IBM i technical resources roadmap

There is an abundance of technical information about IBM i available and it can be a bit overwhelming for new and seasoned users alike. The purpose of this roadmap, which was pulled together by IBM i subject matter experts, is to help users who want to learn about IBM i and interact with other users but don't know where to start.

To make it even easier to find what you are looking for, we have organized the resources into the following categories. In addition, you can use the On this page navigation menu to quickly jump to a topic of interest to you.

• Getting started with IBM i
• Developing on IBM i
• Learning about IBM i
• Managing IBM i
• Connecting to the IBM i community

Get started with IBM i

Review these resources to begin your journey with IBM i.

• Introduction to IBM i Get the latest information about the platform for innovators, by innovators
• IBM i Strategy and Roadmap An executive guide to IBM's strategy and roadmap for its integrated operating environment for Power Systems
• IBM i Technology Updates IBM i operating system levels and related software products are frequently enhanced via PTFs.
• COMMON – Boot Camp Training A collection of education videos for those new to IBM i, presented by IBM i subject matter experts.
• New to IBM i (N2i) N2i is on a mission to help new IBM i professionals navigate their way through learning and optimizing the platform. By providing advocacy, community, and education during their formative years, N2i hopes to support the IBM i community, build skills and confidence, and fuel fresh careers.

Develop on IBM i

This section provides the links to the tools and services you need for developing on IBM i.

• Visual Studio (VS) Code4i Amazing Open-source based development tools for the IBM i application developer. Extensions include:
  • Code for IBM i
  • Db2 for IBM i
  • Code for IBM i walkthroughs
  • RPGLE
  • IBM i Renderer
• IBM Rational Developer for i Learn about IBM® Rational® Developer for i, which provides a single development environment for modern IBM i application development and modernization.
• RPG Cafe Get the latest announcements, information about enhancements, and tips for using the ILE RPG language.
• IBM Lab Services Proven consulting in installation, migration, porting, application architecture and development, performance tuning, and hands-on skills transfer.
• IBM i Open Source Learn about the open source software available on IBM i today, how to get access to it, and where to go to get additional details and documentation.

Learn about IBM i

Start here to get up to speed on working with IBM i products and features

Integrated functions

Refer to the following resources for information about IBM i integrated functions.

• Db2 Mirror for i IBM Db2 Mirror for i enables continuous availability for your mission-critical applications.
• Db2 for i Db2 for i is an IBM i integrated Relational Database Management System that leverages the high performance, virtualization, and energy efficiency features of IBM Power Systems.
• HTTP Server for i The IBM HTTP Server (powered by Apache) for i is a complete Web server product that offers several components and features to assist in your website configuration and development.
• IBM i Access Client Solutions IBM i Access Client Solutions provides a Java based, platform-independent interface that runs on most operating systems that support Java, including Linux, Mac, and Microsoft Windows.
• IBM i NetServer IBM i NetServer is an IBM i function that enables Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista clients to access IBM i shared directory paths and shared output queues.
• IBM i Services Consolidated list of IBM i (SQL) services
• IBM i Security Learn how to secure your system, network and communications applications, and how to add highly secure cryptographic processing capability to your system among other security topics.
• Integrated Web Application Server for IBM i The integrated Web application server for IBM i is a lightweight Java™ application server that contains a Web servlet container that is readily accessible and provides a flexible foundation for developing jsp and servlet-based Java applications.
• Integrated Web Services Learn how Integrated Web Services for i enables Integrated Language Environment (ILE) applications to play in the web services and service-oriented architecture (SOA) arena with little effort, knowledge, and resources.

IBM i products

Learn more about IBM i products.

