Delivery of Natural CICS (NCI) Source Changes

To provide better service to customers, Software AG will change with Natural for Mainframes Version 4.1.2 the delivery of Natural CICS Interface (NCI) source changes.

In the past, the source changes have been released as particular fixes and have been applied manually by Natural system administrators. This led sometimes to problems, like prerequisites were overlooked, application of the source change contained typing errors, etc.

Software AG will synchronize the delivery methods of INPLs and source changes and deliver also NCI source changes as service packs (SP) in the first step:

  • New SPs will be delivered for Natural CICS Interface (NCI) on OS/390, z/OS and VSE/ESA.

  • The release frequency will be similar to INPL service packs.

  • They will be delivered also via Empower. All fixes and all solved problems will be documented.

  • SPs will contain the whole NCI driver, all macros and will be cumulative.

  • The current service pack number can be displayed by entering the EX command in SYSPROD in front of the "Natural CICS Interface" line.

  • All important dependencies between source change SPs and other fixes will be documented in the problem description under necessary and recommended fixes.

To apply the source change service pack, it is necessary (like source changes) to re-assembly and re-link the Natural frontend (CICS dependent part of the Natural nucleus). Please find a check list below which could help doing this:

  • Upload the NCI source change library in a separate new source library.

  • Check whether your initial source members were customized; if yes, apply the modifications to the new source members accordingly.

  • Use the new source library name as the first library in the SYSLIB (on VSE LIBDEF) chain of the appropriate pre-compiler and assembly job steps in your link job.

  • If the SYSIN entry is also part of the service pack library, use the new module.

  • Rename the Natural frontend in the load library to prevent overwriting the old one.

  • Submit the jobs to pre-compile, assembly and link the new Natural frontend (like NCII070).

  • Check the chapters Necessary Fixes and Recommended Fixes of the SP problem description and apply the co-requisites to the new environment.

  • After successful termination of this step, reload the new frontend.

  • Call SYSPROD in Natural and enter EX in front of "Natural CICS Interface" to see the current service pack level. Also, with the DUMP SRCE command, it is possible to get the current source change status.

  • Test the new Natural frontend under runtime.

Copy the contents of the NCI source change library to the appropriate source and macro library (with REPLACE option) to update the sources.