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Databridge Installation Guide

Use this guide to install, configure, and run Databridge version 7.1. Follow the instructions for installing and upgrading the Databridge Host, Enterprise Server, Client, and other products (listed in the Table of Contents). Be sure to see:

To install, configure, and run Databridge, you should be a system administrator familiar with the following:

  • Standard Unisys® operations for MCP-hosted mainframes such as the CS7xxx series, Libra series, ClearPath® NX/LX or A Series

  • DMSII databases and Data And Structure Definition Language (DASDL)

Important

The service names for the "Databridge Client Manager" and "Databridge Director" services were changed to "Micro Focus Databridge Client Manager" and "Micro Focus Databridge Director".

What's New In This Release

  • Implemented Postgres client for Windows and Linux platforms.

  • Added Notifications. The Administrative Console can send alert messages using email to designated personnel when something goes wrong with a Databridge component.

  • Modified the client to encrypt all passwords in configuration files (both text and binary). Previous obfuscated passwords will be encrypted when a configuration file is updated.

  • Modified the redefine command to make back-to-back redefine commands work like the Administrative Console’s Customize command. As a result, the -u option for the Redefine command means start over using the control tables in the unload file.

  • Added the parameter use_dmsii_keys to the Kafka client to make it use the DMSII SET selected by the Engine as the keys, rather than always using the AA Values/RSN as the key for partitioning data.

  • Modified the Kafka client to support transactional operations.

  • Updated the Kafka client so it can operate using the daemon on Linux. A Windows version of the Kafka client is included in 7.1.

  • Modified the Kafka client to operate without requiring a database. The SQLite database is included with these clients and is used to hold the control tables.

  • Enhanced the UNIX/Linux dbdaemon script to use the TERM signal to stop the daemon in an orderly fashion. Additionally, the USR1 or USR2 signals are now used to cause the daemon to write the RPC trace and the program status to the file trace.log in the working directory. The daemon script will need to be updated using the provided dbaemon.smp file as template to support this feature.

  • Modified the second database connection used by the clients to be dynamic, which means that unless doing data extraction, the client uses only a single database connection.

  • Switched log files to include a line that points back to the previous log file, which may have a much older date.

  • Modified the client to maintain row counts for all tables. The counts are updated after an audit file switch and at the end of a client run. In the case of Oracle, do not use stored procedures if you want the row counts to be correct. In these cases, do not terminate the client prematurely (that is, do not kill the service or the client). Instead of using a UNIX kill command or using the task manager to terminate a client run, use the Administrative Console's Stop and Abort command.

  • Updated the client control tables to replace all binary data (raw in the case of Oracle) by numeric data (BIGINT for the SQL Server and Postgres clients, and NUMBER(15) for the Oracle client).

  • Enhanced the Oracle client’s index creation to use the parallel 8 and the nologging options to speed the index creation. In the case of a primary key, a unique index is created using use the parallel 8 and the nologging options. Once the index is created, the table is altered to add a primary key constraint, which uses the index that was created.

  • Enhanced the deleted_record user column to support the data type of BIGINT(19), which causes the client to combine the timestamp with the sequence number to form a 48-bit quantity that is used in place of the timestamp. This enhancement eliminates the duplicate record problems that occurred when the same record was deleted and inserted multiple times during the same second in the client machine.

Changes in Databridge version 7.1

  • The migrate utility, which was designed to migrate sites from command line-based operations to service-based operations in version 6.0, is discontinued in 7.1.
  • The dbpwenc utility, which was designed to obfuscate passwords in text configuration files, is discontinued in 7.1. Use import and export commands to achieve the same result.
  • The configuration parameter use_ctrltab_sp has been dropped for the Oracle and SQL Server because these clients always use host variables to update the control tables.

See the Databridge Release Notes for other changes and fixes.

Reminder

We recommend that you install the Administrative Console on a separate server from the client machine(s) because:

  • The Administrative Console code uses a lot resources, which could impact the client's performance, unless you have a powerful machine with lots of memory.
  • Since the Administrative Console monitors the client machines, using a different machine avoids the chance of a downed client machine that cannot monitor itself.

Security Guidelines

Databridge 7.1 includes the following guidelines to decrease security risk.

Databridge 7.1 Security Guideline
Databridge Host Install Databridge Host to the Unisys mainframe under its own privileged usercode. This is preferable to installing under the usercode of the DMSII database. If you install and run Databridge under multiple usercodes, you must install a copy of DBEngine under each of those usercodes. Alternatively, you can establish DBEngine as a system library (SL).
Databridge Client File security helps to protect Client operations by restricting access to the working directory and its files and subdirectories. Access is limited to the administrators and the system account, and to designated users (or on Windows, user groups). In Windows, you can enable file security via the option Enable File Security at installation, or by running the program setfilesecurity.exe after the installation.

From the UserID box and the DBAdministrator box, specify users who can run Databridge Client and modify the working directory and its files. User IDs specified in the DBOperator box can monitor operations by reading the log files, but cannot run Databridge Client. In UNIX, you restrict file access via the umask entry in the file globalprofile.ini. See Install Databridge Client on UNIX.
Databridge Enterprise Server File security is automatically enabled when you install Databridge Enterprise. File security protects the configuration and log files by restricting privileges on the PC to users who need to modify the configuration. By default, any user in the Administrators group can modify the configuration files and delete the read-only log files. If you create a user group in Windows called DBEAdmins, only the users in that group will be able to alter the configuration files and delete log files. Likewise, if you create a group called DBEUsers, only the users in that group will be able to view the configuration. For more information, see Implementing File Security in the Databridge Enterprise Server Help.

System Requirements

Databridge 7.1 includes support for the following hardware and software.

