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Insider

IIUG Insider (Issue #153)
March 2013

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Highlights: IBM Launched Informix 12.1 — The New IBM Informix: It's Simply Powerful

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

On March 26 IBM launched Informix 12.1. The phrase "It's simply powerful" says it all. Informix 12.1 is simple and powerful. Many new features, great performance and much more. You can read about it on our website and attend the Informix 12.1 sessions at the IIUG conference.

The IIUG conference is three weeks away, April 21 - 25. If you are still hesitating don't. This is going to be our best conference ever. A new Data Management GM, a new Informix release, excellent sessions, great location and the unmatched family atmosphere. I hope to see you there.

Enjoy the Informix and IIUG spring and a wonderful spring to you and your families.

Gary Ben-Israel
IIUG Insider Editor


Highlights Back to top

IBM Launched Informix 12.1 - The New IBM Informix: It's Simply Powerful

Webcast Replay

If you missed the March 26th webcast on "The New Informix" make sure to listen to the replay. Jerry Keesee, Director of Informix Database Development, IBM; John Miller, Lead Architect, Informix, IBM; Sally Hartnell, Product Marketing Manager, IBM; and guest speaker Chad Gates, Development Manager, Pronto Software Limited, discuss the exciting new features and benefits for clients and partners that allow them to take their business into the future, right now! Find out how this release brings you a cost-effective, simply powerful solution that addresses all your data management requirements.

IBM Informix 12.10.xC1 New Features

Powerful and simple have always been watchwords for the IBM Informix database server and version 12.10 continues in that vein with enhancements to five key feature areas: Data Warehousing, Sensor Data, Cloud, Embeddability and Easy Administration. As well as updated platform support, there are also other new server features to improve SQL compatibility and boost performance.

Data Warehousing

New features in the Informix Warehouse Accelerator create a real time, in-memory data warehouse capability. An updated administration interface means that the accelerator is even easier to configure and manage on a daily basis by using the new automatic partition refresh and trickle feed features. Informix has never been faster, simpler to use or more consistent in its performance.

The Informix server has also been enhanced to provide powerful OLAP features, often used by Business Intelligence tools such as IBM Cognos products, to simplify and speed up complex queries that have to work across very large sets of data.

Sensor Data

The ability to store and analyze high volumes of structured data is key to handling the current explosion of information from monitoring devices and Smart Meters. The unique capabilities of Informix spatial and TimeSeries data types make it a simple task to store and process this data avalanche. New enhancements built in to 12.10 make these data types even more powerful than before.

There is now a transparent view of time series data through Informix Warehouse Accelerator - marrying two Informix technologies into a very powerful data search and analysis engine.

Management of time series data is now much simpler and faster with the capability to define active and dormant time ranges for the storage containers. There are also several enhancements to the Virtual Table Interface and a new Loader API to make access to time series data even faster than before.

Spatial data support has been enhanced to include new features that come with the latest ESRI 10.1 library.

Cloud

New features in the Informix Flexible Grid environment make the configuration and management of shared data within complex replication environments even simpler than before by introducing the powerful concept of regions and the easy configuration of spoke and hub systems.

Monitoring of replication queues has been enhanced to take account of their asynchronous nature and there are performance enhancements to allow for the replication of light-append operations.

The Connection Manager and internal server support for failover can now prioritize different networks within an application and database environment to maintain the highest level of service.

This can also include keeping a Shared Disk Secondary cluster running while there is a network outage.

Embeddability

Autonomic capabilities have been extended with the ability to automatically compress data and compression now supports more database objects, which lowers the storage space requirements. Dynamic configuration for more server parameters allows for automatic tuning and self-healing, including the ability to manage parameters in groups using an export and import interface.

Rolling window definitions for fragmented tables boost performance and can be controlled automatically for simple administration.

Easy Administration

As well as boasting a new dashboard, the IBM OpenAdmin Tool for Informix continues to be developed to monitor and control many of the new Informix 12.10 features mentioned above, such as replication grids and Informix Warehouse Accelerator data marts. There is now a mobile app for DBAs on the move, allowing them to monitor the health and performance of all their database server systems.

The old Informix Storage Manager has been replaced with a new Primary Storage Manager to make the process of backing up the server simpler and faster.

Application Development Support

It is easier to build applications in general, and database neutral ones in particular, with the addition of several new SQL language elements. As well as the OLAP functions mentioned above there are new UNION operators, extensions for compatibility with other database servers (including Informix Parallel Server) and new aggregate capabilities.

Improvements to Informix Genero speed up the development process with powerful new templates for the Business Application Modeling tool.

The Eclipse based loader tool for time series data now makes it easier to create load jobs, and has a simple command option for use in minimal production environments.

As always, there are a number of internal enhancements to the Informix server that improve cross-platform support and provide notable performance increases. Examples of performance enhancements include the following: ANSI style outer join queries can now be better optimized by utilizing hash joins and support for compression of data in the server has been extended to include indexes and simple large objects, which reduces I/O time.

