®
Key Features in IDS Version 10.00
Compared with IDS 9.40
Jerry Keesee, Director of the Informix Lab
Jonathan Leffler
STSM, Informix Database Engineering
Information Management Division
IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
Version 2
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Agenda
 IDS Version 10.00 Features Summary
 Performance
 Autonomics, Ease of Administration
 Security
 Availability, ER
 Application Development, Standards
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Announcing the Availability of the V10 Release
 Strong IBM Information Management commitment to
the IDS product line.
 Most industry proven, reliable, and high performing
OLTP RDBMS for Open Systems.
 Significantly raises the bar for autonomics,
embeddability, availability and low-cost operations.
 Most accessible platforms on the market with Unix,
Windows and Linux.
 Highest quality and robustness suitable for missioncritical, bet your business operations for SMB and
enterprises world-wide.
 Generally available since end of February 2005.
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
IDS: A Tradition of Innovation
Smart Restore (TLPIT)
Online Create/Drop
Index
2004
Distributed High
Availability (ER+HDR)
Configurable Page Size
4GL/EGL
VLDB – Large Chunks
Java in the Server
2000
DataBlades
Smart Large Objects
(Blobs/Clobs)
Enterprise Replication
DSA
Architecture
Object Relational
Capabilities
1998
High Availability Data
Replication
Data Fragmentation
Parallel Data Query
1994
Online Backup
4
Distributed Query
(ISTAR)
IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
“To sum it all up,
IDS v10.0 is a DBA’s dream come true.”
Gary Ben-Israel
CIO, National Institute for Testing and Evaluation
Jerusalem, Israel
Beta Customer 12/04
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
IBM Informix Dynamic Server Roadmap
IDS
v10
IDS
v9.40
1Q 2003
 Backup & Restore
 HDR & ER coexistence
 Remove size restrictions
(Large File / Chunks)
 Security Sys.
(LDAP / Encryption
 Monitoring, Utilities
 Performance
2003
6
2004
IDS
vNext
1Q 2005
 4GL/WebSphere EGL
 .Net Native Provider
 JDBC 3.0 Compliance
 Column Level Encryption
 Default Roles
 Table Level PIT Restore
 Configurable Page Size
 ER Alter, DRAUTO, Resync
2005
2006
2H 2006
 Smooth Upgrade of HDR
 Online table re-org
 Dynamic Reconfiguration
 Auto Update Stats
 Auto Disk Mgmt
 RAS
 Autonomics
2007
IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
IDS
vNext+
1H 2008
 DB2 Interoperability
 Market
 Technology
 Customer Requests
2008
© 2005 IBM Corporation
IDS 10.00: Summary of Ease of Administration
 Automated Re-Sync of Tables in ER
Key Features
 BAR Ease of Use Enhancements
Safety / High Availability / Reliability
 Table Level Point in Time Restore
 Faster Restart
 Query Plan and Tracing Tool
Enhancements
 HDR Ease of Use Enhancements
Partner Enhancements
 Configurable Page Size
 Larger Index Keys
 Create / Drop Index Online
 Single or Privileged User Admin Mode
 Rename DBSpace
 Default Roles
Security
 Column Level Encryption
 LDAP Support for Windows
7
 ER Templates / Ease Setup in ISA
 External Optimizer Directives
 Dynamically Set OPTCOMPIND
 ON-Tape Without Involving Backup Media
App Development / SWG Integration
 4GL / EGL Merge with WebSphere
 .Net Native Provider
 Visual Studio Integration
 JDBC 3.0 Standards Compliance
 Cross-DB Support for Built-In UDTs
 DRDA in ESQL/C & Server
 WORF and TDPI Bundled
Performance & Infrastructure
 Query Processing and Load Performance
Improvement
 Shared Memory Segments larger than 4GB
IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Topics: Performance Enhancements
hi
Configurable
page sizes
External optimizer
directives
Engine Impact
Memory to
non-PDQ queries
low
8
Multiple fragments
in single dbspace
Dynamic
OPTCOMPIND
Number of times requested by users
IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
hi
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Performance: Configurable Page Size
Reasons for Configurable Page Size
 Space efficiency
– Larger pages up to 16K bytes contiguous space
 Increased maximum key size
– Longer keys up to 3K bytes
 Access efficiency - fewer I/O operations for data and indices
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Performance: Configurable Page Size
 Space efficiency – larger pages up to 16K
most any page type
bytes contiguous space
page header
A row size of 1200 bytes:
row1
– 1 row fits on a 2k page (6k every 3 rows).
– 3 rows fit on a 4k page, a savings of 33%
row2
For thirty 1200-byte rows:
– A 2k page size requires 60k.
– A 4k page size would require only 40k.
