New, Modified and Dropped Features

This document describes the new and modified features in Adabas Version 6.7.1.


New Features

Adabas Role-Based Security

Adabas role-based security implements Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), and restricts access on the basis of the roles assigned to a user, and the permissions that are assigned to those roles.

This feature includes the following functionality:

  • Authentication

    This provides a means of validating credentials against an authority.

  • Authorization for Direct Call Interface

    This provides a means of restricting the usage of Adabas commands which access a file, by assigning users a role which represents selective access privileges.

  • Authorization for Adabas Utilities

    This provides a means of restricting the execution of Adabas utilities, by assigning users a role which has the execute privilege.

  • Audit Trail

    This provides a means of tracking access attempts and security violations.

The utility ADARBA provides the functionality required to administer security definitions.

IMPORTANT

Before securing databases with Adabas role-based security, you should familiarize yourself with the concepts and implementation of this feature.

Please note the following:

  • The security mode cannot be disabled once it is enabled;

  • The security mode cannot be changed from ACTIVE to WARN;

  • This feature could have a detrimental influence on the overall system performance, as is described in the section Performance Considerations.

    When introducing this feature, it is recommended to initially start with Security Mode WARN.

ADATCP

With Adabas Version 6.7, Adabas can be reached via TCP/IP directly. Further information can be found in the document Adabas Remote Database Access.

ADATCP now supports encrypted communication via TLS/SSL. For further details please refer to the section Adabas TCP/IP - Encrypted Communication (TLS/SSL) in the section Adabas Remote Database Access. This feature, called Adabas Encryption for Linux (AEL), must be licensed separately and is available only on Linux.

An example program, named _c_example_adatcp.c, that shows how to use ADATCP, can be found in the Adabas Client examples directory.

ADADBM - New Functionality

With Adabas Version 6.7, records can be spanned in a database. When record spanning is enabled, the size of compressed records in a file may exceed the maximum data storage block size of 32KB.

The ADADBM RECORDSPANNING function enables or disables record spanning for a file

Adabas RESTful Administration

Starting with Adabas Version 6.7, an Adabas RESTful server, which provides monitoring and administration tasks, is a part of the product package. The server is primarily used by Adabas Manager, but it can also be used directly. A swagger definition, which defines the REST APIs, is included in the installation.

Docker Container Creation Scripts

Starting with Adabas Version 6.7, scripts which provide Docker image creation on the basis of a current product installation, are a part of the product package. In contrast to the Adabas Docker community edition, concurrent runtime is checked inside the docker container.

Modified Features

ADAREP - FILES Function

The ADAREP FILES function now displays the files for which record spanning is enabled or disabled.

Security Configuration Files

The default settings in the configuration file adaauth.ini have been modified:

ACTION = YES
MODE = ADABAS

Authorization for Adabas Utilities

With Version 6.7, the Authorization for Adabas Utilities functionality is available for the following utilities: ADABCK, ADACLP, ADACMP, ADACVT, ADADBM, ADADCU, ADADEV, ADAELA, ADAELP, ADAERR, ADAFDU, ADAFIN, ADAINV, ADAMON, ADAMUP, ADANUC, ADAOPR, ADAORD, ADAPLP, ADAPRI, ADARBA, ADAREC, ADAREP, ADASCR, ADAULD, and ADAVFY.

Audit Trail

The location and layout of the audit trail log file created by Authentication has been modified. Please refer to the section Audit of the document Adabas Role-based Security for further information

The location and configuration of the audit trail created by Authorization for Adabas Utilities has been deprecated. Both the location and the layout of the audit trail are subject to change.

Dropped Features

Security Configuration Files

The following security configuration files have been deprecated and will be removed in a future release:

  • adaauth.ini

  • adaaudit.ini

  • adarbac.ini

Authorization for Adabas Utilities (MODE INI)

The functionality provided with MODE INI has been deprecated. The security definitions are now located in the RBAC system file.

You should replace the MODE INI setting with MODE ADABAS in the configuration file adaauth.ini. Use the ADARBA utility to define your site-specific security definitions, which you entered in adarbac.ini configuration file.

Deprecated Platforms

Support for HP-UX has been deprecated by Software AG. Adabas for Linux, UNIX and Windows Version 6.7 SP0 is the last version available on this platform. Newer versions of Adabas for Linux, UNIX and Windows will not be available for this platform.