Important Information

This document covers the following topics:


Administrator Status

During the installation, the Sudo panel may appear. When you enter the sudo password in this panel, the installer will execute the scripts which require sudoers privileges. If sudoers privileges are not available, you may run the script manually after installation as explained later in this documentation.

For you to use sudo in the installer, the user that you are using to install must be in the sudoers configuration. If you are creating or installing from an installation script, the installer cannot execute the script because it does not store the sudo password for security reasons. You must therefore execute the script manually after the installation.

User ID for Installation

When installing Natural, the user ID under which you run the Software AG Installer must not be longer than eight characters. If you use a longer user ID, an error message is shown. You can then exit the installer and use a different user ID or - in case you also want to install other products - return to the product selection tree and deselect Natural.

Installation Directory

During the installation, you are asked to specify an installation directory in which you want to install your Software AG products. In general, any directory can be used. The user that you are using to install must have full read and write permissions to this directory.

We recommend that you use a sub-directory of the /opt/softwareag directory as the location for Natural and its add-on products, for example /opt/softwareag/suiteyyyy, whereby yyyy stands for the current year. This allows future side-by-side installations.

Important:
It is recommended that you do not install into a directory which is a subdirectory of a previous installation. Such a previous installation may have been created either with the Software AG Installer or by an installation tool that was used in the past.

Extended Natural functionality needs a shared library for operation, from where external executables are loaded dynamically at runtime. The external executables are delivered with Natural in the <install-dir>/Natural/lib directory. They will be copied to the /opt/softwareag/Natural/v<version>/lib directory if the user executing the Software AG Installer has sufficient permissions. This directory will not be removed by an uninstallation. The Natural executables calling the external executables are configured with the runpath /opt/softwareag/Natural/v<version>/lib during link time. In that way, the external executables may be found. Furthermore, the natenv environment script delivered in the <install-dir>/Natural/INSTALL directory places the directory /opt/softwareag/Natural/lib at the very beginning of the environment variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH to point to the location of the external executables. If the external executables cannot be copied to the runpath location, they may be found via the environment variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH.

The runpath /opt/softwareag/common/lib is supported for the shared library load of the adalnk shared library in Adabas 6.3 (or lower) environments. For Adabas Client 6.5 and Adabas 6.4 or higher (installed with the Software AG Installer), the runpath /opt/softwareag/AdabasClient/lib is supported for the shared library load of the adalnk shared library in Adabas environments.

For accessing Adabas 6.4 or higher from Natural, the adalnk shared library may be found in <install-dir>/AdabasClient/lib, using the $LD_LIBRARY_PATH setting. Alternatively, the adalnk shared library may be found in one of the following ways:

  • by installing the Adabas Client and Natural in the installation directory /opt/softwareag, or

  • by copying the library <install-dir>/AdabasClient/lib to the library /opt/softwareag/AdabasClient/lib, or

  • by creating a link from the library /opt/softwareag/AdabasClient/lib to <install-dir>/AdabasClient/lib.

File Permissions

The user who starts the installation owns all files that are installed.

The user file-creation mode mask (umask command) determines the file permissions for newly created files. Make sure that the umask command you are using for the installation will not prevent users from accessing and executing the installed files. On Linux systems, for example, the command umask 022 allows full access rights for the file owner and read-only access rights for group members and others.

The Natural installation sets read and write permissions (chmod ug+w) for the files NATCONF.CFG, NATCONV.INI, NATURAL.INI and SAGtermcap located in the <install-dir>/Natural/etc directory and for the <install-dir>/Natural/tmp directory.

The Natural installation sets execute permissions (chmod ug+x) for the scripts located in the <install-dir>/Natural/INSTALL directory and for the script natstart.bsh located in the <install-dir>/Natural/bin directory.

Installation Considerations

If you install multiple products from a suite using one installation directory, Software AG guarantees that these products are compatible. But most Software AG products cannot be installed in a directory which already contains an older version of the same product (called “over-install”). New versions of a product must therefore be installed in another directory (called “side-by-side installation”).

For a new Natural version, it is in general recommended to use the side-by-side installation as described in Side-by-Side Installations.

In addition to the side-by-side installation, Natural offers procedures which allow replacing an installed Natural version and reusing the same installation directory. For a new major or minor version, the old version must be de-installed before the new version can be installed. A new Service Pack can be installed over the old version. The procedures are described in Replacing an Installed Natural Version. Options are available which preserve most configuration settings.

Notes:

  1. The first digit of the version indicates the major version, the second the minor version and the third the Service Pack (see Glossary > Version).
  2. Replacing an installed Natural is only possible if the previous version has been installed with the Software AG Installer. Otherwise you must use the side-by-side installation.
  3. If you are replacing an installed Natural and there are other products from previous suites installed in the same directory, it is up to you to ensure that the products are compatible.
  4. If you are replacing an installed Natural version, there is no fallback if you need to reuse the previous version for any reason.

Side-by-Side Installations

If you are using a new directory for the installation rather than an existing installation directory, the installation is named “side-by-side installation”. Side-by-side installation is the default procedure for Software AG products, and it is also the recommend procedure for installing a new Natural version.

A side-by-side installation enables you to install several different versions of Natural on the same machine. This may be necessary for testing a new Natural version before it is taken over into a production environment. The following should be considered:

  • If the previous version was installed with the Software AG Installer in a sub-directory of the /opt/softwareag directory, use another sub-directory as the location for Natural and its add-on products, for example /opt/softwareag/<new suite name>.

  • In the Installer page concerning the Natural configuration data, you may select “Copy configuration data from another installation directory” if you want to transfer configuration settings from a previous version. This is described in the section Installing Natural.

  • If necessary, adjust the settings for the FUSER because the default system files (22,10 and 22,20) are adapted to the new installation directory.

Since Empower only offers the latest version of Natural and other products, it is recommended that you create and keep an image of installed Natural versions for possible later use. Installing from an image rather than downloading it from Empower will usually be faster, too. For further information, see Using the Software AG Installer.

Replacing an Installed Natural Version

New Major or Minor Version

With the following steps you can replace an installed Natural version with a new major or minor version and reuse the same installation directory:

  1. Deinstall Natural (but do not delete the installation folder manually).

  2. Install the new Natural version using the same installation directory as before.

  3. In the Installer page concerning the Natural configuration data, select “Reuse configuration data from the current installation directory” which will preserve most configuration settings from the previous version as described in the section Installing Natural.

New Service Pack

If you install a new Natural Service Pack and specify the same installation directory and select the same items as before, the Software AG Installer does not prompt again for license files, configuration data, and port numbers. The existing license files, configuration data, and port numbers will be used.

During the update, the installation does not stop any running Natural services (buffer pool, Natural Development Server, Natural Web I/O Interface server), nor does the installation ask to stop running Natural sessions. The executables will be replaced while in use. The new version of a replaced executable will become active after a restart of the executable. Administrators and users can restart any executables manually according to their own needs.

The Natural installation delivers two standard Natural nuclei in the <install-dir>/Natural/bin directory. One nucleus is linked with a classic Adabas control block (ACB), but without Natural Security. This nucleus is called "natural". The other nucleus is also linked with a classic Adabas control block (ACB) and with Natural Security. This nucleus is called "natsec". These two nuclei will be replaced during an update installation. If you want to keep "natural" or "natsec", you must create a backup copy before you start the update installation. If you have linked "natural" or "natsec" with additional drivers, you need to re-link the nuclei manually after the update installation as described in the section Re-Linking a Natural Nucleus.

The contents of the buffer pool will be deleted during the installation.

Scripts located in the <install-dir>/Natural/INSTALL or <install-dir>/Natural/bin directory will not be replaced. Thus, user changes in scripts will be kept. If a script changes with a Natural update, you can find the updated scripts in the <install-dir>/Natural/INSTALL/tpl directory. The name of an updated script consists of the original name followed by .tpl. For example, natenv is then named natenv.tpl. Administrators and users can adapt any scripts manually according to their own needs.

