Informix Tech Talk Replay Title: Informix TechTalk: Enhancing Informix 4GL with TERMCAP Settings by Lester Knutsen Replay from Thursday, September 29, 2022, 2:00 pm EDT Description: How to work with Informix 4GL Terminal and TERMCAP capabilities to improve the appearance of 4GL programs. Informix 4GL uses the Unix TERMCAP file to display colors, window line […]
Category Archives: Article
Article published by Advanced DataTools in any publication (IIUG, WAIUG, IBM magazine, Database Magazine, etc.
Informix 4GL Course
Informix 4GL for Developers FREE Trial Course – Ends August 1, 2022 This is a free Online Informix 4GL Training class that ended on August 1, 2022. I was testing a new online training platform and would like your feedback on how this works for you. Informix 4GL for Developers is for programmers developing and […]
Advanced DataTools Newsletter – January 2022
1. Informix Training Schedule for 2022 Our training servers have moved to the cloud. In 2021, I taught our Informix for Database Administrators Course and the Advanced Informix Performance Tuning Course in our new cloud environment. I continue developing and updating our course formats for a more flexible combination of instructor-led and self-paced course material […]
Informix 4GL Resources
Informix 4GL Resources for Developers I taught an Informix 4GL for Developers course this month. I had fun doing that class and working with this superb language. I pulled together this list of 4GL Resources for the course based on articles I have written in the past. Informix 4GL to Genero – Bring your code […]
IIUG World 2021
Advanced DataTools is proud to be a sponsor for IIUG World 2021 for the Informix User Community. IIUG World 2021 information and registration – http://world.iiug.org Informix 14.10 Training – Our training is an Instructor-led virtual online class. – Attend online via interactive Webex – Perform hands-on labs on your class server – Q&A and collaborative […]
Advanced DataTools Newsletter – July 2021
1. Informix Training Schedule for 2021 We have moved our training servers to the cloud and are testing configurations. Currently, we plan on holding the Informix for Database Administrators Course on September 20-24. The course is an online instructor-led course taught by Lester Knutsen. We are also developing and updating our course formats for a […]
Advanced DataTools Newsletter – January 2021
Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2021! 1. Announcement from Advanced DataTools and XDB Systems, Inc on Informix Support and Consulting Advanced DataTools is excited to announce that Thomas Beebe and Mike Walker have formed XDB Systems, Inc. and acquired the customers, contracts, DBA support agreements, service agreements, and customer obligations from Advanced DataTools. […]
Announcement Advanced DataTools and xDB Systems
Announcement from Advanced DataTools and xDB Systems, Inc on Informix Support and Consulting Advanced DataTools is excited to announce that Thomas Beebe and Mike Walker have formed xDB Systems, Inc. and acquired the customers, contracts, DBA support agreements, service agreements, and customer obligations from Advanced DataTools. The transfer of these agreements and contracts will take […]
Display Informix Configuration Parameters with “onstat”
Informix configuration settings are stored in $INFORMIXDIR/etc/$ONCONFIG. When checking to see an individual setting, an alternative to viewing the entire file is to run “onstat -c”. This shows the contents of the onconfig file. Using this onstat with grep allows you to easily and quickly see the value of a onconfig setting. For example, to […]
Setting Up SSL In Informix
As networks have gotten more complex and networked systems have become more advanced it has greatly enhanced the need for security in your systems. Even if only doing internal connections, many auditors and security policies now require information to be encrypted end-to-end. While there are a number of ways to accomplish this for Informix, there […]
Extending Chunks
Adding space to a dbspace used to involve adding a new chunk each time. If your Informix instance uses cooked files for storage, then the underlying file on the filesystem can be expanded to a larger size, preventing the need to add a new chunk. Extendable chunks are often considered part of automatic space management, […]
Advanced DataTools Newsletter – October 2020
1. Are you planning to upgrade to Informix 14.10? Attend our Informix for Database Administrators Training Course. We have the Informix 14.10 training for you. Lester Knutsen will be teaching our next Informix DBA Class, Informix for Database Administrators updated for Informix version 14.10, on October 5-8, 2020. There is only one space left! More […]
Setting Up Informix To Use systemd
Back in the older days of UNIX systems most sites used SysV to manage all the start and stop scripts from /etc/init.d. Newer versions of Linux have switched over to systemd for managing services as well as to handle logging. The systemctl command controls the services, while journalctl gives you access to the current system […]
Advanced DataTools Newsletter – July 2020
1. Advanced Informix Performance Tuning – July 13-16, 2020 by Lester Knutsen and Art Kagel Are you ready to take your DBA Skills to the next level? This course is for database administrators and application developers who will be responsible for managing, optimizing, and tuning an Informix database server. The focus is on skills, procedures, […]
Advanced DataTools Newsletter – April 2020
Our Remote Informix DBA Support is Uninterrupted Advanced DataTools operations are uninterrupted by COVID-19 and we continue to support our customers in these difficult times. All our senior Informix DBAs are effectively working remotely and maintain the high standard of support to which we are committed. Our Informix DBA consultants are working and supporting our […]
Happy New Year from the Informix Champions
Happy New Year from the Informix Champions at Advanced DataTools, providing Informix Training, Consulting, Support, and Free Tech Information.
