There is an excellent article on IBM developerworks that describes the Delayed Apply feature of RSS nodes in a MACH11 cluster.

The article also describes how to take advantage of RSS nodes in order to perform external backups without blocking the primary server:

What's new in Informix MACH 11 high-availability features for secondary servers

A new IBM Redbook is currently in draft status:

• IBM Informix Flexible Grid: Extending Data Availability

Table of Contents:

• Chapter 1. Overview
• Chapter 2. OpenAdmin Tool
• Chapter 3. Configuring server for Flexible Grid and Enterprise Replication environments
• Chapter 4. The Flexible Grid
• Chapter 5. Administering Enterprise Replication

IBM seems to have "silently" published a new eBook covering the flexible cluster configuration options of Informix.

Listen to Lester Knutsen from Advanced Data Tools and Gary Proctor and Nick Geib from IBM when they talk about how easy it is to run an Informix database cluster on IBM Bladeserver hardware:

(german content)

IBM Deutschland betreibt einen sogenannten IBM Blue Blog, der sich mit diversen Themen rund um die IBM Produktpalette befasst.

Martin Fürderer - IBM Informix Entwicklung München - bloggt dort auch zum Thema Informix.

Reminder: Please participate in the oninit survey and help to spread the word about Informix.

Informix-Fans,

If you are interested in running certified IBM Informix MACH11 cluster configurations on IBM x BladeCenter hardware then the following website will give your further details on this new IBM Hardware/Software bundle offering:

• Informix Cluster Configurations

• Date: Thursday, Nov the 18th
• Time: 1.5 hour, 8:30 AM Pacific, 10:30 AM Central, 11:30 AM Eastern, 4:30 PM London, 5:30 PM Paris
• Title: MACH11 best practices around HDR/RSS
• Speaker: Madhuri, Madison Pruet (IBM)

You can register for the webcast here...

Jerry Keesee, Director of the Informix Lab will introduce the call 
and Madison Pruet, Informix STSM will be our technical speaker.

Here is a good starting place with many useful links as well as explanatory notes and graphics for everybody interested in learning more about one of the Informix "sweet spots":

• Knowledge Collection: Informix Enterprise Replication

In case you haven't seen it already, here is the link to an excellent article from Mr. Replication - Madison Pruet - about the new RSS Delayed Apply feature available in IDS 11.50.xC5:

• RSS Delayed Apply

• Description
• Usage
• Output
• Example 24 Hour Range
• Example 6 Hour Range
• Example 1 Hour Range
• Download

Description

Did you ever ask yourself one or more of the following questions:

IBM has just released IDS Version 11.50.xC5. This version contains the following new features:

• High Availability
• Configuring RS Secondary Server Latency for Disaster Recovery
• Administration
• Forcing the Database Server to Shut Down
• Enhanced Support for Multibyte Character Strings
• New default for the INFORMIXTERM environment variable for terminal set up on UNIX
• onconfig Portal: Configuration Parameters Listed by Functional Categories

MACH11: TEMPTAB_NOLOG

In IDS V11.1 there has been a new onconfig parameter introduced: TEMPTAB_NOLOG

The purpose of this parameter is:

• Allowing the creation of unlogged temporary tables on secondary servers (SDS,HDR,RSS) without the need to explicitly add the with no log extension
• Increasing performance for operations on temporary tables on the primary (PRI) as statements against them will not be logged and hence not transfered to a secondary server

Let's have a deeper look at this technique. In the following example we have a primary server and a secondary HDR server. I leave SDS and RSS secondary servers out, as they show exactly the same behaviour as a HDR secondary regarding the TEMPTAB_NOLOG parameter. The dbspace layout looks like this:

HP takes Informix seriously

There are two interesting whitepapers available from IBM's (hardware) competitor HP.

The first one discusses how to to scale up and scale out with IDS 11.5 on HP Integrity Servers thru the HP Virtual Server environment. This is an excellent example that shows the versatility of IDS that is able to scale on a single SMP machine as well as on a cluster of (SMP) machines.

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:

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.

This was posted on comp.databases.informix and I thought it would be useful to present it on a blog. I hope the author doesn't mind!

Linux/Desktop + SDS/MACH11 + iSCSI

By: cesar_inacio_martins@yahoo.com.br

This is a little cookbook/step-by-step which I tested successfully and want to share with everybody.

It is more focused on how configure the linux ... the IDS part is too easy to do a cookbook :)
But if you need information on how to configure informix SDS, look for the Redbook "Informix Dynamic Server 11:Extending Availability and Replication" on IBM's support site.

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.

Connection Manager sqlhosts File

While playing with the IDS 11.5 Connection Manager, I realized that the examples, regarding the setup of the sqlhosts file in the IDS V11.5 Information Center, are suboptimal. Here is the setup graphic taken from documentation: