Natural Community edition Installation issues

In my previous quest for answers regarding installation issues that I ran into when installing Natural or Adabas, I have come to think that the downloaded software are not really intended to be installed on any computer, HP or others. It is not possible for installation script to be missing a file that it needs to complete its installation if that file is part of the install package. See attached for example. This type of missing files or other resources are common with the install messages. Do Software AG expect a user to provide the needed components for their software to install on their computers? The needed components and resources should be provided as part of the installation package and files that are to be created should be created as the software installs. This is very bad on the part of Software AG. NOTE: The issue is Adabas.exe is missing. who should provide that? The installer or should it be part of the install package.I suggest that the installation package should be re-worked if they really want people to try out the software through the end of this year.

Hello Kenneth,
I cannot currently explain this error.
However, you can be sure, that we tested the ADA CE multiple times successfully before releasing it.
We will check and come back to you!
Cheers, Juergen (Product Management)

Hello Kenneth,

besides the issue above, I’d like to encourage you to have a look at the Adabas & Natural community edition for Docker.

There has been reasonable demand for a docker-based CE in the past.
So we decided to follow that path in the future.

With Docker, you can easily run the containers w/o interfering with your existing system.
The only thing you need as prerequisite is a running docker environment.

Also, it will have the Natural runtime as well as Adabas pre-installed as docker containers.

You can check out the A&N CE for Docker @
[url]http://techcommunity.softwareag.com/ecosystem/communities/public/adanat/products/adabas-natural-community-edition-for-docker/downloads/index.html[/url]

You’ll find the respective documentation @
[url]http://techcommunity.softwareag.com/ecosystem/download/developer-communities/adanat/AN_Community_Edition_Guide.pdf[/url]

You need to logon to the Tech Community to get it.

One downside is, that that A&N CE for Docker does not yet contain Adabas Manager.
However, we plan to have the next A&N CE for Docker within this year.
That new version will contain the latest versions of Adabas & Natural then, including a docker-ready Adabas Manager v8.4.
We changed the architecture of the Adabas Manager v8.4 for ease-of-installation/configuration and also to be docker-ready.

The Natural development environment, NaturalONE, needs to be installed besides docker.
This is because docker can only cope with Web UIs, but not with rich client interfaces like the Software AG Designer is until now.

So, nevertheless it may be worth to have a look at the A&N CE for Docker this time?

Cheers,
Juergen

I downloaded the latest Natural/Adabas CE, DVD_Version_NAT_8.3.4.0.171_CE.zip, and it installed on my Win10 64-bit Dell server without incident.

I truly cannot understand how someone is indicating that the installation of this software was successfully installed on Dell server running Windows 10 Operating system ( I suppose 64 bit). Here is a screenshot of the issue I reported in my first post regarding the impossible task of installing this software. If the package you installed successfully is coming from a different download site I request that you send me that link for the installation of this software is not dependent on Hardware but OS and administrator rights.
How is the install package indicating that installation log is missing. Should the installer know before hand that installation log need to be created before trying to install this software. If so should the installer also know in what directory that installation log should be created. When you look at the installation batch script, I hope you would understand my reason of thinking that this is a joke.

FileMissingErrorCapture.JPG

If you look at the threads in the Natural Installation and Setup on Open Systems forum you will see that others, too, have had success with the CE installation.

  • I requested the CE.
  • Software AG responded with an e-mail.
  • I clicked on the link provided.
  • I saved the download as DVD_Version_NAT_8.3.4.0.171_CE.zip.
  • I unzipped the download.
  • I clicked on Setup.exe.
  • I chose an installation directory.
  • The installer began execution, and I walked away.
  • When I returned to my computer, Adabas and Natural were ready for use.

As I stated in my response to your other post (Natural Community edition Installation issues - Adabas-Natural - Software AG Tech Community & Forums), I believe your issue is with HP. I have personally experienced problems with SAG software on Compaq (acquired by HP), Gateway, and HP PCs. There is some proprietary component (hardware, OS, BIOS, I don’t know) that doesn’t play well with others.

I own a number of very nice HP products, but I’m sorry to say that won’t buy their desktops or laptops for this specific reason.

Below is a screenshot of part of installation batch script that is included in my download of Adabas. In my posts, I have included screenshots as a proof that something is wrong with my downloads. If you follow this script, you will notice that the script will delete any installation log file if it exists and there was no place in that scripts where the deleted file is recreated. I suppose that Zipfusion software that is used in the installation was suppose to create or recreate it for that installation log is required to complete the installation. If your installation Startinstallation.bat file is anything different from this, you may be installing from a different download. The steps that was listed in the response to my inquiry was the same steps I took to get the errors that I am reporting. I am not installing on a server and if that makes a difference, it was not in any form stated as a requirement to install Adabas.

Hello Kenneth,

I can understand that you feel frustrated.
However, we cannot currently reproduce the installation errors you face in our RnD department.

At this point I see the following ways to proceed:

  • Check that you properly unzip the downloaded file before executing parts of it: We occasionally faced problems resulting from execution of .bat/.exe files directly from within a zip. Then, some files had been missing, although they were contained in the zip-file.
  • Download the file again, take care of bullet point #1 and retry.
  • If all that doesn’t help, you might want to send us the zip-File so we can check the quality of it. However, if we can’t reproduce, then we are at the same point as now.
  • If you are interested in the Adabas Community Edition, then I strongly suggest to give the Docker-based Adabas Community Edition a try.

Cheers,
Juergen