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IIUG Insider (Issue #146)
August 2012

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Highlights: Announcing the 2013 IIUG Informix Conference

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:

 
Editorial Back to top

Once again we are preparing for the IIUG Informix conference. Once again it will take place in lovely San Diego.

The 2012 IIUG Informix conference was our best conference ever. So we are setting a very high bar for 2013. I am sure we will meet it. So save April 21-24 in your calendar and stay tuned to the IIUG announcements in our conference web page: http://www.iiug2013.org and in the IIUG Insider.

The IIUG Conference Planning Committee and the IIUG Board of Directors will do their best to make it an unforgettable event. We are hoping to present the ins and outs of the Informix new release that is coming up soon. We are urging you to take part in our efforts. In September we will issue a call for presentations. Please submit your abstracts. We need user speakers alongside with our great IBM speakers. As speakers you will receive a free conference pass as a thank you from the IIUG. But not less important you will contribute to the success of the conference the IIUG and Informix.

Remember the 2012 conference was sold out. Take no chances. Register early.

Looking forward to meeting you in San Diego.

Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Insider Editor

Highlights Back to top
Announcing the 2013 IIUG Informix Conference

The International Informix Users Group (http://www.iiug.org) is proud to announce its 2013 Annual Informix conference will be held once again at the San Diego (California, USA) Marriott Mission Valley from Sunday April 21 to Wednesday April 24, 2013. We are also pleased to announce two major changes in the format of this year's conference. First, the conference will begin on Sunday night with a Welcome Cocktail Reception and end on Wednesday afternoon as usual. The tutorial sessions previously held on Sunday will now take place on Thursday April 25th. The second change that should excite everyone is the tutorials will now be included for all paid attendees. We're really excited about this change and we hope that you will take advantage of this huge opportunity to expand your knowledge of Informix.

We will begin accepting abstracts in September and will notify you how you can submit your abstract to speak at IIUG. Our conference is driven by the user community and we would really like to have more users submit abstracts for sessions this year. I've never submitted an abstract before, but I'm doing it this year. So join me if you've been on the fence about speaking. All user/customer speakers who present a session will receive a FREE conference pass as a thank you from the IIUG. If you have an idea for a session the conference team is willing to help you develop that idea. Email me at matt@iiug.org and either I or someone else from the conference team can help you develop your idea into a great presentation.

The conference team is also in the process of choosing a theme for the conference. This year we thought we would open up theme suggestions to you. If you have a suggestion, send it to us at conference@iiug.org. Please submit your conference theme suggestion by September 30, 2012.

Lastly, we anticipate that the conference website will be up soon, and registration for the conference will open shortly after that. We are pleased to make the conference domain easier to find at http://www.iiug2013.org.

So for now, keep the A/C cranked up and the "sodas" on ice. Before you know it we'll smell the salty sea air and bask in the beautiful rays of the San Diego sun.

Matt Elders
Conference Team Member
matt@iiug.org

Conference corner Back to top
Information on Demand 2012 updates

Information On Demand 2012 Sample agenda builder

Information On Demand offers 100s of different sessions, hands on labs, and customer speakers. Planning your IOD experience can seem exciting and overwhelming! Learn how to best navigate your way through the conference with the IOD SmartSite. Crysta Anderson shares the new features, tips and a video that gives registered attendees an overview of the site:

http://ibm.co/ODDdmo

Sponsor corner Back to top
Advanced DataTools Informix DBA Class

Our next Informix DBA Class is September 10-13, 2012, This course is definitely on and we have space for 2 more people. This course is for database administrators, programmers, and technical support personnel who will be setting up, managing, and tuning Informix 11 or 10 databases. All courses may be taken online from your desk or at our training center in Virginia. All you need is a web browser and a SSH client (like Putty) to connect to the Training lab.

Quote from a past participant: "I recently had the opportunity to attend (remotely via WebEx) a training course with Lester Knutsen for Informix. This was one of the best investments that we have spent on learning tips to tune and monitor a system. The course was very informative and enlightening. At first I was skeptical of attending a training session remotely but in the long run it was definitely the best way to have been trained. We were able to immediately make checks, changes, and adjustments to our current infrastructure as the course was being taught. Thanks for all your support and help!"

For more information please email lester@advancedatatools.com or visit our web site at http://www.advancedatatools.com/Training/InformixTraining.html.

Informix news Back to top
Articles

techCLOUD9
Splunk kicks up a SaaS Storm
http://www.businesscloud9.com/content/splunk-kicks-saas-storm/11611

businessCLOUD9
Is this the other half of Cloud monitoring?
http://www.businesscloud9.com/content/other-half-cloud-monitoring/11361

channelbiz
Oninit Group launches Pay Per Pulse cloud-based service
http://www.channelbiz.co.uk/2012/08/02/oninit-group-launches-pay-per-pulse-cloud-based-service/

Support corner Back to top
How to use the ONCONFIG comparison tool onconfig_diff

There a new utility introduced in 11.70.xC4 that helps compare two Informix configuration (ONCONFIG) files and produce the differences. It is really helpful during upgrade process. You can use it for compare your current ONCONFIG to an ONCONFIG from a newer version.

