Highlights: Informix Certification is Coming Soon!
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
We are not back to where we were in 2019. Traveling is still not permitted in many countries.
We cannot count on October being different. So, the best we can do under the circumstances is offer virtual evens and do virtual meetings.
I hope that we will be able to have a board meeting toward the end of the year. Time will tell.
In the meantime, we highly recommend our YouTube channel: “Informix Tech Talks sponsored by the IIUG”. The URL is: https://www.youtube.com/c/InformixTechTalksbytheIIUG
Join our 185 subscribers and our hundreds of viewers.
Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Insider Editor
IIUG Board of Directors
Highlights
Informix Certification is Coming Soon!
IBM and several Informix users have spent the last several months revamping the Informix 14.10 certification test.
This will be a proctored exam to be given online. IBM has changed from certification to the new badge format for successful completion of the test.
The test will be available through the IIUG. Watch your email and the IIUG website when more details become available.
Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Board
Informix Corner
June is xc6 month! Three Webinars in June on the xc6 Release
The IIUG is happy to be cohosting a series of three webcasts on the latest release of Informix:
1. Title: Latest enhancements in IBM Informix 14.10xC6
When: June 17, 2021 at 11 am Eastern (June 17, 2021 15:00 GMT)
Speaker: JC Lengyel
Description: Join us for an overview of Informix 14.10xC6 enhancements. We’ll give you a preview to enhanced performance, security and availability in the latest release.
A 30-minute overview.
2. Title: IIUG/IBM xc6 Webcast – Kernel, Enterprise Replication and SQL features
When: June 22, 2021 at 11 am Eastern (June 22, 2021 15:00 GMT)
Speaker: Carlton Doe
A 90-minute in-depth session.
3. Title: IIUG/IBM xc6 Webcast – IHQ and Backup from RS secondary
When: June 29, 2021 at 11 am Eastern (June 29, 2021 15:00 GMT)
Speaker: Carlton Doe
A 90-minute in-depth session.
Call for Speakers – IIUG virtual conference, 5-7 October 2021
The event will be held October 5-7 2021. We want to make this available to as many attendees as possible and have decided to begin each day at 10:00 AM EDT. We understand this is not ideal for everyone. We wanted to let you know, replays will be available for all registered attendees.
We still have opportunities for user speakers to participate in our first Online Technical Event. Please let us know if we can help you become a part of our team.
As we go about our daily routines or should I say not so routine routines, keep in mind how many of our tasks we have in common with others. Why not consider sharing what you know with other Informix users. Your presentation doesn’t have to be an “all-day” event, just about a 40-50 minute presentation on a topic you think could be helpful to others. We have all been in enough technical sessions to realize that if the topic is good, questions and discussion will always more than fill the allotted time slots, which are usually about an hour.
We opened the Call for Speakers back in February and it will remain open until August 31, 2021. Please consider submitting your Speaker Abstract today.
Registration will be opening soon. Visit the IIUG website and watch your email for future updates.
If you have any questions, please email us at conference@iiug.org.
Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Board and Planning Committee
Why Analysts Think IBM Informix is the Right Database for Edge Analytics
According to Gartner 75% of enterprise data will be generated at the “edge” by 2025, compared to 10% in 2019. On the one hand this will be driven by an increased desire for real-time capabilities with minimum latency and, on the other, it will be enabled by the increased availability of 5G technology
While Informix has been proven at enterprise scale for more than twenty years, edge is an emerging use case, which should be reassuring to any existing users that might have been concerned about continuing investment into this database product.
Discover what is required from a database that supports edge computing and, more generally, Internet of Things (IoT) as analysts at Bloor Research examine the suitability of IBM Informix for supporting these environments.
https://www.ibm.com/account/reg/in-en/signup?formid=urx-50123
Informix Tech Talks by the IIUG Update
1. June Tech Talks Webcast
Date: Thursday, June 24, 2021, 2:00 pm EDT
Title: History of the Informix User Groups – Part 1 by Carlton Doe, Walt Hultgren, Cathy Kipp, Lester Knutsen, and Mike Reetz
Description: We will share stories about how the Informix User Groups got started in the early ’90s. Does anyone else remember 1200 baud modems and the role they played in communications before the internet? This started out as an oral history of Informix user groups with a few old folks trying to remember things and we had fun getting together and sharing stories.
