Advanced DataTools was started in February 1993 by Lester Knutsen to provide Informix Support, Consulting, and Training. Thank you to all our customers and consultants who made this possible. After 30 great years, Lester Knutsen has now retired.
Informix TechTalk: Informix Sysmaster Database Queries for monitoring and performance tuning
Replay Informix TechTalk: Informix Sysmaster Database Queries for monitoring and performance tuning by Lester Knutsen From: Thursday, February 2, 2023, 2:00 pm EST Download my latest Sysmaster Scripts for this presentation – Sysmaster2023.zip YouTube Replays: https://youtu.be/C9zk8FmuUFQ Download Slides: Informix-SYSMASTER-2023-LesterKnutsen.pdf Description: Lester Knutsen will present his favorite Informix Sysmaster Scripts for monitoring and performance tuning tips. This […]
Informix TechTalk: Enhancing Informix 4GL with TERMCAP Settings by Lester Knutsen
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 […]
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 Celebrating 29 Years
About us: At Advanced DataTools, our mission is to help our customers achieve their goals. We have over 29 years of experience in business, and more than 40 years of experience with the Informix product line since Informix was launched in the early 1980s. Our professionals have completed hundreds of successful projects, and have included […]
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 Keynote by Arvind Krishna, Chairman, IBM
Informix IIUG World 2021 Virtual Conference opening keynote by Arvind Krishna, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IBM. View the Informix IIUG World 2021 Virtual Conference opening keynote by Arvind Krishna, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IBM on YouTube at https://lnkd.in/djZPa8BY
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 […]
72,000 Informix YouTube Views
Informix Learning Videos have over 72,000 views! Advanced DataTools has over 72,507 views of our Informix Best Practices and Free Tutorial Videos on YouTube. Thank you to all who watched them. To see more, visit: On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/AdvancedDataTools or on our Website: https://advancedatatools.com/tech-info/past-webcasts/You
Congratulations to the 2021 IBM Champions
Advanced DataTools is honored to have four of our team named IBM Champions. Thomas Beebe, Mike Walker, Art Kagel, are Informix Champions again for 2021, and Lester Knutsen was selected an IBM Lifetime Champion in September 2020.
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, […]
IBM Champion Chat – Meet the Lifetime IBM Champions
Lester Knutsen had the honor to be on the IBM Champions Chat: Meet the Lifetime IBM Champions. See the replay on on YouTube at – https://youtu.be/4ZB9N08mRmQ
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 […]
IBM Champion – Lifetime Achievement Award to Lester Knutsen
Lester Knutsen was honored to receive the IBM Champion – Lifetime Achievement Award from IBM on September 1, 2020. View his verified achievement from IBM. IBM Champion – Lifetime Achievement Certificate for Lester Knutsen
Interview on Informix
Lester Knutsen’s Interview on Informix for G2 The following is a link to an interview Lester Knutsen did on June 17, 2020, on why Informix is my best database! https://www.g2.com/products/ibm-informix/reviews/ibm-informix-review-3266329
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, […]
Migrating and Upgrading to Informix 14 and Migrating to the cloud. The easy and the hard way.
IBM User Group DayPresentation
Migrating and Upgrading to Informix 14 or the cloud. The easy and the hard way.
There are several easy procedures to upgrade and migrate Informix. We will look at the easy way (in-place upgrades, dbexport, cdr migrate, backup/restore), but sometimes they may not work for you, and you need to create a custom process. We will go over a set of procedures and scripts using HPL, external tables, and parallel unloads/loads that I have used over the last few years to migrate from small systems up through terabyte-sized databases to VMs, new hardware, and the cloud.
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 […]
Congratulations Arman Prescott
21 Years of Great Work Arman Prescott started with Advanced DataTools in January 1999 and was our first Senior Database Consultant to move to Denver. He has supported our projects with the Bureau of Land Management in developing and supporting the Collections and Billing System, which manages over a billion dollars in revenue for over […]
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 […]
Exploring the Sysmaster Database – My New Scripts from the IIUG World 2019 Conference
These are my latest Sysmaster Scripts from my presentation at the Informix IIUG World Conference in 2019. Download presentation PDF: advancedatatools.com/…/Sysmaster_IIUG_Conf_2019_A12_LesterKnutse.pdf Download New Sysmaster 2019 Scripts (zip file): advancedatatools.com/…s/sysmaster2019.zip Download Past Sysmaster 2017 Scripts (zip file): advancedatatools.com/…s/sysmaster2017.zip
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 […]
Running Informix in a Monster Virtual Machine
Running Informix in a Monster Virtual Machine Lester Knutsen presented at the IIUG Informix Conference April 23-27, 2018 in Raleigh, NC.
A monster virtual machine is a VM with lots of memory, CPUs and disks. I have been dealing with many Informix database servers running in a virtual environment and will share some of the problems and solutions for Informix to work well in VM. We will talk about everything from a VM on my laptop to a VM with more than 256 GB of memory and more than 96 Virtual CPUs.
Fastest Informix DBA Contest VI – September 2013
Fastest Informix DBA Contest VI winners – September 2013
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 V – April 2012
Fastest Informix DBA Contest V Winners – April 2012
Fastest Informix DBA Contest IV – May 2011
Fastest Informix DBA Contest IV Winners – May 2011
Fastest Informix DBA Contest III – April 2010
Fastest Informix DBA Contest 3 Winners – April 2010
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 […]
Fastest Informix DBA Contest II – Fall 2009
Fastest Informix DBA Contest 2 Winners – Fall 2009
Extracting Value from Data: Building Data Warehouses with Informix Dynamic Server
Download presentation PDF: Building Data Warehouses with IBM Informix Dynamic Server – Extracting Value from Data
Fastest Informix DBA Contest I – April 2009
Fastest Informix DBA Contest 1 Winners – April 2009
Unix Tools and Scripts to Monitor and Tune Your Informix IDS Server
Presentation on Unix Tools and Scripts to Monitor and Tune Your Informix IDS Server – given at the 2005 IBM Data Management User Conference.
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 […]