Learn about the BRMS user interface plan
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Statement of Direction
IBM and HelpSystems developed a multi-step plan for the future, including delivering a new graphical interface for the BRMS product in a phased approach. The BRMS team is currently heavily focused on ensuring that no loss of BRMS functionality occurs with the removal of the heritage Navigator support by delivering immediate value through commands, APIs, and SQL services. These replacement functions are building blocks for future development. The BRMS strategic direction is an incremental staged delivery of a new BRMS graphical interface in the future while continuing to balance the delivery of other customer enhancement requests.
Phase I - Foundations
BRMS initially provided a web-based graphical interface in V6R1M0 as an optional plug-in to the IBM Navigator for i interface. Over the years, this interface was enhanced and extended with functionality not accessible via other interfaces.
The first phase involves ensuring that any functionality available only via the graphical interface in the heritage navigator for i web interface is available via commands, APIs, and SQL services.
SQL services began to ship in the fall of 2020 delivering immediate value to BRMS customers worldwide. The delivery of these services has continued and will continue. In addition, the BRMS product will continue to enhance and expand BRMS commands, APIs, and SQL services to ensure that equivalent functionality remains available to customers.
Today's SQL services enable our users to realize immediate value, including tying the services into any existing monitoring solution that can utilize SQL, allowing users to create dashboards for their BRMS environment.
By pulling these GUI-only foundations into the core product, we ensure that the BRMS product can provide value to any interface available today and in the future more reliably and quickly.
For additional information on BRMS SQL services see: BRMS SQL Services
Phase II - Future Graphical Interfaces
The second phase of this long-term strategy is to evaluate and deliver the best path forward for BRMS interfaces into the future that delivers the most value to BRMS users. This page will continue to be updated with additional details on this phase in the future.
Phase III - GUI Enhancements
After the initial delivery of a new user interface, the BRMS team will leverage feedback to prioritize and deliver enhancements and functionality in an incremental approach.
This multi-year journey ensures that the BRMS product continues to be a trusted backup and recovery solution for IBM i customers.
Heritage Navigator for IBM i
IBM announced the new navigator in September of 2021, built on new technologies leveraging the SQL services brought to the IBM i operating system over the last 10+ years. The goal was to have the new navigator and heritage navigator interfaces running alongside each other for a transition period.
Unfortunately, just three months after the release of the new navigator interface a zero-day vulnerability, log4j, was discovered. This vulnerability impacted software worldwide, including the heritage navigator for i interface. As per IBM’s support documentation, IBM is unable to resolve the log4j security vulnerabilities in the heritage navigator for i product and had to make the difficult decision to withdraw support for the product by the end of 2022, much earlier than initially planned. Because of this change in strategy, the BRMS team is currently heavily focused on ensuring that no loss of BRMS functionality occurs, by delivering immediate value through commands, APIs, and SQL services.
In the meantime, we have provided resources for those transitioning from the heritage navigator to other BRMS interfaces. The following resources provide information on specific functionality that previously was only provided via the graphical interface:
GUI-only function | Transition Reference |
|---|---|
Reclaim Media | |
Control group attributes | |
GUI Object Omits | |
BRMS Log e-mail | SQL Service - View Distribution Messages SQL Service - Set Distribution Server Procedure |
BRMS Log omits | |
Media Library Management | SQL Service - Media Library Management View |
BRMS Enterprise | Under Construction - Estimated delivery Q4 2022 |
Help Shape the Future Direction of BRMS
The BRMS team looks forward to having discussions with customers to learn how you are using the heritage navigator for IBM i functionality, so that we can continue to prioritize and deliver functionality that matters most to our customers. You can help drive the direction for BRMS by doing one of the following:
Vote on the IBM idea related to the BRMS graphical interface, and provide us with information to help us prioritize the functionality that is important to you: What specific tasks are most important to you in the day to day management of BRMS?
What specific tasks are most important to you in the day-to-day management of BRMS?
What are the most difficult aspects of configuring, managing and monitoring your current BRMS environment?
See the IBM Idea to vote and provide your feedback: IBMI-I-2609
Use the following link to contact us if you are interested in providing direct feedback. When providing feedback, let us know the specific details that are important to you. We may use the information you provide to contact you for a follow-up discussion to help drive the direction of BRMS.
Statements by the BRMS team regarding its plans, directions, and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice at the sole discretion of the BRMS team.