Informix 14.10 Command Line Utilities Quick Reference Guide
I have updated our series of Informix Command Line Utilities Quick Reference Guides. Folks, you can download the Informix 14 Quick Reference Guide here. The Quick Reference Guide includes the following Informix commands: Oncheck Oninit Onmode Onparams Onspaces Onstat Ontape In 1995, after years of trying to find a manual to check the command line […]
Is Your Organization Ready For Informix 14?
Informix 11.70 versions reach end of support in 2020. Is your organization ready to make the change? Informix 14.10 brings in a wide number of new features and options and an entirely new installation method. Contact the experts at Advanced DataTools to help you plan, coordinate, and execute an upgrade plan to get you on […]
Loading and Unloading With Informix – FAQ, by Jack Parker
Loading and Unloading with Informix Note, for simplicity these facilities will herein be referred to as ‘loaders’. This is not meant to be a definitive document defining everything there is to know about the subject. This is meant to be a starting point on your road to understanding this topic and a roadmap […]
Fastest Informix DBA VI – 2013 – How Did They Do It?
Article on the Fastest Informix DBA 2013 Contest and how the winners succeeded.
Fastest Informix DBA Contest III – How did they do it?
Last year at the 2010 IIUG Informix User Conference in Kansas City we hosted a new “Fastest Informix DBA Contest”. This contest was different from the earlier ones, and focused on “How many transactions per minute” could the contestants tune an Informix database to achieve. The previous contests had focused on improving batch processing performance […]
The View From Outside – Unix utilities give a different look at database server performance
First Published in IBM DB2 Magazine Issue 2005 Quarter 1 It’s not hard to find information on using Informix ONSTAT or other database utilities to monitor and tune IBM Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) databases. I’ve written several articles on that topic myself. (You can find them on my Web site, listed in the resources at […]
Exploring the Sysmaster Database
This post is the original article I wrote on Exploring the Sysmaster Database and has been reprinted in the Informix TechNotes, the Informix DBA Survival Guide, Second Edition by Joe Lumbley, the Informix Handbook by Ron Flannery, and many other places. Open the orginal PDF of this article: https://www.advancedatatools.com/Downloads/Symaster_articule.pdf When you list all the […]
Exploring the Informix OnLine Utilities
This post is the original article I wrote on Exploring the Infomrix Utilities that has been reprinted in many other places. INFORMIX-OnLine DSA comes with a set of powerful command line utilities that enable you to monitor, tune, and configure your database server. This chapter will focus on eight of these utilities, and present […]
Informix Tech Notes article on SMI and the Sysmaster Database (PDF)
First published in the Informix Tech Notes Magazine in 1999 When you list all of the databases on your Informix server, you will see one called “sysmaster”. This special database, which first appeared in Informix’s 6.x and 7.x servers, contains system monitoring interface (SMI) tables that can be used for monitoring your system. In […]
Roles: A New Security Feature in INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server
First published in the Informix Tech Notes Magazine in 1999 INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server, version 7.10.UD1, introduced a new feature called “Roles.” Roles provide a way to grant and revoke privileges to a function, rather than to individual users. In addition, a user is granted the privilege to use one or more Roles. When a user […]
Informix Tech Notes article on Exploring the ONSTAT Utility
First published in the Informix Tech Notes Magazine in 1999 Provided with Informix Dynamic Server is a set of powerful command- line utilities that enable the monitoring, tuning, and configuring of the database server. This article focuses on one of these utilities, ONSTAT, and presents ways to use this utility for server performance optimization. ONSTAT […]
Using SQL to Generate SQL Scripts (DBA Tricks and Tips)