• IBM Db2 Mirror for i IBM Db2 Mirror for i enables continuous availability for your mission-critical applications. It provides a recovery time objective (RTO) of zero.
• IBM i Migrate While Active IBM i Migrate While Active orchestrates the migration of an IBM i logical partition (LPAR) to a different location. That location can be within the same server, same data center, or to a remote location such as IBM Power Virtual Server in IBM Cloud®.
• IBM Administration Runtime Expert for i IBM Administration Runtime Expert for i can help you ensure consistent performance and deployment for any workload running on your system.
• IBM Advanced Job Scheduler for i IBM Advanced Job Scheduler for i is a job scheduling system designed to allow unattended operations, automate operator functions, and control report distribution
• IBM Content Manager OnDemand find information about how to install, maintain, and use the IBM Content Manager OnDemand
• IBM Domino for i IBM Domino for IBM i enables existing Power Systems clients to build and deploy messaging and collaborative applications on the same system as their enterprise applications and data.
• IBM WebSphere Application Server for i Learn more about the leading open standards-based application foundation for IBM i.
• PowerHA SystemMirror for i Information about the latest enhancements, as well as additional product documentation and information.
• OmniFind Text Search Server for Db2 for i OmniFind Text Search Server for Db2® for i allows you to issue SQL statements that satisfy familiar text search queries on documents that are stored in a Db2 for i database.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and IBM i

• IBM Bob - Your AI-Powered Development Partner
• IBM i MCP Server
• Mapepire
• AI with IBM i A comprehensive guide for using artificial intelligence and machine learning with IBM i.

IBM Power information

Refer to the resources in this section for IBM Power information.

• Power Virtual Server IBM Power Virtual Server is a family of configurable, multi-tenant, virtual IBM Power servers with access to IBM Cloud services.
• PowerVM PowerVM provides a secure and scalable server virtualization environment for AIX®, IBM i, and Linux applications built upon the advanced RAS features and leading performance of the Power Systems™ platform.
• PowerVP Power® Virtualization Performance (PowerVP™) is a performance monitoring solution that provides detailed and real-time information about virtualized workloads that are running on IBM® Power Systems™ servers.
• Power11 Information about the available Power11 systems.
• Power10 Information about the available Power10 systems.
• Power9 Information about the available Power9 systems.
• Power8 Information about the available Power8 systems.

Technical resources

This section provides a list of resources useful to the IBM i community (from sources such as IBM Redbooks and IBM Documentation) and other references to further explore about IBM i.

IBM Redbooks and Redpapers

• All IBM i topics on Redbooks
• Enhancing the IBM Power Systems Platform with IBM Watson Services
• Who Knew You Could Do That with RPG IV? Modern RPG for the Modern Programmer
• Modernizing IBM i Applications from the Database up to the User Interface and Everything in Between
• IBM Power S1012 Technical Overview and Introduction
• IBM Power System E980: Technical Overview and Introduction
• Row and Column Access Support in IBM Db2 for i
• Introduction to IBM PowerVM
• Redbooks on IBM i topics

IBM i documentation – main landing page

• IBM i documentation

IBM i documentation – supported releases

• IBM i 7.6
• IBM i 7.5
• IBM i 7.4

IBM i documentation – older releases

• IBM i 7.3
• IBM i 7.2
• IBM i 7.1

IBM Developer

• IBM i on IBM Developer (Older but still relevant IBM i articles)

Publications

• MCPress Online
• IT Jungle
• IBM i Spotlight (Flipboard magazine)

FAQs and other useful information

• Db2 for i FAQ
• IBM i Technology Refresh FAQ

Manage IBM i

Find instructions to manage IBM i tools, products, and services.

Management tools, products, and services

• Systems Management Learn how to distribute and group system resources, plan backup and recovery situations, secure your system, manage multiple system, and analyze or troubleshoot any performance problems that might occur on your system.
• Backup Recovery and Media Services Backup, Recovery, and Media Services for i is the IBM strategic solution for planning and managing the backup of your i server.
• IBM Navigator for i IBM Navigator for i is the web-based interface for system access and management.
• Performance Management This topic will guide you through the tasks and tools associated with performance management.
• Performance Data Investigator Performance Data Investigator provides a web-based GUI over performance data with interactive charts and tables.
• Performance Management for Power Systems IBM Performance Management for Power Systems is a dynamic, easy to use, performance and capacity planning function tool.
• IBM i Support: Recommended fixes Get the latest fix information directly from the IBM i Support Center without a telephone call. Locate the fix for a specific problem or obtain the latest fixes.
• Fix Level Recommendation Tool (FLRT) FLRT provides cross-product compatibility information and fix recommendations for IBM products.
• IBM iDoctor for IBM i Collect, investigate, and analyze performance data on IBM Power Systems.
• Technology Expert Labs – IBM i Security Security services and solutions from IBM i security experts.
• IBM i Access Client Solutions (ACS) IBM i Access Client Solutions provides a Java based, platform-independent interface that runs on most operating systems that support Java.

