Highlights: IBM Informix 14.10.FC10 Is Out and Here is What Is New
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
As the world continues to navigate the complexities of the global pandemic, it has become more important than ever for businesses to have reliable and efficient technology systems in place. For many organizations, the Informix database has proven to be a valuable tool for managing and analyzing large amounts of data.
At the International Informix User Group (IIUG), our mission is to support and connect Informix users from around the world. We believe that by working together, sharing knowledge and best practices, and advocating for the continued development and improvement of the Informix database, we can help businesses achieve greater success in their data management efforts.
From new product releases to innovative use cases, the Informix database continues to evolve and adapt to the needs of modern businesses.
One area where we have seen significant growth is in the use of Informix in the cloud. Cloud computing offers a number of benefits for businesses, including increased flexibility, scalability, and cost savings. By leveraging cloud-based Informix solutions, organizations can more easily manage their data and applications, while also improving performance and reducing downtime.
Another trend we have observed is the growing importance of data security and compliance. With an increasing number of regulations and standards governing the collection, storage, and use of data, it is essential that Informix users have the tools and resources they need to keep their data safe and compliant.
As we move forward into the future, we are excited to see what new developments and innovations the Informix community will bring. We invite all Informix users to join us in this journey, as we work together to build a better, more connected, and more secure world through the power of data.
The IIUG Board of Directors will meet April 28-29. This is the first meeting for the new board of directors.
The main discussion will be our 2023 conference. As usual, we will look for new ways to support the IIUG users. I will report about it in the next Insider.
Stay tuned.
Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Insider Editor
IIUG Board of Directors
gary@iiug.org
Highlights
IBM Informix 14.10.FC10 Is Out and Here is What Is New
In this newest release of 14.10, we mainly wanted to focus on delivering high quality defect fixes and continue to remove barriers for customers to move up to 14.10 from older server versions.
Removing one of those barriers to 14.10 was by implementing INFX-I-296. We now have delivered a new Linux Intel 32bit CSDK, 4.50.UC10, aiding those who still require a 32 bit client to have one available.
We have also added Rocky Linux, INFX-I-490, and AlmaLinux, INFX-I-526, support starting with 14.10.FC10 and CSDK 4.50.xC10.
INFX-I-400 is another customer request that was delivered in xC10. It is a behavior change in codeset conversion for CLVCHARPTRTYPE. Starting in this release, codeset conversion will be done when client locale differs from DB locale when CLVCHARPTRTYPE is used.
And to wrap it up, we did remove the LDAP lookup feature for server sqlhosts information from JDBC. There are alternatives if you were using this feature such as Connection Manager or a file synchronization service to keep connectivity information synchronized across client machines. For more information, see Utilities to update the LDAP server with sqlhosts data.
What’s New doc can be found here.
Defect fix list can be found here.
Informix Corner
Informix Tech Talks on YouTube
Upcoming Informix Tech Talks
Title: Informix SQL Performance Tuning Tips
Speaker: Jeff Filippi
Date/Time: April 6, 2023, 2:00 PM EDT
Description: Learn how to improve your Informix SQL statements to optimize performance on your Informix Database system.
Speaker Bio: Jeff Filippi (Integrated Data Consulting, LLC) has worked with Informix products for 30+ years and is an IBM Business partner and IBM Champion.
Register for Informix SQL Performance Tuning Tips
Last Informix Tech Talks Replay
Replay of the Last Informix Tech Talks: March 3, 2023: 25 Years of Informix Here, There and Everywhere – Mark Scranton
Past Informix Tech Talks Replays
All Informix Tech Talks replays are available at: https://www.iiug.org/en/category/techtalks/
And on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/c/InformixTechTalksbytheIIUG
Rhonda Hackenburg
Informix Tech Talks YouTube Channel
We now have 356 subscribers to our YouTube channel.
We have 96 videos on YouTube on our Channel.
Our Channel has received over 9,500 views so far!
Informix Tech Talks YouTube Channel Videos
Past Informix Tech Talks Replays
Visit WAIUG’s website for more information.
Gary Ben-Israel
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 Bruce Simms or Rhonda Hackenburg for additional information.
Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Board
IBM Informix 14.10.FC9 and Later Has Been Certified to run on RHEL9
However, there is an additional workaround step required to be run prior to installation of Informix.
