Other Issues

Highlights: IIUG Conference next month, Denver CO, May 22 - 26, 2005
		Surf the IDS 10.0 Wave At the IIUG Conference Denver CO May 22 - 26, 2005   Find out all about it in section #2

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.

Contents:

1. Editorial...
2. Cover story: IIUG Conference
3. A Letter from the IIUG president
4. IBM InfoBahns
5. IBM Opens up Rational to Informix Developers!
6. SIGs
7. Visionary v4 for Informix - See it now!
8. IIUG Board member Paul Watson profiled
9. Informix Chat with the Lab
10. IIUG Shareware repository
11. Calendar of events
12. Developer corner
13. Reader's corner
14. Useful Links
15. Closing and Credits

Editorial...

This editorial is about the IIUG conference in Denver. In our cover story you can read all about it. In this editorial I am inviting you to share my feelings. I have been attending Informix conferences for many years. The last one convinced me we need a change. Our sessions were in small side rooms, the number of attendees dropped, there was nothing new to hear and there where too many sales and too few technical presentations. The IIUG board felt you deserve more. As the chair of Informix for DBAs I reviewed all the presentations in my track. I can assure you most of it is new, all of it is interesting. $1,750 for the conference plus $600 for the hotel not to mention air fair is a lot of money. This time it is worth it! You can find in the next section all the reasons and more to justify the price. But there is more to it. It is a demonstration of power -- a way to show there are Informix users seeking education. If you are hesitating don't. Come and help us build the momentum. Cindy Lichtenauer, Stuart Litel, Walt Hultgren, Lester Knutsen and I have worked hard to make this a great conference. The rest is up to you.

Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Insider Editor
IIUG Board of Directors

Cover story: IIUG Conference

For the first time the IIUG is responsible for the Informix conference. This is what we did to offer you a conference that is better then ever:

• We have set a conference committee of five Informix technical Informix veterans rather then an appointed clerk.
• We approached the best speakers form IBM development and our user community in order to offer the best possible content.
• We carefully picked the top 42 presentations out of 100 proposals. We took into account your preferences in addition to the speaker's talent and the presentation content.
• We carefully reviewed every presentation to assure the best quality.
• We joined forces with IDUG (International DB2 User Group) bringing together our Informix knowledge and enthusiasm with their experience in setting up large scale conferences, the DB2 content and the DB2 users. To make this conference a spectacular event.
• Last but not least this is the Informix gathering of the year. It is the place to meet your fellow Informix users, IBM developers and experts and us the IIUG board.

Want to take a deep dive into IDS 10.0 Internals, learn what's new in JAVA for the Informix Application Developer or find out about building a data warehouse with Informix? The IDUG/IIUG North America 2005 conference in Denver is the best place to do it. This is not just another conference. IDS 10.0, the greatest thing that happened to Informix, will be covered form all aspects for the first time. If you are still hesitating, read the conference program. DBA, System administrator, Developer, Manager -- there is much you can learn. And it is all in one week at one place.

If you are interested in further education there will be four half day seminars:

• IDS 10.0 - A Technical Deep Dive, Mark Scranton
• Is Your DBA Paranoid Enough?, Jonathan Leffler
• Everything You Wanted to Know about Informix SQL and How to Make your SQL Better, Kevin Fennimore
• Advanced IDS Setup from Disk to Engine Optimization, Art Kagel

For more information and online registration please go to http://conferences.idug.org/namerica/2005/index.cfm. Note: When you register you will be requested to enter a "source code" the IIUG code is: NA110 Make sure you enter it to receive your special gift for IIUG members in Denver.

Hope to see you all at our IIUG Annual General Meeting in Denver on May 25.

Editor's note: We understand that some users have noticed that the registration is on the IDUG site and not on the IIUG site. We believed there was no need to duplicate the effort. This is indeed the IIUG Informix User conference in conjunction with IDUG. So if you have the chance to be at any conference for Informix content, this is the place to be. An Informix Conference for Informix Users with all content purely TECHNICAL with no marketing content. We promise more Informix technical content and exhibitors than any other show in the world in 2005! Informix sessions will no longer be in an upstairs corner, but rather we are front and center, so come and visit us in Denver. One week at this conference will teach you more than multiple Informix classes and best of all, meet other Informix professionals, share and enhance your knowledge.

