And the winner is: IBM Informix Dynamic Server

Excerpt

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Artikel zu IDS 11.5 im "Datenbank-Spektrum"

Die aktuelle Ausgabe der Zeitschrift Datenbank Spektrum enthält zwei Beiträge zum Thema IDS 11.5. Schwerpunkt der Ausgabe ist das Thema Autonomic Computing. Hierzu gibt Karl Ostner (Informix Development IBM München) einen Überblick zu den reichhaltigen Möglichkeiten, die IDS 11.5 - IBM's präferierte Datenbank für integrierte Lösungen - in diesem Bereich bietet:

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pirAMide "business manager" - Ready for IDS

Die Firma pirAMide Informatik GmbH stellt eine CRM-Software vor, die als SaaS (Software as a Service) Anwendung konzepiert ist. Geschäftsführer der pirAMide Informatik GmbH ist Dr. Julio Aspiazu, vielen bekannt als langjähriger Vorsitzender der Deutschen Informix User Group (IUG).

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year !

Dear Informix Community,

I wish you and your families Merry Christmas and All The Best for 2009.

2008 has been an exciting Informix year. The announcement of IDS on the MAC, the fantastic IIUG 2008 Conference, the release of IDS 11.5, the pole position regarding customer satisfaction and the IDS Virtual Appliance have been great Informix milestones in 2008.

Informix displaces Oracle at China Telecom

A strategic win for IBM Informix at the China Telecom has been reported by Informix City:

Excerpt:

Earlier this year, an IBM team set out to change that by focusing on converting 
China Telecom, the country's largest telephone provider, into a dual database
account. The team proposed that Informix Dynamic Server 11.5 would replace Oracle 
for the company's Integrated Settlement System. They also planned to convince local 

IDS Replication Demos

There are now two self-running Demos available that show the potential of the superior IDS Replication Technology from a business perspective. Just click on the images below:

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Neue Ausgabe des IBM/Informix Newsletters

Im Newsletter-Archiv befindet sich die neueste Ausgabe (12/2008) des INFORMIX-Newsletters.

Inhaltsverzeichnis der Ausgabe Dezember 2008:

• Aktuelles
• TechTipp: ONSTAT (onstat -g osi)
• TechTipp: ONSTAT (onstat -g cpu)
• TechTipp: SAVEPOINTS
• TechTipp: Implizite Casts
• TechTipp: SQLTRACE - DATABASE / USER / SESSION
• TechTipp: ONSTAT (onstat -g his) (Auswertung SQLTRACE)

MACH11: HA_ALIAS

In IDS V11.5 there is a new onconfig parameter: HA_ALIAS

HA_ALIAS specifies the IDS servername that a SDS- or RSS-Node will send to the PRIMARY when it registers itself in a MACH-Cluster. The specified HA_ALIAS name must be one of the configured DBSERVERNAME or DBSERVERALIASES servernames that belongs to a TCP based connection type. It will be used in case of failover. If HA_ALIAS isn't set, the value of the DBSERVERNAME acts as the default and will be send to the PRIMARY.

HA_ALIAS is particulary useful in configurations where the DBSERVERNAME onconfig parameter is based on a local connection protocol like onipcshm (shared memory) or onipcstr (stream pipe). In order for such instances to be able to participate as a secondary SDS- or RSS-Node in a MACH-Cluster, HA_ALIAS must be set to a configured DBSERVERALIASES name that belongs to a TCP based connection type.

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Reisebericht zur IOD Konferenz 2008

Nachfolgend ein interessanter Reisebericht von meinen geschätzten IBM-Kollegen Alexander Körner und Dr. Andreas Weininger. Alexander und Andreas sind im IBM Technical Sales tätig und dürften den meisten von den interessanten Informix-Infobahn-Veranstaltungen bekannt sein. Der Bereicht beschreibt das abwechslungsreiche Konferenz-Programm und die vielversprechenden Kontakte, die sich für die deutschen Teilnehmer - aufgrund Ihrer interessanten Vorträge - eröffnet haben:

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Informix 11.5 - schnell+kompakt

Mein Buch Informix 11.5, das im Rahmen der schnell+kompakt Reihe des Verlags entwickler.press erschienen ist, ist nun lieferbar:

Informix Tech Day in Strasbourg

If you are located in Europe, please don't miss the first pan-european Tech Day which will be held
on January the 16th in Strasbourg.

