Product Information
SAP on IBM i: Kernel 7.22 EX2 available in the SAP Software Distribution Center
On May 4th, 2020. SAP has officially released the SAP kernel 7.22 EX2 with an initial patch level of 920 for SAP NetWeaver ABAP. More details about this kernel can be found in SAP Note 2880246 – SAP Kernel 722 EX2: General Information and Usage. This kernel uses the same source code as the 7.22 and 7.22 EXT kernels, but is compiled with a newer compiler, so it requires higher levels of the C/C++ runtime. For IBM i, the 7.22 EX2 kernel requires a minimum release of IBM i 7.4. With this release, SAP is showing their commitment for IBM i as a platform and their support of IBM i 7.4 and beyond.
Internal benchmarks have shown 7.22 EX2 kernel performance to have slightly improved throughput and response time while using slightly less CPU as compared to 7.22 EXT kernel performance on both POWER8 and POWER9 processors. If you are already using IBM i 7.4 or are planning to move to IBM i 7.4 in the near future, the 7.22 EX2 kernel may be used now, but there is no need to switch to the 7.22 EX2 kernel right away. SAP recommends to wait for the next stack kernel with a patch level of 1000, which is expected to be released later this year.