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Insider

IIUG Insider (Issue #73)
July 2006

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Highlights: IDUG/IIUG Europe Conference Vienna 2-6 October 2006

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

My country is at war. I know for most of you it is something you see in the movies or television or read about it in newspapers and books. But to me it became a daily experience. Unfortunately this is not my first war. It is not the first time our cities were bombed and innocent civilians killed. And yes, I realize in Lebanon it's even worse.

I just hope it will be over so we can all continue with our normal lives.

I know that war in the Middle East has no influence on Informix but it does on the particular Informix user writing these lines. Between listening to the news, jumping to every phone call and hosting friends from the northern part of Israel and my real work, I am doing my best to review the draft presentations for the Vienna conference and write the July issue of the Insider. My apologies if it is less then usual.

Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Insider Editor
IIUG Board of Directors
gary@iiug.org
 


Highlights Back to top

IDUG/IIUG Europe Conference Vienna 2-6 October 2006

The IIUG/IDUG conference is the first ever real Informix conference in Europe. As a matter of fact it is much more. I have been participating in Informix conferences for many years. Way back before the acquisition. As part of the Vienna conference planning committee, I am confident it will be a unique experience. It is not only the first Informix conference in Europe, it is the first time we will have the best presenters from Europe and the US under the same roof. Join us in Vienna and meet John Miller, Jonathan Leffler, Guy Bowerman, Cosmo, John Dryburgh, Stefan Hummel, Darryl Priest, Hal Manner and many others. We will have 34 Informix technical sessions and two half day educational seminars. Do not miss this unique opportunity to meet the people behind the code from IBM US, UK, Germany and the Czech Republic. Take advantage of the opportunity to meet you Informix colleagues from all around Europe.

The IIUG board is looking forward to meeting you in Vienna and is offering a warm welcome and a superb educational experience.

Gary Ben-Israel
Europe Conference Planning Committee

 


Conference corner Back to top

IDUG/IIUG Europe Conference Vienna 2-6 October 2006

Go Further at the leading user-driven technical event for DB2 and Informix professionals.

IDUG 2006 - Europe - 2-6 October 2006 - Vienna, Austria - http://www.iiug.org/conf

Register today for IDUG 2006 - Europe - download a print-friendly version of our registration form!

You can also download a copy of the Advance Program, highlighting the many educational and networking opportunities available to you.

The IDUG 2006 - Europe conference schedule, featuring more than 100 technical sessions, is also available for your use. View the online schedule for sessions that go beyond traditional classroom training and allow you to experience real-world, independent insights into topics essential to advancing you and your company. Use the 'Search' feature to find the program content that will take you to the next level in your quest to learn more about DB2 and Informix.

And, take advantage of your opportunity to win a free registration to IDUG 2006 - Europe! Fill out the online form by 7 September or click here for complete rules and regulations.

Register Today!

Special IDUG 2006 - Europe discount for LUG members

To show our gratitude to our LUG volunteers and members, we are offering a 50 Euro discount off the IDUG 2006 - Europe conference registration fee to members of each LUG, provided they have not yet registered for the conference.

To take advantage of this discount, simply print and complete the attached form and mail or fax it with your completed conference registration forms. This discount will be applied to the registration rate for the date on which we receive the registration form. Please note that the LUG discount can only be honored by attaching the coupon when mailing or faxing the registration form, and LUG members cannot have already registered for the conference.

Make sure to take advantage of the current early registration rate, which is only available until 14 September 2006, to save an additional 226 Euros off the full conference rate. For more information on IIUG's participation in IDUG 2006 - Europe and to register, visit http://www.iiug.org.

You can obtain the coupon in the IIUG Member area: Just go to http://www.iiug.org and hit the login button.

We look forward to seeing you in Vienna!

See you in Vienna

Over ten years ago I attended the first Informix conference in... ok the mind is going, was it San Francisco or San Jose? Wherever it was, I have been to each and every Informix conference since. Now that the IIUG has teamed up with IDUG for the premier database conference event under the IBM Information Management brand, we are branching out into Europe to meet the needs of more Informix users in Europe. This is our first conference for the European Informix community, and if it has even half the success of the IDUG / IIUG conferences in North America the past two years in Denver and Tampa, it will be an outstanding event that is not to be missed.

The IIUG Conference Planning Committee is being headed up by two long time Informix users and members of the IIUG Board of Directors, Paul Watson of the UK and Gary Ben-Israel of Israel. They have done an outstanding job of seeking out the best Informix presenters, mostly from Europe but also the USA. Although the conference is named the IUG Conference, trust me - the IIUG plays a significant role in the event and there will be more than enough Informix sessions to make all the Informix attendees happy. Their brains will be spinning from the technical content they will receive, and they will meet other Informix users from throughout Europe, the IIUG Board of Directors and some executives from the IBM Information Management Software group.

