Informix Product Family Informix Version 11.50 IBM Informix Getting Started Guide GI13-1803-02 Informix Product Family Informix Version 11.50 IBM Informix Getting Started Guide GI13-1803-02 Note Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in “Notices” on page C-1. This edition replaces GI13-1803-01. This document contains proprietary information of IBM. It is provided under a license agreement and is protected by copyright law. The information contained in this publication does not include any product warranties, and any statements provided in this manual should not be interpreted as such. When you send information to IBM, you grant IBM a nonexclusive right to use or distribute the information in any way it believes appropriate without incurring any obligation to you. © Copyright IBM Corporation 1996, 2011. US Government Users Restricted Rights – Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp. Contents Introduction ..................................ix About This Publication................................ix Types of Users .................................ix Software Dependencies ..............................ix Assumptions About Your Locale............................x Demonstration Database ..............................x What's New for Version 11.50..............................x Example code conventions...............................x Additional documentation ..............................xi Compliance with industry standards ...........................xi Chapter 1. Introducing Informix and Client Products................1-1 New editions and product names ............................1-1 IBM Informix ..................................1-1 IBM Informix Edition Comparison ..........................1-1 Installation and Migration ..............................1-1 Products Bundled with the Database Server ........................1-2 BladeManager .................................1-2 DataBlade API .................................1-2 IBM Informix Client SDK Products ..........................1-2 IBM Informix DataBlade Developers Kit (DBDK) .....................1-4 IBM Informix JDBC Driver .............................1-4 IBM Data Server Driver for JDBC and SQLJ .......................1-4 IBM Data Server Provider for .NET (Windows) ......................1-5 IBM Informix Spatial DataBlade Module ........................1-5 IBM Informix Web DataBlade Module .........................1-5 International Language Supplement ..........................1-5 IBM Informix Warehouse .............................1-6 Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software ...................1-6 Related IBM Informix Products ............................1-6 IBM Informix Server Administrator (ISA) ........................1-6 OpenAdmin Tool for Informix ............................1-6 IBM Informix MaxConnect (UNIX) ..........................1-7 IBM Office Connect ...............................1-7 IBM Informix Data Director for Web ..........................1-7 DataBlade Modules ...............................1-7 IBM Data Studio ................................1-7 Client Products for Informix .............................1-8 JDBC Drivers .................................1-8 .NET Providers .................................1-8 PHP Drivers ..................................1-8 Ruby on Rails Adapters ..............................1-9 Other Informix Drivers ..............................1-9 Other Related IBM Products .............................1-9 Chapter 2. Using New Features in Informix ....................2-1 New Features in Version 11.50.xC9 of IBM Informix......................2-1 Reserving memory for critical activities .........................2-1 Configuring the server response to low memory ......................2-1 Support for later versions of IBM Global Security Kit (GSKit) .................2-2 Handle high severity event alarms ..........................2-2 Easier setup of faster consistency checking for Enterprise Replication ..............2-2 Comparing date and interval values .........................2-2 Reserving space for BYTE and TEXT data in round-robin fragments ...............2-2 Enhancements to the OpenAdmin Tool (OAT) for Informix ..................2-2 © Copyright IBM Corp. 1996, 2011 iii IBM Informix TimeSeries Plug-in for OpenAdmin Tool (OAT) .................2-3 New Features in Version 11.50.xC8 of IBM Informix......................2-3 Setting the file seek position for large files ........................2-4 SNMP support for Windows 64-bit software .......................2-4 Locking tables from updatable secondary servers in a cluster .................2-4 Configuring log flow control for RS secondary servers ....................2-4 New Features in Version 11.50.xC6 of IBM Informix......................2-4 Connection Manager Proxy Support ..........................2-5 External Backups on RS Secondary Servers .......................2-5 Dynamically Start, Stop, or Restart Listen Threads .....................2-6 Improved Transaction Information ..........................2-6 SQL Administration API Portal: Arguments by Functional Categories ...............2-6 View Event Alarms in the Scheduler ..........................2-6 Enhancements to the OpenAdmin Tool for Informix ....................2-6 Enhancements to the Schema Manager plug-in for the OpenAdmin Tool for Informix .........2-6 An ALTER FRAGMENT Operation Can Now Force Out Transactions to Get Exclusive Access to Tables . 