ASNA DataGate® 16.0 for IBM i®

Version: 16.0.32.0
Release date: 2023-03-01


NOTE: DataGate® 16.0 uses a 16.0 license, please obtain a new license code from ASNA if upgrading. Using ASNA Browser Terminal requires only a BTerm license.

What's New

DataGate® for IBM i 16.0 supports ASNA's latest .NET products, including Mobile RPG® 10.0 and the Browser Terminal®.

Improved job initiation (multithreaded server) and license manager performance (no *USRQs).

IBM i Open Access Handlers

DataGate 16.x installs the following Open Access handlers:

Each handler is licensed separately. Talk to your ASNA sales representative for licensing details.

Software Requirements

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

The DataGate client software contained in this release significantly changes the way Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connections are configured. DataGate SSL support was introduced in Version 15 as an option for secure network communications between DataGate clients and servers.

In prior releases, DataGate client connection configurations, by default, specified an SSL-enabled connection. This allowed many users to enhance the security of their applications by simply installing the new, SSL supporting DataGate release. Unfortunately, other customers experienced connection and security issues due to shifting standards and evolving platform infrastructure supporting SSL, as offered by Windows and IBM i.

In this release, DataGate client users must now "opt-in" when configuring new connections secured with SSL. When a new connection configuration is created, the default setting is to specify a non-SSL, or "clear-text" connection to the server.

DataGate connections are typically configured as "database names". A database name is a collection of properties defining all the information needed to connect to a DataGate server from the client computer. Existing database names are not affected by this change, but new database names are affected:

Database names created by prior releases retain the same SSL configuration as they had when created or modified. The default configuration of new database names will specify non-SSL connections. Creating SSL-Enabled Database Names

Online documentation linked below fully details the process of creating an SSL-enabled database name configuration using DataGate Studio. The process is very similar for users of DataGate Monitor.

More information here

Other DataGate SSL Options

DataGate offers many options for enhancing the security of its client/server connection with SSL. For full details of options available for both the client and server, please consult the online documentation.

Configuring DataGate Connections Programmatically

Connection configurations are represented in DataGate as instances of the SourceProfile class in the DataGate .NET API. While most users and applications will configure connections via database names, some programs use the DataGate API directly.

Users of the SourceProfile class are advised that the changes in this release may represent a breaking change to the behavior of your programs. The default value of the SourceProfile.SslOptions property is now SslOptions.None; in previous releases the default value was SslOptions.Request. If your program does not explicitly set this property, connections made with the SourceProfile instances you create will be clear-text, rather than SSL-enabled.

If you directly create and use SourceProfile instances in your programs, ASNA highly recommends modifying them to explicitly set SourceProfile.SslOptions before deploying this DataGate release.

Database Name Migration From Non-SSL Releases

Database names created by DataGate releases prior to Version 15 do not contain SSL-related configuration information. When these database names are read by Version 15 software, the configuration is migrated to include SSL configuration options. Prior to this release, those migrations would enable SSL connections, unless otherwise explicitly changed by the user. Henceforth, automatic database name migrations will disable SSL in the connections they represent.

Users who deploy applications using the database names contained in configuration files created with prior, non-SSL supported DataGate releases are advised that changes in this release may represent a breaking change in this deployment strategy, for reasons outlined in the previous paragraph.

Installation Notes

If you are using terminal emulation (i.e. Wings or BTerm), please be sure to update your DataGate clients to 16.0.x.0 (Wings 10.0.x.0 or WebPak 16.0.x.0) or newer on both your development and deployment machines before installing this new DataGate for IBM i server.

Non-interactive connections (i.e. those not using the terminal emulator) done with older DataGate Clients will work, but any attempt to start a connection with 5250 emulation will require the client to be running at least version 14.0.0.0.

See full installation instructions and other information

NOTE - If you are installing this version to support ASNA Browser Terminal, install it on a library and port separate from any existing production DataGate instances.

New Features:

Note - If this software is downloaded via Microsoft Internet Explorer or Edge you may receive a message stating that this file "is not commonly downloaded" when attempting to install it. In this event click the View Downloads button, select the ASNA product to install from that list, and confirm that you'd like to install it.

Similarly, attempting to install the software directly through Microsoft Windows may cause a "Windows protected your PC" message to appear. In this event click the small More Info prompt on the left, and click Run Anyway on the following window.



Changes Since Version: 16.0.31.1

DataGate Server