When to install IBM i 7.6 TR3, after what TR2 did to networks

Updated October 28, 2026: IBM announced IBM i 7.6 TR3 and 7.5 TR9 at TechXchange in Atlanta on October 27. Simon Hutchinson of RPGPGM.COM reports both are planned to be available November 20, 2026, the Friday before Thanksgiving week. His early highlights: a SQL SELF exclusion list, header options for decompression and logging in the QSYS2 HTTP functions, RPG array initialization from a list of values, a new %INFO built-in function, and an option on the create commands that stops a program being changed with UPDPGM. We could not yet confirm from IBM whether MJ11726 and MJ11725, the TR2/TR8 virtual Ethernet fixes, are inside the new groups. The advice below has not changed: the GA date lands exactly where the article expected it.

This article first ran on October 21, when IT Jungle expected the announcement at the combined IBM TechXchange and COMMON NAViGATE conference, October 26 to 29, and reported that IBM had a November 4 Guided Tour on the calendar promising “new enhancements for security, performance, and modernization.” The question for most shops is not what is in it. It is when to install IBM i 7.6 TR3, given that the last Technology Refresh knocked virtual Ethernet partitions off the network and took about ten weeks to get a fix.

My answer: unless you need new hardware support, do not put the fall TR group on production in November. Take the software features you want through their own PTF groups where the cover letters allow it, and schedule the Licensed Internal Code change for January, after the first HIPER cycle. Here is the reasoning and the prep to do now.

What was expected, and what is still not confirmed

As of October 21 nothing about TR3 or TR9 was official. IT Jungle’s October 19 piece calls it “indications,” not an announcement: the November 4 Guided Tour featuring new chief architect Kris Whitney, Scott Forstie, Tim Rowe and Tim Mullenbach, plus IBM’s habit of timing IBM i news to the big user conference. No session at either show has the fall TR in its title, and COMMON had only published Monday’s schedule when IT Jungle checked.

The timing pattern is more useful than the rumor. IBM’s own Hardware Technology Refresh history pages list these fall GA dates:

Fall refresh	GA date
7.5 TR3	11/17/2023
7.5 TR5	11/22/2024
7.5 TR7 and 7.6 TR1	11/21/2025

2026 followed it: November 20 is the third Friday of the month. That is the week before Thanksgiving and inside the year-end change freeze for many retail, distribution and manufacturing shops running IBM i. The spring refresh broke that pattern by slipping from April to late July so it could ship alongside the Power S1112, which we covered in the July TR2 and TR8 announcement.

Installing the IBM i 7.6 TR3 group is now a separate decision

Most teams still talk about “installing the TR” as one event. Since 2025 it is not. IBM’s Technology Refresh overview page says each refresh is now two deliverables that “may be announced and delivered separately and in different quarters”:

A Hardware Technology Refresh is the TR PTF group (SF99967 on 7.6, SF99957 on 7.5). Its core is a Licensed Internal Code PTF, MJ99502 for 7.6 TR2 and MJ99408 for 7.5 TR8. It carries support for new Power servers and I/O, plus “hardware-related functions.”

A Software Technology Refresh has, in IBM’s words, “no single package.” The new SQL services, RPG opcodes and Navigator screens arrive through their own PTF groups, product PTFs and client downloads.

TR2 shows the split clearly. IBM’s TR2 enhancements page says the Db2 for i features, including SYSTOOLS.CVE_INFO, QSYS2.SQL_ERROR_LOG and the new audit journal services, “are delivered by Db2 for i PTF Group SF99960 Level 3.” The RPG additions (ASSERT-F, ASSERT-T, LIKE(*EXT), %LOOKUPNE) came through 5770-WDS compiler PTFs. Navigator’s update shipped in the HTTP group on June 29. ACS 1.1.9.13 is a PC download.

So the features developers actually ask for usually live outside the LIC group. Whether a given Db2 group level requires the TR PTF as a prerequisite is in that group’s cover letter, so read it rather than assuming either way. But the default plan should be to treat them as two changes with two risk profiles.

