Navigator for i is a modern web interface for managing IBM i systems. This session will provide a comprehensive overview of Navigator’s capabilities, including system monitoring, performance analysis, security configuration, and workload management. We will explore how to leverage its features to simplify everyday administrative tasks. Whether you’re new to IBM i or an experienced professional, this session will equip you with the knowledge and tools to maximize the value of Navigator for i.

SQL Services on IBM i is a hot topic because there are so many ways that SQL Services can bring unique value and ease of use to anyone using an IBM i. Attend this session to understand which SQL Services have proven to be some of the most powerful and popular with IBM i users. The session will also include many working examples, to help you get started today!

VS Code marketplace hosts thousands and thousands of extensions. Dozen of developers created extensions that use extend Code for IBM i. Why not yours? Give it a shot, it’s easier than it looks! Join this session to learn about the fundamentals of VS Code extension coding, through a live, step by step approach. Discover how you can access the API exposed by Code for IBM i to run commands or Db2 for i queries on IBM i. Everybody is welcome, whether you’re looking to get started on VS Code extension development or learn new development tricks.

FOCUS 2026 was held live on February 17-18, 2026. The contents of the virtual conference can be seen within.

This session provides an end-to-end, practitioner-focused deep dive into Kerberos based Single Sign-On on IBM i, designed to be approachable for those new to the technology while still delivering real value to experienced engineers. We start by clearly explaining the core Kerberos concepts—tickets, principals, SPNs, and authentication flows—then progressively peel back the layers to show what actually happens during successful and failed logins. We will cover how both Network Authentication Services (NAS) and Enterprise Identity Mapping (EIM) work together within the IBM i. From there, we move beyond theory into real-world behavior, covering both single-hop and multi-hop (delegation) scenarios and why they so often break in enterprise environments. We will conclude the session by diving into advanced diagnostics and troubleshooting techniques, including common misconfigurations, delegation pitfalls, clock and DNS issues, and how to interpret logs and traces to pinpoint failures. Attendees will leave with a practical mental model of Kerberos, a clear understanding of how SSO works across hops, and concrete techniques they can immediately apply to debug complex authentication problems in production.

As shipped by IBM, the default configurations of IBM i work well. However, as the complexity of environments grow, the stock settings can make it difficult to fully understand and manage the workload. IBM provides the ability to customize and tune the system, and in particular, use subsystems to better manage remote database access. Many shops fail to embrace these work management capabilities. This FOCUS session will cover the benefits of using subsystems to their fullest extent to organize and optimize applications on your system. This session will guide you through the work management features that can be used to help you fully understand system resources used by your applications and tune them for best performance. We will concentrate on how to set up subsystem descriptions and their various components, how to tune prestart job entires, how to tune memory pools used by subsystems, best practices for job descriptions, how and when to leverage workload groups, and more. This session will focus on using Navigator for i to do these tasks. It will also touch upon how the Performance Data Investigator can help with your tuning exercises. This session is intended for those who do not have extensive experience in setting up custom subsystems, routing work to those subsystems, and managing the performance of your IBM i. However, even for those who have embraced the use of custom subsystems for their environments, the session will have some tips for everyone.

Every programmer and system administrator should care about SQL query performance, but wrapping your head around SQL performance can be a daunting task. This session showcases a variety of technologies available to help anyone identify, mitigate, and improve SQL performance. Topics covered includes a variety of SQL services, ACS’s powerful SQL Performance Center, query writing tips, and much more.

Db2 for i provides useful tools and examples in the SYSTOOLS schema. Come to this session to learn about the awesome SYSTOOLS-based tools. You need not be an SQL programmer to gain tremendous value from SQL tools!

SQL Views are an underused but highly effective tool in IBM i development. This session shows how SQL Views can simplify applications by encapsulating business rules, reducing code duplication, and improving data consistency. Through practical examples, attendees will learn how views can streamline data access for RPG programs, enhance security, and support reporting and integration. Ideal for developers modernizing existing applications or building new IBM i solutions with SQL.

Join Kim Greene in learning about the basics of speaking as a COMMON speaker at our events.