Other Issues

Highlights: Referral Update, 14 Aug Webcast, Got IDS 9.4?, and More...

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.

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Contents:

1. IIUG Referral Drive Update: Gerd's Way Ahead
2. 14 Aug. Webcast: System Management Tools Roadmap & New Features
3. IBM Data Management Technical Conference Update (Las Vegas)
4. Have You Implemented IDS 9.4 Yet?
5. Three New Articles at DB2 Developer Domain
6. Informix Hints & Tips via IBM Redbooks
7. IBM DB2 Content Manager and Informix
8. IBM and Lawson Software: Support of IDS & DB2 UDB
9. Useful Links
10. Closing and Credits

IIUG Referral Drive Update: Gerd's Way Ahead

Gerd Kaluzinski is a hero! As of Wednesday, 6 August, Gerd had effectively referred 15 new IIUG members. That is several times more than those who are in second place. But it's not too late to catch up with Mr. Kaluzinski. We still have until 15 October.

Remember, any IIUG member can refer new members to join IIUG. Referred individuals will enter the referring IIUG member's e-mail address in the "Referred By" field located at the top of the "Join" screen [http://www.iiug.org/join].

The e-mailed version of the IIUG Insider also includes a special personalized link that referring members may send to their Informix friends. When clicked on, this link will take the referred individual to the IIUG join screen and automatically fill "Referred By" field.

IIUG members will obtain ONE point for every individual they refer who joins IIUG. Members who accumulate three points may redeem an IIUG lapel pin. Those who accumulate five points may redeem a lapel pin plus an IIUG luggage tag. The IIUG member who refers the most new members will receive a special prize: A fully functional copy of AGS' Server Studio JE v.3.0 [http://www.serverstudio.com] normally listed at US$1,195.

Just released, Server Studio JE v.3.0 was developed by AGS in cooperation with IBM. Server Studio JE is a set of integrated, state-of-the-art DBMS tools that helps you maximize availability, performance and security of your databases and to consolidate, integrate and effectively manage entire IBM Informix DBMS infrastructure throughout your enterprise. Thank you AGS!

14 Aug. Webcast: System Management Tools Roadmap & New Features

Join us for one hour to see how the different tools that are available today for IDS can help manage the server efficiently and cost effective. There are many choices available, including ISA, Server Studio JE and DB2 Tools, and this session will help you make the right decision for you individual needs.

Mohan Natraj, IIUG Board of Directors, will host the webcast, while Reiner Kappenberger, Marketing Manager IBM Informix System Management Tools will be the presenter.

The event's objective is to explain the benefits of the tools IBM offers customers and partners to effectively manage IDS and provide help for administration of database instances and their resident data.

The intended audience consists of system administrators and developers that need to find data inside an instance or maintain IDS databases.

To find the meeting time in your location, please see the World Clock Meeting Planner at http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html.

Please pre-register at http://www.placewareforum.com/eseminars and note that first time users of the IBM e-Seminars facility will need to obtain a login prior to registering for their webcast of interest. This event is located under "IBM Data Management Events" on the left of the screen.

For information on past and future webcast events, please visit http://www.iiug.org/news/webcasts.html.

Save the Date: 8 September -> IDS 7-to-9 Migration Webcast. Details to post soon at the IIUG Webcast Corner.

IBM Data Management Technical Conference Update (Las Vegas)

Plan on being in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 27-31 October, for the IBM Data Management Technical Conference. As an International Informix Users Group - IIUG - member you are entitled to a special $150 IIUG discount until the day before the conference, which cannot be used in conjunction with the "Early Bird" or any other discount.

The keynote speaker will be Janet Perna, General Manager - Data Management Solutions Software Group, IBM. Her presentation will review IBM's strategy, product directions, and customer experiences in helping companies provide information on demand to help them compete.

Featured speakers will include:

Susie Siegesmund, Business Unit Executive for IBM's U2 business operations. Attend and hear how the UniVerse and UniData (U2) databases fit into IBM's e-business on demand strategy. Susie will also provide an overview of IBM's U2 plans for future integration with other IBM technology, including the DB2 UDB, WebSphere, and Tivoli products.

Tom Rosamilia, Vice President of Worldwide Data Management Development and General Manager of IBM's Silicon Valley Laboratory, will explain how IBM continues to enhance, support, and sell Informix products and services as part of its overall strategy to provide the world's leading software infrastructure for e-business on demand.

As in prior years, those in attendance to the conference will be able to participate in a lively panel exchange with senior IBM executives on topics of interest to all DB2 Information Management Software customers and business partners. Don't miss this opportunity to go live with these key decision-makers at the "Meet the Executives" panel session sponsored by the International Informix Users Group (IIUG). If you would like to submit a question for "Meet the Executives", send it via e-mail to conferences@iiug.org with "MTE Question" in the message subject line.

You can also attend IIUG's Annual General Meeting, where IIUG leaders will present the year's report and their plans for 2004. All conference attendees interested in IIUG activities and programs are welcome and encouraged to attend.

For more information on the conference or to register, please visit http://ibm.com/training/conf/us/dm - Remember to choose Attendee Type: "Informix IIUG" to get your $150 discount.

Have You Implemented IDS 9.4 Yet?

IIUG's ENews team would like to hear from people who have implemented IDS 9.4 in production. In particular, we are interested in the following aspects of your experience:

1. Why did you move to IDS 9.4 and what were you using before?
2. How easy was it to migrate to IDS 9.4? Any surprises, positive and negative?
3. Have you realized the benefits you had expected? Is it faster, more robust, easier to manage, etc.?
4. What OS/HW platforms did you move from and move to?

We will collect your responses and publish them at IIUG.org and the IIUG Insider.

