General Purpose and Backward Compatibility

Import/export functions can be used for various purposes:

  • Migration between different Entire Operations versions,

  • Mass updates,

  • Migration from other production control products or from user applications.

Warning:
Be careful when migrating networks and jobs to other operating systems.

Entire Operations uses different sets of operating system specific fields for the supported platforms z/OS, BS2000, z/VSE, UNIX and Windows. As a result, the external format is incompatible from one platform to another. This depends on the operating system of the JCL node and/or on the operating system of the execution node of each network and job. If you edit the external format to achieve transportability to a different operating system, you do this at your own risk. It would therefore be advisable to contact Entire Operations support at Software AG for assistance.

This document covers the following topics:


Record Format

The import/export functions provided by Entire Operations perform the following:

  • Transform the records from the Entire Operations database into an external format, or

  • Analyze an external format and transform it into the Adabas format.

The following is an example representation of Entire Operations objects within the database.

Job Job-Type Execution-Node ...
JOB-1 MAC 148 ...
JOB-2 JOB 31 ...

The same Entire Operations objects transformed into the external format would be as follows:

OBJECT=JOB
JOB=JOB-1
JOB-TYPE=MAC
EXECUTION-NODE=148
...
END-OBJECT
OBJECT=JOB
JOB=JOB-2
JOB-TYPE=JOB
EXECUTION-NODE=31
...
END-OBJECT

Export File Format

The export file format conforms to the following specifications:

  • A plain file format:

    • Natural:
      Natural Source format

    • With Natural Security Version 8.2.4 it is possible to use Natural libraries that are defined as private libraries in Natural Security as target/source of an export/import operation.

    • UNIX, Windows:
      ASCII text files

  • The maximum record size does not exceed 240 (limited by Natural).

  • Accessibility of the above file types by Entire System Server and/or Entire Connection.

  • Simple external representation of all data types.

  • The export file format does not contain any non-printable character or field in internal format because of EBCDIC - ASCII conversion.

  • Keywords do not consist of any internal abbreviations (e.g. Adabas short names), since they may change from one version to another.

  • PC or UNIX import and export.

Backward Compatibility of Export

During all exports, you will be prompted for the export target version.

The export will then be performed in a way which is compatible to the target version.

The following reasons may cause an erroneous termination of the export:

  • A field is unknown to the earlier version

    If the field is unknown in the target (i.e. old) version, the field will be skipped.

    If there is no useful way to export the object without meaning loss, the export will be terminated with an error.

  • A field size was increased

    If the field’s content would not fit into the field size in the target version, the export will be terminated with an error. Otherwise data corruption would occur.

    Example:

    You try to export 5-digit node numbers to an Entire Operations version which can handle 3-digit node numbers only.

  • An array size was increased

    If the actual size of an array is larger than the maximum array size in the target version, the export will be terminated with an error. Otherwise data corruption would occur.

  • A value was added to the allowed value range of a field

    The export function attempts to export the field in a compatible way. Only if this is not possible, the export will be terminated with an error. Otherwise data corruption would occur.