Due to the differences of the 14.10 Linux intel build platform and RHEL 9 OS, there is an additional step needing to be executed prior to installing Informix on RHEL 9.
These libraries are needed for Informix to run:
libncurses.so.5
libtinfo.so.5
The only libraries installed on Red Hat Linux 9 are:
libncurses.so.6
libtinfo.so.6
The Workaround:
Run the following commands as root user from /usr/lib64 directory.
ln -s libncurses.so.6 libncurses.so.5
ln -s libtinfo.so.6 libtinfo.so.5
These steps are also called out on the Informix Server System Requirements page.
leolo Informix MasterMind Conference 23
UPDATE: Informix MasterMind Agenda is published and the call for speakers is still open.
The conference is set to take place on June 5-6, 2023, at the Interalpen Hotel Tyrol in Austria. The event is expected to feature a range of topics related to the future of data security, AI, and predictive analytics, among others.
Attendees will have the opportunity to meet and learn from some of the leading international experts and speakers in these fields. The conference is designed to provide valuable insights into the latest trends and developments in data security, AI, and predictive analytics, as well as to showcase innovative solutions and technologies.
Preregistration is currently open, and interested individuals can contact Leolo IT for more information about the conference, including registration details, the full list of speakers, and the conference agenda. With its focus on cutting-edge technologies and emerging trends, the Leolo IT/Informix Mastermind conference promises to be a must-attend event for anyone interested in the future of data security, AI, and predictive analytics.
Call for speakers is open. Please submit your 40-minute Informix topic. Selected speakers will receive one complementary night at Tyrol Interalpen Hotel!
Rooms are limited, preregister to reserve your room.
You can preregister, submit your presentation request, or learn more at leolo Informix Mastermind Conference 23.
CTO – Senior Consultant – Data Scientist
leolo IT & Media Consulting GmbH
Informix Videos by Carlton Doe, IBM
Carlton Doe is an Informix Database Specialist at IBM He has prepared several videos for your review.
| What is Informix? | An introduction to what is the Informix database software is. |
| What is Informix? Short Introduction | A shorter introduction to what Informix is. |
| Informix edge to the corporate server | Carlton demonstrates the full progression of real-time data from capture to analytics using features in Informix v.14.10. |
| Introduction to Informix TimeSeries | An introduction to Informix TimeSeries. Carlton discusses and illustrates the TimeSeries features in Informix v.14.10. |
| Using the Informix 14 Edition Installer | How to use the Informix 14 Edition Installer. Carlton discusses the changes in installing Informix v.14.10 and later. He briefly illustrates the one or two-step installation process. |
View Carlton’s videos
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/
Lester Knutsen
IIUG Board Member Profile
Here it is again — time for a new board and new profiles… Let’s discover together board member Art S. Kagel
Q: How do you use Informix in your “real” job (DBA, Consultant, Developer, etc.)?
A: Personally, I use Informix to analyze client’s performance data when I perform an Informix Server Health Check for clients that are experiencing performance issues or just to get ready for their busiest season of the year. In addition, I use Informix to test the new features I put into the open-source DBA utilities packages that I maintain for the Informix user community.
Q: How long have you been using Informix products?
A: I first used Informix in 1983 when the consulting group I was working for was looking for a combination database system and development environment to use for client projects.
Q: What is your role on the IIUG Board?
A: I have filled various roles on the IIUG Board of Directors since joining. I have supported the IIUG infrastructure, membership function, sponsor support, etc.
Q: Why did you volunteer to be on the board?
A: I joined the IIUG Board in order to have additional ways to share what I have learned about Informix and to support the user community that was a big part of supporting my career.
Q: What do you want to accomplish this year on the Board?
A: Continue to raise awareness of Informix within IBM and across the database user universe.
Q: Where are you from?
A: I was born and raised in Queens, New York City and currently live in New Jersey.
Q: Best Informix story?
A: I worked for Bloomberg LP through the first several years after IBM acquired Informix. IBM sales came in and convinced one of our development groups to port off of Informix and on to DB2. At the time, that group was running its database on three peer servers running Informix v7.31 on Data General systems running 32 Motorola processors at 75MHZ. There were no issues with performance. Storage was on Data General SANs using 10,000RPM drives.
It took almost two years to port the applications to DB2. The ultimate configuration was running on four Sun systems running 32 Sparc processors at 2.10GHZ (nearly 3X faster than the three DG machines) connected to the fastest SAN systems on the market at the time using a arger number of 15,000 RPM drives (so 50% faster each). The group manager was ecstatic because the new system, with the same workload spread over four systems each 3X faster than the original three DG systems, because performance was twice what it had been under Informix.