A Letter from the IIUG president

In this issue I wanted to remind IIUG members of the many different resources available at http://www.iiug.org. Last week I was having dinner with a friend of mine who recently took a new job as an Informix DBA. This person having about ten years of Informix experience has been away from Informix for about the last 12 months, and forgot some of the best ways to setup Update Statistics for an OLTP database. As an IIUG member I reminder her of the IIUG forums or Special Interest Group mailing lists, and she politely replied "what is that?"

Well it was then I realized I had failed on letting IIUG members exactly what are the many IIUG resources available to them on our web site. The IIUG offers to its members over 20 electronic forums including the Internet Usenet group Comp.Database.Infomix (C.D.I.) at no charge to all its members. These groups range in topics from IDS, Classics (Standard Engine and Online 5), Tools (4GL, ISQL) and even Informix in other languages such as Spanish, and French to name a few. These groups are available via e-mail or are web based and are in the Member area which can be reached on the web at http://www.iiug.org/members. Once you logon to the member area, click on the FORUMS button. If you have an idea for other forums or suggestions relating to forums, please send e-mail to David Fraser, IIUG Board Member at david@iiug.org.

If you have a problem with or concern with anything relating to Informix, please do not hesitate to contact me directly. Unsure you are getting the right information from IBM? Ask me. Does your corporate management have doubts about Informix? Ask me (I have none and am very happy and optimistic of the future of the Informix product line). I can always be reached by going to a new web page I setup called "Ask the President". It can be found at http://www.iiug.org/president. I PROMISE I will answer all e-mails within TWO business days. I might not have the answer, but I will try to get you to the correct person or just simply tell you sorry I cannot help you, but you will get a response. Of course I welcome ALL compliments about the IIUG and IBM as well. Sorry but I cannot answer any technical questions due to legal reasons.

Stuart Litel President International Informix Users Group

IBM InfoBahns

What is an InfoBahn?

An Infobahn is a one-day information forum where Informix customers and Business Partners can learn first-hand about IBM's newest technology releases. This forum offers a complete agenda of sessions -- led by IBM executives and regional managers -- designed for both decision makers and technology professionals. Event dates and agendas vary by location. For more information, contact your local IBM office or your authorized IBM Business Partner.

IBM has a new major release to showcase -- IBM(®) Informix(®) Dynamic Server Version 10.0. And there's even more on the way. Come to the 2005 Informix Infobahn event near you. To discover the full list of events and dates please go to:

http://www.ibm.com/software/info/data/informix/infobahn/index.jsp

We will publish the updated list at the IIUG Insider calendar of events and on the IIUG web site:

http://www.iiug.org

IBM Opens up Rational to Informix Developers!

IBM Furthers Commitment to Informix - Opens up Rational to Informix Developers!

Informix 4GL to Rational Enterprise Generation Language (EGL) Conversion Utility follows on the heels of IBM's exciting Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) V10 Announcement

Recently IBM has announced the Informix 4GL to EGL Conversion Utility is now available as an iFix004 iFeature with the Rational Developer V6.0 products.

This release of IBM Informix 4GL to EGL Conversion Utility offers the following key features and benefits:

• Uniform Conversion from 4GL to EGL - retain the "look and feel" of your 4GL program with the equivalent EGL program after conversion
• Graphical Conversion Wizard - steps you through each step of the conversion process
• Command Line Conversion - scripted or automated usage

Informix 4GL to EGL Conversion Utility iFix004 iFeature should be installed via the Update Manager functionality with any of the following products:

• Rational Web Developer V6.0
• Rational Application Developer V6.0
• Rational Software Architect V6.0
• WebSphere Application Server Express V6.0

Informix 4GL customers and business partners on active maintenance should contact their IBM Sales Representative to take advantage of special trade-up opportunities to the Rational Developer and WebSphere V6.0 products.

SIGs

SIG's. Special Interest Groups for Informix users privided by IIUG.

If you have not looked at the IIUG Special Interest Groups then now is a very good time. The SIGs are a members only area where you can ask virtually any technical question about Informix or related products and get practical answers.

