The Informix Zone - cheetah

Germany: My new Article about IDS V11.5

eherber — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 08:02:54 +0100

(german content)

databasepro Magazin: IDS V11.5

Die brandneue Zeitschrift databasepro fokussiert sich auf das Thema Datenbanken und bietet interessante und hilfreiche Informationen für jeden, der in diesem Umfeld tätig ist.

In der Erstausgabe 06/2008 (Nov/Dez) finden Sie meinen Artikel zu IDS V11.5:

Der Artikel (Titel: Die "sanfte Revolution") beschreibt die neuen Funktionalitäten von IDS V11.5 mit den Schwerpunkten Replikation/Hochverfügbarkeit:

Alle Rechte an diesem Artikel liegen bei: Neue Mediengesellschaft Ulm mbH. Die Zeitschrift kann im normalen Zeitschriften-Handel erworben oder über die nachfolge URL abonniert werden:

http://databasepro.de/Abos

IIUG 2008 - Presentation Download

eherber — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:02:34 +0200

IIUG 2008 - Presentation Download

The Int. Informix User Group has provided all presentations from this years IIUG conference in their member area for download. Remember that membership in the IIUG is free ! If you aren't already a member - join the IIUG !

Here is a list of all the great presentations from the Informix Experts available for download at the IIUG website. Become a member and access the member area to download them (Note for existing members: You might need to update your profile in order to be allowed to download the presentations):

Bingjie Miao - Data and Index Fragmentation
Hyun-Ju Vega - Using Point in Time Table-Level Restore
John Miller, III - Cheetah's Administration Enhancements
Jack Parker - Real Time Fragmentation
Marty Lurie, Aron Lurie - Real Time Data Acquisition: Connecting Your Exercise Bike to Informix and WebSphere
Dave Desautels, Jonathan Leffler - Alternative Authentication for IDS
Eric Herber - Deep Dive Into IDS Locking Mechanisms
Hal Maner - Beginner's Guide To HDR In IDS 11
Robert Jane - Security With IDS
John Miller, III - Utilizing the Database Scheduler to Reduce DBA's Repetitive Work
Mahmoud Kassem - Application Renovation to Java-based Web/SOA Platform
Jeff Filippi - Informix SQL Performance Tuning Tips
Lester Knutsen - Exploring the Informix IDS Sysmaster Database - What's New In IDS 11
Tom Girsch - IDS Performance and Troubleshooting: Tips and Tricks
Bingjie Miao - Improving SQL Query Performance - Optimizer Directives
Rick Rabe - Using the Informix Dynamic Server Auditing Subsystem
Zachi Klopman - The use of Multi-threaded Java, JDBC and On-the-fly Java-Generated SPL code for Automatic Application Develop
Jacques Roy - Using the New IBM Data Studio 1.1 to Write IDS Web Services
Brent Gross - Best Practices in .NET development with Cheetah
Shawn Moe - Enable Your Applications To Run With IDS!
Manas Dadarkar - PHP and Zend Core
Balakrishnan Ravishankar - Let The Cheetah Out By Using FourGen Case Tools To Create Your 4GL Applications
Nicholas Geib - Ruby on RaIDS - Ruby on Rails for IDS
Vinayak Shenoi - IDS Cheetah: Derived Table and View Processing Techniques
Vinayak Shenoi - IDS Cheetah: Derived Table and View Processing Techniques
Paul Watson - Advanced SPL
Darryl Priest - Cool SQL aka SQL Lightning Talks
Shesh Agrawal - Improved CSDK and Connectivity APIs for Cheetah and beyond...
Jacques Roy - Using the IBM Common Client API for IDS Web Applications
Guy Bowerman - What's New in Informix Application Development
Sérgio Ferreira - Java Database Programming with JPA
Thomas Beebe - Application security on the web
Satheesh Bandaram - New trends in Java Development for IDS (JCC 3.5 and 4.0 and Pure Query)
Paul-John To - Lightweight Redistribution of IDS
Paul Watson - Bet on IDS
Venkatesh Gopal - Web 2.0 and IDS - Overview of Web 2.0 Technologies
Alexander Koerner - Embedding and Deep Embedding of IDS 11
Spokey Wheeler - Improving the Auditability of Your Informix Databases
Curt Cotner - IBM Data Studio -- Next-Generation Application Development and Admin For IDS
Daniel Farrell - IDS Heterogeneous Replication: How to Replicate Data Out of Non-IDS Systems Into IDS
Kevin Brown - The TimeSeries and Real-Time Loader: Leveraging Power of Informix
Eric Offenberg, Jim Sinisgalli - Understanding Data Governance: Protecting Your Data Assets, Your Company and Your Customers
Mark Jamison - Moving to Unicode - Tips and Tricks
Robert Beal - Informix High Performance Loader - You Got It. Use It !
Ron Flannery - Data Visualization with Informix Dynamic Server
Kevin Brown - Using Extensibility in Everyday Applications
- Location Based Services + RFID Using Web Feature Services Alan Caldera
Gary Ben-Israel - From 4GL to JEE - Taking a Bold Step
Alexey Sonkin - Optimizing Linux for Informix
Marco Greco - The impossible while you wait, miracles take slightly longer
Ronald Privett - The Care and Feeding of Perpetual Roll Forward Systems
Hyun-Ju Vega - Understanding the new onstat options in IDS 11.10 (Cheetah)
Elisabeth Bach - Top Tips learned from Performance PMRs
Anatole Vishon, Gary Ginzburg - Solving Complex IDS Management and Performance Optimization Challenges
Suma Vinod - Using onstats for Performance Tuning and Troubleshooting
Ravi Kota - Harnessing the Power of Solaris 10 for Informix IDS v11
Ronald Privett - Engine Hangs, Debugging Methods, and Diagnostic Tools - A Starter's Guide
Randy House - System Catalogs: How to Clean Up a Database When a Problem Has Occurred
Ronald Privett - Backup and Restore Strategy For Sites Without A DBA
Vijay Lolabattu - In-depth view of IDS 11 feature SQLTRACE
Hyun-Ju Vega - Understanding Optimizer Statistics in Cheetah
David Jay - Sensor & Task Functions in IDS 11: Performance and Administration Tips & Tricks
Mark Jamison - Making Your Engine Hum With ALICE, and Other BTSCANNER Tips
Mike Lowe - Using SQLIDEBUG To Help Streamline Your Application
Randy House - Informix Support, My Engine Is Not Responding
Joseph Baric, Jr. - Reading Assertion Failure Files for Fun and Profit

