IBM "i on GRC - ISO 27001"

Oct 21, 2025

 "i on GRC" which has explored ISO / IEC 27001 clause by clause translating one 
 of the world’s most influential governance frameworks into the language of IBM i 
 security, audit, and modernization.

 John states "Together, these articles form a complete walk-through of the ISO 
 27001 management system as applied to IBM i." 
 
 ISO 27001 is defined as:                                                                                                                         The leading international standard that formally specifies the requirements for 
 establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving an Information 
 Security Management System (ISMS).

 In essence, it provides a systematic, structured, and risk-based approach to  
 managing and protecting an organization's sensitive information assets to ensure 
 their:
  • Confidentiality: Ensuring information is accessible only to those authorized to have access.

  • Integrity: Safeguarding the accuracy and completeness of information and processing methods.

  • Availability: Ensuring authorized users have access to information and associated assets when required.

The standard is applicable to organizations of all types and sizes across all sectors, helping them manage security risks, reduce vulnerabilities to threats like cyberattacks, and meet contractual and regulatory obligations.

  
 In order, the clauses are: (Right click to open each clause in a new tab).
 
 
 John goes on to say:
 "Each installment follows the same principle: governance only matters when it  
 lives in the system.

 I hope you'll see in this series that a 'legacy platform' running decades-deep 
 workloads in some cases can meet modern standards of governance, risk, and 
 compliance when we learn to speak both its technical and organizational dialects.  
  
Together, these articles form a complete walkthrough of the ISO 27001 management system as applied to IBM i from intent to implementation, and from evidence to improvement.
 
 

Free IBM i Educational Courses

Oct 17, 2025  

There was an IBM "TechXchange Community Daily" email dated Oct 16, 2025. In the email was a message stating:    
                                                                                                                                                                 "Announcing two free IBM i courses: DL06004G and DL06005G."
 The link to this announcement can be found here. 
 
 
 
Note: An IBM ID is needed to logon or an IBM ID can be created on the fly.
 
 

"Project BOB"

Oct 14, 2025

 

 
IBM has announced "Project BOB" for developing better code. Per @Steve Will on his IBM i blog on Tech Channel:
 
"The IBM i community has been waiting for an AI coding assistant to help with the immense volume of critical software written in RPG and other languages. We’ve been talking about such an assistant, and how it can help address the need for IBM i skills while also guiding application modernization. Today, that assistant was announced. These requirements are some of the many which are addressed by Project Bob. We are excited to use Project Bob as the foundational tool to help our clients move forward on IBM i and Power.
 
Steve's Tech Channel "You and I" Blog can be found here.

The IBM "Project Bob" page can be found here.
 
Article from ITJungle can be found here.
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
From @Neil Whittle - IBMi Consultant, Author, Speaker, AI Enabler, RPG expert: 
 
"Bob is more than just a coding assistant. Whether it's a modernization project or building something new, with agentic workflows, built- in security and enterprise-grade deployment flexibility, Bob has the power to transform across the full SDLC to become the go-to IDE."
 
"Bob is an ai-powered IDE and pair developer. More thanjust auto-complete or suggestions, a developer can use Architect Mode to scope and design complex systems or collaborate in Code Mode to move fast and iterate efficiently."
 
"Throughout the SDLC, from design through  coding, testing, deployment and maintenance,B ob retains context across editing sessions, so developers don't have to switch tools or lose track."
 
"Bob supports enterprise constraints (security, governance, on-prem/cloud, compliance) more deeply than consumer grade or single-task A1 tools so tasks can be done with full awareness of dependencies to help you deliver secure,
production-ready code."
 
"Bob breaks down complex tasks and coordinates specialized agents across code, tests, documentation and pipelines. There is in-built functionality to bring in quantum security and other compliance and vulnerability scans directly into the IDE."
 
"You can run Bob on macOS, Windows or Linux and deploy in your cloud to meet governance and data-residency requirements. Use 'BobShell' to create
repeatable, self-documenting workflows, deal for CI/CD pipelines and recipe-driven
upgrades."
 
"It seems likely that both the Watsonx Code Assistant for Z for Cobol (released in
October 2028) and Watsonx Code Assistant for RPG on the IBM I (still in
preview) will be integrated directly into Project Bob, offering developers an
unrivalled ai-powered IDE!"
 
 

Diagnostic QSYSOPR Message Queue SQL

Oct 10, 2025 
 
Sometimes you need a method to diagnose the QSYSOPR message queue to find out when a message was answered, who answered it and how it was answered.
 
This SQL provides that for you. The SQL posted here looks back 7 days and is adjustable.
 
--- QSYSOPR System Messages ---
--- Who answered the message? ---

--- Columns prefixed with the "A" come from the error result
--- and those "B" from the reply result. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------       
 
SELECT A.MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP AS "Date/Time of Error Msg",
       A.MESSAGE_ID AS "Msg ID",
       A.FROM_JOB AS "Job Generated Error Msg",
       A.MESSAGE_TEXT AS "Msg Text",
       B.MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP AS "Reply Date/Time",
       SUBSTR(B.MESSAGE_TEXT, 1, 10) AS "Reply",
       A.FROM_USER AS "Reply by"
         FROM TABLE (QSYS2.MESSAGE_QUEUE_INFO(QUEUE_LIBRARY => 'QSYS',
                QUEUE_NAME => 'QSYSOPR', 
                SEVERITY_FILTER => 99)) A,
           LATERAL (SELECT MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP,
                    MESSAGE_TEXT, FROM_USER
                FROM TABLE (QSYS2.MESSAGE_QUEUE_INFO(QUEUE_LIBRARY => 'QSYS', 
                             QUEUE_NAME => 'QSYSOPR',
                             SEVERITY_FILTER => 99)) 
 
                WHERE CHAR(A.MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP) >= CURRENT DATE - 7 DAYS AND 
                      CHAR(A.MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP) <= CURRENT DATE
                      AND ASSOCIATED_MESSAGE_KEY = A.MESSAGE_KEY) B
          
     ORDER BY "Date/Time of Error Msg" ASC 
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Other date options are:
 
---  Single Date             
---                 WHERE CHAR(A.MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP) LIKE '%2025-08-03%'
---                   AND ASSOCIATED_MESSAGE_KEY = A.MESSAGE_KEY) B
 
--- Or 
                  
---  Range of Hard Coded Dates               
---                WHERE CHAR(A.MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP) >= YYYY-MM-DD' AND 
---                  CHAR(A.MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP) <= 'YYYY-MM-DD'
---                 AND ASSOCIATED_MESSAGE_KEY = A.MESSAGE_KEY) B

 

IBM i V7R5 TR7 & V7R6 TR1 Announcements

Oct 7, 2025 

IBM has announced IBM i V7R5 TR7 and V7R6 TR1. The planned availability date is Nov 21, 2025.
 
The V7R5 TR7 page can be found here. 
 
The V7R6 TR1 page can be found here. 
 
  

Nostalgia Vault & Vintage "AS400" TV Ads

Oct 2, 2025
 
I thought this would be a good time to bring a few smiles to the fall season. On that note, may I present the "Nostalgia Vault & Vintage 'AS400' TV Ads" page.
 
I think you'll enjoy some of the pictures and links on this page which can be found