– A 6k page size requires just 36k, a 40% savings
2048
(28)
---------2020
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
slot
table
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Performance: Configurable Page Size
 Increased maximum key size longer keys up to 3K bytes
index page
page header
• Placing more keys on a page, we
support longer keys without
drastically increasing index level
depth.
row1
row2
• The pre-10.0 key size limit was also
a roadblock to utilizing the
UNICODE character set, which
caused some key values to exceed
the max length.
key value
11
rowid
slot
table
del flag
IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Performance: Configurable Page Size
 Access efficiency
– Fewer I/O operations for data and indices.
• Long rows put into a single page benefits data access
times by decreasing the number of pages read per
row.
• Pages large enough to fit “oversize” rows eliminate the
overhead of access time for remainders pages.
• More items put on a larger index page and a
decreased number of levels in a btree index reduce
index traversal costs.
• For DSS environments, using larger data pages that
maximize disk scan rates may improve table scan
performance.
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Performance: Configurable Page Size
 Larger page sizes need larger
rows.
 Otherwise, you waste space:
2
3
235
4
11
243
 Applies to indexes as well as data
6
19
251
– If the key size is too small, you
waste space in the large pages.
8
28
4
10
36
12
 RS =  ((PS × 1024 – 28) ÷ 255)  – 4
12
44
20
14
52
28
16
60
36
– Still 255 rows per page.
 PS × 1024 > (RS + 4) × 255 + 28
slot table entry
13
Page
Row Wasted
Size KB Size Space
page overhead
IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Performance: Configurable Page Size
 Create new dbspaces with non-default page size
– onspaces –c –d dbspace_8k –p \
/informix/dev/sys_13.dbspace_8k.c0 \
–o 0 –s 2048000 –k 8
 Note: all critical dbspaces must use basic page size.
– rootdbs
– dbspaces containing logical logs
– dbspace containing physical log
 If no buffer pool of this page size exists
– A new buffer pool is created
– Using default buffer pool configuration.
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Performance: BUFFERPOOL configuration
 Old, familiar parameters are technically obsolete:
– BUFFERS, LRUS, LRU_MIN_DIRTY, LRU_MAX_DIRTY
 Use new, repeatable BUFFERPOOL parameter:
– BUFFERPOOL
•
•
•
•
•
size=2K
buffers=3000000
lrus=128
lru_min_dirty=0.01
lru_max_dirty=0.05
– Separated by commas, all on one line.
• BUFFERPOOL size=2K,buffers=3000000,lrus=128,lru_min_dirty=0.01,lru_max_dirty=0.05
– Also ‘default’ instead of ‘size=nk’
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Performance: BUFFERPOOL configuration
 Each page size has its own buffer pool.
 Different buffer pool settings for each BUFFERPOOL.
 If you add a new dbspace with a non-default page size
– and no buffer pool exists for that page size
 IDS allocates a new buffer pool using the default
settings.
 If there is no BUFFERPOOL default in $ONCONFIG,
– Values from onconfig.std are used instead.
• And there are default defaults for the default buffer pool.
 BUFFERPOOL entries in ONCONFIG are allocated
– Even if no dbspace currently uses that page size.
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Performance: BUFFERPOOL configuration
 Consider using (say) 12K pages for temporary
dbspaces
– Configure the 12K buffer pool for temporary tables:
• With high LRU_MIN_DIRTY, LRU_MAX_DIRTY
• You don’t need temporary data written to disk
 Consider using (say) 16K pages for the major table
– It gets its own buffer pool all to itself.
 Beware being too clever!
– IDS does a good job balancing the use of buffers.
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Performance: Non-PDQ queries – a problem…
yes
PDQPRIORITY
set?
calculate memory
for query
yes
will sort fit
in memory?
no
allocate
128K of memory
no
sort to disk
done
sort in memory
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Performance: Memory Allocation for non-PDQ Queries
 Feature was first available in 9.40.xC4.
 You can specify how much memory is allocated to
non-PDQ queries.
– The default of 128K can be insufficient for queries that
specify ORDER BY, GROUP BY, hash joins, or other
memory-intensive options.
 Use the new configuration parameter,
DS_NONPDQ_QUERY_MEM, to specify more
memory than the 128K that is allocated to non-PDQ
queries by default.
 The onstat, onmode, and onmonitor utilities
support this configuration parameter.
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Performance: External Optimizer Directives
 Suppose you purchase an application
– But you do not get the source code for it.
 Suppose some of its queries work slowly
– Because of a peculiarity in the optimizer, statistics, …
 Suppose that an optimizer hint can fix the problem.
 Before version 10.00, there was no way to add a hint.
– Unless you used I-Spy.
 With version 10.00, you can store external directives.