New IDS 11 eBook

eherber — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:21:50 +0200

New IDS 11 eBook

The IBM Database Magazine offers a new free eBook for download. The eBook is written by Informix guru Lester Knutsen from Advanced DataTools and covers the IDS sysmaster database.

Just click on the graphic below, you might need to register in order to download the eBook:

Additional information about the IDS sysmaster database can found here:

Time to Migrate: IDS V7 to IDS V11

eherber — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:40:30 +0200

Time to Migrate: IDS V7 to IDS V11

There hasn't been a better time to upgrade old IDS V7 installations to IDS V11. IDS V11 comes with a whole bunch of new functionality, enhancements and "under the hood" improvements that will certainly boost your transaction throughput as well as increase the availability of your data.

The commitment of IBM to IDS is serious and rock solid, no doubt about that. The german "IBM Informix Infobahn" event, having been held this week in three different locations (Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg), demonstrated that IDS is an absolutely strategic data server for IBM. IBM invests a bulk of development resources to make IDS the absolutely first class data server for extreme OLTP and continuous availability.

IDS V11.5 contains even more cool technology on top of the rich functionality of IDS V11 which will make IDS the number one choice for high availability database clusters. There are only a few weeks left until IDS V11.5 will be officially announced and available. IDS V11.5 will be the perfect release for upgrading from IDS V7. Below you will find some interesting links regarding migration:

Download Carlton Doe's IDS 11 Book

eherber — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:25:21 +0100

Download Carlton Doe's IDS 11 Book

You can now download IBM IDS 11 - The next Generation in OLTP Data Server Technology as an eBook from the following IBM Website:

Download: Carlton Doe's IDS 11 (eBook)

Please spread the news and recommend this free offer to your colleagues !!
Thank you.

ZIFF Davis: Securing Your Data - Choosing the Right Platform

eherber — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:59:55 +0100

ZIFF Davis presents: Securing Your Data - Choosing the Right Platform

Date: Tuesday, Mar 4, 2008
Time: 09:00 AM Pacific, 12:00 PM Eastern, 17:00 London, 18:00 Paris, 18:00 Berlin
Speaker: Jonathan Leffler, Senior Technical Staff Member IBM IM
Registration URL: Click here to register for the webcast...

