IBM i New Navigator

One of the most exciting functions is Navigator for i – new version!, which IBM refers to as “New Nav.” The existing Navigator web console is now called the “Heritage Version.” The IBM announcement included the following text:

“Navigator for i has been completely reimagined from the ground up. Leveraging the very latest in web technology, the new interface is designed to be a multisystem management client, enabling the easy monitoring and management of many IBM i endpoint nodes from a single interface. Many of the much-requested functions from Management Central have been pulled forward to greatly simplify managing IBM i environments.”

While the functionality in the new Navigator is similar to the Navigator web console, there are a few dramatic—and significant—improvements. In this post, I’ll summarize these items, with future articles delving deeper into specific topics.

To launch New Nav, you point your browser to the 2002 port rather than 2001; the Navigator text in the URL is required and is case sensitive:
http://SystemName:2002/Navigator

New Nav benefits include:

• The New Nav is fast!
• The GUI runs in the ADMIN1 web server instance.
• You have the ability to manage multiple endpoints from one interface and this is far superior to “set target system” in the old navigator. The ADMIN1 instance is only required on the server where the GUI runs; when you manage multiple endpoints, the other endpoints do not use the web server.
• When managing multiple endpoints, you need to be aware of requirements on the endpoints (i.e., IBM i Services available). If the functions required aren’t available on the endpoints, some functions may not work as expected.
• The underlying implementation relies heavily on IBM i Services. You can view the SQL statement IBM uses to collect the data that is displayed in the GUI. You can take that SQL statement to use in any way you may see fit.
• Function usage IDs are used to control access to the functions in New Nav; however, there are new function usage IDs for New Nav. Function usage IDs you may have used with the heritage version do not apply to New Nav. In addition, a new Function Usage task replaces the antiquated Application Administration interface.
• There are some exciting new features in New Nav, such as the ability to view information about active prestart jobs, active JVMs, manage watches, manage exit programs, a new dashboard, the ability to create custom charts to visually monitor your endpoints and more.
• All the charts you know and love from the Performance Data Investigator are also found in New Nav.

IBM has also documented functional enhancements to be delivered in future releases. It’s great to know there’s more coming.

At this point in time, the default remains the Heritage Version; for example, if you want to launch New Nav from Access Client Solutions, you need to make a change to the AcsConfig.properties file (details are in the readmespacs.txt file for the ACS 1.1.8.8).

New Nav functionality is delivered in the HTTP group PTF with availability the last week of September.

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