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Performance: External Optimizer Directives
 New SQL statement, SAVE EXTERNAL DIRECTIVES
– Creates and registers external optimizer directives.
– Stored in the new sysdirectives system catalog table.
 At run-time, external directives have to be enabled:
– Per session by the new environment variable:
• export IFX_EXTDIRECTIVES=1
– Enabled for client unless server disables it
– 0 => disabled for this client regardless of server setting.
– Or per instance by the new $ONCONFIG parameter:
• EXT_DIRECTIVES 1 # Enable external directives
– Enabled for client if explicitly requested
– 2 => enabled unless explicitly disabled by client.
– 0 => disabled for all users regardless of client setting.
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Multiple Fragments of a Table in One Dbspace
 Suppose you wanted to fragment a table with:
– One fragment a quarter for two years of data.
– Eight fragments in total.
 You needed at least 8 dbspaces for this:
– Each fragment had to go into a separate dbspace.
 With version 9.40 and large chunks,
– It is better to have one chunk per disk drive.
– But you only have one 80 GB drive.
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© 2005 IBM Corporation
Multiple Fragments of a Table in One Dbspace
 You can create partitions within a dbspace that can
each support a table fragment.
– Reduces the total number of dbspaces needed for a
fragmented table.
 Storing multiple table fragments in a single dbspace
improves query performance over storing each
fragmented expression in a different dbspace.
 This feature improves performance and simplifies
management of dbspaces
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Multiple Fragments of a Table in One Dbspace
 CREATE TABLE Example1 (…table definition…)
FRAGMENT BY EXPRESSION
PARTITION p1_ex1 (…) IN dbspace1,
PARTITION p2_ex1 (…) IN dbspace1,
PARTITION p3_ex1 (…) IN dbspace1,
REMAINDER PARTITION pr_ex1 IN dbspace1;
 Upwardly compatible:
– Old scheme had each partition anonymous in a separate
dbspace.
– New scheme allocates partition name same as dbspace
name for upgraded fragmented tables.
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Performance: OPTCOMPIND
A Review
response time
think/optimization time
query/execution time
OPTCOMPIND
Setting
good indexes; healthy stats
use index(es)
0
bad indexes; stale stats
1
if RR then 0; else 2
2
use lowest cost*
healthy stats
* cost = I/O + (cpu *0.03)
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Performance: Dynamic OPTCOMPIND
 You can use SET ENVIRONMENT OPTCOMPIND to set OPTCOMPIND
environment variable dynamically for the current session.
 The value that you enter using this statement takes precedence over the
current setting specified in the ONCONFIG file.
 The default setting of the OPTCOMPIND environment variable is
restored when your current session terminates.
 No other user sessions are affected by SET ENVIRONMENT
OPTCOMPIND statements that you execute.
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Topics: Administration Enhancements
hi
ON-Tape using
standard i/o
Shared memory segments
bigger than 4GB
Engine Impact
True single
user mode
Renaming
dbspaces
Better event
alarms
information
Viewing ON-Bar
logical log info
Default roles
More comprehensive
version information
low
27
HDR setup
with EBR
Tablespace tablespace
management
Enhanced ONBar debugging
Number of times requested by users
IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
hi
© 2005 IBM Corporation
ON-Tape Using Standard I/O
 ON-Tape can use standard I/O channels
– Instead of a tape device or disk file.
– Set TAPEDEV, LTAPEDEV to STDIO.
 Now ontape can use pipes for archives and restores.
– Process the data with other programs,
– Without first saving the data in files or tape devices.
– For example:
• Use compression to save media space.
• Use cloning to duplicate the archive for safety.
• Use encryption to prevent casual snooping on archives.
– But compress before encrypting when saving.
– Watch the key management!
– Set up HDR more quickly:
• Restore the data directly to the secondary server.
• Skip the step of saving the data to file or tape.
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Shared Memory Segments Bigger Than 4 GB
 On 64-bit platforms – only.
 Shared memory segments can be as large as:
– Your operating system platform allows,
– Which is controlled by the SHMMAX kernel parameter.
 Important for systems with large main memories.
– Do not want 256 shared memory segments
• On a machine with 1TB main memory for use by IDS.
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Administration: Renaming Dbspaces
 Existing customers who wish to reorganize their data are
moving their data to a new dbspace, then reloading the data
back into the original dbspace to regain the original dbspace
name.
– The last reload step could be avoided by using a rename
dbspace option.
– Helps in recycling dbspaces.
 Time consuming operations such as reorganizing the data in
an existing dbspace can benefit from this feature.
 The rename dbspace operation only changes the dbspace
name:
– It does not reorganize data
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Administration: Renaming Dbspaces
 Feature was added to IDS 9.40.UC3, with limitations:
– Cannot rename:
• blobspaces, sbspaces, temporary, or external spaces.