Having been to each and every Informix conference since the first year, I find the knowledge gained at these conferences cannot be gathered anywhere else. Some say these events are expensive, but I could not put a price tag on what I have learned over the years with the tips, tricks, and special knowledge that is passed on at these events from fellow Informix DBA's and application programmers. The Informix conference costs less than a typical week of Informix training, yet you learn more, pick up more tips and tricks, and you get to meet other people in your line of work - individuals who become good friends and share their knowledge over the years.

See you all in Vienna...

Stuart Litel
President
International Informix Users Group
http://www.iiug.org/president
 

IDUG/IIUG NA Conference San Jose, CA 6-10 May 2007

Note from your North American IIUG CPC

We are excited to announce that the 2007 North American IDUG/IIUG Conference will be held in Silicon Valley California (San Jose) 6-10 May 2007.

Tampa in May of this year was a huge success, and we are looking forward to an even better event next year - even more great technical content, Educational Seminars, Sigs, UFO's and special events related to the history of Informix!!

See the Call for Presentations below and please consider sharing your knowledge and expertise with other Informix Users!!

Special note on the Call for Presentations

Sessions have been changed from 70 to 60 minutes this year. We are looking for and encouraging people to submit presentations on the following, based on your responses to our Conference Survey:

  • Informix on LINUX
  • Informix in heterogeneous environments

Share Your Knowledge -- Strengthen the Informix User Community

The International DB2 Users Group (IDUG®) and the International Informix User Group (IIUG) are currently accepting abstracts for both presentations and educational seminars at IDUG/IIUG 2007 - North America, May 6-10 in San Jose, California, the birthplace of Informix. This is YOUR opportunity to share your DB2 or Informix experience and expertise with an audience of your peers.

FREE Registration and Industry Recognition!

If your abstract is selected to be presented at the conference, you will receive one complimentary conference registration to IDUG/IIUG 2007 - North America.

Presentation Requirements

  • Single session (60 minutes) or Double session (120 minutes)
  • Detailed sessions focused on implementation, migrating to a new release, or maximizing performance from any member of the DB2 or Informix product family
  • Abstract deadline: September 1, 2006
  • Submit a presentation

Educational Seminar Requirements

  • Half-day seminars (3 hours) or Full-Day seminars (6 hours)
  • Conducted by prominent technical experts
  • Provide advanced training in DB2 and Informix-related topics
  • Abstract deadline: September 1, 2006
  • Submit an educational seminar RFP
     
IBM Information On Demand 2006: Anaheim, CA 15-20 October 2006

Register now for the premier information management event for business and IT professionals. IBM's new five-day event combines the following conferences into one: IBM DB2(r) Information Management Technical Conference; IBM Content Management Technical Conference; Business Intelligence Customer Solutions Summit; IMS Technical Conference; Master Data Management Conference; and Information Integration Live! By combining individual conferences into one global event, you gain access and exposure to the full breadth of IBM Information Management technologies and experts.

More IBM technical and business solutions content will be in one place than ever before! Select from over 800 sessions: a 2 1/2 day business leadership track with 180 sessions and a 5 day technical track with 650 sessions.

Get to the Front of the line--and receive your conference discount

Enrollment for educational sessions, hands on labs, meet the experts sessions and all other programs at the IBM Information On Demand 2006 conference opens on August 15. You'll get the first choice of classes if you are among those registered to attend the conference when enrollment begins. Plus, IIUG members registering using the DKU23 promotion code before August 15 will also receive the final user group discount of $300 off of the standard conference registration price.

Registration at Information On Demand 2006 includes admission to all 800+ educational sessions and programs, to the huge EXPO Solution Center, to the conference receptions and entertainment, to the conference party at Disney's California Adventure theme park, and for all conference meals. Information On Demand 2006 will take place in Anaheim, California, 15-20 October 2006. Take advantage of the final discount to user group members and Register for IBM Information On Demand before August 15.


Education Back to top

IBM Training

Updated: L2935 Migrating from IBM Informix Dynamic Server 7.x to 9.x *3.0 Days, * $1,875 Oct. 3 in Dallas, Texas

This course was recently updated. Get the information you need to upgrade from IBM Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) version 7.x to version 9.4. Learn the steps recommended for migrating to the new version and how to revert back to the previous version in case problems under the new version are encountered. Also, learn several of the new features of IBM IDS Version 9.4

http://www.iiug.org/url/L2935-Migrating_IDS_7_to_9.html

IBM Training eCatalog - Your Fast Path to What's New this Summer

Summer may be out, but IBM Training is always in session. That's why we just announced 58 new courses and 20 updated courses in this Summer's catalog. Get your skills in shape for summer with one simple click that opens the door to the training information you have been seeking. It has everything you need for your technical training needs.

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

Announcing a New Flexible Savings Option With The IBM Education Pack - online account

Building on the enormous popularity of the prepaid discount IBM Education - online account savings program, IBM Training has introduced a new "precision payment" plan in the US to make it even more attractive to you. The traditional IBM Education Pack - online account is available in packages starting at $2,500, with a discount ranging from 5-10 percent. Under the new plan, you can purchase the IBM Education Pack - online account in $100 increments beginning at a minimum of $1,000 and, based on the amount purchase, and take advantage of the 5-10 percent discount on IBM training.

