Natural/Adabas Migrations FAQ

 

Q: What is the Anubex Natural migration toolkit?

 

A: The Anubex Natural toolkit migrates Natural applications into alternative applications that use standard, open development technologies. The converted application is completely free of Natural runtimes from SAG.

 

Q: Which target platforms are supported?

 

A: The converted application runs on either IBM Mainframe (Z/OS, CICS) or Open Systems (Unix, Linux, or Windows).

 

 

 

Q: Do you support both structured and reporting mode?

 

A: Anubex completely supports structured mode and, depending on the actual usage in the programs, reporting mode is also supported.

 

Q: Can you give an overview of how the main Natural artifacts are mapped and maintained?

 

A: Multiple alternatives exist for the migration of the Natural artifacts. To give an overview of what is currently possible with the Anubex Natural toolkit, we define two categories: COBOL code and Object-Oriented code.

COBOL code

COBOL target code runs on either IBM Mainframe or Open Systems. Below table summarizes how all Natural object types are converted in a COBOL counterpart.

Natural object type	Counterpart
Programs, Sub-Programs, Subroutines	Programs
Copycodes	Copybooks
Data Areas  (GDA/LDA/PDA)	Copybooks
Predefined maps (*)	Programs

After migration, all COBOL code is maintained using standard development tools on the chosen platform.

A point of interest are the converted Map programs (*), which are maintained with a WYSIWYG editor in either Eclipse or Visual Studio to facilitate application integration and modernization.

Object-Oriented code

In today’s market, Object-Oriented code typically equates to either Java or .Net, and this code runs on Open Systems (LUW).

Natural object type	Counterpart
Programs, Sub-Programs, Subroutines	Classes
Copycodes	Inline Code
Data Areas  (GDA/LDA/PDA)	Classes
Predefined maps (*)	Classes

After migration, all code is maintained using standard, industry leading development tools such as Visual Studio (for .Net code) or Eclipse (for Java code).

 

Q: Does Anubex also migrate Adabas to an RDBMS?

 

A: In addition to Natural migrations, Anubex also offers an Adabas data migration service. Anubex uses common, market leading database tools which it customizes so the resulting RDBMS will seamlessly integrate with the converted Natural applications.

 

Q: How do the programs access the new RDBMS?

 

A: The migrated programs contain embedded SQL statements for accessing the RDBMS.

Alternatively, a Data Access Layer (DAL) can be placed between the programs and the RDBMS.

 

Q: My application uses the full 29 digit precision that is available in Natural. Can this be mapped to the target environment?

 

A: Yes, where either .NET or Java are the target language.

For migrations to COBOL, this might cause a problem as the ANSI COBOL 85 standard only provides 18 digits precision. However, many popular COBOL vendors support the required precision through their own extensions on this standard.

 

Q: When targeting COBOL/CICS on Mainframe are the Natural maps replaced with BMS maps?

 

A: Anubex does not use BMS maps as a replacement for Natural maps, because BMS is not a good match for common Natural UI features such as dynamic attributes and windowing. Instead, the map programs become COBOL programs that generate a 3270 stream using the Anubex framework. This solution allows the converted maps to have 100% the same visual and functional behavior as the Natural maps.

Post migration, the converted maps can be converted using a WYSIWYG editor, which enhances developer productivity.

 

Q: How do I deliver my Natural artifacts to Anubex?

 

A: The Anubex Natural toolkit requires all application artifacts to be delivered in the standard Natural SYSTRANS format. Anubex provide additional documentation on how to achieve this.

 

Q: Does migrating to an RDBMS open up opportunities for modernization?

 

A: Yes, the RDMBS is a good starting point for modernization. For example, the target RDBMS contains native Date and Time fields that can be taken advantage of on the new platform.

 

Q: Can testing of the converted application be automated?

 

A: Yes, Anubex’s Automated Testing Framework technology (ATF) significantly reduces the time and effort required for testing because it:

 

• Avoids the manual creation of test scenario’s; and
• Limits end-user involvement to the Acceptance Testing phase only.

Further information

 

If you require additional information please contact us with your questions.