First published in the Washington Area Informix User Group Newsletter Volume 7, No.3 – July 1997 This article will take a look at some tricks for using SQL to generate SQL to help you maintain and support your databases. One of the advantages of querying the system tables is that you can use the output […]
A Web/CGI Interface to the ONSTAT Utility
First published in the Washington Area Informix User Group Newsletter Volume 7, No. 2 – April 1997 This is one of the scripts I presented at the WAIUG Training Day. The purpose is to provide a web interface to the INFORMIX-OnLine ONSTAT Utility. There are two parts to this interface: the first is a […]
Error Handling Functions in Informix Programs
First published in the Washington Area Informix User Group Newsletter Volume 6, No. 2 – April 1996 This article defines some guidelines for error handling functions. An error handling function is the code that responds to a user or system generated error. There are two classes of errors: fatal errors and non-fatal errors. Events that […]
Roles – A New Security Feature in INFORMIX OnLine 7.10.UD1
First published in the Washington Area Informix User Group Newsletter Volume 5, No. 4 – October 1995 INFORMIX OnLine 7.10.UD1 was released with a few surprises in the form of new features. One of the features I was most interested in is Roles. Roles provide a way to grant and revoke privileges to a function, […]
Informix Online 5.X TB Utilities Quick Reference Guide
First published in the Washington Area Informix User Group Newsletter Volume 5, No. 2 – May 1995 TBCHECK Usage: tbcheck [-clist] [-plist] [-qny] [ { database[:[owner.]table] | TBLSpace number | Chunk number} { rowid | page number […]
Informix 4GL Programming Tips
First published in the Washington Area Informix User Group Newsletter Volume 4, No. 3 – July 1994 1. Only select columns that you really need When you select data, it goes from disk to memory. Ten un-needed bytes of data from 10,00 rows translates into reading 100,000 bytes unnecessarily. Avoid “SELECT *” statements and only […]
An Introduction to INFORMIX Database Security
First published in the Washington Area Informix User Group Newsletter Volume 4, No. 3 – July 1994 Informix applies security at the database, table and column level. All security is based on a users login name. Using Informix SQL, the creator of a database can give and remove privileges. The SQL command to give access […]
Reading Informix SE audit files
First published in the Washington Area Informix User Group Newsletter Volume 4, No. 1 – January 1994 Twice in the last month I have been asked how to read Informix SE audit files. Informix SE has a feature (this is not available in Informix Online) to create an audit trail of all adds, deletes and […]
An Introduction to Using Informix SQL in Shell Scripts
One of the advantages of UNIX is the power of shell scripts for developing systems. This article is an introduction to using shell scripts with embedded SQL to access your database. I am using the Informix database for these examples, and the Informix SQL command interpreter “dbaccess”. However, these examples will also work with Informix […]
Getting Informix Column Names Within Unix Vi Editor
First published in the Washington Area Informix User Group Newsletter WAIUG – Volume 3, No. 4 – July 1993 How often have you tired of retyping the same column names repeatedly in vi? One solution is to save the column names in a file and read them in as needed. However, vi has the capability […]
Informix 4GL Application Error Logging
First published in the Washington Area Informix User Group Newsletter Volume 3, No. 4 – July 1993 In every major application that I have developed, a requirement has been to have some way of logging what is going on inside the program. There are three types of application logging I like to use. The first […]
ANSI Terminal Emulation and Informix 4GL Terminal Capabilities
First Published in the Washington Area Informix User Group Newsletter, Volume 3, No. 3 – May 1993 In the Q&A sessions at our user group meetings several questions have been asked about creating termcap entries for PCs using ansi terminal emulation software to work with Informix 4GL. The following is the ansi termcap entry I […]