Abstract:

There's no doubt that information security, especially that of your database, is 
of ever increasing importance. Just pick up a newspaper or turn on the news and 
you'll hear about how yet another large company or organization has put thousands 
or millions of their constituents' private information at risk - and paid the 
penalties including loss of confidence.

Attend this important eSeminar sponsored by IBM to learn what you should know when 
planning for database security - and how the platform choices you make can impact 
your decisions in the months and years ahead. You'll hear from industry experts at 
IBM Informix who will discuss the protection capabilities built into IBM Informix 
IDS, and why database administrators on IT staffs worldwide recommend IBM Informix 
Dynamic Server as the right database choice to their management when security matters.

Icarus Studios moves from MySQL to IDS 11

eherber — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 20:31:12 +0100

Icarus Studios moves from MySQL to IDS 11

"IBM offers the high performance, scalability and data availability required
to deliver the best possible game experience to consumers, while keeping
operating costs low," said Daniel Witteveen, East Coast executive, IBM
Games and Interactive Entertainment. "Icarus Studios decision to migrate to
Informix Dynamic Server represents a shift now underway in the database
software market, with solution providers increasingly choosing IBM to better
serve their customers."

Read the full articles here...

IDS V11 Certification

eherber — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:30:42 +0100

IDS V11 Certification

Some kind of "house advertising":

There is a new article written by me and published in the DB2 Magazine that talks about IDS V11 Certification:

Becoming a Certified Informix Professional

If you have already mastered the certification exam or you have planned to do so in the near future, I would be happy if you write me your experiences, tips, comments. I will publish this useful information on The Informix Zone. If you are interested, you might also operate your own blog at The Informix Zone.

If you are still uncertain about the value of becoming an Informix Certified Professional , then read the new white paper from IDC analyst Carl W. Olofson. The paper describes why IDS is IBM's database of choice for high end OLTP environments as well as integrated solutions.

IBM's Secret Weapon

Companies bet on Informix because it has approved it's legendary reliability over many many years and companies will bet on you as a certified Informix Professional to implement the optimal solution that meets their challenging demands.

Prepare yourself !

MACH 11 - Setup a SDS Node in 5 Minutes

eherber — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 16:34:45 +0100

MACH 11 - Setup a SDS Node in 5 Minutes

If you didn't had the time to play with the SDS (Shared Disk Secondary) functionality which is part of the MACH 11 technology introduced in IDS 11, here is a short summary how to setup a SDS node on the same machine. It will take you only about 5 minutes to get the SDS node up and running.

I assume that you already have an IDS 11 instance running on your machine. If not, download the cost-free IDS Developer Edition:

Download IDS Developer Edition

Instructions for installing and setting up your own IDS Instance can be found here:

In the following example the primary IDS instance is called penguin and the SDS instance will be called penguin_sds1. The example is based on a Suse Linux system.

So let's start configuring an SDS instance on the same machine as the primary instance:

Article moved to the IDS Developer Edition Wiki...

Daily Backup via DB Scheduler

eherber — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 10:27:41 +0100

Daily Backup via DB Scheduler

Applications that embed the database as part of their solution have challenging requirements regarding the data server:

a customizable, small footprint
a hardware gentle architecture
rock-solid reliability
flexible high availability options
extremely low administration overhead
smoothly backward application compatibility
excellent performance

If you look at each of those requirements it becomes clear why IBM favors IDS as the data server of choice for integrated solutions. The new database scheduler introduced in IDS V11 offers extensive possibilities to automate routine tasks. Probably one of the most important DBA routine tasks is the regular backup of the data server.

The following example shows how you might automate this task by exploiting the IDS V11 database scheduler. The example is based on Linux and uses the Informix ontape utility.

onconfig Parameters

As prerequisite you should set the following parameters in your $ONCONFIG file:

TAPEDEV
Should be set to a filesystem directory that is readable/writable by informix
Example: TAPEDEV /home/informix/backups
BACKUP_FILTER
Should be set to a compression utility to reduce the backup file size
Example: BACKUP_FILTER /usr/bin/gzip
RESTORE_FILTER
Should be set to a utility that is able to de-compress the backup data for restore
Example: RESTORE_FILTER '/usr/bin/gzip -d -c'

Backup Procedure

We will create a stored procedure that - depending on the current weekday - either performs a Level-0 or a Level-1 Backup. In addition we will check the returncode of the ontape backup command and insert an appropriate row into table sysadmin:ph_alert. This allows us to view the events generated by the p_ontape procedure thru the Open Admin Tool.

