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Insider

IIUG Insider (Issue #171)
September 2014

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Highlights: IBM Informix is the only commercially available database to run HP's new micro server architecture-ProLiant Moonshot

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

I am wishing you all a happy new year. For me 5775 has just started.

The IIUG October board meeting will take place In Las Vegas. This will be the first meeting for the current board. Meeting at the IBM Insight conference enables the board to meet IBM executives and discuss our concerns and suggestions for Informix. I hope our two new board members will have fresh ideas.

The next Insider will be written from the IBM Insight conference in Las Vegas. It is a great conference. If you would like to know where IBM and the IT industry are heading, IBM Insight 2014 (previously called IBM Information On Demand) is the place to be. There will be many good Informix sessions - let's hope they will be well attended. For those of you coming to the conference, we will be around at the Informix sessions and events and hope to meet you there.

Looking forward to 2015. SAVE THE DATE! The IIUG has confirmed IIUG 2015 will be April 26 - 30, 2015 and will be returning to the Marriott Mission Valley San Diego!

Gary Ben-Israel


Highlights Back to top

IBM Informix is the only commercially available database to run HP's new micro server architecture-ProLiant Moonshot

We are glad to inform you that IBM Informix database server is the only commercially available database to run on HP's new ProLiant Moonshot, i.e HP's ARM based servers. See HP's Press Release HP Extends Benefits of ARM Architecture into the Datacenter with New Servers.

Quoted on HP's Customer, Analyst and Partner Quote Sheet is Sean Poulley, Vice President Database and Data Warehouse Business, IBM Informix:

"Microsevers promise new levels of server efficiency. The challenge for CIO's is that commercial grade applications require faster micro-processor architectures. Today we are announcing the availability Informix on HP's new micro server. Informix is the only commercially available database to run on HP's new ProLiant Moonshot platform. Informix's unique combination of flexible grid technology and highly efficient data architectures can enable commercial grade workloads to take advantage of these new server economies."


Conference corner Back to top

IBM Insight 2014

It's an exciting time for Informix! We're leading the way with unique innovations in the emerging Internet of Things market and delivering forward-thinking strategies and new technology to meet the challenges and unprecedented growth opportunities. Informix will be front and center of IoT highlights and sessions at Insight 2014. We're offering new events such as the IoT Challenge, including a Deep Dive lunch/afternoon meeting and technical IoT Hackathon. Don't miss this opportunity to transform your business, network with your peers and have fun at the same time. REGISTER TODAY:

Internet of Things Deep Dive — Sunday, October 26

Featuring guest speakers:

  • Michael Curry, Vice President, WebSphere Product Management IBM
  • Jerry Keesee (needs no introduction)
  • Jeff Jonas, IBM Fellow and Chief Scientist, Context Computing

Internet of Things Hackathon at dev@Insight — Monday and Tuesday, October 27-28

Featuring guest judge, Stuart Litel. Winners announced Wednesday, Oct 29 during the General Session.

IIUG 2015 Conference — Call for Speakers

The IIUG Conference Planning Committee is currently accepting presentation proposals for the conference which is to be held Sunday April 26 - Thursday April 30, 2015 at The Marriott Mission Valley, San Diego, California, USA. Registration will be open soon.

The purpose of this note is to encourage you, one of the many loyal members of the Informix community, to volunteer to speak at the conference. Our conference stands out from many other industry conferences in large part due to the vast diversity of our speakers. While many sessions are hosted by Informix technical pros, a key component of the event is the "end user" participation. We all have vastly different backgrounds, both personal and professional. We all use Informix differently. The Informix feature-set has grown significantly with the recent NoSQL and IOT related initiatives. There aren't many of us who know ANYTHING about this new stuff! Would you like to share your unique knowledge with the rest of the community?

The 2015 Conference will be comprised of three days of technical/user sessions, a series of hands-on-labs and one day of comprehensive tutorials intended to reinforce the power of Informix. Presentation proposals should be brief, highlighting the Informix technical solutions, real world experiences or trade tips you will include in your presentation. Multiple presentations are encouraged. Speaker guidelines can be found here.

Use www.iiug2015.org/speakers to register your proposal. These "proposals" need only to be a well thought out idea or outline of what your presentation will be. We won't need the actual presentation until next March. So don't be shy!

The deadline for submitting 2015 IIUG Conference proposals is November 8, 2014. For your convenience, speaker logins have been retained for those who submitted a 2014 IIUG Conference proposal. Please submit your proposal and a brief biography today for consideration.

Visit www.iiug2015.org for more information.


Informix corner Back to top

Harnessing Data in the IoT - Ovum Whitepaper

Ovum analyst, Gary Barnett, discusses how to harness data in the Internet of Things era and strategies for managing data in a connected world. See Harnessing Data in the Internet of Things.