Bio: Carlton Doe, Walt Hultgren, Cathy Kipp, Lester Knutsen, and Mike Reetz (along with Malcolm Weallans) were active Informix user group leaders in the 90’s who got together and became the original founders of the International Informix User Group.
2. We have over 180 subscribers for our YouTube channel. We have nine videos on our channel. Visit https://www.youtube.com/c/InformixTechTalksbytheIIUG to view these videos or subscribe.
3. We have 10 videos on our YouTube Channel
IIUG 2020 Webcasts:
– Informix v.14.10.xC4W1 Technical Deep Dive webcast
– Informix v.14.10.xC4W1 Technical Deep Dive webcast – Replication
– Informix v.14.10.xC4W1 Technical Deep Dive webcast – Java and system administration
– IBM Informix v.14.10.xC4 Chat with the Labs – GSKit to Open SSL
– IBM Informix CloudPak and Modernization November 11, 2020
IIUG Tech Talks 2021:
– Informix SQL Performance Tuning Tips by Jeff Filippi 3/25/2021
– Informix Tech Talks: Three ways to capture data changes when they happen! by Art Kagel
– Migrating and Upgrading to Informix 14 in-house or in the cloud. The easy and the hard way. by Lester Knutsen
– Informix Tech Talks for the IIUG: Creating Informix Non OS Users by Lester Knutsen
– Informix Large Table operations by Ben Thompson
Washington Area Informix User Group Meeting
Date: July 22 @ 1:00 pm – EDT
Meeting number: 182 284 6819
Password: G0!Informix (40046367 from video systems)
Agenda: Coming Soon!
Informix Tech Talks from the IIUG hosting the Washington Area Informix User Group Meeting (WAIUG)
Join by video system
Dial 1822846819@webex.com
You can also dial 173.243.2.68 and enter your meeting number.
Join by phone
Use VoIP only
IBM Corner
Below is a snippet from an article printed in CRN in February 2021 titled “IBM CEO Arvind Krishna’s ‘Deeply, Deeply Passionate’ Plan to Make IBM_Red Hat No. 1 in Hybrid Cloud, AI”
After building the security business, Krishna learned the channel inside and out when he took command of the Informix database business in the mid2000s. “That’s when I really got to understand the channel really, really well because Informix was almost 90 percent a channel business—mostly resellers,” he said. “But every one of them had a secret sauce. Some could solve a problem in their sleep. You would call up these guys and they could tell you ‘Just change this knob and you are fixed.’ Others would be building massive applications on top of Informix. But the application was what the clients wanted, not Informix.”
For Krishna, the Informix experience gave him a profound appreciation for how partners of all kinds team with a company like IBM to build a successful business. “Their expertise and [the value they bring] to the client is what helps us make money,” he said. “You actually have to cover the gamut [of the partner ecosystem] to succeed as a business,” he said.
RFE Corner
IBM has an 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. It is friendly and has a nice look and feel.
Recent
Unable to Remove Previous Informix FC version from Windows Programs and Features
Allow DDL changes on a table with full row logging
Popular (Over 50 votes)
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: 111 (+1)
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: 93 (+1)
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: 83 (+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: 76 (+1)
Created: December 24, 2018
Status: Future consideration
Gary Ben-Israel
IBM Informix Forum Corner
Join and visit the IBM Informix community forum at http://www.iiug.org/community
Recent posts
Network encryption using GSSCSM and Informix
Best reorganization ever in smartblobspaces
Long Running Query thru shell Script
Gary Ben-Israel
Informix Resources
IIUG website
www.iiug.org
Not a member, become an IIUG member and keep updated on all things Informix. It’s free.
IBM Informix community
http://www.iiug.org/community
Not a member, join The IBM Informix community and connect with other Informix data experts.
Informix Blogs and Wikis
There were no blog postings in the last six months.
Technical articles
https://www.oninitgroup.com/technical-articles/
https://www.oninitgroup.com/faq-items/cloud-backups-with-informix-14-10/
Social Media
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/InformixTechTalksbytheIIUG
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/25049
Twitter : https://twitter.com/iiug
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/IIUG.Informix
Forums, Groups, Videos, and Magazines
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The IIUG old forums at http://www.iiug.org/forums/technical.php *** NO LONGER ACTIVE ***
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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 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.
Editors: Gary Ben-Israel, Rhonda Hackenburg
For comments, please send an email to gary@iiug.org or rhonda@iiug.org