For the full document go to:

http://www.iiug.org/library/ids_12/IFMX-1210NewFeaturesWP-2013-03-21.pdf

For more technical documents And white papers on Informix 12.1 got to:

http://www.iiug.org/library/ids_12/


Conference corner Back to top

IIUG 2013 is less than a month away! Session and tutorial schedules are posted

If you have been to any of the previous IIUG Conferences you already know we have the best and most Informix content that money can buy. But, for those of you who have never been to an IIUG Conference you should consider attending this year's Conference in San Diego, CA.

There is so much you're going to see at this year's conference:

  • New this year: A full day of tutorials is included for all paid attendees and non-paid attendees (speakers and conference sponsors) are also invited to attend the tutorials for a nominal fee of $75 for a half-day tutorial or $125 for two half-day tutorials or a full-day tutorial
  • Several technical "Deep Dives" into the new "VNext" Informix, being led by Jerry Keesee, Director of Development with his team of architects
  • Over 100 sessions including hands-on labs with several fantastic presenters; the session schedule is now posted
  • A special track for IBM Informix Genero
  • A track featuring other Informix-related software products from IBM
  • Networking opportunities with attendees, sponsors and IBM representatives
  • Great food and hopefully great weather

If you have any doubts about what you'll see there, go to http://www.iiug2013.org

The keynote speakers this year include Bob Picciano, IBM's new GM, as well as the above mentioned Jerry Keesee. This will be Bob's first public speaking engagement as the General Manager of IBM's Information Management. Join Bob when he opens the Conference Monday morning and shares his perspective on the growing importance of data management in this new era of computing. Also learn how IBM is evolving Informix software to handle embedded, local, and globally distributed data management with greater speed, simplicity and cost efficiency. On the heels of an exciting new product release, Jerry will provide a unique perspective and interesting insights into all things Informix during Wednesday morning's keynote. He will also discuss key focus areas that are driving the Informix roadmap into the future.

Tutorial sign up is now ready. Breakfast is included with the morning tutorial, lunch is included with the afternoon tutorial and of course both breakfast and lunch are included if you are attending a full day of tutorials. Many of the tutorials will be limited to 20 seats! So, to guarantee your selection, we suggest you sign up as soon as possible or be subject to what is available on April 25. NO tutorials may be selected after April 15. NOTE: tutorials may be added after you have registered by using the My Registration option on the website using your registration number and last name.

Online registration closes on April 18, 2013!

IMPORTANT NOTE: The San Diego Marriott Mission Valley Conference hotel room block is currently 90% sold. Hurry to reserve your room today!

On behalf of the entire Conference Planning Committee we hope to see you in San Diego!

Information On Demand 2013: Call for Speakers

The Call for Speakers is now open for IBM Information On Demand 2013, IBM's largest gathering of business and IT professionals. This event will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada from November 3-7, 2013.

Do you have a great presentation topic that you'd like to share? We're looking for dynamic, innovative and thought-provoking sessions. Whether your proposal aims at sharpening skills, sharing best practices, or presenting new ideas and groundbreaking concepts, all proposals are welcome.

Proposals from Clients, IBM Business Partners and IBM Employees will be accepted for the following programs:

  • Information Management, Enterprise Content Management and Business Analytics
  • Business Leadership

Session proposals will be accepted until Friday, April 26, 2013. You will be notified by June 15 if your session is selected. Don't miss this opportunity to speak at Information On Demand 2013.

Submit your proposal here: http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/2013-conference/


Informix News Back to top

Video

IBM Informix 12.1: Simply Powerful

This short video takes you through the key features of IBM Informix 12.1, which makes it a "simply powerful" solution. Watch the video here and please share it in your community.

Informix success stories

Camden Council: Reducing heating bills by 30 percent with Hildebrand and IBM Informix TimeSeries software

A heat metering system, based on IBM Informix TimeSeries provides feedback on heat usage and other information to encourage residents to adopt more energy-efficient practices. This has resulted in reducing heating bills by 30 percent with Hildebrand and IBM Informix TimeSeries software. Read the complete case study today.

The German Aerospace Center (DLR): Providing efficient access to Germany's 2-PB archive of Earth observation images with IBM Informix

With IBM Informix, Germany's Aerospace Center was able to meet its need for a highly reliable, scalable and efficient database solution, enabling access to 2 PB of image data without any data loss-- all with less than a full time employee to administer the system. Read the complete case study today.

IBM Data Magazine

Are your database backups safe? Lester Knutsen (IBM Champion) writes about database back up safety using "archecker". Read the complete article to find out how to ensure your database backups work properly.