– Cannot rename dbspaces referenced by:
•
•
•
•
DBSPACETEMP, CDR_DBSPACE
SBSPACENAME, SBSPACETEMP
SYSSBSPACENEAME, CDR_QHDR_DBSPACE
CDR_QDATA_SBSPACE,
– Cannot rename dbspaces if you are using HDR.
– Cannot rename dbspaces when ER is active.
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Administration: Renaming Dbspaces
 In IDS version 10.00, some restrictions remain:
– Rename can not be done on critical spaces
• Root dbspace
• Dbspace containing physical log or logical logs.
– A dbspace with down chunks can not be renamed.
– ON-Monitor cannot rename spaces.
 Take a Level 0 archive of the renamed space and root
dbspace after renaming.
– Otherwise, recovery from archive uses the old dbspace
name.
 Rename on HDR primary propagates to secondary.
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Administration: Default Roles
 Suppose you manage your database permissions
using roles.
 You use an application with no support for roles.
 You don’t have the source code, so you can’t fix it.
 Prior to IDS version 10.00, you were stuck.
 With IDS version 10.00, you can create a role
– And assign that as the default role to
• Individual users
• Or to PUBLIC.
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© 2005 IBM Corporation
Administration: Default Roles
 GRANT DEFAULT ROLE z_role TO zaphod;
 Zaphod is granted permission to use z_role.
– If he does not already have that permission.
 When Zaphod connects to the database,
– The current role is automatically set to z_role.
 The role can be changed after connecting:
– SET ROLE NONE;
– SET ROLE totherone;
– SET ROLE DEFAULT;
 It does not limit the user
– If the users knows what they’re doing.
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© 2005 IBM Corporation
Administration : Managing the Tblspace Tblspace
 The DBSA adds a chunk temporarily to a dbspace
– To create a large table in the dbspace.
 During processing the tblspace tblspace extends
– Into the newly added chunk.
 The DBSA drops the large table
– And now wants to drop the chunk.
 IDS won’t let that happen!
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© 2005 IBM Corporation
Administration : Managing the Tblspace Tblspace
 Tblspace == partition
 TBLspace TBLspace
– Special table that tracks other tables within a dbspace.
– Every dbspace has its own tblspace tblspace
• That tracks tables (partitions) within its own dbspace.
– There is only one tblspace tblspace per dbspace.
• But as with any tblspace it can have multiple extents.
– Partnum is 0xDDD00001, where DDD = dbspace number.
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Resolution Options Prior to IDS 10.00
 Drop Dbspace
– This causes the customer to have to unload the entire
dbspace.
– And drop all tables in the dbspace.
– Then drop and recreate the dbspace.
– The rebuild all the tables in the recreated dbspace.
– This creates an outage!
 Dial-in To Drop Chunk
– Another solution was for Advanced Support dial in and
drop the chunk.
– They would also clean up the tblspace tblspace.
– This caused down time and is risky (usually avoided).
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
First and Next Extent Sizes – Root Dbspace
 Root dbspace (oninit –i)
– Two new ONCONFIG parameters to configure root dbspace
– TBLTBLFIRST
• Specifies the size of the first extent of the tblspace tblspace
– TBLTBLNEXT
• Specifies the next extent size of the tblspace tblspace
– If these parameters are not present, the defaults will be used.
– All sizes are in KB, and must be a multiple of the basic page size.
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© 2005 IBM Corporation
First and Next Extent Sizes – Non-root Dbspaces
 Non-root dbspace created with onspaces
– When creating a new dbspace with onspaces you will now be
allowed to specify the first and next extent sizes for the tblspace
tblspace.
• -ef <first extent size> –en <next extent size>
– If these options are not used the defaults will be used.
 Example
onspaces –c –d dbs1 –p /spare2/dbs1.1 –o 0 \
–s 10000 –ef 150 –en 150
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Administration : Single User Mode
 “Single-User Mode” feature allows the IBM Informix Dynamic Server
to be put into a maintenance mode, allowing only the user ‘informix’
to connect the server.
 It is intended to be viewed as a mode intermediate between
Quiescent mode and Online mode.
 It allows a DBA to have the server in a fully functional mode where
any required maintenance may be performed.
 It is intended to be used by DBA’s to perform any SQL/DDL
maintenance while preventing normal users from connecting.
 ISA also supports the Single-User Mode functionality.
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© 2005 IBM Corporation
Topics : Security Enhancements
hi
Column-Level
Encryption
Engine Impact
Trigger
introspection
PAM
authentication
Secure environment
check before startup
Restrict who can
create external UDRs
Restrict who can
create databases
low
41
Number of times requested by users
IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
hi
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Security: PAM Authentication
 PAM – Pluggable Authentication Modules
– It is a standardized system for allowing the OSA (Operating System
Admininistrator) to configure how authentication is done.
