Highlights: Stuart J. Litel January 9, 1961 – April 19, 2025
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 lost another staunch Informix supporter in 2025. First Carlton Doe, and last month we lost Stuart Litel.
There is probably no one in the Informix Community who did not know the name Stuart Litel. If you didn’t it was only because you are new to the Community.
I knew who Stuart was by attending many Informix Conferences, IIUG Conferences and IBM Conferences. It seemed he was everywhere Informix was. It was not until 2010, when I received a call (out of the blue) from someone introducing himself as Stuart Litel. He was calling to invite me to become part of the IIUG Conference Planning Committee. This turned out to be one of the best decisions of my professional career. My decision to join the CPC and eventually the IIUG Board allowed me to meet so many great people, many of whom became great friends, including Stuart. Rest In Peace my friend, you will be missed.
The IIUG has received several requests since the beginning of the year, from members who want to receive their IBM Informix Badge (certification). It is because of the passing of Carlton and Stuart, the IIUG cannot currently process the requests. Carlton and Stuart were primary contacts for this process. The IIUG has been working with IBM to determine how to move forward. Please be patient as we work this out.
Don’t forget IBM TechXchange is coming up October 6-9,2025. The IIUG is currently reviewing the Informix submissions received to fill the 13 Informix sessions that will be offered as an Informix track. The sessions will be announced as soon as speakers have been notified and confirmed. IBM is offering a 30% discount for members who register by May 16th.
We also have a Tech Talk Scheduled for May 22. Join Art Kagel as he shares Everything you Need to Know About Statistics and Data Distributions.
We are always looking for Insider content. If you have any technical (or non-technical) Informix content you would like to share with the community, please send it to Gary and Rhonda. We look forward to hearing from you.
Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Insider co-Editor
IIUG Board of Directors
rhonda@iiug.org
Highlights
Stuart J. Litel, January 9, 1961 – April 19, 2025
Dear Informix Community:
With heavy hearts the IIUG Board would like to inform the larger community on April 19th, 2025, Stuart J. Litel passed away at his home in Waban, Massachusetts. He was instrumental in the growth and functioning of the IIUG over most of its lifetime, serving as president for 17 years. He did countless things during that time to support the IIUG as well as Informix as a whole, working as a consultant, working with partners, working for IBM, all in support of Informix. Many of us have great stories of his tireless work and occasional antics and he will be deeply missed.
Stuart was the beloved son of the late Joseph and Barbara E. (Sulkin) Litel of Newton, Massachusetts. Robin Chapman was his loving domestic partner for 20 years in Waban. He was a dear nephew to Barry and Nancy Sulkin of Boca Raton, Florida and a loving cousin of Roberta & Kenny Small of Boca Raton, Florida, and to Sheryl & David Saper of Lake Worth, Florida.
A note from Tom Beebe, IIUG President:
Stuart was always larger than life, in the stories he told, the ambitions he led, the ‘friendly disagreements’ he may or may not have had, they were always big and memorable. He was the face of the IIUG and in some ways the face of Informix for a very long time. He had been around Informix since the early days, I still run into code he touched decades ago. As a consultant, most of the companies I work with, I can name drop “Stuart”, and they know exactly who I am talking about. Not all reactions are the same, but everyone knows Stuart.
He was a constant buzz in the ear of IBM executives making sure to keep Informix from being swallowed. He was a constant source of strength for the IIUG, making sure our members would be represented. He certainly would charge headfirst into anything he felt was unfair or wrong with how the IIUG or Informix were being treated. While occasional headaches and disagreements were a part of how he did things, his heart was always in the right place, and he made things happen.
On a personal note, I have known Stuart most of my professional career. He was someone always happy to lend a hand or give advice (requested or not…). While we did not always see eye to eye, I appreciated what he was trying to do. I always respected how much effort he put into everything he did. I genuinely do appreciate all that I learned from him, as well as all I learned not to do from him.
I wanted to end this by calling Stuart “A Force for good” or “A force for progress” or any number of other statements. In the end, I am going to describe Stuart as “A force of nature”. Sometimes you braced down and went headfirst against him, sometimes you put your sails up and went for the ride faster than you ever expected, sometimes you just had to avoid getting blown around, but whatever was happening he was going to be in the center, and something was going to be moving. Stuart, you will be missed, and the community will be lesser for you not being in it.
The IIUG Board of Directors
Conference Corner
IBM TechXchange Conference 2025 – Orlando, FL, USA
October 6-9, 2025
Orlando, FL USA
We’d like to extend our gratitude to all who submitted sessions. The response was fantastic, and we’re now in the process of making selections. If you missed the deadline, there is still time to get yours in! Submit your session title and abstract directly to IIUG at rhonda@iiug.org by May 16th.
Mark your calendars for 13 dedicated Informix sessions, meticulously curated by IIUG. These sessions promise to offer valuable insights and practical knowledge, with a sneak peek coming soon.
This year, we’re excited to make Informix certifications available, giving you the opportunity to validate your skills and expertise in IBM Informix.
This is a fantastic opportunity to network with fellow Informix enthusiasts, learn from industry experts, and stay updated on the latest trends and best practices.
IIUG members are being offered 30% off until May 16th. Register today to secure your spot at the conference and take advantage of this unique learning opportunity: ibm.biz/IIUGMAYFLASHSALE
We can’t wait to see you in Orlando!
#IIUG #IBMTechXchange #Informix
Alex Gorman
Program Director, User Advocacy
Informix Corner
Upcoming IBM Informix Support Lifecycle Changes for IBM-Informix Version 12.10 – Plan Ahead
IBM announces important support lifecycle transitions for several Informix offerings. Starting May 1, 2026, versions 12.10 of IBM Informix Express, Workgroup, Enterprise, Advanced Enterprise, Advanced Developer Editions, and version 4.10 of Client SDK will enter Extended Support, ending April 30, 2030.