What TR2 and TR8 taught: the LIC group is a one-way door

TR8 and TR2 went GA on July 24. IBM’s advisory, last updated October 2, says installing them “can cause a complete loss of network connectivity on partitions using Virtual Ethernet adapter type 268C.” The fixing HIPERs, MJ11725 for 7.5 and MJ11726 for 7.6, were expected for download on October 3. That is about ten weeks from GA to fix, and any partition getting its network through VIOS has 268C resources. Our TR8 virtual Ethernet fix guide walks through the exposure check and the four fix paths.

Two details matter for the fall decision.

First, IBM’s page for the 7.6 TR2 PTF group lists “Virtual Ethernet Multi-Queue support” among its functional enhancements. IBM has not published a root cause tying that feature to the outage, and we are not claiming one. But it is a reminder that “hardware-related functions” inside the LIC group can touch the network stack on partitions with no new hardware at all.

Second, backing out is expensive. IBM’s PTF FAQ says LIC PTFs “can only be removed *PERM.” IBM’s removal guidance for TR2 and TR8 starts with restoring Licensed Internal Code from a SAVSYS taken before the install, which means a SLIP install. If you have no pre-TR SAVSYS, you have no clean way back.

And you cannot dodge TR2 by waiting for TR3. IBM’s TR pages say later Technology Refresh PTFs for a release “are supersets of previous PTFs.” A shop that held at 7.6 TR1 to avoid the network issue gets TR2’s LIC changes the moment it installs TR3. Check the TR3 group cover letter for MJ11726 (or MJ11725 for TR9) before you plan around it.

When to install the fall TR: pick your situation

Your situation	What to do
Buying new Power hardware or I/O that needs TR3/TR9	You need the TR group. Install it with the latest HIPER group and cume, as IBM requires, after a pre-install SAVSYS. Test on a non-production LPAR first if you have one.
Partitions use virtual Ethernet (268C) through VIOS	Wait for at least one HIPER group refresh after GA. Install on a test or dev LPAR first and confirm network traffic survives the IPL.
Year-end change freeze starts mid-November	Do not put a LIC change in. Schedule the TR group for January and say so in the change calendar now, before someone asks in December.
You only want the new SQL services or RPG features	Take the Db2 for i group or compiler PTFs on their own schedule when the cover letter shows no TR prerequisite. Developers get the features without an LIC change on production.
Still on TR7 or TR1 because of the 268C issue	TR3/TR9 brings TR2/TR8’s LIC changes with it. Confirm the fix PTF is included or listed as a requisite, then treat it like the virtual Ethernet row above.

None of this is an argument against staying current. IBM’s own best practice is to keep the latest PTF groups, cume and HIPERs on the system, and the security and HIPER groups should keep moving through the freeze if your process allows. The point is to separate the low-risk, high-frequency groups from the once-a-season LIC change and give the second one a test window.

Prep now, before GA

Four things are worth doing now, while nothing new is downloadable before November 20.

Find out where every partition stands. SYSTOOLS.GROUP_PTF_CURRENCY compares installed group levels with IBM’s Preventive Service Planning feed:

SELECT PTF_GROUP_TITLE,
       PTF_GROUP_LEVEL_INSTALLED AS INSTALLED,
       PTF_GROUP_LEVEL_AVAILABLE AS AVAILABLE,
       PTF_GROUP_CURRENCY
  FROM SYSTOOLS.GROUP_PTF_CURRENCY
 ORDER BY PTF_GROUP_LEVEL_AVAILABLE - PTF_GROUP_LEVEL_INSTALLED DESC;

Run it with a job CCSID other than 65535 or it fails with SQL0332. A null PTF_GROUP_CURRENCY means the partition cannot reach IBM’s PSP site, which is worth knowing before patch week anyway.

Confirm which TR level is actually installed, not which one someone thinks is installed:

SELECT PTF_GROUP_NAME, PTF_GROUP_LEVEL, PTF_GROUP_STATUS
  FROM QSYS2.GROUP_PTF_INFO
 WHERE PTF_GROUP_NAME IN ('SF99967', 'SF99957')
 ORDER BY PTF_GROUP_NAME, PTF_GROUP_LEVEL DESC;

SF99967 is the 7.6 TR group and SF99957 is the 7.5 one. IBM’s 7.6 TR page names SF99957 in one paragraph, which appears to be carried over from the 7.5 page; its own table lists SF99967.

