IIUG Insider (Issue #232) November 2019

Highlights: Try the new IIUG member area

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:

1) Editorial

2) Highlights

   2.1 Try the new IIUG member area

3) RFE Corner

4) Events

   4.1 IBM Think

5) Informix Resources

   5.1 Informix Blogs and Wikis

   5.2 Social Media

   5.3 Forums, Groups, Videos, and Magazines

1) Editorial

2019 is almost over and Informix is still the best database in the market.

2019 is almost over and Informix is still the best database in the market. I am sure it will stay the best database in 2020 as well.

For those not participating in the Informix community /community and the Informix RFE (Request For Enhancements) https://ibm-data-and-ai.ideas.aha.io/?project=INFX

Both sites are active. Your participation is important and active so please participate.

Gary Ben-Israel

IIUG Insider Editor

IIUG Board of Directors

gary@iiug.org

2) Highlights

2.1 Try the new IIUG member area

As part of the IIUG new website, we now have a new member area. Thank you Vicente for the great work. Please log in, update your profile and enjoy the new look and feel,

http://members.iiug.org

Gary Ben-Israel

3) RFE Corner

IBM has created a new RFE – Request For Enhancements website.

https://ibm-data-and-ai.ideas.aha.io/?project=INFX

Please visit this site to vote for your favorite enhancements and place new requests.

As you can see, it is a new RFE site. It is friendly and has a nice look and feel.

Recent

Allow remote query execution inside a TRUSTED CONTEXT

A customer that has some customized “auditing” built on triggers would like to be able to differentiate the real user behind the application server.

Votes: 1

Created December 4, 2019

Status: Needs review

Enhance availability of readahead performance details

With the ubiquity of intelligent storage, the value of readahead in the Informix server is reduced and excessive readahead can be detrimental to performance. However, since the introduction of the AUTO_READAHEAD parameter and the associated changes to the readahead algorithms in the engine that include readahead of data that was not included in earlier versions of the engine, not all readahead details are exposed for analysis making it impossible to tune the AUTO_READAHEAD setting accurately.

Also while some details are available through the onstat -g rah output, not all values are exposed there either and none of that information is available through the SMI interface. Only the even more limited details exposed by onstat -p are available in sysmaster.

Votes: 7

Created December 3, 2019

Status: Needs review

Extend currently allow maximum ER replicate count from 65,536 to 262,144 max limit.

We are an ERP based vendor and we maintain more than 2,500 tables per single database. Some of our bigger costomers maintain around 100 such required databases for various activities. We are planning to migrate/upgrade our customer servers with nearly zero down time using ER as the solution. However, we face 65,536 max replicate (at a given time) has been the main challaenge when working with such biggest number of tables. The idea in here we would be to suggest into expand the current maximum replicate limit into allow us 262,144 replicates (at a given time).

Votes: 1

Created November 26, 2019

Status: Needs review

InformixHQ enhancements

There are important basic features are missing in InformixHQ tool shipped with Informix 14.10XC2 version. Without these basic features, it would be hard for us to use the tool to quickly identify specific information looking for , specially when displaying considerable number of records by navigating through each individual page or as displays in long listings per page.

Votes: 1

Created November 21, 2019

Status: Needs review

Add CLIENT_LABEL parameter for setnet32 (ODBC) connections

We have noticed there is no parameter value we can set for CLIENT_LABEL through setnet32 driver.

Votes: 1

Created November 20, 2019

Status: Planned

Popular

Backup from RSS or HDR Secondaries using ontape, onunload, onbar, dbexport

In HDR environments, being able to backup or export databases from and HDR, HDR read-only, or an RSS secondary server is critical. Programs like ontape, onunload, dbexport, and onbar generate locks on tables during backups and data-exports. This creates problems while applications and users using Informix try to use the system during backups in 24 x 7 x 365 production environments. Being able to backup or export data on secondary systems is critical for compliance and backup integrity.

Votes: 89

Created: December 24, 2018

Status: Future consideration

Obtain the query plan of a running query

Many times a DBA is called to check upon a slow process. Most of the times those processes are running a slow query.

Sometimes it’s hard to know if the query is using the best query plan or not. A DBA can reproduce the query, but it it was prepared without values or if the statistics were changed after it started there is no guarantee that the query plan seen by the DBA is the same as the running query.

We have “onstat -g pqs” which sometimes can give us a clue, but it’s mostly cryptic and undocumented. If a user has X-Windows he can try xtree, but it’s a bit strange for todays standards.

We also have SQLTRACE, but if it was not set when the query was launched it will not capture the info (and besides, due to the circular nature of the buffer it may not be there at the time we need it).

A simple pseudo-table in sysmaster could probably implement this with ease.

It could also be extended to support the “last” query plan making it easy to get the query plan in any tool

Votes: 73

Created: December 24, 2018

Status: Future consideration

SQL interface to obtain the temporary space usage (tables, hash, sorts…)

A DBA and possibly a programmer needs an easy way to monitor who is responsible for the temporary space usage.

Currently it’s possible a user may be consuming a lot of temporary space and impacting other sessions, without the DBA being able to quick and easily identify the session responsible.

Other reports (from IIUG mailing list) and another RFE (36245) mentions the need for programmers to be able to find out the current session’s temp tables (onstat -g ses shows this).

The definitive solution for this should be an SQL interface showing:

– session ID

– object name

– object type (explicit temp table, implicit temp table, hash join, sort …?)

– used space

– chunk/dbspace being used

– owner nam

– ??? (PID and others, but probably thos can be gathered with joins)

This should supersede RFE ID 36245 and this includes the request for that RFE and more.

Votes: 66

Created: December 24, 2018

Status: Future consideration

Backup Individual database, not entire instance

Need a mechanism, similar to ontape, to backup a live database (as opposed to entire instance), without locking it.

Votes: 60

Created: December 24, 2018

Status: Future consideration

Informix should be able to change owner on tables and any other objects

If user=informix creates all database and all tables, then programmer creates table but user=informix cannot change it. Only drop it.

Votes: 60

Created: December 24, 2018

Status: Future consideration

Gary Ben-Israel

4) Events

4.1 IBM Think

IBM Think 2020 – San Francisco

May 4, 2020 – May 7, 2020

Moscone Center – SF, 747 Howard St
San Francisco, CA 94103 United States + Google Map

Find out more »

5) Informix Resources

IIUG website
www.iiug.org

IBM Informix home page
www.informix.com or directly at: http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/informix/

IBM Informix community
/community

5.1 Informix Blogs and Wikis

Blogs and Wikis that have been updated during the last month

More Blogs and Wikis

5.2 Social Media

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/25049

Twitter : https://twitter.com/iiug

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/IIUG.Informix

Informix IoT Channel : https://ibm.biz/BdH2nm

5.3 Forums, Groups, Videos, and Magazines

  • The IIUG forums at /forums/technical.php
  • Informix Marketing channel on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/informixmarketing?feature=results_main
  • IBM DATABASE MAGAZINE at http://www.ibmdatabasemag.com
  • Credentials, the IBM Certification Newsletter at http://www-03.ibm.com/certify/email/201307credentials.shtml
  • There is now an 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. To join, simply go to: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/25049/5E4B2048E558

Closing and Credits

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 Information 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

Published
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.