We have a big update this quarter. 

• RHEL 10 was released yesterday, read on for what that means for you
• 2025.3 will use OpenSSL 3 across all operating systems  SUSE 15 sp6 will be the minimum OS for orgs using SUSE
• The minimum CPU standards are going up in 2025.3
• Older Windows Server operating systems will no longer be supported in 2025.3

If you’re new to these updates, welcome!  This update aims to share recent changes as well as our best current knowledge on upcoming changes, but predicting the future is tricky business and this shouldn’t be considered a committed roadmap. 

InterSystems IRIS Production Operating Systems and CPU Architectures

Minimum Supported CPU Architecture

In 2024, InterSystems introduced a minimum supported CPU architecture for all Intel- & AMD-based servers that allows us to take advantage of new CPU instructions to create faster versions of IRIS.  IRIS 2025.3 will update that list to require the x86-64-v3 microarchitecture level, which requires the AVX, AVX2, BMI, and BMI2 instructions.

• For users with Intel-based systems, this means that Skylake and up will be required while Hasell/Broadwell will not be supported.
• For users with AMD-based systems, this means that Excavator and up will be required while Piledriver & Steamroller will not be supported.

Are you wondering if your CPU will still be supported?  We published a handy article on how to look up your CPU’s microarchitecture in 2023.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

• Upcoming Changes
  • RHEL 10 - Red Hat releases RHEL 10 on May 20th.  We’ve been testing on the latest beta of RHEL 10 on IRIS 2025.1.
    • IRIS 2025.1 support – We anticipate officially adding support for RHEL 10 in about a month.  That’s assuming the GA version of RHEL 10 doesn’t introduce any significant problems, of course.
    • Moving forward – once we have support for RHEL 10 in IRIS, we will stop supporting RHEL 8 on moving forward versions of IRIS.  This likely means that IRIS 2025.2 will just support RHEL 9 & 10.
• Previous Updates
  • RHEL 9.5 has undergone minor OS certification without incident.
• Further reading: RHEL Release Page

Ubuntu

• Current Update
  • Ubuntu 24.04.2 has just been released and minor OS certification has begun.
• Further Reading: Ubuntu Releases Page

SUSE Linux

• Upcoming Changes
  • IRIS 2025.3+ will require SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6 or greater – SLES 15 sp6 has given us the option to use OpenSSL 3 and, to provide you with the most secure platform possible, we’re going to change IRIS to start taking advantage of it.
  • In preparation for moving to OpenSSL 3 in IRIS 2025.3, there will be no IRIS 2025.2 for SUSE.

Further Reading: SUSE lifecycle

Oracle Linux

• Upcoming Changes
  • We’re expecting Oracle Linux 10 to be released around the same time as RHEL 10.  Since we support Oracle Linux via the IRIS RHEL kit, we’re expecting Oracle Linux 10 support at the same time as RHEL 10 support is released.
• Further Reading: Oracle Linux Support Policy

Microsoft Windows

• Recent Changes
  • Windows Server 2025 is now supported in IRIS 2025.1 and up.
• Upcoming Changes
  • IRIS 2025.3+ will no longer support Windows Server 2016 & 2019.
  • Microsoft has pushed back the anticipated release date for Windows 12 to the fall of 2025.  We’ll start the process of supporting the new OS after it’s been released.
• Further Reading: Microsoft Lifecycle

AIX

• Upcoming Changes
  • IBM is rolling out new Power 11 hardware this summer.  We anticipate running the new hardware through the paces over the course of the late summer and early fall.  Look for a full update on our findings in the Q4 newsletter.
• Previous Changes
  • IRIS 2024.3 and up only support OpenSSL 3. NOTE:  This means that 2024.2 is the last version of IRIS that has both OpenSSL 1 and OpenSSL 3 kits.  In IRIS 2023.3, 2024.1, & 2024.2, we provided two separate IRIS kits – one that supports OpenSSL 1 and one that supports OpenSSL 3.  Given the importance of OpenSSL 3 for overall system security, we’ve heard from many of you that you’ve already moved to OpenSSL 3.
• Further Reading: AIX Lifecycle

Containers

• Previous Updates
  • We changed the container base image from Ubuntu 22.04 to Ubuntu 24.04 with IRIS 2024.2
  • We’re considering changes to the default IRIS container to, by default, have internal traffic (ECP, Mirroring, etc) on a different port from potentially externally facing traffic (ODBC, JDBC, etc).  If you have needs in this area, please reach out and let me know.

InterSystems IRIS Development Operating Systems and CPU Architectures

MacOS

• Recent Changes
  • IRIS 2025.1 adds support for MacOS 15 on both ARM- and Intel-based systems.

InterSystems Components

• Upcoming Releases
  • InterSystems API Manager 3.10 will be released soon.
  • InterSystems Kubernetes Operator 3.8 will be released in the coming weeks as well.

Caché & Ensemble Production Operating Systems and CPU Architectures

• Previous Updates
  • A reminder that the final Caché & Ensemble maintenance releases are scheduled for Q1-2027, which is coming up sooner than you think.  See  Jeff’s excellent community article for more info.

InterSystems Supported Platforms Documentation

The InterSystems Supported Platforms documentation is the definitive source information on supported technologies.

• IRIS 2025.1 Supported Server Platforms
• IRIS 2024.1 Supported Server Platforms
• IRIS 2023.1 Supported Server Platforms
• Caché & Ensemble 2018.1 Supported Server Platforms

… and that’s all folks.  Again, if there’s something more that you’d like to know about, please let us know.