Access an IBM i

• IBM i - Public Access thanks to PUB400

IBM i Support resources

• IBM Support IBM support resources for IBM products and services
• MustGather: Main Document List for Database List of all Database MustGather documents
• Fix Central Find fixes and updates for your system's software, hardware, and operating system.
• IBM i Preventive Service Planning Get access to the Preventive Service Planning documents for the currently supported releases for IBM i.
• Entitled Software Support and License Keys The Entitled Systems Support website (ESS) is IBM's go-to place to view and manage Power and Storage software and hardware.
• IBM i Security Services Learn about the IBM i security services and assets offered by the IBM Systems Lab Services team.
• Open Source Support Outlines the options for acquiring open source support on IBM i

IBM i capacity planning and upgrade resources

• Upgrade planning Learn to plan future solutions as you enhance, upgrade, or replace your servers with new operating system releases and/or hardware offerings.
• IBM i 7.6 memo to users Helps you to prepare for changes on your current system and to use the IBM i 7.6 release.
• IBM System Planning Tool for POWER processor-based systems System planning, design, validation and provides a system validation report that reflects the user's system requirements while not exceeding system recommendations.
• IBM Systems Environment Estimator Estimates typical power requirements (watts) for a specific system configuration under normal operating conditions.
• IBM Performance Management for Power Systems Provides critical resource and performance information about the current and long-term utilization trends – from a total system view to an individual logical partition view.

Connect with the IBM i community

Collaborate with other IBM i users. Join the community, share your expertise, and get support from the experts.

Communities and user groups

• COMMON – A Users Group
• COMMON Europe
• COMMON Belgium
• COMMON Cyprus-Greece
• COMMON Czech Republic
• COMMON Finland
• COMMON France
• COMMON Germany
• COMMON Iberia
• COMMON Italy
• COMMON Luxembourg
• COMMON Netherlands
• COMMON Norway
• COMMON Romandie
• COMMON Sweden
• COMMON United Kingdom (UK)
• LUG

Blogs

• RPGPGM – From AS400 to IBM i - Simon Hutchinson
• iSee Video Blog - with Scott Forstie and Tim Rowe
• IBM i Reference Pages Blog - Michael Mayer
• Db2 for IBM i – Kent Milligan
• iChime - Charlie Guarino
• Incredible i Show - Peg Tuttle
• Steve Will: You and i
• IBMi.org – Bart's Blog
• Dawn May: i Can
• Jesse Gorzinski: Open Your i

X (formerly Twitter)

• #IBMi
• #COMMONUG
• #POWER9
• #POWER10
• #POWER11
• #powersystems
• #IBMiOSS

Other IBM i pages

• Midrange.com
• IBM i discussion forums on TechXchange
• lists.midrange.com Mailing Lists
• Open Source chat on Ryver
• midrangeWiki
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
• IBM i OpenSSH and Open SSL
• Removable Media on i
• SAP on IBM i
• IBM i Wikipedia Page
• POWER10 Wikipedia Page

LinkedIn

• IBM i Professionals Group
• IBMiOSS Group

Videos

• IBM YouTube Channel
• Happy 30th Anniversary IBM i!

Events

• POWERUp 2026
• Upcoming IBM i events

Education

Educate yourself using these webinars and other tehcnical resources.

• Power VUG Technical Webinar Series
• IBM Skills Gateway – IBM i
• imPOWER Technologies
• Fortra OnDemand Webinars
• Open Source Hands-on learning
• IBM TechXchange
• Db2 for i – SQL Tutor
• IBM i Guided Tours

News and highlights

Check out the latest news on IBM i.

• IBM Power

Customer stories

Read IBM i customer stories.

Connect with the IBM i community

Connect, learn, share, and engage with other IBM i users as you follow what’s trending and join the discussion. Join now