database sysadmin;

create procedure p_ontape
(
   v_task_id      integer,
   v_task_seq     integer
)
   define v_backup_level   integer;
   define v_sql_rc         integer;
   define v_system_rc      integer;
   define v_weekday        smallint;
   define v_backup_cmd     char(256);
   define v_color          like ph_alert.alert_color;
   define v_type           like ph_alert.alert_type;
   define v_msg            like ph_alert.alert_message;

   -- determine the current weekday (0=sunday, 1=monday...)
   select weekday(today)
      into v_weekday
      from sysmaster:sysdual;

   if v_weekday = 0 then
      -- Level-0-Backup on Sunday
      let v_backup_level = 0;
   else
      -- Level-1-Backup on all other days
      let v_backup_level = 1;
   end if

   -- initialize variables
   let v_sql_rc = 0;
   let v_system_rc = 0;

   begin
      -- catch exception
      on exception in (-668)
         set v_sql_rc, v_system_rc
      end exception
      -- create and execute backup command
      let v_backup_cmd = "ontape -s -L " || v_backup_level;
      system v_backup_cmd;
   end


   -- check returncode
   if (v_system_rc = 0)
   then
      let v_type  = "INFO";
      let v_color = "GREEN";
   else
      let v_type  = "ERROR";
      let v_color = "RED";
   end if

   -- create message text
   let v_msg   = "Command [" || trim(v_backup_cmd) || "], Returncode [" || v_system_rc || "]";

   -- insert row into table sysadmin:ph_alert
   insert into ph_alert
   (
      id,
      alert_task_id,
      alert_task_seq,
      alert_type,
      alert_color,
      alert_state,
      alert_object_type,
      alert_object_name,
      alert_message,
      alert_action
   )
   values
   (
      0,
      v_task_id,
      v_task_seq,
      v_type,
      v_color,
      "NEW",
      "USER",
      "ontape",
      v_msg,
      null
   );

end procedure

document "This procecure performs an ontape backup";

Database Scheduler Task

Now we need to define a new task for the database scheduler by inserting a new row into table sysadmin:ph_task.

insert into ph_task
(
   tk_name,
   tk_type,
   tk_group,
   tk_description,
   tk_execute,
   tk_start_time,
   tk_stop_time,
   tk_frequency,
   tk_next_execution
)
values
(
   "ontape_backup",
   "TASK",
   "BACKUP",
   "execute ontape backup",
   "p_ontape",
   null,
   null,
   interval(1) day to day,
   datetime(2007-12-15 01:00:00) year to second
);

The individual columns and their meaning:

tk_name
The individual name of this task. Must be unique.
tk_type
The type of this task. Possible valid values are:
- SENSOR
- TASK
- STARTUP SENSOR
- STARTUP TASK
tk_group
The logical group this task/sensor belongs to. The columns references the ph_group.group_name column. The default group is MISC.
tk_description
A description of this task/sensor.
tk_execute
The SQL statement, Stored Procedure, Function or C-/Java-UDR that should be executed.
tk_start_time
tk_start_time and tk_stop_time specify the time-frame in which the task/sensor should be executed in the given frequency (tk_frequency). The default is from 08:00:00h thru 19:00:00h.
tk_stop_time
see tk_start_time
tk_frequency
Specifies the frequency for the task/sensor to be executed.
tk_next_execution
The next execution time of the task/sensor. The default is current. That means if you don't specify a next execution time, the task/sensor will be triggered immediately.

The backup task is now ready to execute automatically each day at 01:00:00h. Make sure that new backups are appearing in the directory specified by the TAPEDEV parameter and use the Open Admin Tool to view the generated alerts created by procedure p_ontape.

Administrating the Scheduler

Here are a few helpful commands for administrating and monitoring the database scheduler. Keep in mind that it is not necessary to re-start the database scheduler in order to get our new backup job executed. The scheduler works complete dynamic and automatically detects new jobs.

Relocating the sysadmin database to another dbspace

execute function sysadmin:task("reset sysadmin", "new_dbspace");

Stopping the scheduler

execute function sysadmin:task("scheduler shutdown");

Starting the scheduler

execute function sysadmin:task("scheduler start");

Monitoring the scheduler
- ```
onstat -g dbc
```
- ```
onstat -m
```
- Direct selects on the appropriate sysadmin tables
- Open Admin Tool (Health Center)