Clients are strongly encouraged to upgrade to the latest versions (14.10 or 15.0) or secure Extended Support to maintain access to technical assistance through April 30, 2030.
For further details, visit the official announcement page.
Anup Nair
IBM
Setting Up Informix HQ with SSL
As security gets more important, and auditors get stricter about encrypted data we all want to make sure our environments have our data protected as much as possible.
Informix HQ is a great tool to help you manage your Informix environment, it doesn’t take too long to set up and can be incredibly valuable to your organization.
Once you have it set up you may notice that the communication between the HQ server and the agent are unencrypted, so lets change that.
In this example we will have the HQ system set up using the default: monitoring-server.properties and monitoring-agent.properties that can be found from the example files in $INFORMIXDIR/hq
The HQ system is set up with 2 different agents deployed to 2 Informix servers. We are going to reconfigure it to work exclusively over ssl. At this point stop the agents and the server.
Our first step is to use the java keystore tool ‘keytool’ to create a new keystore for us to use. Make sure to save the password you choose. In $INFORMIXDIR/hq run:
keytool -genkey -keyalg RSA -alias selfsigned -keystore hq_keystore.jks
When it prompts for “What is your first and last name?” make sure to put in the hostname of the HQ server. This needs to be the hostname that both the Informix server knows as well as the hostname you will use to connect to from browsers.
Next we need to modify monitoring-server.property file to enable SSL on the webserver, change:
httpsPort=8443 # This can be any secure port you want to use
redirectHTTPtoHTTPS=true
ssl.keystore.file=/opt/informix/hq/hq_keystore.jks
ssl.keystore.password=<password for the keystore above>
Note that some operating systems will not let non-root users start services on ports < 1024.
The log file should contain:
2024-11-29 15:45:25 [main] INFO c.i.h.s.JettyServer – Serving UI from JAR…
2024-11-29 15:45:26 [main] INFO c.i.h.s.JettyServer – Configuring server for HTTP on port 8080
2024-11-29 15:45:26 [main] INFO c.i.h.s.JettyServer – Configuring server for HTTPS on port 8443
At this point if you go back to the url you will see it redirect you to the new https port (8443) and you will get a browser warning about a self-signed certificate. This is fine to approve.
Next, we need to get our agent to know about the SSL listener. First, we need to pull the server certificate from the server keystore:
keytool -export -alias selfsigned -file server_cert.cer -keystore hq_keystore.jks
Next, we need to create a new agent keystore, this will import the certificate from above and create a new keystore, give it a unique password
keytool -import -v -trustcacerts -alias selfsigned -file server_cert.cer -keystore agent_certs.jks
In the monitoring-agent.properties file change:
server.port=8443
ssl.enable=true
ssl.keystore.file=/opt/informix/hq/agent_certs.jks
ssl.keystore.password=<password above>
Bring up the agent as normal. You should see it connect and behave as normal, however now it will be communicating over encrypted channels. You can do the same keytool agent creation on any remote systems, or just copy the jks file over to them.
Tom Beebe
xDB Systems, Inc
Informix Tech Talks on YouTube
Upcoming Informix Tech Talks
Date: Thursday, May 22, 2025
Time: 1:00 PM EST
Title: Everything You Need to Know About Statistics and Data Distributions
Speaker: Art Kagel – ASK Database Management
Description: A deep dive into Informix basic statistics and data distributions and how the optimizer uses them followed by a review of all of the most useful options offered by dostats to make your life easier and your distributions gathering faster and better with recommendations.
Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Board
Last Informix Tech Talks Replay
Replay of the Last Informix Tech Talks: User Friendly External Smartblobs – February 2025
Informix Tech Talks YouTube Channel
Our YouTube Channel now has:
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552 subscribers (2 new subscribers)
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112 videos (no new videos)
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22,837 views (471 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.
LVARCHAR support via 4GL application
Request Full Compatible GSKIT with HCL INFORMIX SERVER
Improve the VPCACHE memory manage
Popular
Multi-Vector | IBM Data and AI Ideas Portal for Customers (18 votes)
Support for ON DELETE SET NULL and ON UPDATE CASCADE clauses in FOREIGN KEY statements (17 votes)
IBM Informix Forum Corner
Join and visit the IBM Informix community forum
Recent Posts:
future support of UTF-8 character handling
Informix 11.50.FC9W3 assert failed question
Quickie question on serial and bigserial data types
Announcing the passing of Stuart Litel
Table dual is not in the database
onbar is rejecting my date for point-in-time restore
Error: INFORMIXDIR /home/informix is not owned by group
Automated Update Statistics and FORCE
Rhonda Hackenburg
IIUG Board
Informix Resources
IIUG Website
Not a member? Become an IIUG member and keep updated on all things Informix. It’s free.
IBM Informix Community
Not a member, join the IBM Informix community and connect with other Informix data experts.
Blogs
Art Kagel – https://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
IBM Informix RFE
IBM Informix RFE – Informix Requests for Enhancements.
Technical Articles
Oninit Group: https://www.oninitgroup.com/technical-articles/
WAIUG (Washington Area Informix User Group) Tech Tips
Over 10 Years of Informix Webcast Replays
Over 30 Years of Informix Blog Posts
Social Media
| YouTube | X (Twitter) |
IIUG’s own Art Kagel was recently features on the Tech Sharmit Podcast to talk about his life and involvement with Informix and database systems.
Catch the podcast here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l81pLa7i-J0)
Forums, Groups, Videos, and Magazines
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