We are assessing the feasibility of upgrading an IBM Power9 environment from AIX 7.1 TL5 to AIX 7.2.

Current stack:

• IBM WebSphere Application Server ND 7.0.0.23

• Java 6

• IBM MQ 7.5.0.8

• IBM Integration Bus / WMB 8.0.0.9

• DB2 10.5 FP10

• LDAP authentication

• HTTPS endpoints with certificates

• MQ connectivity

• DB2 connectivity

• SOAP integrations with external systems

The environment is stable today and there are no major operational issues. The primary concern is that Java 6 is no longer available on AIX 7.2 and the application stack is well beyond End of Support.

We are considering the following approach:

1. Upgrade Java 6 to Java 7 while remaining on AIX 7.1.

2. Perform full regression testing of all applications and integrations.

3. If successful, proceed with the AIX 7.2 upgrade.

I am interested in hearing from anyone who has experience with:

• WAS 7.0.0.x running on AIX 7.2

• Java 6 to Java 7 migration in a WAS 7 environment

• Issues encountered with LDAP, MQ, DB2, HTTPS/TLS, or SOAP integrations after the upgrade

• Security stack challenges (GSKit, OpenSSL, certificates, cipher suites, browser compatibility)

• Any lessons learned, unexpected issues, or recommended migration strategies

Were there any specific compatibility issues that caused major problems, or was the effort primarily focused on regression testing and security/certificate updates?

Any real-world experiences or recommendations would be appreciated