– Allows OSA to configure authentication methods.
– Available on Linux, AIX, Solaris, HP-UX and others.
– configured at the Operating System level.
– APIs to write shared object (.so) at wws.sun.com/software/solaris/pam
– PAM supports challenge-response protocols:
• In response to initial authentication request,
• PAM issues a challenge,
• And waits for response from application.
/etc/pam/conf
login auth required /usr/lib/security/pam_unix.so.1
configuration file
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
/usr/lib/security
PAM Modules
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Trigger Introspection
 In IDS before version 10.00,
– Use triggers to audit modify activity on tables.
– But each table needs its own logging routines
• Because the structure of each table is usually different.
 In IDS version 9.40.xC4 or later,
– You can create a single introspective routine in C:
• To audit many different tables.
• Obtain information about the triggered action:
– Triggers, triggering tables, views, statements,
– And the values of rows involved in the trigger actions.
– Not for the faint of heart.
• You create and install a new shared object.
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IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Restricting Registration of DataBlade Modules
 In IDS before version 10.00,
– Any DBA or RESOURCE level user can create UDRs
• Including EXTERNAL ones which load a shared library.
– Any of those users could subvert the system security.
 In IDS version 10.00,
– The DBSA can control who creates EXTERNAL UDRs.
– Set IFX_ EXTEND_ROLE 1 in ONCONFIG file
• Default is backwards compatible 0 or ‘off’ – insecure.
– Grant EXTEND role to selected users
• In each database where they must create the UDRs.
• GRANT EXTEND TO udrdef1;
– A DBA cannot grant the EXTEND role.
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© 2005 IBM Corporation
Restricting Database Creation
 Since IDS 9.30, ONCONFIG file can contain
– DBCREATE_PERMISSION
– Lists the user names permitted to create databases.
 Strongly recommended:
– Set it to a conservative value such as:
• DBCREATE_PERMISSION dba1,dba2,informix
– Only dba1, dba2 and informix can create databases.
– Suggestion – don’t set it to just informix
• Unless informix already owns all your databases,
• Which isn’t the best idea, but isn’t fatal either.
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Security: Column Level Encryption
 IDS version 10.00 adds new SQL statement:
– SET ENCRYPTION PASSWORD ‘password’;
 And new encryption and decryption functions:
– ENCRYPT_AES, ENCRYPT_TDES
– DECRYPT_CHAR, DECRYPT_BINARY
– GETHINT
 Together, these permit applications to encrypt data in
the columns.
 Discussed in the March ‘Chat With The Lab’
– Not repeated here.
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Security: Secure Environment Check
 Server utilities check that the environment is secure
– Before doing anything dangerous.
– In versions 7.31.UD7, 9.30.UC8, 9.40.UC3, and later.
 Public write permission is forbidden
– On both directories and files which are checked.
 For each key directory:
– $INFORMIXDIR itself, and
– Sub-directories bin, lib, etc, msg, gls, aaodir, dbssodir:
• Check that the directory exists.
• It is owned by user informix and the correct group.
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Security: Secure Environment Check
 The permissions on the ONCONFIG file are correct.
– The file must belong to the DBSA group.
– Usually, the ONCONFIG file is owned by user informix.
 The permissions on the sqlhosts file are correct.
– Normally, the sqlhosts file is $INFORMIXDIR/etc/sqlhosts.
– The owner should be user informix.
– The group should be either informix or the DBSA group.
 Configuration filenames shorter than 256 characters.
– $INFORMIXDIR/etc/onconfig.std
– $INFORMIXDIR/etc/$ONCONFIG
– Hence, INFORMIXDIR shorter than 238 characters,
• Less if $ONCONFIG is longer than 12 characters.
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Topics : Availability Enhancements
hi
Table Level Restore
Engine Impact
Online Index
Drop & Rebuild
low
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Faster Recovery with
Fuzzy Checkpoints
Number of times requested by users
IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
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© 2005 IBM Corporation
Availability: Recovering Quickly with Fuzzy Checkpoints
 Two new configuration parameters (FAST_RESTART_PHYSLOG
and FAST_RESTART_CKPT_FUZZYLOG)
 reduces the time required for engine recovery. This supports high
availability by improving recovery performance when using fuzzy
checkpoints.
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Availability: Index Changes
 CREATE INDEX and DROP INDEX now supports DDL operations that
apply no exclusive lock to the table on which the specified index is
defined.
– If you use this syntax to create an index on a table that other users are
accessing, the index is not available until no user is updating the table.