The onconfig_diff is located in $INFORMIXDIR/bin. There are two ways to run onconfig_diff but this document focuses only on the direct comparison of two ONCONFIG files. Here are some ways you can use the utility:

  • Compare your current ONCONFIG with the onconfig.std of same version
  • Compare your current ONCONFIG with the onconfig.std of a newer version
  • Compare two ONCONFIG s from different servers

The usage of onconfig_diff utility is as follows:


$ ./onconfig_diff

	usage: onconfig_diff [-d] | [-c -f file_name_1 -s file_name_2]
		-d  compare current onconfig to defaults
		-c  compare file to another file
		-f  file name
		-s  second file name

Here is an example of onconfig_diff:


	$ onconfig_diff -c -f onconfig.std -s onconfig.production

Following is an output from the above command:


==========================================
File 1: onconfig.std
File 2: onconfig.production
==========================================
Parameters Found in File 1, not in File 2
==========================================

FULL_DISK_INIT
0

NETTYPE
ipcshm,1,50,CPU

NUMFDSERVERS
4
<snip>

==========================================
Parameters Found in File 2, not in File 1
==========================================

RA_PAGES
64

RA_THRESHOLD
16

JVPJAVAHOME
$INFORMIXDIR/extend/krakatoa/jre

<snip>
==============================================
Parameters Found in both files, but different
==============================================

ROOTPATH

File 1: $INFORMIXDIR/tmp/demo_on.rootdbs
File 2: /usr2/support/grantf/g1150fc8/rootdbs

LOGFILES

File 1: 6
File 2: 10

LOGSIZE

File 1: 10000
File 2: 3000

<snip>

At present the onconfig_diff utility is not available on the Windows platform, but hopefully it will be soon.

- Grant Flender

Informix corner Back to top
Informix Future

I am a regular reader of the various Informix forums. I follow closely any commentary that suggests that Informix has no future in the IBM portfolio or the competitive database market. I've been a part of the Informix team since 1993 and have had the mission to lead the Informix business since the assets were acquired by IBM back in 2001. Our goal has been and continues to be to grow the Informix business. We are constantly evaluating the market and making decisions regarding where we believe we can best leverage the Informix portfolio. We align our investments so that we are best prepared to realize growth in these spaces.

Versions 11.50 and 11.70 have been widely adopted. Our Flexible Grid technology is proving to be an asset for both scale out as well as availability while dramatically simplifying administration and the In memory columnar Warehouse (Query) Accelerator adoption has grown rapidly.

I am happy to make either myself or another member of the team available to discuss the Informix commitment with you and your team.

I hope you are all enjoying the Olympics.

Jerry Keesee
World Wide Director, Informix Software, IBM Data Management

http://jerrykeeseetalksinformix.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/informix-future/

Genero certification

Become an IBM Certified Developer: IBM Informix Genero v1 (000-559)

http://ibmdatamag.com/2012/07/new-certification/

Discover Informix in Singapore

Discover Informix in Singapore on the 6th of September 2012 (Thursday) : After successfully conducting Discover Informix events in Malaysia and Thailand in August, we are now all set to visit Singapore on the 6th of September 2012 (Thursday). The event is scheduled to start from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM at the Marina Bay Sands Convention center, 10 Bayfront Avenue, Singapore 018956.

For more details: http://www.iiug.org/url/singapore.html

IBM Informix in hybrid workload environments

A White Paper by Bloor Research
Author: Philip Howard
Publish date: August 2012

http://www.iiug.org/url/bloor.html

Informix Dynamic Server 11.70 - Full High-Availability Clustering

An IBM Proof of Technology

Introduction
In mid-2007, IBM unleashed the fastest cat in the data server world with Informix Dynamic Server 11. The release strengthened and enhanced Informix Dynamic Server's legendary ease of use with a wide range of additions to its autonomic system-management capabilities; a new, flexible, and extensible system-monitoring and administration tool; a new command-line administrative API to further increase system security; bundled DataBlades for increased application capability with reduced complexity; and much, much more.

The crown jewel of this release was the increased capability added to Informix Dynamic Server's High-Availability Data Replication (HDR) technology. With this new functionality, now called Informix Dynamic Server High availability clustering (Informix Dynamic Server H/A clustering), you can use additional secondary instance types to create an "availability fabric" to safeguard your Informix Dynamic Server data and provide uninterrupted data services through any type of manmade or natural outage. The simplicity of operations and ease of setup for this clustering technology is outstanding and completely unheard of in the data server market today. As those who use IBM Informix like to say about it, "It just works!" Customers around the world are using the technology and are benefiting from the flexibility and enterprise-quality stability that Informix Dynamic Server H/A clustering provides.