FAQ

"How do I get access to the SIGs?" You need to log into the IIUG member only area and follow the links to "forums". Hint. An easy way to log in is to follow the link at the bottom of this Insider.

"What are the topics that are covered?" There are 25 SIGs covering issues from database administration, to programming techniques, to IDS, XPS, EGL, JAVA. SIGs also cover application interfaces to SAP, and Peoplesoft. There are also SIGs specifically for German, Spanish, French and Portuguese speakers.

"Who monitors the SIG's." The SIGs are generally monitored by volunteers, experts in their fields. However the SIGs are a user community of likeminded professionals. Anyone can ask a question and anyone and respond. "What about slow moving SIGs". Some SIGs do not have much activity. These are monitored my myself. If you have a real interest in say EGL or Java or Office Connect then you could take on the monitoring job and help build the activity.

I am specifically keen on hearing from developers using the EGL and Java tools to connect to Informix. This is a huge growth area for Informix and I am really keen to help these specific SIGs grow. "How many people use the SIGs". This depends on the topic. For example the IDS has over a thousand subscribers, a couple of specialized SIGs have less than 50.

"Can I get a list of the messages?". Yes. Either by entering the SIG, subscribing to our message email service or subscribing to our digest service.

SIGs are a fantastic way to make new Informix contacts and discover new ways to solve old problems. Have a look now by following the IIUG member access link at the bottom of the Insider.

David Fraser
IIUG Board Member
New Zealand
david@iiug.org

Visionary v4 for Informix - See it now!

Visionary, the cutting-edge graphical reporting tool originally released by Informix, is back! Since acquiring Visionary from IBM in 2002, Rocket Software, Inc., a leading software developer and IBM business partner, has been busy improving on an already powerful product.   Stuart Litel, President of IIUG, heralds Rocket Software's Visionary v4 as "the coolest reporting product that runs on Informix that I've seen on the market!"

Visionary is ideal for dynamic decision making:

• Executive Dashboards
• Yield Management
• Trend Analysis
• Production and Inventory Control
• Virtually any business process...

Rocket's latest release introduced a pure Java runtime model with over 30 new graphical layouts, along with a wide variety of productivity enhancements. Staying true to its heritage, Rocket Visionary also retains the many Informix optimizations that make it particularly well-suited to operating against IDS and XPS.

If you are looking for a powerful solution for rapidly developing and deploying visually intuitive analytical applications and executive dashboards then Rocket Visionary may be the tool for you.

Rocket Software will be hosting a Visionary Webinar on May 11 at 2:30pm (EDT). To register, please email terri.bonee@rs.com.

To learn more about Visionary v4, visit Rocket Software, Inc.

The IIUG welcomes Rocket Software and thank them as a Gold Sponsor. More information available also at http://www.iiug.org/rocketsoftware

IIUG Board member Paul Watson profiled

Here it is again -- time for a new board and new profiles... Let's discover together board member Paul Watson.

Informix Chat with the Lab

Informix Chat with the Lab Wednesday, May 11th 11:00 Eastern Standard Time for 90 minutes

The Ins and Outs of Point in Time Table Level Restore for IDS v10.0 - presented by John Miller III, Senior Technical Staff Member, IBM Informix Advanced Technical Support

Understanding how to use Point in Time Table Level Restore can save the DBA a lot of time when faced with a critical loss of data. This talk will cover the features of Point in Time Table Level Restore and how a DBA can extract a subset of the data without having to restore the entire system.

RSVP to: https://ww4.premconf.com/webrsvp/register?conf_id=8584090

IIUG Shareware repository

There's a new way to submit Informix shareware software to the IIUG Repository! Check it out at http://www.iiug.org/software/contrib.

Uploading your submissions directly to the IIUG will hopefully be an easier way to submit software than through email attachment. You will still be able to submit via email for the next couple of months. There have been a number of new contributions to the repository. Check them out at: http://www.iiug.org/software/repository_news.html.

Among the new contributions:

ASCII

Here is an SQL package that provides two functions - ASCII('a') which returns the number corresponding to the first letter of the supplied string, and CHR(97) which returns the character responding to the supplied number (in the range 0..255, but be wary of 0). The gzipped tar file is tiny - 1918 bytes compressed.

