IBM i Series (aka AS/400) Agent for Gluesync: Features Overview

Index

Core principles

This agent establishes a connection to the Db2 for IBM i via the official IBM JTOpen JDBC driver bundled with Gluesync, enabling both source and target operations over TLS-secured channels.

Gluesync relies on the IBM i "automatic service discovery" flow: the agent first reaches port 449 (non-TLS) to learn which ports host the database, console and other required services, then negotiates the discovered services with TLS enabled.

Required firewall ports

All of the following ports must be accessible from the host running the Gluesync agent to the IBM i system. The non-TLS ports are the baseline minimum; when TLS/SSL is enabled (which Gluesync always prefers), the corresponding TLS ports are also required.

Function Server name Non-TLS port TLS/SSL port Notes

Function	Server name	Non-TLS port	TLS/SSL port	Notes
Service Mapper	`as-svrmap`	449	—	Always required. Used first to discover which ports host each service. Port 449 has no TLS equivalent.
License Management	`as-central`	8470	9470	Code-page translation tables and licensing.
Database Access	`as-database`	8471	9471	JDBC query and DML traffic.
Remote Command	`as-rmtcmd`	8475	9475	Remote command execution; also enforces Application Administration restrictions.
Signon Verification	`as-signon`	8476	9476	User authentication / sign-on.

Service Mapper

as-svrmap

449

—

Always required. Used first to discover which ports host each service. Port 449 has no TLS equivalent.

License Management

as-central

8470

9470

Code-page translation tables and licensing.

Database Access

as-database

8471

9471

JDBC query and DML traffic.

Remote Command

as-rmtcmd

8475

9475

Remote command execution; also enforces Application Administration restrictions.

Signon Verification

as-signon

8476

9476

User authentication / sign-on.

Ports in the 9xxx range are the TLS/SSL equivalents of their corresponding 8xxx counterparts. If your IBM i firewall currently only allows the 8xxx ports, you must also open the 9471, 9475, and 9476 ports to allow Gluesync to negotiate encrypted connections. For a complete reference of all IBM i Access ports see the official IBM documentation.

Change data capture

Gluesync on Db2 for IBM i uses native IBM i Journal APIs to perform change data capture (CDC) operations at the source database level (QjoRetrieveJournalEntries API).

Supported version

With this agent, you can target any version of Db2 for IBM i starting from 7.1.

Platform supported features

Feature	Support	Notes
Target role	✅	Writes to Db2 for IBM i via the bundled JDBC driver (secure transport supported).
Source role	✅	Captures changes through native Journal APIs.
DDS Discovery	✅	Discover DDS files and generate the necessary Gluesync metadata schema.
Snapshots	✅	Full-table snapshots are supported for initial loads.
CDC	✅	Real-time CDC using journal receivers and log parsing.
CDC type	Journal APIs	Leverages IBM i’s journaling infrastructure.
Bulk load	✅	Supports staging-table Bulk load workflows for high-volume mirroring into Db2 for IBM i.
Database pooling	✅	Supports connection pooling for efficient resource utilization across multiple pipelines.
Source persisted internal cache	✅	This agent supports locally in-agent persistence see Source agent caching layer.
Target persisted internal cache	N/A	Writes land directly on Db2 for IBM i via JDBC.
Driver / connector	Built-in JDBC driver	Gluesync bundles the vendor driver for IBM i connectivity, with TLS support.
Chains	Coming soon	Support planned for future releases.
Rollback operation support (reading)	✅	Journal parsing can detect ROLLBACK-like operations, it only forwards committed changes.
Truncate operation support (reading)	✅	Journal parsing can detect TRUNCATE-like operations and forward them.
Truncate operation support (writing)	✅	Supports Core Hub "TRUNCATE before snapshot" behavior on targets.

Feature

Support

Notes

Target role

✅

Writes to Db2 for IBM i via the bundled JDBC driver (secure transport supported).

Source role

✅

Captures changes through native Journal APIs.

DDS Discovery

✅

Discover DDS files and generate the necessary Gluesync metadata schema.

Snapshots

✅

Full-table snapshots are supported for initial loads.

CDC

✅

Real-time CDC using journal receivers and log parsing.

CDC type

Journal APIs

Leverages IBM i’s journaling infrastructure.

Bulk load

✅

Supports staging-table Bulk load workflows for high-volume mirroring into Db2 for IBM i.

Database pooling

✅

Supports connection pooling for efficient resource utilization across multiple pipelines.

Source persisted internal cache

✅

This agent supports locally in-agent persistence see Source agent caching layer.

Target persisted internal cache

N/A

Writes land directly on Db2 for IBM i via JDBC.

Driver / connector

Built-in JDBC driver

Gluesync bundles the vendor driver for IBM i connectivity, with TLS support.

Chains

Coming soon

Support planned for future releases.

Rollback operation support (reading)

✅

Journal parsing can detect ROLLBACK-like operations, it only forwards committed changes.

Truncate operation support (reading)

✅

Journal parsing can detect TRUNCATE-like operations and forward them.

Truncate operation support (writing)

✅

Supports Core Hub "TRUNCATE before snapshot" behavior on targets.

Change data capture

Works starting from IBM i series version 7.1 and above.

Video Tutorial

Real time data integration between IBM i 7.4 to CockroachDB 23.1

Troubleshooting

Connection issues

If you encounter connection issues, ensure that:

Port 449 is accessible from the Gluesync agent to the IBM i system
The IBM i system’s firewall allows incoming connections on all required ports (see the Required firewall ports table above)
When TLS/SSL is enabled, the 9xxx ports (9471, 9475, 9476) must be open in addition to — or instead of — the non-TLS 8xxx ports
The JDBC driver version is compatible with your IBM i version
TLS certificates are properly configured if using secure connections

Please note that even if the connection could be established from a database client (such as DBeaver, DataGrip, etc.), the agent may not be able to perform all operations if the required ports are not accessible; as the agent needs to communicate with the IBM i system on different ports for journaling and other operations and not just to the underlying database.

A common misconfiguration is opening only port 449 and the non-TLS database port (8471) while leaving the TLS equivalents (9471, 9475, 9476) blocked. Gluesync will discover the correct ports via 449 and then attempt encrypted connections on the 9xxx ports — if those are blocked, the agent will fail to connect even though port 449 and 8471 appear reachable.