IIUG Insider (Issue #189) March 2016

Highlights: How about some Raspberry Pi?

Welcome to the International Informix Users Group (IIUG) Insider! Designed for IIUG members and Informix user group leaders, this publication contains timely and relevant information for the IBM Informix community.

Contents:

 


Editorial Back to top

All I have to say at this point in time is, don’t miss the IIUG 2016 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA from May 4 – 8. I know you have this repeated twice in this issue. And if our email blasts passed through your spam filters you have probably received a few.

I am sure you all know your gain by attending this event. Education, networking, meeting IBM developers, support engineers and executives. I would like to talk about it from another aspect.

Registering for the conference and staying at the Sawgrass Marriott will make this a win-win for you and Informix. You will definitely get bang for your buck by showing your support for Informix and getting the most out of Informix technical sessions. By staying at the Sawgrass Marriott you can network with other Informix enthusiasts and enjoy all the amenities the Sawgrass Marriott has to offer.

Don’t miss this opportunity to show your support for Informix and ensure the Informix product and IIUG will continue to grow stronger and better than ever.

Register today!

Gary Ben-Israel


Highlights Back to top

How about some Raspberry Pi?

The IIUG has just secured 30 Raspberry Pi 3 Model B units, the version that was recently released. Why do we have these? Be one of the first 30 people to register for IIUG 2016 (paid registrations only) on or before April 15, 2016 and receive the following:

  1. New raspberry Pi 3 version B
  2. USA power adapter
  3. 16 GB micro SD card for the unit (we are working to make it a 32 GB micro SD card)
  4. Case

Some assembly is required (this takes about 5 minutes). You will have to download the OS (one page instructions are included on how to do this) AND we will tell you where you can download your FREE copy of IBM Informix Dynamic Server Developer Edition V12.1 from IBM. You will now have your own Pi.

How do I get this deal when I register? Simple, use the registration code: pi.

That’s not all! You will also receive one dollar off the registration price because that was the easiest way for us to set this up in the registration system.

Oh yes, if you review the session list at IIUG2016, you will see there are a few sessions on using your Pi with Informix. You will receive your Raspberry Pi at the registration desk so you can then be ready to take it to any of these sessions.

Sorry these will not be sold at the conference. The only way is get one is to be one of the first 30 PAID IIUG 2016 registrants on or before April 15th.

Stuart Litel
IIUG President


Conference corner Back to top

It is not too late to join other Informix Users at IIUG 2016

PROCRASTINATE MUCH?!?!?? Yes you do. Yes you have. But it’s still not too late to register for IIUG 2016 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA from May 4 – 8. There are still hotel rooms available at the LOW conference rate of $189 at the Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort and Spa.

You still have time to register to take advantage of the free tutorials on Sunday May 8, which are available to ALL PAID ATTENDEES, as long as you REGISTER. Don’t forget IIUG members can still use their $100 member discount through May 5th.

Flights to Jacksonville, FL are still available, and still pretty reasonable (that means cheap), and are either NON-STOP or require no more than one stop in Atlanta (I know, that’s everybody’s favorite layover location). Actually, this is true. We just priced flights from Amsterdam and Paris and you can fly from there NON-STOP to the Hartsfield Latoya Jackson Intergalactic Spaceport and Nail Emporium in ATLanta, and then puddle jump on to JAX (Jacksonville), a half hour flight, for less than $800 round-trip. If you’re in the States, the same route will cost you $400 or LESS.

So YOU HAVEN’T WAITED TOO LONG, yet.

The speakers are all lined up, the golf adventures (and there are some) are well into the final planning stages (?), and there is a beach nearby. So why wait any longer? If you wait you will miss the largest gathering of Informix professionals and enthusiasts in the world. We don’t want all of this expertise to go to waste while you sit home wondering why you didn’t decide to book your flight, hotel room, and register.

Looking forward to seeing you in May.

IIUG 2016 CPC


Informix News Back to top

Round robin sensor data storage with IBM Informix

Raspberry Pi: Round robin sensor data storage with IBM Informix


RFE Corner Back to top

Just in case you are not aware, some time ago IBM created a public website to collect the requests for new features directly from users. The RFE (Requests For Enhancements) website is included in developerWorks. You can access it here.

Once you logged in with your usual IBM ID, choose “Information Management” in the Brand dropdown box and “Informix Servers” or “Client Products” in the Products dropdown box.

The interesting thing is that any request, including your request, if you place one, are submitted to be voted on. This means the RFEs that receive more votes have a greater chance to be considered by the architecture and development teams for further consideration. In other words, this IS the opportunity to provide enhancement ideas even if you are not the biggest IBM customer on the planet Earth.

