Highlights: IBM Informix: A Key Part of IBM’s Hybrid Cloud and AI Strategy
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
Editorial
January was an eventful month for the IIUG board. We met at the IBM TechXchange Summit EMEA in Barcelona. We had an IIUG track and an IIUG booth.
There were changes to the board as well. Stuart Litel our IBM rep left the board. Our new IBM rep is Carlton Doe. Carlton who is the Informix Technical Product Manager has been working with Informix for many years. Long before it was acquired by IBM and was always one of the supporting pillars of Informix.
Carlton is one of the founders of the IIUG. Here is what Carlton wrote in October 2008 for the 100th issue of the Insider:
“It was a dark and stormy night. While rain gently fell, lightning flashed almost non-stop immediately followed by loud claps of thunder that reverberated through the canyons formed by the downtown office buildings, shaking people to their core. Huddled around a small table in the upstairs area of a restaurant, a group of five people talked quietly yet purposely. They reflected on the current state of affairs and decided they needed to try and change the world. As they walked out into the storm later that evening, they had no idea what that conversation would lead to.
No, this isn’t one of Snoopy’s many attempts to write a novel, nor is it the treatment for a movie or TV show dealing with contemporary world events. Rather it reflects where and how the IIUG you now belong to was born. At the Tampa Worldwide Informix Conference (WWIC), Lester Knutsen, Walt Hultgren, Cathy Kipp, Malcolm Weallans and yours truly had dinner in a raging thunder storm and hatched the idea of creating the organization that came to be known as the IIUG.
As I sit here today looking back at what the organization has become, I am just amazed at how it has grown and thrived. It has become everything we, the original founders hoped it would. While I am not nearly as involved in the organization as I once was, there are a number of things I am particularly proud to have been involved with.
First is the role of advocacy. We worked hard to become your voice to Informix; to help them know what was important to you from a technical as well as a business perspective. It took a while but eventually the company came around and the organization, represented by the IIUG Board, became very involved in product direction, strategy and support discussions. Perhaps the most visible success during my direct involvement was the porting of the database engines and 4GL to Linux. While it appears as a no brainer today, in the early to mid 1990s Linux was just starting to appear on the enterprise computing horizon and no one really knew whether or not it would ever become an important component of that world. A number of us in the IIUG pushed Informix very hard for almost two years. Eventually Informix became the very first major database company to release products on Linux. I was looking through some old IIUG material a couple of weeks ago and found some of the announcement and marketing material for this launch with the famous snapshot of Neil Armstrong’s first moon footprint as the campaign centerpiece.
I know that under IBM, the IIUG continues to be a critical voice to the development community in terms of shaping product futures. Unfortunately, the lumbering bureaucracy that is IBM business management is not nearly as nimble, far sighted, or responsive to customer needs so the organization has not been as successful there as they would probably like but the Board continues to fight on your behalf to make things better.
Second is education. It started with a simple but radical idea for Informix. We told the Informix conference committee we wanted our own track of sessions at the WWIC because we felt the technical content at the conferences was a little shallow. We called to the organization to submit proposals for sessions and were very pleasantly surprised at the depth and breadth of the ideas submitted. At the first conference we were stunned at the turnout. Every single session was literally filled to overflowing. One of the most exciting sessions, which still continues to this day, is the Ask the Experts panel of key development and support personnel to answer “how it works” questions. The IIUG continued to sponsor educational tracks throughout the rest of the WWICs, then after the IBM acquisition, at the IBM Data Management conferences. As the IIUG continued to grow, so did the need for, and the desire to provide, deep technical education. Last year, the IIUG sponsored their first completely independent user conference. It was a complete success. Next year’s conference has already been announced and I’m sure will be bigger and better than last year’s.
The last thing I’d like to mention is support for local user groups. Back in the dark ages when I was an end-user of the products, I started a local user group, which, I’m happy to note, is still alive and functioning. Back then it was very difficult to do. There was no one to turn to for ideas on how to create and organize a group, where and how to get external speakers, what worked and didn’t work for activities. One of the first subgroups we created when starting the IIUG was a council for all the local user group officers to participate in. Called the Informix User Group Leadership Council (IUGLC commonly referred to as the “ugly-c”), it became the main avenue for local groups to share ideas and get speakers as well as provide the IIUG Board with additional insight into what the end-user community needed it to do on their behalf. This support continues today overseen by a IIUG Board member tasked to be the Local User Group (LUG) liaison (aka the “LUG nut”).
I am very proud to have been part of the “founding five” that created the IIUG. It was fun and exciting times. I got to know a lot of very good, dedicated people who really cared about the Informix community and wanted to make it better. I am in awe of what that organization has accomplished on your behalf and with the assistance of many of its members. It is as viable today as ever. It is needed as much, if not more so today than ever before. Those on the IIUG Board are as committed to your success and needs as we were. But they can’t do it alone. I would strongly encourage you to get involved with IIUG activities whether at a local level on your LUG’s organizing committee or any of the IIUG committees such as the conference planning committee. You’ll get to meet some great people and have a lot of fun.