Developer corner Back to top

New in DeveloperWorks
21-Mar-2013
This article is a deep dive into the Health Advisor plug-in for the OpenAdmin Tool for Informix. As the graphical user interface for monitoring and administering the Informix database server, the OpenAdmin Tool for Informix (OAT) is an ideal vehicle for a health check system for your database server. With the introduction of the Health Advisor plug-in, you can use OAT to regularly analyze the health and performance of your Informix database server. This article covers how the Health Advisor plug-in works, how to use it, and how it can benefit an Informix DBA. It also provides a step-by-step guide to customizing the Health Advisor by adding your own health checks and alarms.

For more information go to DeveloperWorks - Informix.

Big Data

Today, you can't open an IT or even business publication without being bombarded with articles about big data. Yet, it is harder than ever to understand what big data really means, and, more important, how an Informix professional can take advantage of this interest in big data. IBM recently initiated Big SQL Technology Preview, a program that can help you form your own opinion and provide answers to these questions all without listening to another marketing pitch about peta and zeta bytes.

Apache Hadoop is a subject of every big data conversation. it is a set of technologies that has been used by many large scale internet companies for their big data analytics. Hadoop is a combination of a Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) and a programming framework called MapReduce. For those of us with years of SQL experience and a few dozen data manipulation and analysis tools "HDFS" and "MapReduce" don't mean much. This is where Big SQL technology comes in handy. It instruments Hadoop with familiar SQL language and tried and true JDBC and ODBC technology so we can get at the data with the language and tools we know. IBM Big SQL Technology Preview program makes it easy to get started. It allows you to experience big data on the cloud without a need to download or install software or spend countless ours setting things up. You get an easy to follow on-line course and an environment to experiment and to put your SQL skills to good use. You also get to interact with other participants and the IBM Big SQL development team. Apply at http://bigsql.imdemocloud.com and you will be working data in Hadoop in less than an hour.

Leon Katsnelson
Program Director, Big Data and Cloud
IBM

E-mail: leon@ca.ibm.com
Blog: http://BigDataOnCloud.com


Support corner Back to top

Tracking object state changes within Enterprise Replication (ER)

Have you ever run into a situation where certain ER administrative commands executed and that caused ER to fail? Without knowing the exact sequence of activities, it would be very difficult to identify the actual commands that caused the problem. Unfortunately, not all ER commands generate alerts or update message log. If you did not use a script to run ER administrative commands, there would be no easy way to track the sequence of activity caused the failure.

An undocumented mechanism could be use for track ER object state changes. Once you enable this tracking mechanism, Informix server generates information about ER administrative operations in server message log file with full command line arguments, which could help analyzing ER issues. By default it would be disable. To enable the tracking either —

* Add the following entry to the ONCONFIG configuration file and restart the Informix server.


          CDR_FEATURES   LOGCOMMANDS

OR

* Dynamically the configuration settings with following command:


     cdr change onconfig "CDR_FEATURES LOGCOMMANDS"

- Sanjit Chakraborty


Informix corner Back to top

Bootcamps

Informix Flexible Grid Bootcamp

Save the date for the upcoming Informix Flexible Grid Bootcamp in San Diego, CA, following the 2013 IIUG conference. There is no charge for this event.

Date and time: Thursday, April 25, 2013: 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM (PDT)
Register today

Informix Warehouse Accelerator Bootcamp

Make sure you don't miss the upcoming Informix Warehouse Bootcamp in San Diego, CA, after the 2013 Informix IIUG conference. There is no charge to attend this event.

Date and time: Thursday, April 25, 2013: 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM (PDT)
Register today

The 2013 Informix Technical Roadshow

What is the Informix Technical Roadshow?

The 2013 Informix Technical Roadshow is a two-day, deep-dive technical event that gives you hands-on experience with the latest IBM. Informix . release features, and Informix Warehousing technology. This roadshow is designed to help you gain fresh, innovative ideas for optimizing your business performance and creative competitive advantage - and it's absolutely free to attend these events.

The Roadshow topics include:

  • Latest features of IDS 12
  • Replication Technologies
  • Compression
  • Storage Manager
  • Time Series - Smart Metering
  • Informix Warehouse Accelerator
  • Embed and Autonomics

The current Informix Roadshow presentations and agenda, both of which are subject to change, and the last two years Informix Roadshow presentations are available here.

The current Informix Roadshow Agenda is here, subject to change.

Register for the 2013 Informix Technical Roadshow Event near you, click on the city name below:

DateLocation
April 29-30Sydney, Australia
May 2-3Melbourne, Australia
May 13-14Sofia, Bulgaria
May 15-16Stockholm, Sweden
May 20-24Zagreb, Croatia
June 17-18Madrid, Spain
September 17-18Paris, France

Many more events are in the queue, check the roadshow schedule from time to time, these will change.


Informix resources Back to top

IBM Informix home page

http://www.informix.com or directly at: http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/informix/

Informix blogs and wikis

I am trying something new on this section. I will first mention the blogs and wikis that have been updated during the last month. Blogs and wikis that have not been updated for over 6 months will be removed.

Blogs and Wikis that have been updated during the last month

More Blogs and Wikis

 
Forums, groups, videos, and magazines  

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.