– After you issue the new syntax to drop an index, no one can reference
the index, but concurrent DML operations can use the index until they
terminate.
– Dropping the index is deferred until no user is using the index.
– This feature maintains the availability of the table within a production
environment after an existing index has ceased to be efficient.
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Availability: Point-in-Time Table Restore
 Purpose: to provide the customer with the ability to easily extract a set of
tables, a table or a portion of a table from a level 0 archive to a user
specified point in time.
 The extracted data can be placed in an external table or on a table on the
server of the user’s choice regardless of server version or machine type
as long as the database server is listed in the sqlhost file.
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Benefits to the DBA
 SQL Driven Distributed Restore (SDDR)
 Extract a table or set of tables
 Data may be placed in the same version database or
on a different database version with a different
machine architecture
 You may apply a filter to the retrieved data
 Retrieve just a subset of the columns
 Repartitioning of the data
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Topics : Application Development/Standards Enhancements
hi
Support of Java
Eclipse Framework
Engine Impact
JDBC 3.0
Spec
Support
Full
Support of
.NET
Server Studio
Java Edition 4.1
included
ESQL/C to DB2
Support
low
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Number of times requested by users
IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
hi
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Applications : JDBC 3.0 Support
Version 3.0 of the IBM Informix JDBC Driver supports the following
features in compliance with the Sun Microsystems JDBC 3.0
specification:
 Internally update BLOB and CLOB data types using all methods
introduced in the JDBC 3.0 specification.
 Retrieve auto-generated keys from the database server.
 In addition, J/Foundation supports JRE Version 1.4 and the JDBC
3.0 specification.
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Applications : Full .NET support
 The IBM Informix .NET Provider enables Windows .NET applications to access and
manipulate data in IBM Informix databases.
 The IBM Informix .NET Provider is a runtime library that encapsulates a data access API
for use by Microsoft .NET applications. It consists of a set of specialized classes that
implement standard Microsoft ADO.NET interfaces and serves as a bridge between IBM
Informix databases (data sources) and .NET applications.
 Windows client applications written in any .NET supported language can take advantage
of the IBM Informix .NET Provider. Some examples of client applications are:
– Visual BASIC .NET applications
– Visual C# .NET applications
– Visual J# .NET applications
– ASP.NET web applications
 The IBM Informix .NET Provider a connection editor dialog box, a command editor
dialog box, and a data adapter wizard as Microsoft Visual Studio add-ins.
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Applications: ESQL/C to DB2
 You can run Informix ESQL/C applications with DB2 servers and
databases.
 The Informix ESQL/C product provides a new library that is called
when you use the esql command to preprocess your files to work
with DB2.
 Informix ESQL/C runs with DB2 Version 8.2, or later, running on
Linux, UNIX, and Windows operating systems.
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Topics : HDR/ER Enhancements
hi
Resending
indexes in HDR
Engine Impact
Automatic switchover of
HDR servers (DRAUTO)
low
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Easier ER
setup with
templates
Seamless online
resynchronization
of ER nodes
ALTER of
replicated
tables
Number of times requested by users
IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
hi
© 2005 IBM Corporation
HDR: Resending Indexes in HDR
 You can resend an index that became corrupt on the
secondary server in an HDR pair.
 Resending an index is quicker than dropping and then
rebuilding the index on the primary server.
 This feature increases the availability of the HDR
primary server.
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HDR: DRAUTO
 You can automate switching servers for HighAvailability Data Replication if the primary server fails
by using the DRAUTO configuration parameter.
 If DRAUTO is set to either
– RETAIN_TYPE or REVERSE_TYPE, the secondary database server
switches to type standard automatically when an HDR failure is
detected.
• RETAIN_TYPE, the original secondary database server switches back to
type secondary when the HDR connection is restored.
• REVERSE_TYPE, the original secondary database server switches to type
primary when the HDR connection is restored, and the original primary
switches to type secondary.
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ER Enhancements: Alter table/fragment support
 Overview
– This feature provides alter support for tables being replicated
via Enterprise Replication.
– Currently, if the table schema needs to be altered or if the
fragmentation strategy needs to be changed, then replication
must be stopped, then alter is performed and then replication
must be restarted. This is problematic as it makes it impossible
to really consider ER in a 24X7 environment.
List of supported alter operations
1. The ability to add/drop default values
2. The ability to add/drop SQL checks
3. The ability to add/drop fragments
4. The ability to attach/detach fragments
5. The ability to add/drop columns
6. The ability to recluster indexes
7. The ability to alter non replicated columns
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ER Enhancements: Alter table/fragment support
 Alter mode
– Alter mode is a new state of a replicated table.
– DML operations are disallowed in this mode.
– DDL operations on a replicated table are allowed only while the
table is in alter mode.
