• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 26, Number 11

  March 18, 2024 Doug Bidwell

  This week in IBM i is sponsored by security vulnerabilities and precious little else. There are three security vulnerabilities that are new that you need to be aware of, so let’s get to it and let you get back to work.

  First, we have Security Bulletin: IBM Db2 Web Query for i is vulnerable to a remote attacker bypassing security restrictions or to denial of service, which you can read more about here. The fixes are as follows:

  IBM Db2 Web Query for i 		Release		OS Release
  5733WQX 		2.4.0		7.4 and 7.5
  				SI85982
  				SI85987
  

  Second, we have Security Bulletin: …

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• IBM Finally Comments On Db2 Web Query For i Withdrawal

  November 13, 2023 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  A little more than a month ago, in announcement letter AD23-0691, IBM abruptly announced the end of marketing for all variations of the Db2 Web Query for i data analytics tool.

  At the time, neither IBM nor its partner, TIBCO Software – which is part of Cloud Software Group, a conglomerate that owns TIBCO (which bought Information Builders and Spotfire), JasperSoft, and Citrix Systems (which includes products from Citrix, NetScaler, ShareFile, and XenServer) – had anything to say about the partnership between IBM and TIBCO/Information Builders coming undone.

  But something has happened between Big Blue on the one hand …

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• Guru: The Transition From Modern RPG IV To Modern SQL

  October 30, 2023 Bob Cozzi

  Seven or eight years ago I was working with a client who needed more contemporary reporting than provided by the legacy Query/400 product. Initially I looked at Db2 Web Query and realized the documentation was sparse and the tutorials for most things, even “getting started” were virtually non-existent. It was also about four times more expensive than I felt it was worth to a P05 or P10 client. I mentioned the documentation issue to the folks at IBM and they agreed. Some of it was eventually resolved, but not enough in my opinion to get the masses to replace Query/400 …

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• Db2 Web Query Customers Left In The Lurch

  October 23, 2023 Alex Woodie

  The sudden collapse of the OEM agreement between IBM and TIBCO for Db2 Web Query has left users of the product in a difficult position. Where will they get technical support, updates, and fixes? Should they abandon the software? Can they sue somebody if something happens to their systems?

  These are some of the questions that IBM i shops who adopted Db2 Web Query are asking themselves in the wake of IBM’s stunning October 10 announcement to kill off the product. Effectively immediately, IBM stopped marketing and selling the IBM i product, which was an OEM version of Information …

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• Why Big Blue Is Simplifying The IBM i LPP Stack

  October 23, 2023 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  If only the paranoid survive, as legendary Intel co-founder Andy Grove once quipped, then we all would pretty much have to be paranoid pretty much all the time. And this, obviously, would not be healthy. But as legendary founder of The Four Hundred, the irreplaceable and irascible Hesh Wiener, once quipped, sometimes they really are out to get you.

  And so, we come to IBM’s recent “come to Bezos” moment starting late last year that it was going to be providing subscription pricing for hardware and systems software for the IBM i platform running on Power Systems. We fully …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 25, Number 42

  October 16, 2023 Doug Bidwell

  Welcome back to work this week. IBM i 7.2 has two new PTF groups even though it has been in extended support from Big Blue since April 30, 2021. The IBM i 7.2 release is still on extended support until April 30, 2024, which is why the security and HIPER group PTFs have been updated for this release. Specifically, that is:

  • SF99718 720 Group Security – level 124, which you can find out more about here.
  • SF99719 720 Group HIPER – level 235, which you can find out more about there.

  As we reported last week in The …

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• IBM Suddenly Pulls The Plug On Db2 Web Query for i

  October 11, 2023 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Well, that was a bit of a surprise, but to be fair we had a few days of forewarning about it before it happened so it really wasn’t. Yesterday, on October 10, IBM abruptly announced the end of marketing for all variations of the Db2 Web Query for i data analytics tool. You can read about it in announcement letter AD23-0691. But don’t get too excited. That announcement letter doesn’t tell you much.

  On Friday, October 6, we got a message from a director of information technology at a logistics and business services provider that his IBM business partner …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 25, Number 30

  July 24, 2023 Doug Bidwell

  The security vulnerabilities in the IBM i software stack are coming in waves. This week, there are three more to report, two of which we detail separately in this issue.

  First, we have Security Bulletin: IBM Facsimile Support for i is vulnerable to local privilege escalation (CVE-2023-30988), which you can find out more about here. The issue can be fixed by applying a PTF to IBM i.  IBM i releases 7.5, 7.4, 7.3, and 7.2 installed with 5798-FAX version V5R8M0 will be fixed. IBM i Release, 5798-FAX,V5R8M0 PTF Number SI83583 for 7.5, 7.4, 7.3, 7.2 – read the cover …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 25, Number 14

  April 3, 2023 Doug Bidwell

  The IBM i 7.4 Technology Refresh 8 marker PTF is out, and we see it in HTTP Server Group 26. Nothing special so far, just the indication that it is out, but nothing on 7.3 or 7.5 groups, yet – only 7.4. Thank you, Jozef in New Zealand, for catching that, and sharing it! The Four Hundred collective thinks the IBM i TRs might be coming on April 11, but that has not been confirmed by Big Blue as yet.

  We mostly suspect this will happen because that is when ITJ Editor Alex Woodie scheduled a trip to Hawaii with …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 25, Number 8

  February 27, 2023 Doug Bidwell

  We are playing catch up a bit here at the IBM i PTF Guide, and apologies for that but it goes that way sometime. There are a bunch of security vulnerabilities that you need to be aware of, including one that covers systems software not from IBM, as we usually track, but file transfer software from Forta (formerly known as HelpSystems). We are going to be keeping a closer eye on third party software security bulletins going forward.

  So first, we have CVE-2023-0669, which explains that GoAnywhere MFT from Fortra (formerly HelpSystems) suffers from a pre-authentication command injection …

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