The files NATCONF.CFG, NATCONV.INI, NATURAL.INI and SAGtermcap in the <install-dir>/Natural/etc directory will not be updated.

For ApplinX and the Natural Web I/O Interface, the directory which has the same name as the machine/host will not be updated. Modules from these directories which have changed with a Natural update can be found in the node-name directories of the <install-dir>/Natural/apx and <install-dir>/Natural/nwo directories.

Natural Web I/O Interface

The activities listed below are necessary before installing the Natural Web I/O Interface daemon.

The Natural Web I/O Interface daemon <install-dir>/Natural/nwo/bin/nwosrvd

  • needs a TCL shared library which is delivered in the directory <install-dir>/Natural/lib,

  • is linked with the runpath /opt/softwareag/Natural/v<version>/lib,

  • will be installed with permissions 6755 (s-bit).

Since the s-bit is used, $LD_LIBRARY_PATH will not be searched. Therefore, ensure that the Natural Web I/O Interface daemon will find the TCL shared library by

  • allowing the Natural installation to copy the directory <install-dir>/Natural/lib to /opt/softwareag/Natural/v<version>/lib by giving the installation user sufficient permissions or install with sudoers permissions,

  • making the TCL shared library available from a system directory.

FNAT Usage

By default, a new FNAT is created in the installation directory during the installation of Natural (<install-dir>/Natural/fnat). This FNAT must always exist, and the global configuration file must have an entry which defines this FNAT. The FNAT path below the <install-dir> must not contain a symbolic link.

The Natural add-ons (such as Predict or Natural Business Services) can only be installed into this FNAT.

Note:
If you want to check or edit the settings in the global configuration file, use the Configuration Utility.

The Software AG Installer maintains an internal list of installed products, which must coincide with the add-ons that are currently installed in the FNAT. This is important for updates and uninstallations to work correctly.

For this reason:

  • Do not install products into the FNAT without the use of the Software AG Installer.

  • Do not replace the default FNAT (<install-dir>/Natural/fnat) with another FNAT.

  • Make sure to complete the installation of an add-on by using the SYSPCI utility.

If an error occurs due to the above-mentioned scenarios, the only way to solve the problem is a new installation. In some situations, one of the following workarounds may help:

  • Workaround 1: Complete the previous installation by using the SYSPCI utility.

  • Workaround 2: Uninstall the product and then start the installation once more.

FUSER Usage

By default, a new FUSER is created in the installation directory during the installation. If you want to use an existing FUSER of Natural Version 6.3, you have to adjust the system file settings in the global configuration file after the installation. See also Overview of Configuration File Parameters in the Configuration Utility documentation.

Natural Development Server

You can install both the Natural development environment and Natural Development Server at the same time, or you can install Natural Development Server after having installed the Natural development environment.

To become operable, Natural Development Server requires a post-installation configuration and initialization step. This includes:

  • setting or loading the Natural Development Server file FDIC,

  • adjusting the Natural parameter files,

  • adjusting the global configuration file,

  • starting the Natural Development Server (first-time installation).

See also Setting Up Your Products Using the SYSPCI Utility in the section Completing the Installation. This step is not necessary after an update installation.

Natural Security

You can install both Natural and Natural Security at the same time, or you can install Natural Security after having installed Natural.

To become operable, Natural Security requires a post-installation configuration and initialization step. This includes:

  • setting or loading the Natural Security log file,

  • setting or loading the Natural Security file FSEC,

  • adjusting the Natural parameter files,

  • adjusting the global configuration file.

See also Setting Up Your Products Using the SYSPCI Utility in the section Completing the Installation. This step is not necessary after an update installation.

Important:
Once you have installed and configured Natural Security, Natural on the assigned system file (FNAT) can only be accessed under the control of Natural Security. Natural Security cannot be removed once it has been installed. It can only be removed if you uninstall the whole Natural environment in which Natural Security has been installed.