– Alter mode can be set/unset manually through CDR CLI or
implicitly through SQL alter statement itself.
– Clients can alter the replicated table without placing the table in
alter mode through ‘cdr alter …’ command. SQL layer will internally
do a callback to ER to set/unset alter mode before and after
performing the alter operation. One exception to this is ‘attach
fragment’ scenario.
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ER Enhancements: Alter table/fragment support
 Attach fragment scenario
For attaching a new fragment, first DBA needs to place the replicated
table in alter mode through CDR CLI interface, drop the primary key,
attach the fragment, recreate the primary key then unset alter mode
through CDR CLI interface.
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ER Enhancements: Alter table/fragment support
 Mastered Replicates
Currently no way to know if data types match between replicate nodes
Provides data type checking to eliminate possibility of corruption
New syscdr tables track data type information
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ER Enhancements: Alter table/fragment support
 Remastering process
– Existing replicate can be redefined by “remastering the replicate”.
Through remastering process, a new column can be
added/dropped to/from a replicate definition.
– Also an existing non-mastered replicate can be converted to a
mastered replicate using remastering process.
– A replicate can be remastered using two different procedures
• Auto remastering
–
–
–
65
Auto remastering can be performed through “cdr remaster” command
syntax for “cdr remaster” command
cdr remaster –m <master server group name> <replicate name> <select statement>
In order to perform auto remastering, mastered replicate definition must be defined with ‘name verification
on’ attribute (--name y). That means, replicated table column names must match across all the replicate
participants.
IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
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ER Enhancements: Alter table/fragment support
 Manual remastering procedure
– Create a shadow replicate with same attributes as primary replicate and
with new select clause, swap the existing primary replicate and the newly
created shadow replicate.
– Syntax for manual remastering procedure
Syntax for shadow replicate creation:
cdr define replicate –-mirrors <primary replicate name> shadow replicate name [participant definitions]
Note: Select statements in the participant definitions can include newly added column(s) or can omit dropped
column(s).
Syntax for shadow replicate creation:
cdr swap –c <server name> -p <primary replicate_name> -P <primary replicate id> -s <shadow replicate name> -S <shadow replicate
id>
 After remastering is done, the old replicate definition will get cleaned up
automatically once the replicate definition is no longer required.
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ER Enhancements: Alter table/fragment support
 Steps required for adding a new column to a replicated table
– Perform alter operation and add the new column to the replicated
table at all the participating nodes
– Remaster the replicate to include the newly added column to the
replicate definition.
 Steps required for dropping a replicated column
– Remaster the replicate and remove the column(s) being dropped
from the replicate definition.
– Wait for the shadow replicate(created as part of remastering
process) to get cleaned up automatically.
– Perform the alter operation and drop the column(s) from the
replicated table at all the participating nodes.
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ER Enhancements: Alter table/fragment support
 Restrictions
– ER must be in active state for altering a replicated table except in
scenarios where adding/dropping check constraints and default
values.
– Alter operations are supported only on tables defined with
mastered replicates.
– Altering a replicated column size or data type is not supported.
(Note: Modifying a non replicated column is supported).
– Rename table operation is not supported
– Rename column operation is not supported
– Drop table operation is not supported
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ER Enhancements: Alter table/fragment support
 Things to consider while altering a replicated table
– Have sufficient log space to avoid long transaction
– Have sufficient space in queue sbspace.
– Have sufficient number of locks
 Troubleshooting
– If the alter operation returns sql error code 19996 (can not unset
alter mode):
•
•
•
•
69
Check the server log file to get the exact ER error message and the corresponding error
number.
Correct the error.
Unset alter mode manually through CDR command line interface.
Note: Even though user gets SQL error code –19996, user transaction might have committed.
The reason for this is, alter mode unset operation is attempted after
completing(commit/rollback) the user transaction.
IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
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ER Enhancements: Replicate Templates
 Overview
– Ease of ER administration and setup
• The entire Enterprise Replication domain can be setup using simple commands
with options such as defining replicates on all tables within database, specified
on the command line or using a input file.
• A template can perform an initial data synchronization on new servers being
added to a template..
• A template can optionally create tables during realization if they do not exist on
target servers during template realization.
– Eliminates most of the table Schema related errors
• Templates use the master dictionary from the Master node to create these
tables to ensure consistent schemas between the nodes.
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ER Enhancements: Replicate Templates
 Defining a template:
cdr define template example1 -c detroit \
-C timestamp -S tran \
--master=chicago \
--database=new_cars table1 table2 table3
 Template name of example1.
 Connection is made to the server detroit.
 Conflict-resolution rule is timestamp.
 Conflict-resolution scope is transaction.
 Master replicate information is on server chicago.
