The last release for this year is here, with some important new features and improvements. Release is earlier than expected due to the changed plans and as we finished this release tasks ahead of time.
Before continue, we have some important news to share...
!!! IMPORTANT !!!
Release 2022.Q4 (GSv5) is the last version with official support for the Microsoft IE 9,10,11 browsers. This browser is already obsolete and in process of ending official support. As technology progress, new features are added every month through online browser updates, bringing new ways to develop and improve web based software.
The next 2023 releases (GSv6) and onward will be based on the latest technologies available, supporting only fresh browser updates (up to a 1-year-old versions).
In the time of GSv6 release, browser supporting ECMAScript 2022 (ES13) will be required. Oldest supported browsers list can be found here.
Recently, we announced our Green Screens Web Component and migrating Web Admin console to a new technology. A new console is production ready ahead of planned time, but we decided to postpone that release to GSv6 2023.Q1 in mid to late January 2023. Mainly to keep this release as legacy browsers compatible.
Additionally, except updating Web Admin Console, we will also update other parts of the UI removing old resources, change product licensing and prepare infrastructure for new planed features such as support for calling RPG programs as a service (REST/RPC) and many more coming next year.
Install on IBM i
Green Screens Server was made Java 1.8 and Java 11 compatible from its beginnings, allowing it to run on IBM i servers. Over the years, as we updated server runtime, from time to time, we needed to adjust the system to run on IBM i. Latest update has improved procedure, installation manual and was fully tested on IBM i 7.5 release.
NOTE: Even made compatible with Java 1.8, we recommend at least Java 11 or newer releases, which further limits IBM i OS version support to 7.2 or newer.
Improved Dynamic Certificates for Cloud installations
When running Green Screens Servers in the cloud, on the IBM i server, multiple partitions can be used. For an example, multiple customers can be using a single IBM i machine on 1-2 or more partitions. Each customer will run its own domain or will be using the same domain but different ports. When working with ACME protocol (Let's Encrypt) to automatically get certificates for a domain, there are some technical requirements which made automated ACME protocol usage impossible in such scenarios. To handle this, we added automated self-updating certificate directory support. External tools can be used to provide certificates directly to the Green Screens Server. Additionally, REST API was added to allow server internal script scheduled tasks to do the job.
XTERM and SSH
Along the 5250 web terminal, we added a standard web based UNIX Xterm with SSH service support allowing connections to the IBM i PASE shell. Currently, in public preview status.
Extension UI updates
Browser extension UI is modernized, and old code was migrated to our GS WebComponents library.
Server Runtime Updates
Green Screens Server runtime is updated to the latest version, which fixes some issues when running on Java 17. Update brings performance and stability improvements.
Security improvements
Additional security improvements are made when running on IBM i. Also, FIDO/WebAuthn records are even more secured with dynamic encryption - different for every user and every configured environment. Β
FIDO/WebAuth key filtering
A new Web Admin UI segment was added to allow control what kind of FIDO devices can be used to register/authenticate. This is extremely important as there are situations when some devices turn out to be insecure and needs to be blocked. Or, when companies has dedicated security keys used with custom AAGUID.
OTP Support Improvements
OTP secured IBM i sign-on recovery mechanism is improved, making it easier for a user to reset OTP in a case OTP token key is lost.
Change list
A full list of changes can be seen at the following link.