Congratulations on this, the 100th edition of the IIUG Insider. Another great resource for the Informix community to get information about what’s happening through the Informix world. Here’s to another 100 editions.
Carlton Doe”
After more than 15 years and 182 issues of the Insider Carlton’s words are true today as they were in 2008.
Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Insider Editor
IIUG Board of Directors
gary@iiug.org
From the IIUG President
Happy 2024 to all!
I hope this New Year will bring us all Peace, Love, Joy and Prosperity.
IBM TechXchange Summit EMEA 2024 in Barcelona was a hit! IBM worked with us so that we could provide Informix content. IBM Informix Product Management was present and very positive about our favorite Database.
My favorite part of the event was the last session, the IBM Community Awards! I got to experience two of our IIUG/Informix people receive an award from IBM:
IBM Community Hero – Art Kagel
IBM Informix Workhorse – Rhonda Hackenburg
Congrats to you both! The awards are definitely well deserved. These two put their heart and soul into helping and promoting our Informix Community!
The IIUG will be doing another event this year, but at this point I cannot say what it will be. (Virtual, IBM TechXchange in Vegas, Our own IIUG in person event…).
So, stay tuned to the Insider for updates.
All my best.
Highlights
IBM Informix: A Key Part of IBM’s Hybrid Cloud and AI Strategy
IBM® Informix® is a high-performance, object-oriented and relational database that seamlessly integrates into applications, effectively capturing data of any size or complexity. Due to its powerful scaling capabilities and autonomous features, IBM Informix can operate undetected and maintain itself with ease. With a vast customer base and decades of development, IBM Informix remains the trusted, continuously available database that empowers critical applications at the edge and beyond.
As Arvind Krishna, Chairperson and CEO of IBM, noted, “Informix is remarkably simple to manage. I can’t think of any other database that can handle 10,000 connections while remaining exceptionally easy to manage. Its uniqueness is truly remarkable.”
IBM Informix has been instrumental in the success of Baqueira Beret, one of our esteemed customers. According to them, “Managers can now access and manage information in real time, which was nearly impossible previously. The performance and reliability of Informix played a crucial role in the success of this entire project. We needed a non-stop system and IBM delivered.”
Lately, there has been confusion regarding IBM’s long-term commitment to IBM Informix. IBM intends to clarify this matter directly:
- IBM Informix has thousands of loyal customers who rely on it to power their most critical applications, either as a stand-alone or embedded database.
- IBM continues to be unequivocally committed to the future of IBM Informix. The next major release is planned for launch in the first half of 2024.
- For the past 22 years, IBM has been actively developing IBM Informix and delivering new and updated features. IBM has never wavered and does not intend to waver in its commitment to IBM Informix development.
- IBM currently maintains a strategic agreement with HCL Software to develop and support IBM Informix. IBM is responsible for setting the product direction, overseeing sales, distribution, marketing and overall product management.
- IBM Informix remains a key part of IBM’s data management portfolio. And it is IBM’s intent to continue integrating IBM Informix into parts of our AI platform, watsonx.
Why IBM Informix?
The IBM Informix database serves as the foundation for thousands of applications and billions of devices worldwide. It offers several key features:
- Autonomics: IBM Informix performs many crucial managerial and operational tasks autonomously, eliminating the need for human administrators. Database administrators can still set limits and controls for these processes.
- Scalability: IBM Informix can operate on various systems, from as small as a Raspberry Pi to enterprise servers. Customers rely on IBM Informix to support millions of transactions per minute across diverse enterprises.
- Availability: IBM Informix is the market leader with its 4 native replication technologies. These technologies help to ensure high system availability, facilitate discrete data movement and effectively manage large clusters, among other capabilities.
IBM Informix roadmap
IBM is fully intent on investing in the future of IBM Informix with the next major release planned for launch in the first half of 2024. With the next major release of IBM Informix, IBM plans to redefine data scalability, enhance engine capabilities, and refine database administration to ultimately boost database performance. We plan to continue adding more and substantial feature enhancements in the future. In the short term, we plan on integrating IBM Informix to IBM’s watsonx platform. Watsonx is our new strategic AI and data platform, built to help businesses scale and accelerate the impact of AI with trusted data across their business. Watsonx allows clients to have an integrated view across their organization to have a trusted data foundation and deploy AI technology with ease.
As noted by Arvind Krishna, in his video interview, “Informix is going to outlive all of us. I can make that prediction with confidence.”
