and 7.2, there was a minor update to System Values. Previously there were a couple system values not on the GUI. That is now corrected and all system values can be managed from Navigator. Specifically, Password Validation program (QPWDLVLPGM) and Processor Multitasking (QPRCMLTTSK) system values are now also available via Navigator.
There is one very nice improvement that is only on 7.2 – the Performance Data Investigator has been enhanced with a set of Temporary Storage perspectives.
To get the latest functions, you need to install the appropriate Navigator PTFs.
Once you have the latest PTFs installed on 7.1, you will also see “Monitors” in the left-frame navigation. Don’t be misled – monitors are only on 7.2 and later; you will get an error if you try to use them on 7.1. There are some technical reasons that the main monitors task can’t be hidden, so just be aware that monitors only work on 7.2 and later releases.
A reminder: although these functions were announced with 7.1 TR9 and 7.2 TR1, they are not part of the Technology Refresh itself – they are simply additional functions available via PTFs. IBM uses the announcement to get the word out on other enhancements that have been made. I wrote more about this concept in the Free Format RPG and TR7 blog.
This is my last blog for 2014. I’m going to take some time off over the holiday season to rest, relax and recharge. See you next year!
This blog post was edited to fix broken links and remove obsolete information on April 12, 2020.
This blog post was originally published on IBMSystemsMag.com and is reproduced here by permission of IBM Systems Media.