Synergy/DE Compatibility

This page includes requirements and other important information about Synergy/DE 8.1. Refer to the Quick Migration Guide (PDF) for more information about upgrading.

• New Product Configuration Keys
• New Platforms and Platform Requirements
• Installation Requirements
• Runtime Compatibility (Compilation Requirements)
• Server Compatibilities
• RDBMS Support (with SQL Connection)
• Third-Party Products
• xfNetLink COM: "Old" API No Longer in Distribution
• Last Release for Window Designer
• NCR 3000 Limitations

New Product Configuration Keys

Synergy/DE 8 requires new product configuration keys. To make it easy and fast for you to obtain your Synergy/DE 8 keys, we encourage you to use our Online Services. If your licenses are on Annual License Maintenance (ALM), simply contact our Customer Service team to get set up. If you do not have ALM, please contact your Synergy/DE account manager to order your upgrade.

New Platforms and Platform Requirements

• SCO Linux powered by UnitedLinux is now supported with system code 028. (This distribution is built on Red Hat Linux.)
• IBM AIX minimum version is now 4.3.3 (was 4.3.2)
• SCO OpenServer minimum version is now 5.0.6 (was 5.0.5)

Installation Requirements

• The installation can upgrade Synergy/DE version 7.3.1 or higher versions.
• Customers wrapping their Synergy/DE installation will need to modify their wrapped code.

Runtime Compatibility (Compilation Requirements)

We recommend that you rebuild your Synergy applications with version 8.1 to benefit from all the new features and fixes. If you choose not to rebuild, your application should still work fine with the 8.1 runtime, with the following exceptions:

• If your Synergy applications do not use UI Toolkit, and they were built with a Synergy/DE version prior to 5.7.9; or if your Synergy applications use UI Toolkit, and they were built with a Synergy/DE version prior to 6.3, you must recompile them.
• If your Synergy applications use the UI Toolkit file gblctl.def, you must recompile them.
• If your Synergy applications use DDLIB (an executable library that contains routines that access the Synergy Repository), and they are built with a Synergy/DE version prior to 7.1, you must recompile them.

Server Compatibilities

We recommend that you update all Synergy/DE products to version 8.1. If you choose to update your server(s) only, refer to this chart for the minimum client versions supported with Synergy/DE 8.1 servers:

(Note: For all Synergy/DE client/server products, your server version must be equal to or higher than your client version.)

RDBMS Support (with SQL Connection)

SQL Connection 8.1 supports the following databases:

• Oracle
• SQL Server
• Synergy DBMS

See Third-Party Products for specific version information.

In addition, fee-based support from our Professional Services Group is available for the following databases:

• IBM DB/2
• Informix
• Sybase
• RDB
• ODBC-compliant

Third-Party Products

xfNetLink COM: "Old" API No Longer in Distribution

The xfNetLink COM API was first released in Synergy/DE 7.1. In Synergy/DE 7.3, a new enhanced API was released. The “old” (7.1) API remained in the Synergy/DE distributions for versions 7.3 and 7.5, to accommodate customers who had not yet migrated to the new API. The old API is not included with Synergy/DE 8.1, but it is available from HelpDesk Support.

Please contact us if you require the old API.

Note sure which API you use? The old API uses the xfStartup() method to connect to xfServerPlus. The new API uses the connect() method. Also, the old API uses the xfSubr() method to call remote routines, while the new API enables you to directly reference the remote routine names.

Last Release for Window Designer

Window Designer is a Synergy/DE tool that enables developers to interactively design user interfaces on Unix and OpenVMS. Since the release and subsequent enhancements of Composer, the usefulness of Window Designer has diminished. Composer runs on Windows and also provides a “UI design” function. With Composer, customers can design windows on Windows and deploy them on Windows, Unix, or OpenVMS. Since Composer has essentially replaced Window Designer, we have decided to stop development of Window Designer after Synergy/DE 8.1. 8.1 will be the last version that includes Window Designer.

NCR 3000 Limitations

Due to the non-availability of third-party software on NCR 3000, the following Synergy/DE products are not available on this platform:

• Connectivity Series (xfODBC and SQL Connection)
• xfNetLink Java Edition
• HTTPS support