If you have SQLCMD, then you can run "sqlcmd -d dbase -f mkascii.sql" to create everything -- if you get fancy, you can make mkascii.sql executable and edit the pathname to sqlcmd into it, and then run the following command to create the information in a database called mode_ansi. It will work for logged, unlogged and mode ANSI databases.

mkascii.sql mode_ansi

If you don't have SQLCMD, you can use DB-Access to create the ASCII table (asciitbl.sql), and the procedures (ascii.sql, chr.sql) and then load the ASCII table from ascii.unl. There are 255 lines of data in ascii.unl - the missing value is ASCII NUL.

Submitted by Jonathan Leffler

unl_utils

Utilities for converting csv-files to Informix unl-files and vice-versa.

csv2unl - Converts a csv-file to an unl-file.
unl2csv - Converts an unl-file to a csv-file.
unl2err - Splits an unl-file into good/bad parts.
csv_fix - 'Fixes' a malformed csv-file.

Requires a C compiler.

Submitted by Richard Harnden

Sqlcmd-77.07

New release of sqlcmd

This is another minor upgrade to SQLCMD (compared with 77.03 or 77.05) with somewhat better handling of CSV data. If you are not stressing CSV format, it is not critical to upgrade to this version.

Updated by Jonathan Leffler

upd_stats

New release of upd_stats

Fixes to xupdstats script

Updated by Doug Wilson

With regards,
Peter Wages
For The IIUG Software Repository

Calendar of events

Developer corner

Please visit our site for new, refreshed content: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/db2

Feature article:

Exploit the power of Linux with IDS 10.0
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/dm-0503szabo/
IDS 10 provides transparent optimization of Linux environments to achieve improved scalability and parallelism.
(Informix Dynamic Server)

Other new content:

Find IDS v10.0 information fast
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/dm-0503halilovic2/
Gain insight into the improved information retrieval in Informix Dynamic Server Version 10.0 documentation.
(Informix Dynamic Server)

Reader's corner

I have received the following email from Ramon Rey an Informix DBA. We all share his concerns and would like IBM to be aware of them.

Ramon's words received thoughtful attention from IBM management. Carolyn's detailed response will make us all more confident in the future of Informix.

We can change things if we do not keep our thoughts, ideas and suggestions to ourselves. Use this platform write me at gary@iiug.org.

On March 30 Ramon wrote: I guess this qualifies as a complaint question... I've been wondering, what's IBM doing to market Informix? Reason I ask is because I haven't seen any advertisements. The way I see it, if you don't market your product, you wont sell it. Coming more to my point, if you don't sell, from the Informix User point of view, the less job market offering work for us.

Yes! What about us? The suffered, loyal, and often forgotten Informix User. In the last few years, the offerings for Informix related jobs have been declining to a point where I, a hardcore loyal Informix DBA for the last 9 years, have considered turning to the Dark Side. I even took the training!

And the reason why is because most of the already few job offerings for Informix skills out there are for migration to The Other Database. For crying out loud, the NorCal User Group, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, former Informix headquarters, it's been inactive all 2004 and so far in 2005! (Sorry but I had to mention this...). And please don't get me started on off-shoring...

What's IBM's position on this trend? I guess that there is no reason for concern for IBM as long as they have the Walmarts, the Home Depots, etc. For us Informix Users (and this is the International Informix User Group, isn't it?), it's a different story. With the diminishing job market for us Informix Users, I feel like I belong to a species in danger of extinction.

I apologize for venting, but I think the questions are valid, and we deserve an answer or two. Thanks and best regards,

Ramon Rey
ifmx_dba@yahoo.com

IIUG Editors Note: We passed Ramon's concern thru to the proper IBM channels, and here is the reply:

Ramon,

Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns regarding the employment opportunities for Informix DBAs. The IIUG Board forwarded your message to the management for the Informix brand within IBM for their consideration and response.

