For an overview of all Natural add-on products and the new product versions available, see Overview of New Natural Add-On Product Versions.
Installations using the Com-plete add-on product Review DC must link the
NCFRDCEX module from the NCF library to the Natural (shared)
nucleus. This module replaces the RDCNATEX module from the RDC
library, which provided the same functionality for versions of Natural lower than 9.
For information on changes, enhancements and new features available with NaturalONE, see the Release Notes in the NaturalONE documentation at https://documentation.softwareag.com/.
With Natural Version 9.2.5 a new trace flag has been introduced to trace requests with millisecond precision.
For more information see Parameter Reference > RPC Remote-Procedure-Call Settings > TRACE.
The following enhancements are provided with Natural Security Version 9.2.5:
Note
The sections indicated for more information are contained in the Natural
Security documentation, unless otherwise noted.
Natural Security now separates password and passphrase
flags, ensuring that password and passphrase settings are evaluated independently.
The key changes are:
Option Renaming
The User password history option in General
Options has been renamed to User password /
passphrase history.
PF5 Key (PHist) Functionality
When User password / passphrase history is activated, users
can press PF5 (PHist) to modify the history flag.
Editable: Only flag values Y or * can be modified.
Restricted: The Maximum number of stored passwords / passphrases parameter cannot be changed via PF5.
User Preset Values
When User password / passphrase history is activated, the
following parameters under User Preset Values become strictly
read-only and contain the same value as User password /
passphrase history:
User password history
Maximum number of stored passwords
User passphrase history
Maximum number of stored passphrases
Terminology Standardization
References to "password phrase" across Natural Security have been
changed to "passphrase" for consistency.
You can now log on using a passphrase without the ICU handler. In order to do so, the
Natural Security session must be run with the CFICU and CP
session parameters set to OFF.
Note
The passphrase history is affected if it exists.
Natural Security has upgraded its Application Programming Interfaces documentation and improved code clarity and navigation.
Improved Documentation Structure
Clearer overviews of example programs and explicit listings of functions used
within them.
Comprehensive Parameter Details
Example programs now clearly define parameter types, including
Input, In/Out,
Output, and Unused parameters.
Enhanced Filtering Options
The Natural Security Application Programming Interfaces screen now allows users
to filter content directly by Example,
Interface, or Description.
SYSSEC Library Modernization
Cleaned up the SYSSEC library by removing outdated TXT*
text modules.
For more information about security related configuration, see Natural API Server > Natural Subprogram Server on z/OS > Security.
When Natural is running with the parameter
ZIIP=(PWCSIZE=(100,,200)), all output sent to a (print/work)
file is first buffered in a cache rather than being written to or taken from directly
the dataset.
This reduces the number of zIIP switches and improves the runtime performance of the task.
However, if the selected cache buffer size is large compared to the amount of output actually sent to the (print/work) file, the output may remain completely invisible until the job finishes, which can take several hours.
Therefore, the ZIIP/PCWSIZE cache feature has been enhanced to automatically flush cache buffers at 60-second interval.
For further information, see PWCSIZE - Size of the Cache for Print and Work Files.
Natural API Server (NPI 1.1.1) is a new Natural add-on that supports the execution of Natural for z/OS functionality using REST API calls. Natural for z/OS 9.2.5 is a prerequisite for using this feature.
With Natural API Server, all types of client applications can easily execute Natural CALLNATs in Natural for z/OS using REST API calls. The services can be created and deployed using NaturalONE.
For further information, see the Natural API Server documentation.
Natural Messaging (NMQ) has been enhanced with additional PUT and GET message options,
support for automatic character-set conversion, and support for nested
FIND and PROCESS statements.
Natural Messaging now supports the following additional MQ Put Message Options (PMO) and Get Message Options (GMO):
NEW-MSG-ID controls whether MQ generates a new Message-ID on
PUT or preserves a caller-supplied one.
NEW-CORREL-ID controls whether MQ generates a new Correlation-ID
on PUT or preserves a caller-supplied one.
SYNC-RESPONSE controls whether MQPUT waits for a synchronous
response from the queue manager before returning.
LOCK / UNLOCK reserves a specific message under the
browse cursor so that it is temporarily unavailable to other consumers, without
removing it from the queue.
MSG-UNDER-CURSOR retrieves the specific message currently under the
browse cursor and removes it from the queue.
BROWSE-MSG-UNDER-CURSOR inspects the specific message currently
under the browse cursor without removing it from the queue.
The MQ CONVERT option is now supported on GET.
When enabled, the queue manager automatically converts a message's character set
(CCSID) to a specified target CCSID, or to the queue manager's default CCSID if none
is specified. This allows messages to be exchanged transparently between systems
using different code pages, for example, EBCDIC and UTF-8. When disabled, the message
is returned exactly as stored, without conversion.
Natural Messaging now supports nested FIND and
PROCESS statements.
For further information, see Natural Statements and View Description with Natural Messaging in the Database Management System Interfaces documentation.
The following enhancements are provided with Natural for Db2 version 9.2.5:
In Natural for Db2 version 9.2.5, SQL syntax parsing has been enhanced to support the
AI_COMMONALITY AI scalar function.
Natural for Db2 now supports the INTERPRET built-in function. This function takes an expression that returns a built-in binary string or character FOR BIT DATA string as its first operand and interprets the resulting value as the specified data type.
Natural for Db2 version 9.2.5 has been enhanced to allow multiple rows to be specified in the VALUES clause of the INSERT statement.
For details, see Statements > INSERT (SQL).