Informix IoT Front and Center at Intel Developer Forum

Hear Michael Curry discuss Informix as THE database for the Internet of Things on the main stage at the Intel Developer Forum.

IBM webcast, "IBM Informix: The intelligent database for the Internet of Things"

"The intelligent database for the Internet of Things" on 16 October 2014 explores how businesses can address the challenges of IoT data with an intelligent optimized database. Attend this webcast and learn how the IBM Informix database embeds into small devices, scales for multiple devices, and supports analytics, time series, spatial and data — all with no administrative overhead. So, join us on 16 October 2014 at 10.30am ET and find out how IBM can help you make Informix part of your successful strategy.


Developer corner Back to top

Informix Chat with the Lab - Live from Insight 2014

Topic:    Informix Software as a Service - Bluemix Demo
 
Date:    Thursday, October 30, 2014
 
Time:    8:30 AM Pacific
10:30 AM Central
11:30 AM Eastern
4:30 PM London
5:30 PM Paris
 
Hosted By:    Anita McKeithen (IBM)
 
Presented By:    Jerry Keesee - Director, IBM Informix Database Development (IBM)

Register for this event at: https://events.na.collabserv.com/register.php?id=13b105d178&l=en-US.

For technical questions, contact support at support@collabserv.com.

For questions about this event, contact the host at: mckeithe@us.ibm.com.


RFE Corner Back to top

Just in case you are not aware, some time ago IBM created a public website to collect the requests for new features directly from users. The RFE (Requests For Enhancements) website is included in developerWorks. You can access it here.

Once you logged in with your usual IBM ID, choose "Information Management" in the Brand dropdown box and "Informix Servers" or "Client Products" in the Products dropdown box.

The interesting thing is that any request, including your request, if you place one, are submitted for to be voted on. This means the RFEs that receive more votes have a greater chance to be considered by the architecture and development teams for further consideration. In other words, this IS the opportunity to provide enhancement ideas even if you are not the biggest IBM customer on the planet earth.

Some RFEs will be of great interest, others will not seem useful to you. This is why your opinion is important. Do not hesitate to vote and place comments!

The idea of the RFE corner is to provide a digest on new Informix RFEs and make those RFEs more visible and accessible for the community, so that you can vote for them in a faster and easier way. By participating actively in this website, IBM will have solid and useful elements from the customer base to introduce new functionality to Informix product.

Also in the area of IBM website, a new functionality has been released: MyNotifications. You will want to register this webpage in order to receive the notifications of your choice (new product defects, new patch release, new versions etc..., on the frequency of your choice (daily, weekly). I have registered a few days ago and will definitely keep registered, due to the value of the information delivered.

Check at this place.

New RFE for September 2014

  • set "onmode -I " with option which dump the first time then engine hangs: when onmode -l returns an error, it is necessary to run the command again to clear the error trap. In case of heavy repetition of this errors, this can hang the engine. Request for a special option trapping the error once then clear the trap.
  • Ifxclone utility with HDR: the ifxclone utility does not work with HDR. Request for the ifxclone utility to work with HDR
  • Allow PAM in OleDB clients (for password mode): OleDB clients cannot connect to IFMX via PAM enabled ports, although this is possible for DRDA connections in password mode. Request to implement OleDB clients to IFMX via PAM enabled ports in password mode. This functionality would definitely amplify general user adoption of PAM for IFMX.
  • DDL support through Informix Change Data Capture: As of today, IFMX only supports DML within CDC. Request to implement DDL usage with CDC.
  • syslog support for informix audit logging. or an easier mechanism to forward logs in the short term: There is a new PCI/PA-DSS requirement for the financial/banking industry. To send all security logging to a centralized server. The IFMX audit logs is the answer to this standard, but its implementation makes it difficult to make it an automated procedure. Request to implement Oracle-like syslog facility.
  • Online alter table: Speaks by itself: alter table can only be done offline, making a downtime mandatory to alter the schema of a table. Request to implement the possibility to execute alter table online. ( My trick: use a NoSQL collection ;-) )

You can access each RFE by clicking on the above links. At the bottom of each RFE page you will find a hyperlink to vote for it. You will see the Request stats, including number of votes for this request, on the right side of the request page. The more votes, the greater the chance an enhancement will be addressed by the Development Team, taking into consideration the general interest.

Take some time to examine the full list and vote for the enhancements you would like to see implemented.

Eric Vercelletto


Calendar of events Back to top

October - 2014
Date Event Location Contact
26-30 IBM Insight 2014 Las Vegas, Nevada
 

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

Blogs and Wikis that have been updated during the last month

More Blogs and Wikis

 
Forums, groups, videos, and magazines

There is now an Informix group on LinkedIn. The group is called "Informix Supporter", so anyone loving Informix can join, from current IBM employees, former Informix employees, to users. It will also be a good occasion to get in touch with others or long-time-no-seen friends. If you fancy showing the Informix logo on your profile, join.


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.