 Use the new_cars database.
 Include only the tables table1, table2, and table3.
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ER Enhancements: Replicate Templates
 Another example of defining a template:
cdr define template example1 -c detroit \
-C timestamp -S tran \
--master=chicago -–ignoredel y \
--database=new_cars -–file=tables.list
 Much of it the same as before.
 Specify --ignoredel so delete operations are not
replicated.
– Retaining deleted rows on target servers is useful for
consolidation models.
 Specify --file if the list of replicated tables is in a file.
 There are short-form options for the long ones:
– For example, --master is the same as –M.
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ER Enhancements: Replicate Resynchronization
Overview
– Meant to be used to:
• Bring a newly participating table up-to-date with the ongoing replication
• Repair a replicated table if replication was stopped or failed for some
reason.
– Two ways to repair a table:
• Quick way: By processing the ATS/RIS files.
• Other way: By defining and running a ‘resynch job’.
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ER Enhancements: Event Messages
 In existing product (pre 10.0), all ER event alarms
are identified with event class id 6 (ALRM_SUBS)
and class message “internal subsystem failure”.
– This makes it hard to automate ER administrative
work.
 IDS 10.00 introduces new ER class IDs for specific
ER events
– Now clients can automate ER administrative tasks.
– For example, add a new chunk to the ER queue
sbspace
• If the queue stable storage is full.
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IDUG / IIUG 2005 Conference
May 22nd-26th – Denver Convention Center
Denver, Colorado, USA
http://www.iiug.org/conf
 Over 50 technical presentations dedicated to Informix
 All given either by Informix R&D staff or by fellow Informix Users
 Four Specialized Training Sessions:
 A Technical Deep Dive into IDS 10
 Advanced IDS Setup from Disk to Engine
 Is Your DBA Paranoid Enough?
 Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Informix SQL
 Meet the Informix Developers and fellow Informix Users
 IIUG Annual General Meeting
 Largest gathering of Informix Users in the world in 2005!
 Completely run by the International Informix User Group
 To Register(*) visit:
 http://www.iiug.org/conf
 For more information see:
 http://www.iiug.org/news/insider/insider_mar05.html#2
 http://conferences.idug.org/namerica/2005/index.cfm
* Note: All registration is handled by IDUG – The International DB2 User Group (IDUG).
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Continued Focus on Quality
 #1 Theme = Customer / Partner Loyalty
– Demonstrated quality improvements compared to previous releases
– Results of numerous quality initiatives driven by customer feedback
– Significant reduction in backlog across all code-lines
– Significant improvement / expansion of test suites
– Improved TCO and usability
– Improved product reliability
– Improved application development capabilities
– Extended beta with excellent participation and feedback
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IDS v10 Platforms Support
OS Platform
79
Platform
 SPARC
 SPARC
Sun
 Solaris 8,9
 Solaris 8,9
HP
 HP-UX 11iv1  PA-RISC
 HP-UX 11iv1  PA-RISC
32/64-bit
Platform
64-bit
 32-bit
 64-bit
 32-bit
 64-bit
 Itanium 2
 DEC Alpha
 HP-UX 11iv2
 Tru64 5.1B
Microsoft
 Win 2K
 Win 2003
 Intel
 Intel
 32-bit
 32-bit
 Itanium 2
 Win 2003
 64-bit
IBM
 AIX 5.2
 AIX 5.2
 Power
 Power
 32-bit
 64-bit
 zSeries
 pSeries
 Linux
 Linux
SGI
 IRIX 6.5.x
 MIPS
 64-bit
Intel
 Linux
 x86
 x86
 32-bit
 64-bit
IBM Informix Dynamic Server | Key Features in IDS 10.00 | Chat With The Lab | 2005-04-06
© 2005 IBM Corporation
Helpful Links & Contacts
 Informix Instant Answers by E-mail:
– mailto:ibmifmx@us.ibm.com
 Informix Product Page
– http://www.ibm.com/informix/
 Informix Platform Roadmap
– http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/informix/pubs/roadmaps.html
 Informix Product Life Cycle (PLC) Roadmap
– http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/informix/support/plc/

Informix International User Group (IIUG)
– http://www.iiug.org

DM Today Newsletter
– http://www-3.ibm.com/software/data/db2infonews/
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Helpful Links & Contacts
WW Informix Sales Support
Danilo Novelli
1-305-442-3604
danilo@us.ibm.com
WW Informix Technical
Enablement
Mark Scranton
1-303-929-0914
mscranto@us.ibm.com
IDS Product Manager
Fred Ho
1-650-926-5824
hof@us.ibm.com
Informix Client & Classics
Omkar Nimbalkar
Product Manager
1- 650-926-1976
omkarn@us.ibm.com
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