2-7 RETAINUPDATELOCKS Environment Option ......................2-7 New Column Size Field Format for CDC Records .....................2-7 Enhancements to Merging Information into a Target Table with the MERGE Statement .........2-7 Enable or Disable Enterprise Replication Event Alarms ...................2-8 Enhancements to the Enterprise Replication plug-in for the OpenAdmin Tool for Informix........2-8 XA Transaction Support for Updatable Secondary Servers in a High-availability Cluster ........2-9 Simplified Deployment of an Informix Instance (Windows) ..................2-9 Dynamic dbspace Relocation when Deploying Snapshots (Windows) ...............2-9 Deploying Instances with the Deployment Utility .....................2-9 Installing Informix by Using an RPM package (Linux) ....................2-9 Migrating or Upgrading High-availability Clusters ....................2-10 Upgrading to a New Server or Fix pack ........................2-10 Quickly Reverting to Your Source Server After a Failed Upgrade ................2-10 Light Scans on Tables ..............................2-10 Process Multiple Basic Text Search Queries Simultaneously ..................2-11 Load and Unload Data with External Tables .......................2-11 New Features in Version 11.50.xC5 of IBM Informix .....................2-11 Configuring RS Secondary Server Latency for Disaster Recovery ................2-12 Deploying Informix with the Deployment Utility (Windows) .................2-12 Forcing the Database Server to Shut Down .......................2-12 Enhanced Support for Multibyte Character Strings.....................2-12 Upgrading to Informix v11.50.xC5 in Silent Mode (Windows) .................2-12 New default for the INFORMIXTERM environment variable for terminal set up on UNIX .......2-13 onconfig Portal: Configuration Parameters Listed by Functional Categories ............2-13 onstat Portal: onstat Commands Listed by Functional Categories ................2-13 Enhancements to the Enterprise Replication plug-in for the OAT for Informix ...........2-13 Enterprise Replication Stops if Memory Allocation Fails ...................2-13 Improving the Performance of Checking or Synchronizing Replicate Sets (Windows) .........2-13 Notification of an Incorrect Log Position When Enterprise Replication Restarts ...........2-14 Improving the Performance of Consistency Checking with an Index ...............2-14 Specifying the Range of Data Sync Threads to Apply Replicated Transactions............2-14 Loading Data into a Warehouse with the MERGE Statement .................2-14 Retrieving Data by Using Hierarchical Queries ......................2-15 New Features in Version 11.50.xC4 of IBM Informix .....................2-15 High Availability Enabled on Windows 64-bit Operating Systems................2-16 Save Disk Space by Compressing Data.........................2-16 Improved Options for Specifying Processor Affinity ....................2-17 Enhanced Startup Script Customization ........................2-17 Disable IPv6 Support ..............................2-17 Enhancements to the OpenAdmin Tool (OAT) for Informix ..................2-17 ONINIT_STDOUT environment variable allows capturing oninit output (Windows) .........2-18 Generating a Customized Database Server Configuration File .................2-18 Upgrade Informix by Overwriting the Existing Installation (Windows) ..............2-18 Changing how Informix searches for user names (Windows) .................2-18 Generate ATS and RIS Files in XML Format for Custom Repair Scripts ..............2-19 iv IBM Informix Getting Started Guide Prevent Upserts During Conflict Resolution .......................2-19 New Event Alarms for Enterprise Replication ......................2-19 Monitor the Progress of a Consistency Check or a Direct Synchronization .............2-19 Specify the Duration of a Consistency Check ......................2-20 Schedule Synchronization or Consistency Checking Operations ................2-20 Improve Consistency Checking Performance.......................2-20