Informix Zone Website Traffic

It is interesting to watch the website traffic of The Informix Zone from the beginning until today. Below are some exemplary graphics from different point in times:

November 2006: Informix Zone started

Actually The Informix Zone started at the end of October 2006 with the first published article titled Informix@IBM. November is the first full month from a statistic perspective:

Multicarta relies on IBM Informix for Credit Card Authorization

Multicarta Ltd., a Russian credit card authorization processor, relies on IBM IDS running in a Linux Cluster environment with SteelEye LifeKeeper software:

Russian Credit Card Authorization Centre Reduces Downtime To Under 15 Minutes A Year

According to the press release, the system availability is about 99.997% (15 minutes max downtime per year). This sounds quite good from an availability point of view. However this is still a traditional active/passive cluster. Moving to the IDS MACH11 technology would allow them to dynamically scale the IDS cluster by adding additional SDS nodes on the fly, achieving load balancing thru the connection manager, replicating the data to a disaster recovery center via HDR or keeping bunker backups via RSS. These are some of the benefits that the MACH11 technology offers in comparison to a traditional active/passive cluster.

Webcast: IDS 11.50 Upgrade

• Date: Thursday, December the 11th
• Time: 1 hour -- 8:30 AM PST, 10:30 AM Central, 11:30 AM Eeastern, 4:30 PM London, 5:30 PM Paris, 5:30 PM Berlin
• Title: IDS 11.50 Upgrade
• Speaker: Deen Murad, IDS Advanced Technical Support

You can register for the webcast here...

 As upgrades are a necessary ongoing process, choosing the time to upgrade 

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Neue Ausgabe des IBM/Informix Newsletters

Im Newsletter-Archiv befindet sich die neueste Ausgabe (11/2008) des INFORMIX-Newsletters.

Inhaltsverzeichnis der Ausgabe November 2008:

• Aktuelles
• TechTipp: IDS 11.5 - CDR VIEW (ab 11.50.xC2)
• TechTipp: Environments: USE_DTENV
• TechTipp: Linux Shared Disks für IDS MACH 11
• TechTipp: Compatibilität ESQL/C (C-SDK) und IDS-Server
• TechTipp: Migration InPlace

Articles updated

The following Informix Zone articles have been updated with current information:

• Informix@IBM - The Future this just begin
• IDS@IBM - The Positioning of a Cult Database

MACH11: FAILOVER_CALLBACK

In IDS V11.5 there is a new onconfig parameter: FAILOVER_CALLBACK

It is allows you to customize the automatic failover capability of the Connection Manager in some way. FAILOVER_CALLBACK should be set to the full path of your own script. IDS will execute the specified script on a secondary server when:

• the secondary server is promoted to a primary server
• the secondary server is promoted to a standard server

This means that FAILOVER_CALLBACK can be used in conjunction with HDR (DRAUTO) as well as with the Connection Manager FOC (FailOver Configuration) capability.

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Präsentationen + Fotos vom IUG Workshop

Auf der Webseite der Deutschen Informix User Group sind die Präsentationen und Fotos zu dem am 12.11.2008 in Giessen stattgefundenen 49. IUG Workshop veröffentlicht worden:

• Präsentationen vom IUG Workshop
• Fotos vom IUG Workshop

InformixCity: Introduction to Informix

Informix City - the initiator of the UK Informix Community Event - has published an interesting presentation from IBM Informix Program Director Fred Ho from the IOD 2008 conference. The presentation provides an overview of IDS and the underlaying DSA Architecuture (Dynamic Scalable Architecture). It shows the sweet spots of IDS as well as the interoperability with other IBM products.

Pictures: Data Champion Award

The IBM Data Champion award finally arrived.

It is a heavy transparent glass statue. Here are two pictures of me - wearing my favorite t-shirt :-) - and the award. Unfortunately the lettering is not easy to read :