Some RFEs will be of great interest, others will not seem useful to you. This is why your opinion is important. Do not hesitate to vote and place comments!

The idea of the RFE corner is to provide a digest on new Informix RFEs and make those RFEs more visible and accessible for the community, so that you can vote for them in a faster and easier way. By participating actively in this website, IBM will have solid and useful elements from the customer base to introduce new functionality to Informix product.

Also in the area of IBM website, a new functionality has been released: MyNotifications. You will want to register this webpage in order to receive the notifications of your choice (new product defects, new patch release, new versions etc…, on the frequency of your choice (daily, weekly). I have registered a few days ago and will definitely keep registered, due to the value of the information delivered.

Register here

(Login at DeveloperWorks to see the RFEs.)

New RFEs for March 2016

The vote activity has been consistent in March, see TOP 14 in next section. We also know that a number of those RFE’s will be implemented in the next fixpack

Allow defining rolling container windows defined on user defined calendars
Currently time series rolling window containers can only be defined to use a predetermined set of calendars to define the number of time points included in each window.
Request for more flexibility in the definition of those calendars, in order to apply best possible archiving policy with least storage waste.
Votes: 11

Top 14 RFEs

Abstract Status Votes Progr.
In-Place Alter for varchar, lvarchar and boolean Under Consideration 43 +2
Backup from RSS or HDR Secondaries using ontape, onunload, onbar, dbexport Under Consideration 38 +3
SQL interface to obtain the temporary space usage (tables, hash, sorts…) Submitted 36 +4
Request to track and save a time stamp for last time an index was used. Nee… Submitted 27 +4
Obtain the query plan of a running query Under Consideration 26 +5
New feature to have FORCE_DDL_EXEC functionality for all DDL changes Submitted 22 0
Implementation of regular expressions (adding to LIKE/MATCHES functions) Under Consideration 21 0
Implement CREATE OR REPLACE option for stored procedures Under Consideration 18 +1
ALTER owner of database objects after creation Submitted 18 +4
Backup Individual database, not entire instance Submitted 18 +6
Need an onmode option to terminate orphaned, tightly coupled global transac… Under Consideration 16 +2
Allow triggers install/updates without taking an outage for the box Under Consideration 16 +#
Add constant to centralized Key of ER Consolidation Model Submitted 13 0
Ability to re-create views and procedures without dependent objects being d… Under Consideration 13 0

You can access each RFE by clicking on the above links. At the bottom of each RFE page you will find a hyperlink to vote for it. You will see the Request stats, including number of votes for this request, on the right side of the request page. The more votes, the greater the chance an enhancement will be addressed by the Development Team, taking into consideration the general interest.

Take some time to examine the full list and vote for the enhancements you would like to see implemented.

Eric Vercelletto


Calendar of events Back to top

April – 2016
Date Event Location Contact
5 Washington Area Informix Users Group Meeting Tysons Corner, VA James Edmiston
May – 2016
Date Event Location Contact
4-8 IIUG 2016 Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa, at Ponte Vedra Beach. Florida conference@iiug.org

 


Informix resources Back to top

IBM Informix home page

http://www.informix.com or directly at: http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/informix/

Informix blogs and wikis

Blogs and Wikis that have been updated during the last month

  • PlanetIDS: Blogs, Videos, News and more *** Up to date feeds from many blogs ***
  • Fernando Nunes

More Blogs and Wikis

Social Media

Forums, Groups, Videos, and Magazines

  • The IIUG forums
  • Informix Marketing channel on YouTube
  • IBM DATABASE MAGAZINE
  • Credentials, the IBM Certification Newsletter
  • The Informix Zone
  • Informix group on LinkedIn – The group is called “Informix Supporter”, so anyone loving Informix can join, from current IBM employees, former Informix employees, to users. It will also be a good occasion to get in touch with others or long-time-no-seen friends. If you fancy showing the Informix logo on your profile, join.

 


Useful links Back to top

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Closing and credits Back to top

The International Informix Users Group (IIUG) is an organization designed to enhance communications between its worldwide user community and IBM. The IIUG’s membership database now exceeds 25,000 entries and enjoys the support and commitment of IBM’s Data Management division. Key programs include local user groups and special interest groups, which we promote and assist from launch through growth.

Sources: IIUG Board of Directors
IBM Corp.
Editor: Gary Ben-Israel

For comments, please send an email to gary@iiug.org.

 

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Categorized as Insider

By Vicente Salvador

Board member since 2014, a user since 1989 and Informix fan. I'am software architect which allow me to combine technical and business skills.