Each version of Informix has its own specifics for what is required. Below are the steps needed for the operating system to get Informix 14.10FC11 to work correctly.
Create the informix group and user:
groupadd informix
useradd -g informix -m informix
Install Packages: (Note that rpm is required for the current gskit install, deb files are missing)
This may be a simple seeming task but when pointing someone unfamiliar with how IBM handles software to the site there is often confusion. Hopefully this article may be helpful for people who have not had to get the software before.
If you are downloading the free versions, including the Client SDK, use the link at the top “Informix Information > Informix Downloads” which will take you to the IBM download site. You will need a free IBM ID to proceed. If you are coming to download a licensed version, sign in to the passport advantage site with login credentials that are authorized to access the software you need.
Either way once you get to the software download section you will see a lot of options for different versions of Informix and tools.
You will see a naming convention for each download. For the server you will see it start with a 12 or a 14 (eventually a 15 as well) which is the primary version of Informix. Next is the subversion of ‘.10’. Right now all current versions of informix are .10. This may change in the future. The next is a letter, above it is all ‘F’. This is FC – 64bit, UC- 32bit, TC – 32bit Windows Then it is the release information. In this case most of them are XC11 for v14, and XC12 for version 12. New releases will mostly be increases in the subrelease number. These tend to come out every few months. The drivers (CSDK, JDBC) are going to be a slightly different numbering system. With 4.50 = V14, V4.10 = V12, V3X for Version 11 releases, etc.
The different pieces of software you may see:
IBM Informix Developer Edition – This is the server install package. With V14 all installs will be the developer edition until a license file is applied
Informix Enterprise Time Limited Edition – This is a full server install with all of the features that will only be usable for a limited time before it stops working. This is used to evaluate and test enterprise features before purchasing it
Informix JDBC drive is the standalone JDBC Driver
IBM Informix CSDK is the client SDK which contains all of the different drivers as well as the SDK to compile against. Included in this is some basic utilities including ‘dbaccess’ Version 12 has this bundled with the server, V14 has the engine not include the CSDK so you need to install it as well
Informix <Version> Edition Installer – This is the license file that needs to be installed with the engine to change the V14 developer edition into that full featured version. The public site only has the “Innovator-C” edition of this, but in passport advantage it should have all of the ones you are entitled to. Note that this file should be 10-15MB in size.
So when you go to download, get the latest release number for the operating system and CPU architecture that you need. If you are running Linux you probably want to get “Linux x86 64” versions.
Once you download the file and extract it you will see another .tar file in the directory, this is a little odd but there is a reason for it
root@alpaca:/home/tom/Downloads/Informix14/FC11# ls
ibm.csdk.4.50.FC11.LNX.tar
root@alpaca:/home/tom/Downloads/Informix14/FC11# tar -xpf ibm.csdk.4.50.FC11.LNX.tar
root@alpaca:/home/tom/Downloads/Informix14/FC11# ls
ibm.csdk.4.50.FC11.LNX.tar ibm.csdk.4.50.FC11.LNX.tar.cosign.sig informix.pem README.codesign
The file ibm.csdk.4.50.FC11.LNX.tar is actually a new file, just of the same name. You can use the sig files included to validate that the files are genuine and have not been tampered with. Read README.codesign for information on how to do that.
If you untar the new .tar file you will see the contents you are expecting:
Often it is asked why the Informix drivers are not included with Linux distributions repos. Informix includes encryption pieces that have limitations from the US gov on being exported to specific countries.
Thomas Beebe (tom@xdbsystems.com) IBM Data Champion
The next WAIUG meeting will occur virtually on Dec 7th 2023. 9am – 1pm EST. It will be an exciting set of technical talks from presenters with the developers of Informix from HCL as well as user speakers.
Presentations by:
HCL – Pavan Gummalla – Ensuring Data Integrity and Confidentiality in Informix Database
HCL – Shubham Kapoor – Sneak peek at updates to InformixHQ with Demo
Laurent Galais and Delane Freeman with FourJs – 4GL and Genero
Mike Walker – Check your backups with archecker. You ARE testing your backups aren’t you? The Informix archecker utility can be used to verify that your Informix backups are ‘good’, and also to perform table-level restores from a backup…a handy feature after a ‘whoops, I shouldn’t have run that in production’ moment! Mike will explain how to use this utility to verify backups and perform table-level restores, and demonstrate these features.
If you are new to the WAIUG, we are a free community drive user group focused on educating and sharing experiences for Informix users of all skill levels and backgrounds.
