What's new in IBM Cloud Pak for Integration 16.1.0

Find out about new features and improvements in IBM Cloud Pak® for Integration.

New features

Cloud Pak for Integration version 16.1.0 adds the following enhancements:

Messaging server and messaging custom resources added to address key integration use cases

A Messaging server supports a Cloud Pak-specific set of messaging use cases. Use the new Messaging custom resources to create and configure users, channels, and queues. Messaging servers seamlessly integrate with Integration design and Integration runtimes. For more information, see Using a Messaging server.

Assets can be marked as "Approved" in Automation assets

Administrators can now mark assets as "Approved", to indicate to users in your organization that an asset is endorsed according to specific criteria. For example, you can apply the label to templates for deploying instances that meet your organization's guidelines and best practices. For more information, see Using Automation assets.

Policy enforcement (technology preview)

On Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform 4.15 and 4.16, administrators can create and apply policies so that instances cannot be deployed or updated unless they comply with the policy. This feature is a technical preview; do not use it in a production environment. For more information, see Applying policies (technical preview).

Enhancements to the assembly canvas experience

Updates to the canvas experience make it even easier to build instances, including:

A Build with assembly canvas button on the IBM Cloud Pak Platform UI home page that provides direct access to canvas authoring.
The new "Import existing instances" button on the canvas helps you import previously deployed instances into any canvas, to facilitate building additional integrations with those instances.
The table on the home page now shows which independent instances are being used inside a given assembly canvas.

For more information, see Using the canvas to create instances and integrations.

Enhancements to the Platform UI

The following enhancements are made to the Platform UI:

Updated visual design.
More fields are available for you to filter the instances list. You can now filter by name, type, namespace, version, creation date, status, and labels.
The "Versions and upgrades" page is updated to make it even easier to manage versions and upgrades. For more information about the process, see Managing versions and upgrades by using the Platform UI.

New instance types supported for disaster recovery by using OADP

You can now backup and restore these additional instance types by using Red Hat OpenShift API for Data Protection (OADP):

Operator	Instance type
IBM Cloud Pak for Integration	Declarative API Declarative API Product Integration assembly Messaging server Messaging queue Messaging channel Messaging user
IBM API Connect	API management API Manager API Analytics API Gateway API Portal
IBM DataPower Gateway	Enterprise gateway
IBM MQ	Queue manager
IBM Cloud Pak foundational services	Keycloak

For more information about backing up these and other intances in Cloud Pak for Integration by using OADP, see Backing up and restoring IBM Cloud Pak for Integration.

Event Gateway instances can be managed from the Platform UI

You can now create, edit, view, and delete Event Gateway instances in the Platform UI.

Preview Cloud Service - Integration assistant available in the Platform UI

You can enable the integration assistant conversational interface in the Platform UI as a technical preview. The assistant is available for online clusters, only. For more information, see Using the integration assistant.

Note: Cloud Pak for Integration version 16.1.0 is a Support Cycle-2 release, which means that it is the first long term support version since version 2022.2. For an overview of all product updates since then, see the blog post on IBM Community. You can also review the prior release notes:

To get updates between releases:

Important announcements - Sign up at My Notifications.

Tips on getting the most out of Cloud Pak for Integration capabilities - Go to Cloud Pak for Integration Community Blog.

The latest fixpack versions - See "Export commands for all operators" in Adding catalog sources to a cluster (OPERATOR_VERSION=x.x.x).

Product changes

New versioning scheme for Cloud Pak for Integration: In previous releases, Cloud Pak for Integration versioning referenced the "Year.Quarter.Release-Fix" (as in version 2023.4.1-0). With the current release, version 16.1.0 , Cloud Pak for Integration moves to the VRMF (Version.Release.Modification.Fix) versioning scheme, which is consistent with other products across IBM. For more information, see IBM Software product versioning explained.
Support for IBM zCX Foundation for Red Hat OpenShift: Cloud Pak for Integration supports installation on IBM zCX Foundation for Red Hat OpenShift. For more information, see Operating environment.
Support for OpenShift odd numbered minor releases: In addition to the current support for even-numbered minor OpenShift releases, Cloud Pak for Integration is adding support for installation on odd numbered minor OpenShift releases, starting with OpenShift 4.15. For more information, see Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Life Cycle Policy in the OpenShift documentation.
Support for Event Endpoint Management on s390x: The IBM Event Endpoint Management operator, and the associated Event Manager and Event Gateway instance types, are now supported on s390x in addition to amd64. For more information, see Operating environment.
Change in version support for Linux on IBM Power: Linux on IBM Power 8 hardware is no longer supported. Versions 9 and 10 are still supported.
Temporary removal of AI test generation: AI test generation is temporarily removed in Cloud Pak for Integration 16.1.0. If you already have AI test generation deployed and you upgrade Cloud Pak for Integration, you will no longer be able to use the feature. You may want to delay upgrade until it becomes available.

Documentation updates

This release includes a number of improvements to the Cloud Pak for Integration documentation, including:

Documentation of new features (marking assets as approved in Automation assets, Messaging server, policies) and feature enhancements (assembly canvas experience, OADP)
Topics on admin roles separated into OpenShift Roles and permissions and Cloud Pak for Integration roles and permissions (with steps added on how to assign roles)
In Keycloak docs, updated procedure for Importing LDAP users
Updates to Installing section (consolidated topics on Deploying an instance by using the CLI and Deploying an instance by using the Platform UI, and a new section on Automated installation)
Consolidated procedure for Uninstalling instances
New Developer reference page for common tools and tasks that may be needed to manage your cluster and install Cloud Pak for Integration
Streamlined procedures for Configuring hostnames and certificates
Updated troubleshooting in Known limitations

New releases of instances

Instances are listed by their product operator names (for example, Queue manager is listed as "IBM MQ").

This release of Cloud Pak for Integration includes the following updates to products:

IBM API Connect, What's new in the latest release
IBM App Connect, Release notes
IBM DataPower Gateway, What's new
IBM DataPower operator, Release notes
IBM Aspera High-Speed Transfer Server, Release notes. A High-Speed Transfer Server that is deployed in Cloud Pak for Integration does not necessarily include all components, enhancements, or other changes that are referenced in the release notes.
IBM MQ, Release history for IBM MQ Operator
IBM Event Automation:
- Event Endpoint Management, What's new
- Event Streams, What's new

For information about previous releases, see the Cloud Pak for Integration documentation.

System requirements

See System requirements for complete information.

Known issues

For known issues and workarounds, see Known limitations.