I just kept thinking “Imagine what Informix could do on that platform?”
Q: Worst Informix nightmare.
A: Also, while at Bloomberg, in my early years there, the databases were all unlogged. Index corruption is common in unlogged databases due to improper shutdowns and similar events.
Once all three News Systems peer Informix V5.09 servers had corrupted indexes on one or both of the two main tables which were massive. Index builds took many hours. Fortunately, it was a light news day when we discovered the issue and were able to run on one server which was experiencing the least impact from the index issues and started rebuilds on the indexes on the other two servers. Once one of the servers was fully rebuilt, we swapped that one into production and began the rebuilds on the third server while those on the second server continued to run. It took overnight before everything was completed, but we were back online before the markets opened the next morning.
Q: Can you tell us about your family and hobbies outside of IIUG?
A: My wife and I raised four children, two girls and two boys. My youngest was married just a few months ago. Currently our family had grown to include two daughters-in-law, two sons-in-law, and eight grandchildren, seven boys and one warrior princess.
Over the years my hobbies have included golf, skiing, billiards, and maintaining my Informix utilities packages as well as playing with my grandkids whenever I can.
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
Make onconfig parameter SSL_KEYSTORE_LABEL dynamically updatable.
Official support for IDS on Alma Linux
Support KAIO in cooked files using 4k formated disk for dbspaces with page size multiple of 4
Trap and/or Report running sql query on resource overflow
A tool to copy/synchronize database schemas between environments.
A tool to copy statistics between environments
Do not allocate MGM memory to UPDATE STATISTICS MEDIUM/HIGH with PDQ if index is used for sort
Avoid UPDATE STATISTICS [LOW] sampling failures due to data skew
Allow more than 50 MB for UPDATE STATISTICS MEDIUM/HIGH sort operations
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: 104 (+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: 98 (+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: 89 (+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
DIRECT I/O (KAIO) Disabled in RHEL 9
Idea – Make SSL_KEYSTORE_LABEL dynamically updatable to match DB2.
Logical Logs – Flags and backups
Drop sbspace containing a referenceless object?
A lot of extents in temp tables
Informix 11.50 system requirements
How to compile dbdelete utility for utils2_ak file
varchar index on varchar(255) column
1 —
We have a table with approximately 50 million rows that contains a VARCHAR(255), not realizing that there is a max size of 254 when creating an index, we attempted to create an index on the column. It succeeded but seemed detrimental to system performance. So we dropped the index and things returned to normal. But we are still needing an index on this column, short of reducing the column and fixing it everywhere in our code, is there a way around this? We were thinking about a fragmented index on the column?
Thanks,
Pete Rushie
Currency Technics & Metrics
2 –
Pete:
You could alter the table for that column from VARCHAR(255) to LVARCHAR(255) which would be indexable. If you do that and don’t want to have to modify your code to cast the column back to a VARCHAR everywhere it is referenced, you could rename the altered table and then create a VIEW that does the cast, so:
ALTER TABLE orig_tbl MODIFY (vc_col LVARCHAR(255));
RENAME TABLE orig_tbl TO new_tbl;
CREATE VIEW orig_tbl AS SELECT col1, col2, vc_col::VARCHAR(255), col3, … FROM new_tbl;
If you join to the original table often, make sure that IFX_FOLDVIEW is enabled so that the engine can substitute the new table in place of the view within joins.
Art
Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant
ASK Database Management Corp.
Granting Default Role in InformixHQ
Drop table with no-logging mode
Gary Ben-Israel
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/
https://www.oninitgroup.com/faq-items/cloud-backups-with-informix-14-10/
Over 10 Years of Informix Webcast Replays
Over 30 Years of Informix Blog Posts
Social Media
| YouTube |
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
Highlights: IBM Community Update – Changes to the Data & AI Communities
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.
Editorial
2023 has begun. So far, I have heard very little from IBM or HCL.
Maybe they are extending the holiday season. You guys are not sending me content either.
So, most of my work is searching. This month Art came to my rescue.
I’m doing the best I can to providing you content. If you have anything you think is of value to other users, please send it to me.
Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Insider Editor
IIUG Board of Directors
gary@iiug.org