System Support Updates

Note: Databridge will remove support for operating systems and target databases when their respective software company ends mainstream and extended support.

Databridge 7.1 Supported Systems
Databridge Host Unisys mainframe system with an MCP level SSR 59.1 through 63.0

DMSII or DMSII XL software (including the DMALGOL compiler)

DMSII database DESCRIPTION, CONTROL, DMSUPPORT library, and audit files
Databridge Enterprise Server ClearPath PC with Logical disks or MCP disks (VSS disks in MCP format)
-or-
Windows PC that meets the minimum requirements of its operating system:
- Windows Server 2022
- Windows Server 2019
- Windows Server 2016 (CORE mode must be disabled for installation and configuration)
- Windows Server 2012 R2 (CORE mode must be disabled for installation and configuration)
- Windows Server 2012

Direct Disk replication (recommended) requires read-only access to MCP disks on a storage area network (SAN)

TCP/IP transport

NOTE: To view the product Help, JavaScript must be enabled in the browser settings to navigate and search Help.
Databridge Administrative Console One of following platforms can be used for the Administrative Console server:
- Windows Server 2012 or later
- Windows 10 x64
- Intel X-64 with Red Hat Enterprise Linux Release 7 or later
- Intel X-64 with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 or later
- Intel X-64 with UBUNTU Linux 14.4 or later
- Sun Microsystems SPARCstation running Solaris 11 or later
Databridge Client We recommend running the Administrative Console on a different machine from the Client to avoid negatively impacting the client's performance. To access the Administrative Console, use a browser such as Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome on the client machine.

NOTE: Disk space requirements for replicated DMSII data are not included here. For best results, use a RAID disk array and store the client files on a separate disk from the database storage.

NOTE: Memory requirements do not include the database requirements when running the Client in the server that houses the relational database (consult your database documentation for these). The numbers are for a stand-alone client machine that connects to a remote database server.
Client - Windows Unisys ES7000
-or-
Pentium PC processor 3 GHz or higher (multiple CPU configuration recommended)

2 GB of RAM (4 GB recommended)

100 GB of disk space in addition to disk space for the relational database built from DMSII data)

TCP/IP transport

One of the following operating systems:
- Windows Server 2022
- Windows Server 2019
- Windows Server 2016 (CORE mode must be disabled for installation)
- Windows Server 2012 R2 (CORE mode must be disabled for installation)
- Windows Server 2012
- Windows 10

One of the following databases:
- Microsoft SQL Server 2022
- Microsoft SQL Server 2019
- Microsoft SQL Server 2017
- Microsoft SQL Server 2016
- Microsoft SQL Server 2014
- Microsoft SQL Server 2012
- Oracle 12c, 18c, 19c, 21c
Client - UNIX and Linux One of the following systems:
- Sun Microsystems SPARCstation running Solaris 11 or later
- IBM pSeries running AIX 7.1 or later
- Intel X-64 with Red Hat Enterprise Linux Release 8 or later
- Intel X-64 with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 or later
- Intel X-64 with UBUNTU Linux 18.04 or later

2 GB of RAM (4 GB recommended)

100 GB of free disk space for installation (in addition to disk space for the relational database built from DMSII data)

TCP/IP transport

One of the following databases:
- Oracle 12c, 18c, 19c, 21c

Databridge product documentation

  • Databridge Documentation - all guides for the current and previous versions
  • Databridge installation image - the Docs folder contains the guides for installation and error codes as well as the administrator's guide for each Databridge product.
  • Databridge Support Resources - includes Knowledge Base articles
  • Product Help (HTML) is available for Databridge Enterprise Server and Databridge Administrative Console.

Unisys MCP Server documentation

For more information about DMSII configuration, refer to your Unisys documentation.


Description of Files on the Installation Image

The table below lists the directories and files on the installation image in alphabetical order. Databridge Host installation files (DISKINSTALL and IMAGE) are located on the root. Only 64-bit versions are provided for all Databridge Clients.

This directory contains ... File Descriptions
AIX Tar files for installing Databridge clients on the AIX platform:
DB_AIX64_Ora12c.tar 64-bit programs for Oracle 12c client
DB_AIX64_Ora18c.tar 64-bit programs for Oracle 18c client
DB_AIX64_Ora19c.tar 64-bit programs for Oracle 19c client
Console Files for installing Databridge Administrative Console, in the following subdirectories:
UNIX databridge-container-7.1.0.tar and JDKs for Linux and Solaris
Windows Installation files for Databridge Administrative Console.
Documentation Databridge Help documentation files in PDF format. Help for Enterprise Server and the Client Console are available from the Help menu of the application.
Linux Tar files for installing Oracle, Kafka and PostgreSQL clients on Intel® x64 series machines running various flavors of Linux including RedHat Enterprise (Release 8 or higher), SUSE, or UBUNTU:
DB_Linux64_Kafka.tar 64-bit programs for the Kafka client
DB_Linux64_Ora12c.tar 64-bit programs for Oracle 12c client
DB_Linux64_Ora18c.tar 64-bit programs for the Oracle 18c client
DB_Linux64_Ora19c.tar 64-bit programs for the Oracle 19c client
DB_Linux64_Ora21c.tar 64-bit programs for the Oracle 21c client
DB_Linux64_Postgres.tar 64-bit programs for the PostgreSQL client
SunOS Tar files for installing clients on Oracle SPARCstation running Solaris 11 or later:
DB_SunOS64_Ora12c.tar 64-bit programs for the Oracle 12c client
DB_SunOS64_Ora18c.tar 64-bit programs for the Oracle 18c client
DB_SunOS64_Ora19c.tar 64-bit programs for the Oracle 19c client
Windows Installation files for Enterprise Server, Databridge Client (Windows)