Highlights: InformixHQ latest drop is available on Fix Central
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.
Table of Contents
Editorial
IBM is having a technical event in Barcelona International Convention Centre, 22-25 January 2024.
This is a technical event covering cutting edge technologies in AI cloud and more.
You can read all about it at: https://www.ibm.com/community/ibm-techxchange-summit-emea/.
If you want a complimentary pass to the conference, contact Cindy Lichtenauer cindy@iiug.org A.S.A.P.
Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Insider Editor
IIUG Board of Directors
gary@iiug.org
Highlights
InformixHQ latest drop is available on Fix Central…
We have been committed to constant improvement of InformixHQ, the graphical administration and monitoring tool that is delivered as part of the Informix server.
To get those improvements into your hands faster, we will continue to release InformixHQ as part of each Informix server release but now we will also start uploading new interim versions of InformixHQ onto Fix Central standalone starting with InformixHQ 2.3.4.
Highlights of the newly available InformixHQ 2.3.4
General Improvements:
- If a checkpoint cannot be initiated via the HQ UI, a more succinct error message is now being written to the hqserver log.
- Storage -> Tables & Indexes now consider sysbld… tables as system catalogue tables.
- no select permission for tables will no longer log stack traces in the hqserver log.
- HQ Agent no longer offers a read only secondary as repository server.
- When there is an error in the properties file starting HQ Server, the HQ Server process is now killed.
- HQ UI – schema manager – number of rows for an index now displays n/a as indexes do not have rows.
High Availability Cluster information has been made clearer with additional details:
- High Availability -> Cluster Topology for Primary now correctly displays “Cluster Status Information” and for Secondary “HDR Status Information.”
- HA UI Improvements when the primary server is missing:
- More details in “HDR Status Information” section. Value of Last Log Page Applied & Backlog is displayed. (Picture 1)
- Displaying correct updatable status of the servers. (HA is configured via DBSERVER Aliases) (Picture 2)
- Showing more details in “RSS/SDS Status Information” section. (picture 2)
- More useful messages displayed with possible solutions (i.e. If HA is configured via DBSERVERALIASES) (Picture 3)
- HA GUI Improvements when the primary exists:
- Displaying server specific information for RSS/SDS servers instead of mixing information from primary server. (Picture 4)
- Fixed UI glitches when switching HA servers from the topology graph.
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4
APAR list for InformixHQ 2.3.4
| APAR | Abstract |
| IT44371 | informixHQ: h2db exception “Value too long for column” when saving dashboard |
| IT44348 | Storage -> Tables & Indexes: selection of a dbspace is ignored after “Update Information” |
| IT44137 | HQ Storage DBSpace Usage graphical representation is overpopulated |
| IT44146 | the error “sensor not found” should also give the name of that sensor. |
| IT43492 | HQ Server system reports -> table activity is not showing user table |
| IT43426 | informixHQ: Operating System Disk I/O sensor on AIX crashes agent |
| IT43185 | Replication->High Availability->Cluster Topology does not reflect “Updatable”properly |
| IT43143 | System searches every few seconds for a connection manager and “makes alarm” on the HQ screen |
| IT43213 | InformixServerStatusMonitor can throw NullPointer Exceptions |
| IT43214 | error message asks c. to configure an undocumented and non configurable hikari property |
| IT42662 | HQ Server should show Storage – Spaces – Status as encrypted when the dbspace is encrypted |
Karen Qualley
HCL
Informix Corner
IBM TechXchange Summit EMEA in Barcelona 2024
Title: IBM TechXchange Summit EMEA 2024
Date: 22-25 January 2024
Location: CCIB – Centre de Convenciones Internacional de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Innovating in the Age of AI: Transformative Learning for Technologists
Reasons to attend:
- Explore the impact Generative AI will have on enterprise technologists using IBM products
- Build deep technical expertise through a guided approach to learning
- Get your hands on the tech with hands-on labs
- Gain new certifications and level up your technical skills
- For technologists by technologists
- Join your community and connect with your peers
- Meet with sponsors who could help you with current and future projects
- There are 8 tracks with more than 450 sessions
- This is an invite only, complimentary event
Featured Speakers include:
- Dinesh Nirmal – Senior Vice President, Products, IBM
- Nicholas Renotte – Chief AI Engineer, IBM Client Engineering
- Rikke Jacobsen – CEO, CogniTech A/S, IBM Champion
- Paul Mendelson – Product Manager, PMSquare, IBM Champion
- Jason Gartner – GM, IBM Technical Sales & Client Engineering
- Torbjörn Appehl – ISV Advisor, Built on Power, IBM Champion
- Jean-Georges Perrin – Co-Founder, AbeaData, IBM Champion
- Anant Jhingran – CTO, IBM Software
To learn more about this event: https://www.ibm.com/community/ibm-techxchange-summit-emea/
NOTE: This is a by invitation only event. IBM is providing the IIUG with a maximum of 40 complimentary passes. Please contact Cindy Lichtenauer at cindy@iiug.org if you are interested in attending this event.
Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Board
Informix Tech Talks on YouTube
Upcoming Informix Tech Talks – December 7
Title: WAIUG Meeting
Speaker: Various
Date/Time: Thursday, December 7, 2023, 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM EST
Description:
| Ensuring Data Integrity and Confidentiality in Informix Database | Pavan Gummalla – HCL |
| Sneak peek at updates to InformixHQ with Demo | Shubham Kapoor – HCL |
| 4GL and Genero | Laurent Galais/Delane Freeman – 4Js |
| Check your backups with archecker | Mike Walker – xDB Systems |
Register for WAIUG Meeting
Last Informix Tech Talks Replay
Replay of the Last Informix Tech Talks: October 26, 2023: Proving Stuff with Informix Internals, Mark Scranton
Informix Tech Talks YouTube Channel
Our YouTube Channel now has:
-
444 subscribers (9 new subscribers since last month)
-
101 videos
-
14,109 views (628 new views since last month)
Informix Tech Talks YouTube Channel Videos
Past Informix Tech Talks Replays
In Search of Tech Talks Speakers
We are looking for additional speakers and especially any new speakers to share your Informix knowledge with our user Community via the IIUG Tech Talks. We will assist you in preparing for your Tech Talks presentation by prerecording your session. This will allow you to be available to answer any questions that come up in the chat during you presentation.
If you are interested in producing a 15 – 45-minute presentation, please contact either Art Kagel or Rhonda Hackenburg for additional information.
Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Board
Informix Training
Free Informix Tutorials Videos – a step by step approach to using Informix Database Servers are available at https://advancedatatools.com/tech-info/informix-tutorials/
RFE Corner
IBM has an RFE – Request For Enhancements website.
Please visit the RFE site to vote for your favorite enhancements and place new requests. It is friendly and has a nice look and feel.
Recent
Increase 128 character limit for ADMIN_MODE_USERS onconfig parameter
Internal hash tables – remove limit on amount of data.
allow distributed queries when BLOBs involved
When AUTO_REPREPARE is non zero only have 1 sessions recompile a stored procedure
Add sql causing change when dictionary entries become dirty.
For sysprocplan add reason for last change/recompile.
For sysprocplan add ability to view the plan
Add Query Store functionality to Informix and revert to Last Good Plan
Add ability to print deadlock information
Add object names to onstat -k output
Add ability to control optimizer version.
Popular (Over 50 votes)
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: 107 (+0)
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: 104 (+0)
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: 92 (+0)
Created: December 24, 2018
Status: Future consideration
Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Board
IBM Informix Forum Corner
Join and visit the IBM Informix community forum
Recent Posts
Latest documentation on C++, ODBC, .NET and OLE DB
Guide for Server Specification Calculation
Native Informix Driver for PHP
Updated utils2_ak package available
IBM data server driver connection to multiple connection managers
ibm data server driver + multiple connection managers
Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Board
Informix Resources
Not a member, become an IIUG member and keep updated on all things Informix. It’s free.
Not a member, join the IBM Informix community and connect with other Informix data experts.
Informix Requests for Enhancements.
Technical Articles
https://www.oninitgroup.com/technical-articles/
Over 10 Years of Informix Webcast Replays
Over 30 Years of Informix Blog Posts
Social Media
| YouTube | X (Twitter) |
Forums, Groups, Videos, and Magazines
The IIUG old forums at http://www.iiug.org/forums/technical.php *** NO LONGER ACTIVE ***
Informix Marketing channel on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/informixmarketing?feature=results_main
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 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.
Editors: Gary Ben-Israel, Rhonda Hackenburg
For comments, please send an email to gary@iiug.org or rhonda@iiug.org