Some users may find that when installing 4.50FC10 on Windows 11 the installer crashes with:
Flexeraaw7$aaa: Windows DLL failed to load
at Flexeraaw7.af(Unknown Source)
at Flexeraaw7.aa(Unknown Source)
at com.zerog.ia.installer.LifeCycleManager.init(Unknown Source)
at com.zerog.ia.installer.LifeCycleManager.executeApplication(Unknown Source)
at com.zerog.ia.installer.Main.main(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:90)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:55)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:508)
at com.zerog.lax.LAX.launch(Unknown Source)
at com.zerog.lax.LAX.main(Unknown Source)
To solve this issue, open a windows command window and
set JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS="-Dos.name=Windows 7"
installclientsdk.exe
Thank you for everyone who attended! For those of you that missed it or want more information below is the replay and slides from the meeting. Our next meeting will be somewhere in middle 2023, so please stay tuned. If you wish to present or have ideas for topics please reach out and let us know.
WAIUG Part 1 – Welcome and Doing Storage Better by Art Kagel Replay on YouTube: https://youtu.be/JE70r-2chOs Slides Welcome by Thomas Beebe and Doing Storage Better – Exploring the best and worst options by Art Kagel
WAIUG Part 3 – Explaining Explain Plans by Mike Walker Replay on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8UIVIQBFzoU Slides Query execution plans are the best tool to give a detailed insight into exactly how a query is being run by Informix. They are the first stop when trying to understand just why a query is running slower than expected.
In this presentation, Mike Walker will show how to obtain a query plan and how to interpret it. He will also describe what he looks for in the plan that shows where their tuning opportunities are hiding.
WAIUG Part 4 – Conclusion, Oracle Style Global Temp Tables by Art Kagel and Informix Certification by Rhonda Hackenburg Replay on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0CPNA6N82kk
Extra presentation by Art Kagel on Oracle Style Global Temp Tables. Informix Certification by Rhonda Hackenburg and Meeting Conclusion by Thomas Beebe
The next WAIUG meeting will occur virtually on Dec 8th 2022. 9am – 1pm EDT. It will be an exciting set of technical talks from presenters with the developers of Informix from HCL as well as user speakers. Topic descriptions will be posted shortly.
Presentations by:
Art Kagel – Doing Storage Better – Exploring the best and worst options
Tom Girsch
Shubham Kapoor – Informix HQ
Mike Walker – Explaining Explain Plans
Query execution plans are the best tool to give a detailed insight into exactly how a query is being run by Informix. They are the first stop when trying to understand just why a query is running slower than expected.
In this presentation, Mike Walker will show how to obtain a query plan and how to interpret it. He will also describe what he looks for in the plan that shows where there tuning opportunities are hiding.
With additional information on the Informix 14 Badge Exam
If you are new to the WAIUG, we are a free community drive user group focused on educating and sharing experiences for Informix users of all skill levels and backgrounds.
We are excited to be back with another winter user group meeting. Everyone seems to be happier with virtual user group meetings so we are going to stick with it for a bit.
So please join us the morning of 12/8/22 for a great set of technical discussions.
We are actively looking for user speakers, so if you are interested please reach out to tom@xdbsystems.com
Thank you to our amazing presenters for a fantastic user group meeting. As always, thank you for the user group members and interested parties for attending.
We will be planning our next meeting for Fall/Winter timeframe. If there is a class you would be interested in teaching, or if there is a topic you want to hear about please reach out to us at Contact Us.
The WAIUG is back and excited to bring you a new and exciting set of Informix technical talks on July 14th 2022 from 9:30am-1pm. This free virtual meeting is open to anyone in the Informix community who wants to pick up some new skills and learn some new things around Informix.
We are finalizing the class lineup but we will have excellent talks from Paul Watson (Oninit), Mike Walker (xDB Systems) and more. Stay tuned here for a full list of presenters and classes.
Paul Watson – CDC – A beginners guide
Change Data Capture or CDC is a very useful weapon to have in your arsenal, whether it is just a quick what happened or a full blown forensic tool However, many people have never heard of it or are scared to use it. This presentation will examine the various APIs show how to build a working DBA tool
Sign up below to make sure to reserve your spot. Once you RSVP we will have your information and will send out an invite to the virtual meeting in a few weeks.
We will be having our next meeting in Q4 of 2021. If you would be interested in presenting or have a particular topic you would like to see addressed, please use the contact us link at the top.