Your first question asked, "What's IBM doing to market Informix?" IBM counts a number of successes in marketing Informix in 2004, with even more expected in 2005. IBM places high priority on technical advertising of its database management products such as DB2, Informix and UniVerse/UniData (U2). Around the world in 2004, IBM conducted over 40 Informix Infobahns events which attracted over 3,300 Informix users and partners, 97 Informix tech days to discuss application development strategies with top Informix business partners and the introduction of Informix "Chat with the Labs" end users Webcasts and "Think Thursday" partner Webcasts.

IBM also places high emphasis on marketing its software products via the press and analyst communities. Accordingly, IBM has invested significant time regularly discussing Informix product strategy and portfolio directions with influential writers in the trade press and with leading analyst firms.

In the Q4 2004 and Q1 2005 issues of DB2 Magazine, IBM featured a special pull-out section called the Informix Connection. This highly-visible pull-out section featured product information as well as Informix Business Partner advertising to specifically communicate IBM's future directions for the Informix product family. Informix and Cloudscape were both called out in a print advertisement for IBM Information Management products that ran in two worldwide regions. This is excellent exposure for Informix when you take into account that the IBM Corporation does not do product-level advertising as a rule in the mass media. Advertising is managed at a brand level within the business unit, such as Information Management, Lotus, Tivoli or Rational within Software Group.

To your question of "What about us?", there is no doubt that the Informix user base is an extraordinarily loyal community among all of IBM's software brands. And the reasons for that loyalty are ones that directly flow into the marketing messages for Informix Dynamic Server and the other products in the Informix family. Demand for Informix skills are a function of a push-pull model driven by Informix partners and Informix end users. End users drive demand by buying applications that run on Informix products and partners drive demand by selling applications that run on Informix products. Informix DBAs are the down-level recipients of that model in terms of job opportunities. The more Informix-based applications running in businesses around the world, the more job opportunities for Informix DBAs. IBM is crystal clear on this model and is actively driving demand on both the end user and partner ends of the equation. As you are aware, application development and porting activities take time, and the effects of IBM's efforts to create demand for Informix skills in the marketplace are not likely to be felt immediately.

As for migrations over to the competition, IBM has recently enjoyed several wins of migrations from the competition over to Informix. This is excellent news and a good proof point that IBM's marketing of Informix is meeting with success. IBM is highly sensitive to any whisperings of migration from Informix to any other database product on the market, but those migrations just are not a reality. The Informix install base is highly stable.

Through IBM's very close relationship with the IIUG and through other means such as IBM developerWorks and IBM PartnerWorld programs, IBM is highly attuned to the desires of its Informix user community. IBM relies on people like you to advocate for continued use of and development on IDS and other Informix database products. We are very proud of Informix technologies and confident that they will continue to meet and exceed the expectations of its users. Please take advantage of your membership in the IIUG, as you have with this message, to continue to advocate for the Informix product set and for your own future as an Informix DBA. Take an active role in your local user group, network within your own IT communities and talk openly of your experiences with Informix products. It is people like you who make the difference and who do some of the most important forms of marketing for Informix.

Regards,

Carolyn Woods
Informix Marketing Manager, SMB/Channels
IBM Information Management Software

IIUG President's response:

Ramon:

While I personally share your pain and agree with many of your concerns, IBM is like a big ship and changing the course of that ship or getting the word out about that ship is very tough. IBM has never, I repeat NEVER been more behind the Informix product line since the purchase in July 2001. IBM has NO, I repeat, NO intention of killing, changing the Informix product line. These rumors are solely out there as a result of their being passed on by Informix's / IBM's competition. I just finished an article that will appear on the front page of DBTA magazine (http://www.dbta.com) in May. The article pushes one point:

In July 2001, IBM had virtually no products (it may have actually been NONE) that integrated with Informix. Now in 2005, virtually any product that integrates with DB2 on Linux, Unix or Windows EQUALLY works with Informix. The reason is simply that Informix is a FLAGSHIP database product of IBM Corporation.

We may never see an advertisement that portrays Informix solely, but Informix is a very important product to IBM Corporation. If ANYONE that tells you otherwise, you or any other user can reach me and I personally will pick up the phone and call them.

Stuart Litel
President
International Informix User Group
president@iiug.org

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 25,000 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 IBM Corp.
Editors:	Gary Ben-Israel Jean Georges Perrin Stuart Litel
For comments, please send an email to enews@iiug.org.