If interested in sharing your experience, please write directly to enews@iiug.org.

Three New Articles at DB2 Developer Domain

Segmenting Red Brick STAR Indexes Like Their Tables, by Dinkar Rao, IBM Having segmentation schemes correspond between STAR indexes and their tables is especially useful in maintaining time-cyclic data in a Red Brick Warehouse. Read here about the methodology and new features that support this capability.

http://www7b.software.ibm.com/dmdd/zones/informix/library/techarticle/0308rao/0308rao.html

Using the IBM Red Brick Warehouse Backup and Restore System, by Hui Liao, IBM Need help with backup and restore on IBM Red Brick Warehouse? This article uses a case study to demonstrate the details of the backup and restore functions provided by the Table Management Utility.

http://www7b.software.ibm.com/dmdd/zones/informix/library/techarticle/0307liao/0307liao.html

Database Interoperability, the Adventure Continues, by Marty Lurie, IBM Is it time to integrate your Informix data with other data sources? The second of a two-part series on how to implement data federation, this article focuses on a case study for a marketing campaign mailing list.

http://www7b.software.ibm.com/dmdd/library/techarticle/0307lurie/0307lurie.html

Informix Hints & Tips via IBM Redbooks

Alternative Java UDR Deployment Method in Informix Dynamic Server
Published: June, 27, 2003
More details are available at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/tips0191.html

Installing Informix Dynamic Server V9.4 and WebSphere V5 on Red Hat Linux V8.0
Published: June, 27, 2003
More details are available at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/tips0192.html

An Install Error with Informix Dynamic Server and WebSphere on Linux
Published: June, 27, 2003
More details are available at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/tips0193.html

Using Serial Data Type with Informix Dynamic Server and WebSphere
Published: June, 27, 2003
More details are available at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/tips0194.html

Finding the Informix Dynamic Server Port Number on Linux
Published: June, 27, 2003
More details are available at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/tips0195.html

Performance Tuning When Using Informix Dynamic Server With WebSphere
Published: June, 30, 2003
More details are available at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/tips0196.html

Installing Informix Dynamic Server on SuSE Linux 8.0
Published: June, 30, 2003
More details are available at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/tips0197.html

IBM DB2 Content Manager and Informix

Enterprise Content Management is nothing that people haven't heard about already and did not implement in some way over the last 15 years that content management systems have been around.

With today's evolution however it is getting more and more important to consolidate those standalone systems into a larger view. This is what IBM DB2 Content Manager is all about. It's not just another solution sitting somewhere in a desolated island, but an integration of information being there already plus the capability to store additional information, be it Web pages, scanned paper documents, computer generated print-out, audio or even video files.

How does this affect you as an Informix user today? Simply because it is not yet another system, it can be an extension to the existing solution you have, or sell, today running on IDS. IBM DB2 Content Manager enables you through its APIs to integrate into your application to enhance it for those difficult tasks of Content Management.

IBM DB2 Content Manager gives you scalability, a powerful and expressive XML ready data model and openness that you expect to work with Informix based applications.

In order to integrate IBM DB2 Content Manager applications can make use of either the C++ or Java OO APIs to access functionality such as data modeling, integrated parametric text search, delivery, etc. For Java, visual and non-visual Java Beans are provided to reduce time for developers to integrate IBM DB2 Content Manager into applications.

For more information about IBM DB2 Content Manager visit http://www.ibm.com/software/data/cm/ or get the multimedia CD with case studies, demos and much more from http://www.ibm.com/software/data/cm/library.html.

IBM and Lawson Software: Support of IDS & DB2 UDB

IIUG ENews received the following note from IBM:

Lawson Software recently notified customers that Lawson's future 8.1 Environment release will not support IDS. Lawson stated its continued support for Informix with Lawson's 7.3.3 and 8.0.X Environment releases. The company further stated that IBM DB2 UDB is one of the databases customers should consider in the future: "As IBM's stated direction is to integrate the best function of Informix into its DB2 database, Lawson's support of DB2 will continue to provide you with most or all of the Informix function, and Lawson encourages you to consider migrating to DB2 over the coming years."

Please be assured that IBM and Lawson will continue to fully support IBM Informix IDS on current Lawson applications. IBM is very committed to keeping our current Informix customers running on superior technology far into the future. We highly recommend that when you are ready to upgrade to the Lawson 8.1 release, or any future Lawson release, that you consider DB2 UDB. Lawson is working very closely with IBM and our mutual customers to ensure full support and ample time to align with both IBM's and Lawson's future product roadmaps. This means Lawson customers on IDS will have the opportunity to make a smooth transition to DB2 UDB.

For customers interested in upgrading their database application today, the IBM Gold Bundle offering will enable your company to remain on Informix and later switch to a DB2 UDB license. The Gold Bundle offers customers the choice to use either IDS or DB2 UDB in any combination. Regardless of whether your company chooses to transition to DB2 UDB or remain on IDS, IBM will provide full support for your database.

If you have any questions or are interested in the IBM Gold Bundle and other IBM upgrade options, please send an email to ibmifmx@us.ibm.com.

Useful Links

In response to your input, we have created a new page on the IIUG web site containing all the links we used to include. Please find it at:

http://www.iiug.org/quicklinks.html

Closing and Credits

The International Informix Users Group (IIUG) is an organization designed to enhance communications between its worldwide user community and IBM. IIUG's membership database now exceeds 18,000 entries and enjoys the support and commitment of IBM's Data 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
Editors:	Fred Hubbard, IIUG Board of Directors, David Smith, IIUG Board of Directors, and Jean Georges Perrin, IIUG Board of Directors
For comments, please send an email to ug@iiug.org.