This document covers the following topics:
We would like to inform you that, after a detailed analysis & assessment, Software AG has decided to adjust its strategy regarding the Legacy-Unix platforms HP-UX®, AIX® and Solaris®. With many of our customers already departed from or soon planning to depart their Legacy-Unix platforms due to cost and technical reasons, Software AG has decided Linux x86 will be its strategic open systems platform for Adabas & Natural 2050+ going forward. This will allow Software AG to focus more resources on this platform and maximize the overall value to our customer base.
The end-of-maintenance date (EOM) for Software AG support of the Legacy-Unix platforms is December 31, 2024. For the period from December 31, 2024 to December 31, 2025 Software AG will offer options for non-standard sustained support on the Legacy-Unix platforms for customers who are unable to rehost by the regular EOM date. Both dates apply to all Software AG A&N products (excluding CONNX, which will still be available on Legacy-Unix).
This will provide you sufficient time to rehost your Software AG applications from the Legacy-Unix platform to your preferred Linux x86 platform(s). Software AG recommends one of the following rehosting options:
RedHat Enterprise Linux®
SUSE Linux Enterprise
Please be assured that Software AG is prepared to offer assistance in planning and executing your rehosting from the Legacy-Unix platform to an alternative platform.
Following the principles of our "A&N 2050+ Initiative", your rehosting project will be a high priority to Software AG. Our local Software AG teams will be happy to discuss any rehosting topic with you.
If you have any questions regarding the Adabas & Natural platform roadmap, please do not hesitate to contact Adabas & Natural Product Management (e-mail: AskANProdMgt@softwareag.com).
For the Adabas & Natural products on the Legacy-Unix platforms HP-UX®, AIX® and Solaris® we currently plan the following final versions:
| Final Version (GA) | EOM | EOSS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adabas HP-UX® | 6.7.0, October 2018 | 31.12.2024 | 31.12.2025 |
| Adabas AIX® and Solaris® | 7.0, October 2020 | 31.12.2024 | 31.12.2025 |
| Natural HP-UX® | 9.1.1, October 2018 | 31.12.2024 | 31.12.2025 |
| Natural AIX® and Solaris® | 9.1.3, April 2021 | 31.12.2024 | 31.12.2025 |
A key feature of this release is the addition of support for applications with the highest requirements for scalability and availability, and an absolutely minimal amount of down time. This requires a different mode of operation in a distributed architecture together with the ability for user sessions to be seamlessly migrated from one cluster node to another during their lifetime. To support this functionality a redesign and optimization of the Natural Runtime was required. In addition, a completely new component known as the Natural Availability Server has been developed for providing the application user interface within the user’s browser window.
For more information, please refer to Natural/HA (High Availability).
The following Natural application programming interfaces (APIs) are new in the
SYSEXT system library:
| API | Task | Enhancement |
|---|---|---|
USR1009N |
Convert store clock with sliding window into microseconds | The API converts a store
clock value into microseconds since 1900-01-01. The store clock value is
interpreted by default without sliding window (range 1900-2042). An optional
parameter is now available to interpret the store clock value with the sliding
window (range 1971-2114).
For more detailed information, see Programming Guide > Further Programming Aspects > Processing of Store Clock Values. |
USR1023N |
Convert time-related variables | The API and the related
copycodes have not been changed. The original store clock (1900 – 2042) is used.
We strongly recommend using the new API USR9201N instead of USR1023N. Otherwise,
store clock values will be incorrect interpreted after 2042.
For more detailed information, see Programming Guide > Further Programming Aspects > Processing of Store Clock Values. |
USR2036N |
Convert binary variable (B8) into numeric variable (P20) | The API has not been changed. The related example program USR2036P has been improved for a more useful purpose. |
USR9201N(new)
|
Convert time-related variables | The API is the
successor of USR1023N. It supports store clock with sliding window (1971-2114)
and smart and extended store clock (1900 - 38434).
Additional to the API, several copycodes are provided for converting time-related variables. For more detailed information, see Programming Guide > Further Programming Aspects > Processing of Store Clock Values. |
USR9205N |
Create a hash value using SHA-256 or others | This API creates a hash value
for a variable input. It supports the hash method SHA-256. The API is the
successor of USR4011N which supports the hash method SHA-1.
|
Operand1 of a COMPRESS statement can be of format logical now. An edit
mask can also be defined for operand1.
For more information see COMPRESS in the Statements part of the
Natural for Linux and Cloud documentation.
You can now define the work file number of a DEFINE WORK FILE,
READ WORK FILE, WRITE WORK FILE, or CLOSE WORK
FILE statement as a variable as well. The variable has to be of type
B/N/P/I and defined with a CONST clause which assigns a
value in the range 1:32.
For more information, check DEFINE WORK FILE , READ WORK FILE, WRITE WORK FILE, and CLOSE WORK FILE in the Statements part of the Natural for Mainframes documentation.
Exchanging data via the File Transfer functionality (UPLOAD/DOWNLOAD PC) is now supported for NaturalONE as a client.
If running against Adabas for Linux and Windows 7.2 (or higher) or Adabas for
Mainframe 8.6 (or higher), the READ BY ISN statement has been enhanced by
a sequence clause that determines in which direction the READ loop is running.
Samples: READ VIEW-NAME DESCENDING BY ISN = 1000 /* Read in fixed descending ISN order, starting with ISN=1000 (or lower) READ VIEW-NAME VARIABLE #DIR BY ISN = 1000 /* Read direction is determined at READ loop start. If field #DIR(A1) contains /* ‘A’, the READ loop runs in ‘A’scending order, starting with ISN=1000 (or higher) /* ‘D’, the READ loop runs in ‘D’escending order, starting with ISN=1000 (or lower)
A search in the defined steplibs is now performed when the Natural RPC user exits NATRPC01, NATRPC02, or NATRPC03 are executed.
The new system variable *TIMESTMPX supports extended store clock values. For more information, see Processing of Store Clock Values > Extended Store Clock in the Programming Guide.
Natural now supports the MariaDB database type. Entire Access 9.3.1 is a prerequisite for using the new database.
For more information about creating a DDM from an SQL database, see Creating DDMs.
Activating the data processing functions CONSOLIDATE, READ,
LIST, and DELETE of the Profiler utility is no longer
required. You can now use these functions without any restrictions. The Natural
resource NaturalONEProfilerKey.nprk in the system library SYSPRFLR, which
contains the generated NaturalONE Profiler key, is no longer needed and can be
deleted.
The new system command WHICH lets you find objects in the libraries used at run time in the Library Search Order (LSO). For more information, see WHICH in System Commands.
Multi-Fetch improvement to support more buffer size (MFBS):
The limit has been extended from 64KB to 64MB (65536KB). This limit extension helps to improve Multi-Fetch performance considerably with large datasets in ADATCP based environments.
For more information on MFBS usage, see MFBS - Multifetch Buffer Size,
From this release onwards, modern ACBX calls are generated instead of ACB calls. In previous releases, ACBX calls were generated only for LOBs or LA fields, or view sizes greater than 64KB.
The following will be changed in upcoming releases of Natural:
This is the last version of Natural which supports the Natural for Tamino functionality. The support will be discontinued with the next version of Natural.
NWO Userexits 1 and 2 are set for retirement with the next service pack.