Schedule the SAVSYS. If you plan to install the fall TR group at any point, the pre-install SAVSYS is your rollback. Put it on the calendar now, not the night of the window.

Make sure someone can reach the console without the network. If a TR takes the network down, the HMC 5250 console is the way in. Check who has HMC credentials, whether they still work, and whether that person will be around in November. In a lot of shops, the PTF and IPL procedure lives in one person’s head. If that is you, write the runbook before the window. The IBM i AI Field Guide has prompts built for turning that kind of operational knowledge into documentation someone else can follow.

If you are going to Atlanta

The COMMON pass covers TechXchange, and IBM’s FAQ says any TechXchange attendee can sit in COMMON sessions. IT Jungle lists NAViGATE at $1,295; IBM’s standard TechXchange pass is $1,599 now that early bird has closed. COMMON’s schedule site still shows every session at a placeholder Monday 9:00 time, so build your plan in the IBM Events app once times are final.

For the TR decision, these are the sessions worth your time: “What’s New in DB2 for i: IBM i 7.6 Release and Latest TR Updates” (Sarah Mackenzie, listed for October 28), “IBM i Security: What’s new in IBM i 7.6” (Robert Andrews), “IBM i Network Troubleshooting & Diagnostics” and “It’s 2AM, Do You Know Where Your Console Is?” (both Wayne Bowers), and “An Overview of IBM i Migrate While Active” (Ann Wilkerson). Migrate While Active is IBM’s answer to “how do I patch without an outage,” and our Migrate While Active cost breakdown covers what it does and does not replace.

Then ask IBM three questions at the booth or in Q&A:

1. Which TR3/TR9 functional enhancements change LIC behavior on partitions with no new hardware?
2. Is MJ11726/MJ11725 included in the new TR group, or is it a separate requisite?
3. Which Db2 for i and compiler PTF levels require the new TR PTF, and which install on TR2/TR8?

The answers decide whether your developers can have the new SQL services in December while production waits until January.

Bottom line

7.6 TR3 and 7.5 TR9 are announced, with downloads planned for November 20. For most shops, the right plan is to split the refresh: take the software groups your team wants once their cover letters show no TR prerequisite, and hold the LIC group for a January window with a pre-install SAVSYS, a tested console path and at least one HIPER cycle behind it. The exception is a shop that needs the TR for new hardware. That shop installs it, but on a test partition first.

TR2 showed that a Technology Refresh can take a partition off the network, and that the way back is a SLIP install. Plan the fall refresh as if that could happen again, because nothing IBM has published says it cannot.

Frequently Asked Questions

When will IBM i 7.6 TR3 and 7.5 TR9 be available?

IBM announced both at TechXchange in Atlanta on October 27, 2026, and they are planned to be available November 20, 2026, according to RPGPGM.COM. That matches the pattern of the last three fall Technology Refreshes, which went GA on November 17, 2023, November 22, 2024 and November 21, 2025.

Can I skip TR2 and go straight from TR1 to TR3?

You can jump levels, but you cannot skip TR2’s content. IBM says later Technology Refresh PTFs for a release are supersets of earlier ones, so TR3 carries TR2’s Licensed Internal Code changes. Check the TR3 group cover letter for MJ11726, the HIPER that fixed TR2’s virtual Ethernet problem, before you install.

Do I need the Technology Refresh PTF group to get new SQL services and RPG features?

Not always. Since 2025 IBM splits each refresh into a Hardware Technology Refresh, delivered as the TR PTF group, and a Software Technology Refresh with no single package. TR2’s Db2 for i features shipped in the Db2 PTF group SF99960 and the RPG features in compiler PTFs. Read each group’s cover letter for prerequisites before assuming you can take it alone.

Can I remove a Technology Refresh if it causes problems?

Not easily. The TR PTF is a Licensed Internal Code PTF, and IBM’s PTF FAQ says LIC PTFs can only be removed permanently. IBM’s guidance for backing out TR2 and TR8 starts with restoring Licensed Internal Code from a SAVSYS taken before the install, which means a SLIP install and an outage.