IBM’s statements regarding its plans, directions, and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice at IBM’s sole discretion. Information regarding potential future products is intended to outline our general product direction and it should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision. The information mentioned regarding potential future products is not a commitment, promise, or legal obligation to deliver any material, code or functionality. Information about potential future products may not be incorporated into any contract. The development, release, and timing of any future features or functionality described for our products remains at our sole discretion.
Get started with IBM Informix
Questions about IBM Informix? To learn more about the next major release of IBM Informix or any questions about your current deployment, contact your IBM sales or partner representative, or book a meeting with an IBM Informix expert today.
Shripad Sonavnay
Principal Product Manager, GTM – Db2 & Informix
This article can be found at: the IBM blog here.
Conference Corner
Is IIUG Having Another Event?
WOW! IBM’s TechXchange Summit EMEA, held in Barcelona, Spain, is in the books. It was a very successful event for IBM and Informix. A big thank you to IBM’s Amy Tennison, Alex Gorman, and their staff for working with the IIUG to include Informix content at this event. Also, thanks to our wonderful speakers for giving your time and talents to present at IBM TechXchange. Without our speakers there would be no Informix content to offer.
Eight Informix sessions were selected by the IIUG Board with three additional Informix sessions added by IBM for this 3-day event. The IIUG Board participated in the event and encouraged by the attendance at the Informix sessions, which included IBM employees and IBM management.
The IIUG held a board meeting the day before the event and have begun discussions regarding our next event. Although we are just getting started, it is never too early to reach out to the IIUG Community and ask you start thinking about topics you might want to share with the Informix community. You can present topics on Informix or products that work with Informix. As always, presentations are approximately 45-minutes in length. If you think you are interested in presenting for the IIUG in 2024, please submit your name, and topic (if you have one) to rhonda@iiug.org. If you need help with a topic, we are always here for you. Your participation as speaker will help guide the direction and format of our next event.
The Informix roadmap was presented twice at IBM TechXchange, one was a full discussion on Informix 15.0. It is currently in beta and enhancements were discussed at general level, more detail will be revealed as the beta concludes. The anticipated release is scheduled for mid-2024. Based on this, our event will mostly be in the second half of 2024. We hope to include several sessions regarding Informix 15.0.
We will also continue our IIUG Tech Talks. Maybe you would rather have a smaller audience. If so, you might consider presenting for a Tech Talks. If that works well for you maybe you will feel more confident submit your presentation for larger event.
IBM is also moving forward with their next IBM TechXchange. It will be held October 21-24, 2024, in Las Vegas, NV, USA. For more information, IBM TechXchange Conference 2024.
Keep following the IIUG Insiders, updates.
If you have any questions, please contact me at rhonda@iiug.org.
Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Board, Planning Committee
IBM TechXchange Conference Las Vegas, NV, USA
Title: IBM TechXchange Conference 2024
Date: October 21-24, 2024
Location: Mandalay Bay – Las Vegas, NV, USA
SAVE THE DATE!
You can find additional information at IBM TechXchange Conference 2024.
Informix Corner
Schedule Your Informix 14.10 Exam Today
The Informix 14.10 Badge exam is still available!
The exam will be administered online. You are required to complete the exam with a proctor from our approved list, or nominate one of your own, to be approved by IBM or the IIUG Board. You will be required to have a live webcam running as you complete the exam.
For those not familiar with the term Proctor: Proctor is frequently used to describe someone who oversees an exam. In today’s testing environment, a proctor will typically verify a student’s identity by checking a photo ID and ensure academic integrity guidelines are followed during the exam.
Click here to learn more or schedule your exam.
Informix Tech Talks on YouTube
Upcoming Informix Tech Talks
There will be no Tech Talks for February 2024.
Last Informix Tech Talks Replay
Replay of the Last Informix Tech Talks: WAIUG Meeting, December, 2023:
- Ensuring Data Integrity, Pavan Gummalla
- InformixHQ, Shubham Kapoor
- Check Your Backups with Archecker, Mike Walker
Informix Tech Talks YouTube Channel
Our YouTube Channel now has:
-
457 subscribers (8 new subscribers)
-
104 videos
-
15,276 views (625 additional views)
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
Connection Manager should have an option to initiate failover if a shared memory dump is started.
ER should have an option to replicate tables between different databases
DDL alters to not disable auditing on tables.
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
How to keep IP address and hostname/FQDN during server migration.
Support for TLS 1.3 with Infomix ODBC Driver
Unable to connect to Informix DB using SSL from Informix.net.core.IfxConnection
clone: SMX failed to create pipes for clone restore
IBM Informix 14.10 vs HCL OneDB 2.0.1 sysmaster schema
Informix CSDL 4.50 on Linux ARM dependency to libcrypt.so.1 + building with esql => libcrypt.so.2
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