IBM Informix Dynamic Server development has continued to enhance and bring new functionality to the Informix Dynamic Server H/A clustering suite of technologies. In this Proof of Technology, you will create and use the latest version of the Informix Dynamic Server H/A clustering technologies to create a cluster of instances that can provide virtually uninterrupted data services to your environment.

Objective
In this Proof of Technology, you will create and use the full spectrum of Informix Dynamic Server H/A clustering technologies including updatable secondary instances, the Online Connection Manager and Server Monitor agent, Service Level Agreements, delayed application of transactions for protection against SQL errors, and the Failover Arbitrator to create a cluster of instances that can provide virtually uninterrupted data services within a business environment.

Audience
This Proof of Technology is specifically targeted for Application and Data Architects, Database and Informix Dynamic Server Administrators as well as Line-of Business owners who are evaluating architectural and data server solutions for their environments. It is also of great value to ISV's, IBM Business Partners and others who are looking for the best data server to integrate into their solution for resale to others. Some prerequisite knowledge of IBM Informix Dynamic Server is very helpful but not required. It is recommended that participants have an understanding of data server technology, data server administration as well as general data programming. The labs will be executed in a Linux. environment so a basic fluency in Linux/Unix commands, including the vi editor is helpful.

Agenda
The class includes an educational presentation explaining the Informix Dynamic Server H/A clustering technology in detail. Business and technical use cases are included to provide a real-world reference point on how the technology can be applied in a customer environment. This is followed by an in-depth, hands-on experience where the student will apply and use all the concepts taught during the educational portion of the class. By the end of the day, the student will have created and used the full spectrum of Informix Dynamic Server H/A clustering technology to create a cluster of instances that can provide virtually uninterrupted data services within a business environment.

Cost
This session is offered free of charge. Complimentary refreshments including continental breakfast and lunch will be provided. However, participants are responsible for their own business travel expenses.

Schedule
For your convenience, registration and continental breakfast will begin at 8:30 a.m. The session will start at 9:00 a.m. and end at approximately 4:30 p.m.

Contact for information
To enroll in this Proof of Technology, please contact your IBM Software Sales Representative. Information on scheduled PoTs will be posted at: http://www.iiug.org/news/announcements/proof_of_technology.php.

Carlton Doe
Informix Technical Sales Specialist

Supercharging the data warehouse while keeping costs down

IBM Informix Warehouse Accelerator (IWA) delivers superior performance for in-memory analytics processing.

http://ibmdatamag.com/2012/08/supercharging-the-data-warehouse-while-keeping-costs-down/

SQL OLAP Functions in Informix

Informix is adding a set of SQL OLAP functions in an upcoming release. The following write-up is to introduce the concept of such functions which may be new to Informix users. It is not meant to be a reference manual that lists the complete syntax and optional parameters. These analytic functions are valuable to users because they simplify the expression of complex but commonly used business questions and are efficient without resorting to subqueries or other calculations.

For the full article go to Fred Ho's blog: https://www.iiug.org/url/sqlolap.html

Find the right information for your Informix version

If you use an external search engine to find Informix. documentation and get hits in information centers, make sure you go to the right information center. For example, often topics in the information center for Informix version 10 are listed before topics in the later information centers. That's because the version 10 information center has been around longer and had more hits. For example, if you search for "Informix create table" you'll get a couple of version 10 information center topics right at the top, but no topics from the version 11.70 information center on the first page of results.

For the full article go to the Documentation Team's blog: https://www.iiug.org/url/searching.html

Boot Camps

Informix 11.7 Bootcamp
Sep 10 - 14, 2012, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur
Registration:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/im/Informix+11.7+Bootcamp

Informix Performance Tuning Bootcamp
Sep 17 - 20, 2012, Brazil, Belo Horizonte
Sep 19 - 21, 2012, China, Shanghai
Registration:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/im/Informix+Performance+Tuning+Bootcamp

Informix resources Back to top
Informix blogs and things  
 
Calendar of events Back to top
September - 2012
Date Event Location
10-14 Informix 11.7 Bootcamp with extended agenda to cover App Dev Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
17-20 Informix Performance Tuning Bootcamp Belo Horizonte, Brazil
19-21 Informix Performance Tuning Bootcamp Shanghai, China
October - 2012
Date Event Location
21-25 Informix on Demand 2012 Las Vegas, Nevada
 
Useful links Back to top

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

Closing and credits Back to top

The International Informix Users Group (IIUG) is an organization designed to enhance communications between its worldwide user community and IBM. The 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
Rhonda Hackenburg

For comments, please send an email to gary@iiug.org.