IBM i Migration to Power 11
A planning roadmap for IBM i shops moving from older Power Systems onto Power11.
Migrating an IBM i environment to Power11 is a hardware refresh, but it is also the best opportunity to clean up years of accumulated OS version debt, licensing sprawl, and undocumented application dependencies. This roadmap focuses on the IBM i audience specifically.
Step 1: Inventory your current machine
Document your current system model and serial, processor group, activated cores, memory, and internal/external storage. This is the baseline every Power11 sizing conversation starts from.
Step 2: Confirm your IBM i OS version
Verify your current IBM i version and confirm compatibility with Power11. A hardware refresh is the natural checkpoint to plan an OS version upgrade if you are running an older release approaching end of support.
Step 3: Audit application dependencies
Inventory RPG, COBOL, CL, and DB2 applications, along with any third-party software, and confirm compatibility with your target IBM i version before migrating. This step is the most commonly underestimated part of an IBM i migration.
Step 4: Review licensing
Software tier, processor group, and per-core licensing can all change with a hardware refresh. Review your IBM i, third-party ISV, and any AIX or Linux licensing before finalizing a quote.
Step 5: Plan backup and downtime
Confirm your backup method (BRMS save/restore, virtual tape via VIOS, or another approach) and define an acceptable downtime window for cutover. Most IBM i migrations to a new Power system can be completed within a planned maintenance window when backup and restore procedures have been tested in advance.
Step 6: Define HA/DR requirements
Decide whether high availability replication, disaster recovery site requirements, or both need to be re-established on the new Power11 environment, and whether that changes your target configuration.
Step 7: Test before cutover
Validate backup and restore procedures, application behavior on the new OS version, and any integration points well before your planned cutover date. Testing in advance is what turns a migration weekend into a routine event instead of an incident.
Step 8: Plan cutover
Document your cutover window, rollback plan, IP addressing, user profiles, and system values that need reconfiguration on the new system. Work with an IBM Business Partner experienced in IBM i migrations to execute the plan.
Once you have worked through these steps, use the Power11 Quote Checklist to package everything into a clean quote request.