IBM i 7.6 TR1 and 7.5 TR7: What System Administrators Need to Know
- Ash Giddings
- Oct 20, 2025
- 3 min read
IBM has announced Technology Refresh 1 for IBM i 7.6 and Technology Refresh 7 for IBM i 7.5, both available November 21, 2025. These releases bring meaningful improvements in system stability, backup management, security, and administrative efficiency, all of which are directly relevant to IBM i System Administrators managing production workloads.
System Stability Improvements
Fibre Channel Multipath Automatic Path Disable
One of the most important enhancements addresses an issue where IBM i systems could become unstable when attempting to repair damaged Fibre Channel links. Previously, the system could repeatedly try to repair a failed path, sometimes affecting responsiveness. The new Fibre Channel Multipath Automatic Path Disable feature allows administrators to specify a maximum number of repair attempts before the system disables the broken path automatically. This helps to prevent instability while maintaining operations through healthy paths, a crucial safeguard for production environments.
Virtual SCSI Performance Enhancement
For virtualized environments running under VIOS, IBM has introduced multi-threaded disk response processing, enabling parallel handling of multiple disk responses. This change improves performance during large read workloads that could previously experience long response times due to IBM i’s unique storage model.
VIOS partitions remain central to Power Systems virtualization and should always be monitored closely with tools such as Maxava Monitor Mi8.
BRMS: Better Visibility and Control
Backup, Recovery, and Media Services (BRMS) gains several valuable updates, improving visibility, automation, and control of backup operations.
Enhanced Web Interface
The BRMS web interface now provides:
Direct access to control group attributes, backup list details, and comprehensive backup history.
The ability to view backup history and details for objects, members, IFS folders, and spooled files without switching between interfaces.
This is a major step toward moving daily backup administration away from traditional 5250 green screens.
New SQL Services
IBM continues to expand SQL-based system management. New BRMS SQL services provide programmatic access to backup history, supporting automated reporting, compliance tracking, and integration with third-party tools.
The QUSRBRM.CG_BACKUP_STATUS service has been enhanced to include volume expiration status and dates, simplifying tape media management.
Navigator for i and ACS Enhancements
Navigator Web Administration
IBM continues its steady migration of administrative functions to the modern web interface. Key updates include:
Network Management: A new Web Services Table simplifies monitoring, plus new wizards for creating and deleting HTTP Servers, and support for LDAP LDIF import/export.
Security: Full authorization list management (create, update, delete, and assign permissions) is now available in Navigator.
Audit Journal: Adds support for Power Off/On (PO) and Security Failure (SF) entry types.
Cryptographic Coprocessor Configuration: Now directly available via Navigator.
Performance Data Investigator (PDI): Improved handling of collections across releases and simultaneous service support.
Access Client Solutions (ACS)
ACS, the everyday management tool for IBM i administrators, gains several productivity enhancements:
Improved Automation: Multiple ACS plugins can now be run simultaneously via the new /plugin=script parameter — a boost for scripted automation.
Schema Management: The new Work With → Journal Receivers action provides faster access to related receivers, streamlining journal management workflows.
SQL Performance Center: A new Index Evaluator assists in index maintenance by prompting for schema and table, then launching Work With Indexes.
Security-Focused SQL Scripts
Run SQL Scripts in ACS now includes 16 new “Insert from Examples” templates designed to help administrators review and strengthen system security:
Audit journal reviews.
Attack vector analysis for Db2 operations (DELETE, INSERT, QUERY, RENAME, TRIGGER, UPDATE).
IFS home directory security reviews.
Library list and authority reviews.
User profile and special authority analysis.
These pre-built scripts make it much easier to detect vulnerabilities and align with IBM i security best practices.
Enhanced IBM i Services
IBM continues expanding IBM i Services, enabling deeper SQL-based access to system information and configuration data. Among the new and enhanced services are:
QSYS2.CERTIFICATE_USAGE_INFO – Shows which applications use specific certificates
QSYS2.JOURNAL_CODE_INFO – Returns text descriptions for journal codes and entry types
QSYS2.SFP_TRANSCEIVER_INFO – Provides Fibre Channel transceiver diagnostics.
SYSTOOLS.OVERRIDE_INFO – Displays active overrides for troubleshooting.
SYSTOOLS.PROBLEM_INFO – Accesses problem log details.
SYSTOOLS.USER_DRDA_AUTHENTICATION_ENTRIES – Lists DRDA authentication entries.
Several existing services, including GROUP_PTF_INFO, OBJECT_LOCK_INFO, RECORD_LOCK_INFO, and SEND_MESSAGE(), have also been enhanced to provide richer management data.
Planning Your Installation
With the November 21 availability date approaching, now is the right time to evaluate these enhancements and plan your upgrade strategy. The improvements in stability, backup visibility, security, and administrative efficiency make TR1 for 7.6 and TR7 for 7.5 compelling updates for any IBM i environment seeking greater resilience and modernized management.
Always review IBM’s official enhancement list, determine which features deliver the most value for your environment, and thoroughly test in development before rolling out to production.
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