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


Developer corner Back to top

New on developerWorks

Please visit our site for new and updated content:

http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/zones/informix/

A step-by-step how-to guide to install, configure, and test a Windows, Apache, Informix, and PHP server
Learn how to install, configure, and test a Windows, Apache, Informix, and PHP (WAIP) server. These products together form a very powerful and dynamic combination for a Web server.

Security information management challenges and solutions
Learn to identify the specific challenges in your own environment, and get on the right track with the task of designing and administering a strong security solution using either DB2 or Informix Dynamic Server. In addition, a handy chart lays out the problems and the solutions, and lists how the solutions are implemented in both Informix and DB2.

External Backup and Restore

An external backup and restore eliminates the downtime of systems because the backup and restore operations are performed external to the Informix system. The ontape utility does not move the data during the backup or physical restore. An external backup allows you to copy disks that contain storage-space chunks without using ontape. When disks fail, replace them and use third-party software to restore the data, then use ontape for the logical restore

This feature, already available using ON-Bar, has now been implemented for ontape. For more information, see the IBM Informix Documentation: Backup and Restore Guide.

Ontape to use standard I/O

You can now specify that ontape uses standard I/O instead of a tape device or disk file. Specifying STDIO allows ontape to use pipes (an OS provided buffer mechanism to connect separate programs to a data stream) for archives and restores. Using pipes, the data can be processed by other programs without requiring that the data be saved in files or tape devices. For example, you can use compression to save media space, use cloning to duplicate the archive for safety reasons, or restore the data onto another server instance. This feature is especially server while skipping the intermediary step of saving the data to a file or disk.

To use this feature, set TAPEDEV to STDIO in ONCONFIG (Note: uppercase STDIO is required). With TAPEDEV to STDIO, ontape does not prompt for tape mounts or switching tapes.

Backup examples:

  • ontape -s -L 0 < backup.img
  • ontape -s -L 0 | gzip < backup.img.gz
  • ontape -s -L 0 | gzip | rsh prod2 "cd /mnt/backs; cat < backup.img.gz"

Restore examples:

  • ontape -r < backup.img
  • zcat backup.img.gz | ontape -r
  • rsh prod2 "cat /mnt/backs/backup.img.gz" | zcat | ontape -r

ON-Bar debugging level

You can now change the ON-Bar debugging level while ON-Bar is running. You can save a large amount of time and disk space by setting high debugging levels only when you need them. You set the debugging level with the BAR_DEBUG configuration parameter in the ONCONFIG file. The value of BAR_DEBUG ranges from 0-9, with 0 being no debugging information and 9 being the most detailed debugging information. You can change the value of BAR_DEBUG as frequently as you want. Changing the value takes effect immediately. Any ON-Bar command that is currently executing when you update BAR_DEBUG reads the new value of BAR_DEBUG and prints debug messages at the new level.

Viewing Recent Activity

You can view recent ON-Bar activity using the onbar -m utility. The command displays lines from the ON-Bar activity log file. You can specify the number of lines to display (default 20 lines) and a refresh rate (default 20 seconds).

Syntax: onbar -m [-l lines] [-r seconds]

Viewing Backed-Up Logical Logs

You can use the onbar -P to view logical logs that have been backed up using the ON-Bar utility. In order to view the backed-up logical logs, the storage manager must be running. This command can be used by anyone who has permission to perform backup and restore operations. The output of this command is displayed to stdout.

Example: Display the long listing of log records for the user "informix" and table space number "1048722" in log file number 2

onbar -P -n 2 -l -u "informix" -t 1048722

You cannot view logs that have not been backed-up which are still on the disk or in shared memory. The contents of these logical logs can only be viewed with the onlog utility.

Informix Interface for Tivoli Storage Manager Included with Dynamic Server

Informix Interface for Tivoli Storage Manager (formerly known as Tivoli Data Protection for Informix) is bundled with the Dynamic Server installation.

You can use TSM XBSA with ON-Bar to store data. TSM XBSA stores Dynamic Server databases and logical logs on the Tivoli Storage Manager.

  • Run the $INFORMIXDIR/bin/txbsapswd program as user root before using Informix Interface for TSM.
  • Set On-Bar to use the TSM XBSA shared library, using one of the following ways:
    • Link $INFORMIXDIR/lib/ibsad001.so to $INFORMIXDIR/lib/libtxbsa.so
    • Set BAR_BSALIB_PATH to $INFORMIXDIR/lib/libtxbsa.so

Calendar of events Back to top

October - 2006
Date Event Location Contact
2-6 IDUG/IIUG 2006 - Europe Vienna, Austria Cindy Lichtenauer
15-20 IBM Information on Demand Global Conference Anaheim, California   December - 2006
Date Event Location Contact
8-9 Washington Area Informix Users Group - Forum 2006 Washington DC Lester Knutsen
 

Useful links Back to top

In response to your input, we have created a 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 Back to top

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
Stuart Litel
Jean Georges Perrin

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